Ordinary Time

What is summer for if you can't spend the afternoon reading? Today was a day with nothing on the calendar. Since summer tends to be my busy season in terms of EAL, this was a kind of gift. Then when you combine that with the fact that I found a new series, binge read the second book last night, and had the third sitting on my shelf, what, I ask you, was I supposed to do? I, of course, did the sensible thing and binge read the third book this afternoon. The trouble is that I am on the waiting list at the library, so cannot immediately start the fourth. That is actually probably a good thing.  And what is the series? The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower. There are eight volumes in the series; I may have to buy them all. Ultimately, they are just fun. They are set in Victorian London, but the setting is merely window dressing for quirky characters, a quirky neighborhood, and lots of tongue in cheek storytelling. I love an author who doesn't take herself too serio...

No, this isn't a recipe post, but I do owe you an update on the chicken who was attacked by a raccoon. The bite marks on her back were pretty significant and she was starting to act a little off, it was time to be more proactive. We have friends who are vets and also have quite a few chickens, so I asked them for advice. And I'm glad I did, because she probably wouldn't have made it without their help.  L. was given instructions as to how to flush the wound multiple times a day as well as a prescription for oral antibiotics. (Amoxicillin if you're interested.) L., with G.'s help, has been diligent in keeping the wound flushed as well as giving antibiotics every eight hours. There were a couple of concerning days where L. had to hand feed her, but I'm happy to report that we see new skin growing back and she is eating and drinking well.  The round of antibiotics is done on Friday, but she'll have to be in quarantine for another three weeks both because her sk...

I'm very good at setting aside a book I am not interested in reading. I set aside dozens over the course of a year and you won't hear about a single one. Tonight I am breaking that track record.  A couple of days ago I pulled a few new mysteries off the new acquisitions shelf at the library and have been working my way through them. Last night I opened The Night in Question by Susan Fletcher. It promised to be a light read with a octogenarian detective. (The Thursday Murder Club has started a thing.) This one promised something a little different in that this detective has also lost a leg. I had reservations about that needing to be mentioned on the jacket flap, but authors don't have control over that so I was willing to overlook it. I began to read. [The actual term used on the jacket flap was 'one-legged'. While this doesn't quite move the needle to a slur, it is not great. The preferred terms are 'amputee' or 'person with a limb difference'.]...

It's been an enjoyable weekend with decent weather and only a few things on the calendar. That is just about ideal to my way of thinking. Here are some highlights.  I did a little gardening. I've been trying to do a bit at regular intervals because if I try to think about doing everything it becomes overwhelming and I do nothing. Here is the gardened area. It could use some more perennials, but one step at a time. The low bar is for it to just not look abandoned. And here is what is left to do. It is a very long garden. L. is enjoying her summer job as a deck hand on the paddle wheeler on the Fox River. This morning most people got up early so I. could take them fishing.  The sheep have been earning their keep by trimming around the bases of the silver maples. If they were just a bit taller, they could have gotten all the poison ivy. The ducklings are nearly two weeks old and are significantly bigger. The wisteria we planted a few years ago is blooming. I can't tell you how...

Let's play a little game. But first a little background. A good friend of mine has been sharing her thoughts about what it is like to parent a medically complex child and the amount of advocating that is necessary to ensure decent care.  I was reminded that your average parent has no idea what is involved in raising children who don't fit the mold, either in terms of medical needs or neurodiversity or past trauma. It can be a lot. I will also remind everyone who has to deal with us, that we, warrior moms who stopped caring about what people thought of us years ago, are created by a medical system which is not always set up to help. It can be tiring to be the only one advocating for your child or for care providers to treat your child as a valuable human being. I would urge everyone of you reading to do your own advocating whenever you come across attitudes which convey the idea that any child (or adult) is less human than another. With that out of the way, let's play... Nev...

You all know that I dislike advertising and try to limit my exposure to it. I tend not to watch television which means I get to miss the ads which go along with it. In my social media I delete or block pretty much any sponsored item or promotion that comes across my feed. I listen to either the classical music station  or NPR, neither or which play a lot of advertisements. Probably the place I view the most advertisements is on the tollway along the stretch with the endless billboards. I really enjoy my lack of exposure to advertisements. Sometimes, though, I do catch something here or there which catches my eye and is where I'm leading with all of this. And I can't even tell you what the advertisement was for except that it was some sort of store because I clicked through to the block page before seeing the rest of the text. What I did see was, "Simplify your life, buy ___."  If this doesn't sum up our material age, I don't know what does. In my personal bubb...