Summer's Rhythm

Away from the disturbing headlines and ongoing turbulence and general unease, home life moves with a slow rhythm.

Like a lot of people, I am walking in my neighborhood and working in my yard. I'm watching parent birds feed baby birds, reading books, and knitting. Doing things not so differently than I would normally do in the summer.

I finished a pair of Rye Light socks using 40" circulars because the yarn kept falling off my double pointed needles. This is my 4th pair of socks! I have tried short circulars, long circulars, and dpn's. I think I prefer long circulars, but the other ways have been fun too. I have decided I really like making socks because you have this not too "thinky" part, and then a bit where you have to focus with the heal, then a not too "thinky" part again, and voila--you are finished.  Kind of perfect.

These turned out a little longer than I planned, and a little looser. Even though the yarn (an alpaca, wool, nylon blend) says to lay them flat to dry, I will send them through the dryer. I think/hope they'll be fine. ?!

This container of flour was nearly full and then, I guess I was holding it wrong as I wrestled it out of the pantry because it OPENED and--well, you can see how much splatted out. It was all over me and the floor and the stuff like emergency water and reusable shopping bags on the pantry floor. The dog came over and walked in it to see what was going on. WHAT A MESS!

But, I have time right? And so, I got it cleaned up and made a lovely dough (part wheat flour) for a kind of overly fancy focaccia.

I was so happy to find yeast finally at the store. I guess everyone is making bread. And no wonder! It was REALLY satisfying to knead the dough. I haven't done it for the longest time.

The flowers in the garden are really over the top this year--it must have been the super wet winter we had.  And the vegetables have taken off too. 

I got 4 cucumber plants this year instead of 2 because I ordered vegetables from a curbside service who only had them available in 4 packs. All my vegetables this year came like that. Sight unseen, ordered over the internet and picked up. So--now I have loads of cucumbers. My husband is delighted and went to work right away putting them up in pickling spice to make half sour pickles. He loves them!

I think the quarantine has made many of us a little bit more like poets, given us time to contemplate nature and the cycle of life. Don't you think?

Life and Death

I haven't posted because I've been a little frustrated with my pictures disappearing. Does anyone know why this is happening? I have been blogging for years, and this has just started happening. Weird.

I read that if I delete the pictures from somewhere else--like off my phone or computer--they will also be deleted from blogger. How can this be? It didn't ever happen before. So weird. 
The backyard garden continues to flourish.

On something of a whim, I put in some pea seeds on one side of the mulch pile fencing a few weeks ago. The seeds happily sprouted and because the weather has been cool, they are thriving and starting to blossom. And, as I hoped, the Halloween pumpkins I chucked on the mulch pile are starting to grow from their seeds. 

I am also almost at the end of my blanket. Remember how I said I thought I might finish by the end of March. Ha! Well--here's May--and I will be finished by the end of May--in fact, I may finish this week.

These last weeks--and especially these past few days have left me in quiet despair. Our governor lifted the stay-at-home quarantine and people are out in droves without masks and with no social distancing. The weather has been fine and sunny and people are going around like it is all over, like everything is fine.

Only it isn't.

Why aren't people at least being cautious?

It makes me angry and frightened. I am staying home and only going out to get groceries once a week and I wear a mask and wash my hands. So, why do I feel so terrible?  I guess because it isn't just people disobeying rules like jumping the turnstile or parking in a handicapped space when you aren't handicapped--it's about life and death. I see pictures of Times Square deserted and Rome deserted and then, in my town the park is full of frisbee throwing, dog walking people in shorts and people lining up for burgers and fries and gathering at mall parking lots to light fireworks and watch cars drift. The world has gone crazy.

I've long thought that many Americans have a very narrow, self-righteous, self-centered point of view, and what is happening now reinforces that thought. I hate to think negatively, but it is very hard not to.

Because I am staying in, I only have second hand pictures and stories, so I totally don't have a first person well informed view of things. I try to keep that in mind.

But also, I know a person who died from the virus. Not a friend of a friend, but someone I knew well. Our children grew up together. We chaperoned and hung out in parks and went to each others homes and took care of each others animals when one of us was out of town.  He was 44 years old and had no previous conditions. He was just a regular guy. And his wife has suffered from losing him and so have his children.

So that's at the back of my mind too. People really are dying of this. And not just the old or infirm. But anybody.  And no one knows better than me--after having 2 kids turn up with cancers and losing their father to a sudden car accident--that bad things can and do happen to you. Just out of nowhere.
So, when you have a warning, you should take it.