We went to the Reservoir north of town to see if we could see the Northern Lights. Alas, the light pollution held us down.
There were lots of other folks looking too, and one lady thought she saw them, but it was just the Nissan Plant in Canton.
Over time, my cheese Overton Window has shifted.
For most of my life, the everyday cheese that sat in our refrigerator was the 1 lb. block of store brand “sharp” yellow cheddar. It was the default purchase every other week.
Then one day during the pandemic when things were hard to find sometimes, we bought the Cabot Creamery extra sharp cheddar cheese – which was only slightly more that we were used to paying – and were blown away at how good it was.
And then one day at Costco we came across this Cabot Creamery 3 year aged cheddar, and oh my god. Now we buy a block of this every month or so.
When I’m in a depression flare up, I try to go to the bookstore. There is a big Barnes and Nobles in the suburb here: I order a large hot cafe mocha (with whipped cream) and I turn off my phone and I just browse.
I will look at the business books to see what snake oil is selling now (it’s very AI focused at the moment). I’ll browse the prize winners, look at gardening or craft books, will browse the nature section, will look to see if my favorite fiction writers have anything new.
It really isn’t about buying something, although I usually do. It’s more like going to church and having my faith in the goodness of the world restored.
I built my first staked stool today. It’s based on one designed by Christopher Schwarz – I first saw it in his rejected designs in The Anarchists Design Book.
When learning how to do something, I like to make a lot of them, quickly, to accelerate the mistake making. Like when I made 30 wooden spoons in 30 days.
I’m at odds right now, so I will make some more. I ordered some tools that should make things easier. But this is stool number 1.
We went downtown for the National Folk Festival – it’s in Jackson for a 3 year stretch.
We watched some music, saw some folk making some crafts, bought some art, ate some street food. Then we came home and I worked in the workshop for a few hours. We spent the evening sitting in the living room, surrounded by cats, reading.
It was a good day.
Friday night is our date night, and it has been for our whole relationship. Date night sounds a bit hyperbolic for what it is – we go out to eat in a restaurant. But we do it every week – we might miss 3 times a year, usually due to my work schedule.
There is a rotation of maybe six restaurants that are our “normal” ones, and we sprinkle in new places and sometimes, they move into the circle of six and one of the old ones drops out.
But one that has been in the circle almost since we moved here is Roosters. It’s burgers and salads and meat and two entrees with a Louisiana heritage. I love their red beans and rice, Renee their country fried steak.
I had been working in the workshop after supper, and when I came up the back deck stairs, I was struck by all the colors in the screen room.
I catch a lot of shit because my clothes palette is limited, but I love a colorful environment. No greige for me, thank you!
It’s fuzzy and out of focus, but while on the walk today I saw this slider turtle in the creek. It was unseasonably warm today, and this guy was taking advantage of the sunshine to catch some heat on his favorite rock.
Normally, they sense the vibrations of your walking and swim away to escape, but this one didn’t -I stood and watched him for 3 or 4 minutes. I actually though he was ill, he was so still, but then he decided to slide into the water and get away right after I took this photo.
When I go on my daily(ish) walks, I end up on Crane Boulevard. It has a creek that runs along it, and when Willie Morris lived here, he called it Purple Crane Creek. That name appears on no map – just in his heart.
The time change and the political chaos and all of it has been so damned heavy, and I haven’t walked this week and so today I said “To hell with it, I’m going for a walk!” and I’m so glad I did.
It’s November – deep into fall now, and there is still so much green and yellow and various hues, and I loved the way they all reflected in the water here.
This is an American beautyberry bush (Callicarpa americana) which lives in my front yard. It spends most of the year being a somewhat boring shrub with insignificant tiny flowers. But the fruit in the fall is this brilliant purple/magenta, which really stands out.
The berries are edible, but not very good. Some people do make jelly from them, which proves that if you add enough sugar to things, they eventually taste better. Also notice that some critter is eating the leaves on this plant – that is NOT a bad thing. It’s a native plant, that has coevolved with the bug life in this region for many thousands of years. I want the bugs to eat my plants, because I want the birds that eat the bugs.
People think of berries when planting for birds, but berries only last a few weeks – bugs are year round. Plant for bugs if you want birds. No bugs, no birds. It’s that simple. If your plants are not being eaten, they are not part of the ecosystem.
Hopeful in spite of the facts
