Besides the birds today, the only two delights were a walk to County D with Connie and Brandon’s creative Wendingo costume.
Day 348: Brandon’s Costume and a Walk
Category: Health
Day 268: Another Vaccination and Chat with Clare
This morning I received my second shingles vaccination. While the side-effects were not delightful, the feeling of having all my old lady vaccinations done is.
I had a delightfully long (2 hour) phone call with Clare last night. Among other things, we discussed the CDC’s new mask guidelines and agreed that we thought it was wrong and too early. I, however, pointed out that the CDC is not a policymaking organization, but one that provides guidelines based on science. Clare reminded me that the CDC did make a judgment call back at the beginning of the pandemic when masks were in short supply and we were encouraged to not wear them so the hospitals and first responders had enough. She suggested that the CDC could have done the same this time by not posting the new guidelines that masks are unnecessary for fully vaccinated people. The CDC is not filled with stupid people and it has to have known that antivaxers might take advantage of the fact that it is impossible to know if someone is vaccinated or not by just looking at them.
In the end we agreed that everyone needs to be critical thinkers. And we’ll continue to wear masks for the time being.
Day 264: Happy
As is my semi-regular habit I awoke in the early hours of the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. I went to the living room and poured myself a large glass of water and looked at my phone and then read more of Life After Life. I’d not read in a while, so it felt good.
After a couple of hours and more glasses of water I went to bed to read a little more and suddenly realized I was very happy. It could have been the water — perhaps I was very dehydrated. It could have been the reading. Perhaps it was having gotten out of the house yesterday. Whatever it was, it was delightful.
When I awoke a second time, this time at a more reasonable hour, I still felt happy.
Another delightful thought is that as of 12:30 pm I am fully vaccinated. While I received my second dose on the 29th, today marks the end of my two week waiting period. And as of 2:00 pm the CDC stated that fully vaccinated people can lose their masks in most cases, inside and out.*
The peony bloomed. That’s a delight!
*This is a double-edged sword of a delight. It goes without saying that many, if not most, anti-vaxers are likely to also be anti-maskers and since no one knows if they are vaccinated or not, they might not wear masks either. This is a problem for children (who at this time cannot be vaccinated) and many other people including those who are immunocompromised. While I understand that the CDC is only stating facts and is not a policy making organization, hopefully individual jurisdictions and businesses will either keep the mask policy or require anyone who doesn’t want to wear a mask to show proof of vaccination.
Day 250: Vaccine # 2
Got my second Covid-19 vaccination today. That was delightful. Getting lost on the way home (the town where I got my vaccination had spotty cell service) was not so delightful until I remembered that my blogging friend Indigo Bunting grew up around the area in which I was lost. It made me smile to think of her there. Plus the scenery was delightful.
Day 246: Home
In an attempt to stay as happy as I was on Tybee Island I thought maybe I should get out and walk every day. I did that this morning and it was good. I saw some delightfully pink azaleas peeking out through a fence on the walk.
176 – 183 Some Delights, Some Gratitude
I feel as if I am not looking hard enough for daily delights. Days and weeks are just the same old, same old.
Let’s see —
New computer
I bought a new-to-me (refurbished) desktop for the attic study mostly because my laptop (which is still great) is very low on storage space. I could have moved things off the laptop to external drives, but this deal came up ($150 for a decent refurbished Lenovo ThinkCentre) and I pressed “buy” without out much thought. It arrived and works very well. So what if I cannot use video backgrounds with Zoom.
Vacation planned
Dean’s been wanting to get away so I researched and booked an Airbnb in Savanah. The weather should be nice and maybe I will see Painted Buntings!
Cocktails
Dean and I had Last Word cocktails on Friday (yum but strong!) and less potent champagne (cava actually) cocktails on Saturday.
The Secret History
I started reading The Secret History, Donna Tartt’s first novel since my last post. It was a book group read early on in the history of the book group (pre-1999) and probably before I joined in 1995 (the book group was founded a few years before I joined). Anyway, I wasn’t sure I liked it when I started reading it. The first couple of chapters were a slog, but I am having a hard time putting it down now. I might have given up in the middle of chapter two, but Clare said she loved the book. I assumed she would with the ancient Greek and all. Interestingly it takes place at a fictional college in Vermont that is based on Tartt’s alma mater, Bennington — a school I really wanted Clare to visit on her college tour because it is where Shirley Jackson wrote most of her works.
Letting go
I threw away a 17 year-old can of Bird’s custard yesterday. I kept the 9 year-old one though.
In the more grateful than delightful category:
Electricity, water, heat
As I hear about the power outages in Texas, I should be grateful (if not delighted) I live where a winter storm might cause power outages, but we’d still have water and the power company is prepared for winter weather.
Life and health
As the numbers of people dead from Covid-19 in the United States near half a million, I should be grateful that I am healthy and wealthy enough to be able to stay away from people who might be exposed. I am able to have groceries delivered instead of going to the store. I don’t have to go to a job where I might be exposed.
Day 164: Full-night’s Sleep and Another Book
While my sleep score was not as good as a few nights ago, I did sleep through the night last night and woke up refreshed. That’s a delight.
Trying to read my extant books as well as past book group reads that I didn’t read when they were chosen, I started reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog again. I think I prefer the audio version to the e-book, but whatever gets the job done is fine with me. I’m finding bits of it delightful.
When I'm Sixty-four 