A Had-To Hiatus

I just had to do it. Take a bit of a hiatus, that is. The cumulative effect of election/SCOTUS anxiety, COVID-19 Fatigue, worrying about wildfires and frankly just too many damn hurricanes careening around the Gulf this year - it all finally made me curl up in a ball and whisper “no mas.”

I wouldn’t say I’ve exactly recovered, but I am poking my head out of the turtle shell a little bit. I went and voted (no lines at my early voting location, yay, thanks Montgomery County!), so that’s just all I can do about that. I bought some comfier masks, because I frankly got sick of making them but we all still have to wear them for the foreseeable future. I took myself off of Facebook for a while (waaay too many triggers and minefields in there) and have been limiting my news intake according to my tolerance level on any given day. I’m working on accepting that holiday family gatherings will be much smaller out of safety concerns. I try not to get into pointless arguments or hurt anyone’s feelings, because I’ve thoughtlessly done both recently and of course that ends badly for everyone. It’s hard. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve also gotten a little mouthy and people don’t expect that from me. I’m stressed out. We’re all stressed out. But always, every day, I repeat to myself my mantra: the list of people, circumstances and things for which I am grateful.

So yeah, I’m doing a lot more work lately on trying to find the good out there and in here. And I’m happy to report that good things are still happening, even if I have to look a little harder. For example:

A cool front has blown into our corner of Texas! While it hasn’t brought any snowflakes - and I do miss the snow in upstate New York - I have this gorgeous reminder of winter sparkles, made by my friend Jeanne Shanahan...

Instead of snowflakes, I’ll have to settle for the lower temps and some pumpkins.  Here’s a pretty glass version I found recently...

Also, these guys are sitting on the kitchen counter, which means my grandmother is in my head saying “You know what you need to make with those...”

My dear friend Kathy has a gorgeous new girl in her life, Miss Mary...

And I’m pretty excited about getting into this stack of reads...

So that’s about it in my little corner. Nothing too big or too thrilling, just some Everyday Good and Happy Stuff. And that, dear reader, is just plenty for me.

❤️ Bonnie