May 17

The weather predictions were right. We had rain overnight and have had more so far today. We aren't far behind last May for rain and it was the wettest on record. No gardening today.

Instead I am trying out another Tunisian stitch pattern to, hopefully, reduce my scrap stash.

Two things have been absolutely unavoidable over the last almost five months: the coronavirus and politics. I try to limit my exposure for my own sanity but, even so, I feel like I am drowning in information, misinformation, outright lies and bombast. I will give you a few random thoughts on the matter.

Random thought 1: there are a number of good reasons to open up the economy bit just because you want to get get your hair cut/styled, your nails done or other such frippery is not a good reason. I don't know how many of the "protesters" really feel that those things are important or if the news media focuses on them making them seem more numerous than they are. The local news made a big deal out of Chicago's mayor getting her hair cut about a month ago and asked the Illinois governor if he also planned to go for a hair cut, and just last week asked again because his hair looked neatly trimmed. This is all in the "gotcha" spirit that seems to permeate news these days. (Note: Pritzker said he did his own hair cut with help from his son.) Frankly, this trivializes the pandemic which has cost nearly 90k Americans their lives.

Random thought 2: No one, repeat no one, was prepared for the pandemic. Not on any level, though some of us were better prepared than others. The politicians could be put in two categories: those who could think creatively about  how to deal with the situation and those who tried to magically wish it away. At the individual level some of us were more resilient and adaptable while others were more brittle and simply wanted things to go back to what they were before we even knew the pandemic was here. A character in a book I like described cats as furry little Republicans who don't like change at all. Whether they vote Republican or not people are much the same just without the fur.

Random thought 3: The pandemic put us in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, socially, economically, and politically. No one is really happy with how politicians have handled the problems whether they vigorously attacked or kept hands off. Every state is split between those who think the politicians did too much for too long and those who think the stay-at-home orders and other measures should be maintained/extended/strongly enforced. People are in the same situation. If your employer is deemed essential and you go to work you risk getting the virus but if you don't you will lose income if not your job. If your employer is non-essential you may not have a job at all and a good many of those businesses won't be coming back. What about child care? With schools out the kids are at home whether you have a job to go to or not.

That is enough random musing.