A Long-Overdue Brain Dump

It happens on the regular: I put off writing about what I need to write about because I have other topics I “should” be posting, like the monthly cataloging of the blooms in my garden, or the annual missive to my son on (or around) his birthday.

Screw that. I keep this blog around for me. It’s no longer the angsty ramblings of a twenty-something who’s trying to keep in touch with all of her friends at once. This is the public journal of a middle-aged working mother. Basically, it’s a lot easier to find references to life events after the fact using an indexed database of words than it is to rifle through a handwritten journal.

The thing is, though, that there haven’t really been very many life events to record this year, with the global pandemic and all. No tropical vacation, no visiting friends and relatives in other cities, no local bands and food trucks downtown, not even any photo walks along the river.

I guess that’s one reason why I haven’t been sitting down and pouring out the contents of my brain lately: there hasn’t been anything that I especially wanted to record for posterity, or to share with others by crossposting to Facebook. I sew stuff, I grow stuff, I work, I pretend to be a badass martial artist, but it all feels like Groundhog Day.

And now autumn is settling in.

The fall foliage is beautiful, and I’m definitely a big fan of hoodie weather… but I’m solar-powered. It must be the string of chilly, overcast days that are getting to me.

Or maybe it’s the sameness of every day working from home and supervising my son’s remote learning. Maybe it’s our geriatric cat pissing on the carpet by my sewing machine, instead of her litter box, making one of my primary hobbies difficult if not impossible for the time being. Maybe it’s that jowly, puffy, saggy, tired, worn-down face staring at me from the bathroom mirror every morning. Maybe it’s my Krav Maga class getting pushed later and later in the evening, so that I leave for class about the time I’d normally be starting my son’s bedtime routine, meaning that a) I feel like I can only go once a week for his sake; and b) when I do go, I’m already tired and not at my best by the time class begins.

Maybe my brain meds need adjusted. Maybe I need more than just brain meds. Maybe I need to get off the brain meds.

Maybe everybody in the world is having a hard time right now, or maybe it’s just me.

Breaking Out the Candle Stash

While trying to identify and eliminate a funky odor in the kitchen this evening, I decided it would help to burn one of my selection of homemade soy candles from years past.

This was one of the first scent combinations I came up with on my own: Amaretto and Coke. I’m not sure when was the last time I lit this candle, but I’d forgotten how much I love this scent.

Nasturtium

I started some Nasturtiums from seed this year, to pick up on the color of the dwarf Japanese maple in the Early Spring border (which isn’t particularly colorful in the summer).

This is the only bloom so far, but I do like the pop of color it adds. Hopefully the chipmunks don’t eat it right away.