"How are things going?"
Someone asked me that, in an email, over the weekend.
Just the beginning of a HUGE tomato crop!
Putting aside the eternal discussion of whether or not anyone actually wants to know the answer to that question, I paused for a while as I realized that "things are pretty much 'just going,' with very little potential for change."
Daisy the dog is not sure what to make of it all
The pile of papers on my desk stays a pretty constant size, I still scoop the cat boxes twice a day, moving around and doing anything remains a pain in the a$$ due to the pandemic (or whatever you want to call it), we're not planning to travel anywhere or go see anyone, I'm still blogging, painting on beach pebbles and trying to sell stamps to collectors while casting about for the occasional book editing gig... and that's pretty much the sum-total of life.
Lather, rinse, repeat...
"How are things going?"
Things feel... "heavy." Things feel like pretty much everything I do, and everything we undertake requires about 10% more effort and planning than they used to... and much of the time we just end up deciding that "it's just not WORTH it."
We used to go to estate sales and antique malls from time to time; haven't done that since about the fall of 2019. For starters, there aren't that many, for seconds, we just don't feel inclined to deal with the extra hassles of potential closures and entry restrictions.
SO many green beans...
Meanwhile, there is less and less canned cat food on the shelves at the local supermarkets; we haven't honestly struggled to get food and outages seem to have been in some very spotty and sporadic areas. I guess Shadow the cat will be eating dry kibble and fresh chicken...
Apples on the tree...
"How are things going?"
I would venture as far as to say that we are just "holding space." Not in that woo-woo New Age way, but in the sense that it feels like we have put a bookmark in this thing called life, and laid the book down on the table for a while.
I am enjoying the gardening, though! One of the upsides to the whole Covid-19 circus has been that we have had two summers where we had time to spend extra time and effort on growing food. We had a bumper crop of green beans and we're about to have a bumper crop of tomatoes. We are also processing a ridiculous volume of apples, and it will not be long before Mrs. Denmarkguy's patch of eating pumpkins will be ready to harvest... about 30 5lb pumpkins is a LOT of food!
The freezer is slowly filling up, and the pantry shelves look pretty well stocked, too.
"How are things going?"
I had Covid-19 something in September of last year. My beloved had it something in March of last year. We both had much milder Covid something about six weeks ago. She's vaccinated, and still got it. I'm not and seem to have enough natural immunity to kick it out of my system in about 72 hours.
Shallots, not garlic...
Whatever "it" is, it's not the flu/cold... because the flue/cold doesn't leave you with an assortment of weird lingering side effects, months after the fact... like unexplained chillblains on my toes, last October.. I'd never had chillblains, and there was no reason for me to suddenly get them when it wasn't even cold.
Those things aside, I wish people wouldn't freak out quite so much... this thing is not an automatic death sentence.
We even have a few little peppers. Peppers are not so easy to grow, in Washington state
"How are things going?"
Perhaps the most challenging thing about "things" is keeping any level of enthusiasm going about the basic process of being alive.
The first pumpkin!
That probably sounds more dramatic than I mean it to. Perhaps it would be a more accurate statement to say that we live in a day and age where perhaps we have been invited to (forced to?) shine a brighter light on what really matters to us, absent the myriad distractions we normally occupy ourselves with.
Some seem to escape into the eternal study of ever more esoteric theories about "what's REALLY going on" while others put their energy into "getting closer to the basics."
I tend to fall more into the second category.
I find myself increasingly grateful to have a venue like Hive and its surrounding communities, which not only serves as an outlet for my thoughts and words, but also allows me to play the small "game" of slowly building a modest savings balance.
That's one of the better things about "how things are going!"
That... and cats. I'm always glad to have cat around...
Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your week!
How about YOU? How are things going? Not the "polite small talk version" but the REAL thing... ever sit and consider just that? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20210913 20:50 PDT
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