the livin is easy

With music blaring from my awesome playlist I seesawed between the swing and the cooling pool waters. The air reached a sweltering 34C while the pool remained a comfortable 27C. It was a marvelous afternoon!

Adia came outside a few times but stayed in the sun till she nearly ignited so I’d send her back into the house to cool off. Kabira liked the heat too.

We splurged tonight and ate our first burgers since the beginning of covid restrictions. Takeout Ultimate burgers from DQ with a side of fries and onion rings tasted the best they ever have. Oh, the salty, fatty sticks of potato were like the fanciest delicacy. 

It’s official… the campground that we had our September/October reservations is closed for the year. We are gutted that we won’t have the distraction of living in another location in our beloved villetta but it is what it is. Maybe we’ll find somewhere else to camp ;-)

There are days that everything seems normal, but then something I read or watch on TV smacks me in the face with an uncomfortable reality. The situation in Ontario has improved greatly in sharp contrast to some states in the US which lulls me into a false sense that this is all over when in reality life won’t be back to normal until everyone is vaccinated. It’s hard to accept.

I’m hoping that they open up social groups soon - as it is now the limit is 10 people, which seems easy, but as soon as one of those people start with another group the 10 is suddenly expanded to another 10 (or more) people that we don’t know. I feel anxious about these extra social contacts, but maybe I’m being too sensitive. The dilemma is where does this end? What do you do about your social groups? Are you strict or more fluid? Do you introduce more people when you don’t know their interactions?

Headline tonight: US shatters single-day record. 3,096,500 cases with 133,149 deaths in the US. There are a total of 106,154 (105,934 yesterday) cases of Covid-19 in Canada today, with 8,711 (8,693 yesterday) deaths today.

“Summertime, an' the livin' is easy

Fish are jumpin' an' the cotton is high.”

~Gershwin

you get less done but more

A long night’s sleep readied me for another long lazy day… It’s been a slow recovery from days of fun but I finally feel like I’m mostly back to normal. Well, almost… I did spend an inordinate amount of time this morning building a playlist…

I’d planned to assemble a slightly shorter playlist of some of my favorite songs… well… almost 500 songs later I had 1.24 days worth of music tagged. I guess I have a lot of favorites! There’s a wide variety of artists and eras: a step into the past with Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong; a bit of blues with Muddy Waters; some avant garde 10cc; pop hits of the 70s; rock bands like Pink Floyd, Rush and the Doors; folky artists like Peter, Paul & Mary, and Cat Stevens; lots of dirge music by Leonard Cohen; a little bit of island with Harry Belafonte; a pinch of wild latin dance music; of course my favorite Eagles & Gorden Lightfoot; and 400 more songs that I can’t remember. What’s missing is some current tunes.  I can’t wait to start listening to it! And I’d love to introduce my nieces to some awesome music :-)

We had an online meet-and-greet with our new doctor this afternoon. Carm’s doctor retired and mine is right smack downtown so we jumped on the chance for a new doctor 20 minutes from home. Instead of forking over money for downtown parking, we’ll spend it on breakfasts at Country Kitchen! 

The drought continues… I don’t recall a summer so hot and parched. We could be in the Sergengeti during the dry season - we are only missing some starving lions. We have an African Lion Hunting dog so perhaps Adia has cleared the area of the big cats. 

Headline tonight: 3,039,674 cases with 132,950 deaths in the US. There are a total of 105,934 (105,535 yesterday) cases of Covid-19 in Canada today, with 8,693 (8,684 yesterday) deaths today.

“Hazy Days

With Lazy Ways

You get less done but more

Out of your days

How can you work yet avoid

Getting out of your lazy ways

You'll never get up if you don't get up

You'll always stay down if you sit around

You'll never get up if you don't get up

You'll always stay down if you sit around

Hazy Days

Lazy Ways

We got less done but more

Out of our days

How can we ever recapture the feeling

Of lazy ways

You'll never get up if you don't get up

You'll always stay down if you sit around

Where nobody cares and nobody tries

'Cause a daydreams resting on the back of your eyes

On the back of your eyes

Taking five

Bring love to me

With your body

Let me hold you

Endless, endlessly

You'll never get up if you don't get up

You'll always stay down if you sit around

Where nobody cares and nobody tries

'Cause a daydreams resting on the back of your eyes

On the back of your eyes

Hazy days

Lazy ways

You get less done but more

Out of your days

Crazy days

Lazy ways”

~10cc

all my brothers sisters and me

I usually have the first few sentences of my post all figured out before I sit down with my tablet but today my words have left me. So instead of trying to be literary, I’ll just detail the past few days simply. 

I’ll start with where I left off last week: Wednesday Olaf, Freya and Stephanie left for Mom & Dads. Thursday I lay around like a wounded animal barely able to summon the energy to do more than lie around watching mindless youtube videos. It would have been a good day to watch ‘Francis the talking Mule’, but even that seemed like too much effort.

After another long sleep on Thursday night I was slightly more energized Friday, which was a good thing as I was driving to Kirsten’s for another sibling night, this time with Graham. The four of us (along with the nieces, Shawn and Steph), had a lovely evening. We were more subdued than previous ‘parties’, but I think we all had a nice time anyway.

The plan was to come home Saturday after Mom & Dad got to Kirsten’s, but I managed to convince myself to stay till just after 6. I’m glad I did as it was so nice to have the family together, although we were missing Carm, Erik, and Juliette. Time passed quickly and I struggled with the idea of staying another night, as the day wore on I vacillated between staying and going, but in the end came home. 

The drive is nicely broken up into little way points so the 1 hr 5 min seems to go quickly. I was tired, but not so tired that I was falling asleep. I was pretty happy to turn into the laneway. The dogs were ecstatic to see me, and Carm might have been glad to see me too. A hot bath and a hotdog finished my day - it wasn’t much later when my head hit the pillow with a crash.

The weekend could have been better if we had brought the trailer to Kirsten’s place. We have a spot picked out and a long extension cord. If we like the parking spot we can put in a 30amp so that we’d have air conditioning. It would be awesome to be able to have little ‘camps’ every few weeks, but Carm is reluctant to take the trailer there.

It is sometimes hard to recognise and accept that my bipolar brain cannot do everything that everyone else can do. Fatigue is a killer for me, skewing my thoughts and physically impairing me. I was afraid that after another night of restless sleep I might be too messed up to drive home. I’d have probably been okay. Anxiety settles in too, making it hard to think straight. It’s not pretty!

I’ve had such a wonderful time these last two weeks that it might tide me over for a little more covid isolation although I might have a bit of withdrawal and need a bit of tiny pony time!

Headline tonight: 2,981,002 cases with 132,552 deaths in the US. There are a total of 105,535 (104,772 yesterday) cases of Covid-19 in Canada today, with 8,684 (8,642 yesterday) deaths today.

“Therefore, let the moon shine on thee in thy solitary walk; And let the misty-mountain winds be free to blow against thee.”

~William Wordsworth