Today it looks a lot more like November, with rain, strong winds, and swirling leaves, though it’s still in the 60s for now. Today I began the project of manually weed-whipping the “prairie” and mulching around each tree. It will take a while, but the end result will look a lot more like a meadow and grove of trees. Judging by these seedlings, next fall will be very colorful.
Seriously? A million MAGA mob of morons packed together without masks in DC, in absolute brainwashed denial of reality. It looks eerily like a nazi rally, only with dumb rednecks. And trump is shamelessly fueling this mob scene of death-wishers. I can’t believe I live in the same country with these idiots. But enough on that; hopefully sanity will start to prevail soon.
Here are some brilliant colors on this sunny day in the 60s. I even managed to sneak up on this skittish cloudless sulphur (I think) butterfly. Note the excellent camouflage.
What else could possibly go wrong, after the year that should win the Guinness World Record for most/worst catastrophes! Famous last words. Hopefully under saner leadership, our losing streak will soon be over. But for now, we need to remain in more of a lockdown than ever, as the pandemic escalates.
In healthier news, it’s a gorgeous sunny day in the 60s. As there are fewer ground level flower opps, I’ve been practicing my “keep looking up” skills with trees.
I can’t get over how huge these sycamore leaves get. The tree started out a tiny sapling from my son’s property, and now it towers over me.
This latest surge of US COVID cases and deaths is shattering all previous records, yet people are still going about their business in total denial. That’s one serious death wish. Meanwhile, our delusional pretender-in-chief cowers and sulks in his bunker, telling himself he will rule forever, or else. Our country is an insane asylum run by babies. The Biden/Harris WH can’t come soon enough.
In more natural news, it’s starting to look and feel more fall-like after the long, steady rain we had. Whirlwinds of leaves swirled and covered the grass with bright confetti. My newly-planted trees are happy. My drifts of dill that germinated from scattered dill plant seeds are covered with raindrop jewels.
Our November summer in the 80s continues. I was able to plant a few more trees and get more yard work done. I’m surrounded by brilliant falling leaves and blooming flowers. If climate change continues at this rate, winter may become a thing of the past, and summer an inferno. But for now, it’s a big improvement over icy northeast Novembers. Nevertheless, Misu has decided it’s winter, and has moved to her luxurious winter accommodations each evening. She’s the very embodiment of decadence.
It says a lot that Pres-elect Biden is already getting his COVID task force and other strategies in gear, whereas our loser-in-chief is still sulking and refusing to concede to reality. They’ll have to evict his bunker bitch ass and go in with HAZMAT teams to decontaminate the WH before it’s safe to move in.
This country is in for an uphill battle to regain common decency and restore basic services, never mind re-establish cooperation with the rest of the world. But at least there’s some light ahead now.
Speaking of light, it’s a hot, sunny day, headed for the 80s in November! It’s almost too hot to work outside, but that won’t stop me. Yesterday I added more cedars to the front line, and more redbuds to the shadier property line. I have a few more to go to finish up the tree lines, plus a holly and some tuliptrees. I won’t live to see my future “forest”, but I can imagine one.
Meanwhile, the present is looking more hopeful.
There was a world block party all day and night after the announcement. Not only in every major (and minor) city, but across the world, sharing in our good news. There were fireworks, and people crying with relief, and children witnessing possibilities.
We too were glued to our screen, waving our little flags (US and Pride) in solidarity, mesmerized by this historical phenomenon of thousands of people rejoicing (with masks, on for the most part) in the streets. It looked like scenes after WWII was declared over. I feel like maybe I can sleep again, and wake up to some hope for a change.
It will take time and work just to get back on track and undo some of the damage done, but it’s a start. Obviously half of our country is not ready for adulting yet, having fallen under trump’s vicious spell and turned into savage deluded toddlers. We have a lot of ground to make up, starting with taking this deadly pandemic seriously. Thousands are dying each day now in the US. But at least now we can give science a chance.
Even nature looks brighter today. The leaves are falling like rainbow confetti. The sky seems bluer. It’s going to be 80º today and tomorrow! Summer in November.
It reminds me of a song from much simpler times. In a way we’ve come full circle, back to square one. There’s not much more to lose, or depths to sink to. Nowhere to go but up.
I did a victory lap and took these . I had almost forgotten how to keep looking up.
Breathe in! Breathe out! I almost forgot how.
Election week finally climaxed, and we have a winner!! Trump is fired and Biden/Harris can now get down to the work of restoring some sanity and recovery, and membership in the world.
The dominant emotion is sheer relief. Some actual hope may even be in play. I can live another day. We drink to it! L’chaim, to life.
Just to catch up, here’s what you missed from the Week That Wasn’t…
Shabbat, and Misu waiting…and waiting…for her vote to be counted.
More plants came indoors, and more flowers, leaves, and berries flaunted their colors outdoors. Misu waiting some more.
Most importantly, our victory celebration. Cheers! To a COVID-free future. And all the other things.
We finally voted! What a relief. There was no suppression or intimidation that we could see, other than some guy with an NRA hat skulking about in the parking lot, and a big bovine guy blocking an exit. The line outside was very short and moving along, everyone was masked and distancing, precautions were in place, and the poll workers were managing everything extremely efficiently and helpfully. I noticed some diversity in the line, and I’m guessing not everyone there was a trump voter. The whole process took us at most a half hour. That’s the one advantage of living in podunk, TN. And now we hunker down some more and wait in suspense. May the real humans win. (Not the demon-spawn.)
