John and I drove into Olympia Monday and I was excited about seeing some Fall colors along the way. Uhm, not. Hardly anything at all. Some scraggy yellowish trees, but otherwise, nada. I was surprised! Maybe it hasn’t been cold enough, which I’m thinking it hasn’t been. We had sunny warmish days up until the end of September, and while we’ve had rain off & on lately, it hasn’t been especially COLD. Our anniversary was October 1st, and on that day in 1999, there were distinctly Fall colors in the wedding photos. It was a sunny, crisp Fall day with oranges and yellows and reds and golds all around us. Hmm.
We drove to Olympia to pick up John’s folks’ pickup truck that had been returned to their place (by order of the probate attorney) from an old fellow who was a friend of John’s folks. He’d taken off with the truck the day John’s mom died and instead of causing a ruckus, John opted to have the attorney send him a letter ordering its return. Which he complied with. With a completely empty gas tank. Anyway, the plan was for John to drive it home and I’d follow in my car. But, the battery was dead. Looks like we’ll be heading back there on Friday so John can hook up the battery charger (or else jumper cables). He said I should head to Fred Meyer (very nearby) while he’s waiting on the charger! Sounds good to me! I’ve missed a full-fledged Fred Meyer! (Our grocery store is a Freddy’s, but it’s ONLY a grocery store).
A neighbor of John’s folks had indicated interest in buying their mobile home, but that fell through. John’s in the process of planning to repair some flooring and likely having it carpeted to get it ready to place on the market. I got to see it completely emptied out and cleaned (he’d hired a cleaning crew to come in). It was…weird. And sad, actually.
At any age, even 65 and 68, it’s sad to be orphans.
It’s been two months since we ordered our living room furniture and we haven’t heard a word about it. (I plan to make a phone call tomorrow). It’s a little frustrating because they’ve had my money for two months and we have nothing to show for it. BUT, I suspect it’s sitting on a ship offshore of Los Angeles or something. There are a lot of them:
Yet another issue with this goddamned pandemic—supply chain failures and backups.
I am glad to see that this horrific wave of cases and hospitalizations and deaths are finally bending the curve and heading downward, in most places. (Alaska and Idaho are still skyrocketing). Literally every single state that has been hit hard are republican-led states. Literally every single hospitalized or DEAD person is/was unvaccinated. And still Fox News spews its propaganda to millions of people to NOT GET THE VACCINATION. And those people abide, while screaming at medical personnel as they’re being rushed into the ICU. I do not recognize this country anymore.
Book Club is next week at my house, and we’re reading Mary Trump’s new book, “Reckoning: Our Nation’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal.” I’m maybe 1/4 way through it, and although it’s very well written and honestly very good, it’s also…traumatizing. Well, as Mary says, we can’t actually heal from trauma while the trauma is still happening. My plan is to finish it this weekend so that I can start digging into cleaning my house and coming up with some vittles for our get-together. I also bought another book (both of these are hardbacks and not Kindle books) which is the new graphic version of Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny.” It’s a slim, beautiful primer with 20 points on how to survive and resist our country’s arc toward authoritarianism.
The book also includes historic examples and suggestions for resisting. I have the original “On Tyranny” which is a little book that identifies the 20 points, but this is special. The art is lovely and really complements the message. But overall it’s frightening because this country is sloughing its beloved democracy and heading toward autocracy. That isn’t hyperbole. It’s fact.
Here’s Quinn at the dentist! I *think* this was his first checkup, and no cavities! What a dude!
Also, I gotta say, I’m really excited to see the new “Dune” movie coming out on Oct. 22nd. Besides theaters (which I’m still hesitant to do), they’re showing it on HBO Max and I am THERE for it! I would actually love to re-read the book again beforehand, but I’m not sure if I’ll have time (it’s a tome!) I may give it a try.
"If you have an authoritarian party that's trying to win power, every election is an existential threat to democracy."
