Mucho maintenance

Upkeep
During June I got my teeth cleaned, my vision checked (ordered new glasses) and am going for a mammogram today. Deferred maintenance is getting addressed. I feel like I should go ahead while I can do it. It is possible that our town could lock down in the near future. Mandatory mask order starts tomorrow. I hope there aren't any scuffles about it, that is so undignified. Not to mention selfish and cruel. 

Thoughts in ears
Just listened to two Gimlet podcasts. One uncomfortable one about U.S. white people sending unsolicited small amounts of money (via venmo or paypal) to black people recently: The Least You Could Do. I went in thinking that was a harmless minor form of reparations but have decided to take all the speakers' discomfort into account. Guess the guilty white money should be sent to non profits as is traditional. The second podcast is about the role of exercise in health. It has convincing info about the cancer- and dementia-fighting aspects of regular exercise. 

Work remains

That said, I failed to do any more exercise after my previous post. Last week included a little light insomnia and I realized that I need to commit to at least leaving the house for a walk every day. I don't handle losing sleep well and may as well prevent it if I can. I may need to create a new secret project to get my brain engaged. Or maybe give a pep talk to my beautiful natural killer cells while I'm exercising, like the researcher included in that podcast.

Love stories

Finished Fleabag season two and had many feelings. I deeply enjoyed the metafilter discussion of this season immensely. So good to soak up some fellow fan reactions even though I did not enjoy it when it first came out. I had initially thought that there might be future seasons. But after watching the final episode I dearly hope not. It was a beautiful ending.   

The Expanse, a.k.a. Space, is still giving good tv. But I hate the 'Bobbie on the wrong side of the law' storyline. And I think Holden's action on Ilus was stupid and provocative after the experience of the Ring. There was one episode where I cordially hated all of them for a bit.   

I am uncool and very looking forward to watching Hamilton on the Mouse channel on July 4. 

Nod to solstice

Summersummersummer
We have been enjoying low 90s and fairly dry which is A plus June weather in Kansas. Even had breezes yesterday and today. We've been making our weekly quota of lake swimming while avoiding most other lake goers. Peaches and strawberries have been good. Social distanced socializing still kinda sucks but it's better than nothing.

Plant happiness
Peapods, sunflower, cornflowers, mint in a pot.

Sewing project
I took apart a pair of drawstring pj pants that I had worn holes in. They were very simple and my favorite, thus the holes. I used a sheet that had a hole in the middle to cut out pieces. After teaching myself to use the sewing machine again I ran up some seams. Then I laughed and cackled because I had created one big tube instead of two legs. After ripping back and trying again I achieved the correct number of legs! A 200 percent improvement! It was so much fun and the perfect project since I didn't need to end up with a garment that would be seen by humans outside my house. I finished them and wore them to bed. Pajama triumph!

Physical maintenance minutia
Exercising outdoors in the heat of summer requires    effort. I want to do it first thing in the morning when I wake up since the temperature is best then. The other option would be to wait for sundown. That's quite late right now and I would rather not exercise at night. So Tuesday I went out first thing before breakfast. It was fine, the air was fairly cool and only two other people were on the track. I didn't love it and I didn't feel great even after eating some cereal. I don't know if it's a blood sugar thing or if it was just a crummy day. I'm going to try again tomorrow morning. Maybe I can do this two working days a week. Two sounds better then three at this point. I may need to prep breakfast the night before which seems like a terrible burden.

Keep it small, keep it gentle

I'm going to give blood today and that's the most cheerful thing I have had on my calendar in a long time.

There are bees at the Lazy Evaluation Ranch and I am so happy to share in the beekeeping joy. Nod and I walked through a clover field brimming with blossoms last week. I had not known before that you could smell clover flowers when there are enough of them. Deeelightful.

I'm mostly keeping away from news until I feel stronger. I did a short guided metta meditation last night that was humble and exactly what I needed. Thank you, Sharon Salzberg.