A Phase, I Hope in Everyday Ramblings

If I am going to procrastinate, which I am doing, I might as well share it with you all. I felt too tired to go to the garden yesterday. It was humid with this big changeable sky. I had walked downtown earlier to the League office to pick up some postcards, envelopes and chat about a number of things I had questions about. Like how the keys worked. When I got home, I was done.

The problem was, I still had things to do. Strength training. And bookkeeping for my new role. But I actively didn’t want to do them. So, I grabbed my watering can and garden basket and went to the garden anyway. I needed to water, and I kept trying to figure out with a schedule more full than normal how I was going to get that in.

I was in luck. There were no obstreperous homeless encampments or fires on the way. The traffic was pretty intense, but people did actually stop for me at the crosswalk. And there were no school children monopolizing the community garden as there often are in the afternoon. Other than the garden maven who came over briefly while I was there, I was on my own.

What a glorious way to procrastinate. Puttering around. Deadheading. Weeding. And watching the amazing array of insects attracted to what I had planted. The blue garden this year has been a win for wildlife. Including a delightful white and yellow butterfly (or moth) that was hovering over the lobelia. And all sorts of bees.

So, in spite of the fact I was too tired to go down there, I went anyway and was glad I did. That didn’t help me get the other things done though.

And apparently that sunk down into my subconscious because after falling asleep absurdly early I woke up from a scary nightmare gasping. I don’t think I yelled but it was one of those whoa baby rapid climbs up from a deep deep sleep to disoriented wakefulness, dry mouth and racing heart in play.

Of all things the dream was about zombies. No. I hadn’t been reading or watching any zombie things. It was the mere suggestion in an interview with Colson Whitehead about The Underground Railroad about his novel about the zombie apocalypse that sent me over the edge.

Shaking myself I thought okay then. I am not going back to sleep until I can get my brain clear of these awful images, so I sat up and started reading the police procedural I am in the middle of. Not a zombie in sight as this series doesn’t have a supernatural element like some of them do.

What this series does have is a trend I am seeing. It is like a television or streaming series where it has a set of characters and then in each book, a murder to solve but across all the books in the series a broader mystery involved, oh say a particularly nasty villain or in the series I am reading now, police corruption. The hook to keep one reading.

Many of the Joy Ellis books are like this and now I am reading Rachel McLean. This is a thing. I listened to one book by Charlie Gallagher and the hook at the end was so strong to get you to move onto the next book that I chose not to finish it in annoyance at the ploy. Sally Rigby is another of these writers. My favorite by far so far in these long reads in Joy Ellis. She has an active page on Facebook and seems a thoroughly lovely person.

Other than going to the garden, when I have a spare moment, I am reading these books. This is my main procrastination tool. Not streaming or gaming but books. Although, some housework is also serving as well.

Nothing quite like not wanting to tackle an unfamiliar task to encourage a body to pick up a broom or become very interested in a load of must do this right this minute laundry.

I hope this is just a phase…