I'm just going to ignore the world today and get a well deserved rest from all the crap. I spent the last few days painting and wrapping and thinking about how to best photograph everything I have been working on. The results are rather nice.
Here are the dark primitive pantry goods:
We had the weirdest storm a couple of weeks ago, a very rare derecho, something none of us have ever heard of before. I meant to make note of it, but have been too busy being angry about everything else.
Anyway, I am sitting at my dining room table working on framing samplers, it is very hot and humid outside, one of those suffocating summer days. All of the sudden, the sky turned black and the wind came up--no sirens, just this crazy storm out of nowhere. I screamed for the girls to run downstairs, they grabbed the bunny and the dog and into the basement we went. The power went out and there we were in the dark, listening to loud cracking sounds and howling wind, no idea of what was happening, as our storm room is without windows. This lasted about 30 minutes, and it got a bit quiet, so I went upstairs to see what was happening. Just then, a huge branch fell from my big pine tree and went flying past the window--I did some fast back tracking to the basement. It was all over in under an hour, we found out later that it was not a tornado as we thought, but a derecho, a bit like a hurricane with 120 mile an hour straight line winds. Our yard was full of broken branches, but our trees stayed standing. We walked out to see what the neighborhood looked like and had to go back home, huge trees had fallen across almost every street and power lines were taken down with them. This wasn't even close to how bad it was in Cedar Rapids, I understand that they lost half the trees in the city and almost every building and home has damage. We were without power only 24 hours, they had no power or water for over a week. The storm tore across central Iowa and into Illinois, but Cedar Rapids bore the brunt of it.
This is my yard after the storm passed, it doesn't really show how much we had to clean up--took 3 of us working non stop for over 12 hours, and then all the city workers that came to get the brush after we cut it and tied it up.
Let's start with the old corona update. Iowa is supposed to be a hot spot for the virus, but life seems to be going on somewhat normally. Husband still treating and curing all his patients, and word is out that he is the one to come to see. He has people driving over an hour to get to his clinic, not even sure how they find out, but he is busy. We are all fine so far. My eldest daughter just started a job in retail and both daughters are supposed to go to college this week. Lots of rumors that they are going to go online and we are all pretty frustrated. A good friend of theirs just moved into a dormitory, they have to wear masks, no parties, no dining hall, just order food and eat it in the room. I am certain there will be outbreaks at the college, but I don't think stopping education and social interaction is the answer at all, especially when there are treatments that truly work. Part of me wants to cancel facebook and avoid all the angst, but the stubborn part of me thinks I need to stay and present a different point of view. I have been livid about the defund the police movement and have been trying to make myself heard. Mostly feel like I have been ignored, especially after a few people argued with me and I think I took them down rather nicely. Probably been unfriended more that I know. I am really worried as I live in an ultra liberal town and I fear they will bend to the demands of the mob and destroy the town. The protesters have been blocking streets here, we have had several incidents of cars trying to drive through and getting jumped on. Not as bad as Portland, but the possibility is there.
Oh, I should also mention that I went to the What Cheer flea market a month ago and spent 6 hours on two separate days walking the market, where there were no masks and no social distancing. No cases reported from the market, so just another interesting fact that makes no sense.
I continue busy with the shop, here is what I am listing tonight:
