From Snow to Snowdrops in Everyday Ramblings

It is positively balmy out there at 44˚F. And we have a brief reprieve from the rain. I went for a walk after a meeting I was dreading and thought I was ill-prepared for that turned out just fine. My schedule this week has been bouncing around out of control, but the net result is…less work. Yay!

Boy, can I tell the difference between oh say age 55 and 70. I flat out don’t have the energy I used to. I can still do a lot, and do, but it takes it out of me. My tail was seriously dragging after The Media Luncheon on Saturday.

Considering we had to reschedule because of the snow, we had a good turnout, including one of my new City Councilors, someone I voted for. Very cool. We had one podcast host and a professor of media studies, and their conversation was lively and informative. The podcast host was funny as well as being knowledgeable and she was wonderful with a number of the somewhat befuddled older members.

What is a podcast and how do I find it they asked, waving their phones.

Mrs. Sherlock is cleaning the last remnants out of her basement at the old place. It was lovely to see her. She dropped off two big Costco bags of toilet paper and paper towels. I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth even if they are brands, I wouldn’t buy for myself.

They had a meeting with the realtor yesterday. He gets 6% of almost 2 million dollars for hooking them up with the developer that will take the duplexes down. Wow-za. It is all still about who one knows…

On Sunday our book appreciation Zoom was about books having to do with food. Walt had asked for topics a few months ago and this was mine. He was a bit apprehensive about it because this is an area he focuses little attention on. He has a lovely partner who cooks and shops and gardens while he reads and talks to people.

I had picked this subject because it is one both my sisters and I agreed was interesting. We all read three of the books in Ruth Reichl’s memoir series starting with Tender at the Bone. I don’t have any of those books so they must have migrated into other people’s libraries. To get in the mood I downloaded the audiobook version of her newest in the memoir series about her time at Gourmet Magazine that came out in 2019 after the magazine was closed down.

I basically inhaled the dish-y book. Save Me the Plums. I had listened to interviews and reviews when the book came out, so I knew the highlights but still I enjoyed hearing all about how high-end magazine publishing used to work. And there was the bloody goat in garbage bags in the elevator with the impeccable Anna Wintour.

Last Sunday I spent the whole day listening to Richard Osman’s book We Solve Murders. Very fast paced, silly, contemporary but he gets credit for favoring cats.

Is this a trend? An audiobook each Sunday? Maybe. Excellent distraction for when I am so tired I am not fully operational.

Tomorrow, I teach two classes and have two meetings, one in person and one on Zoom. I need to rest up. The contentious meeting scheduled for Friday has been pushed off. We got a taste of that one on Monday. Bleh. Democracy sure isn’t easy when folks have strong feelings and are prepared to dig their heels in.

There are more birds singing early and they are getting settled into their breeding finery. Stirrings are happening out there in the wet gloom. If we can just stay relatively sane a little bit longer spring will arrive.

Sanity does seem like a reach however, when the world appears to have gone completely and totally mad.