Cool and slow

September is doing its thing and I am grateful. I saw a rainbow and purple asters on a walking/jogging trip this week. I love being under the New Mexican skies. 

I keep forgetting to take a picture of the purple flowers. They are so cheerful by the highways and all over. It may be the same plant (or similar) to Michaelmas daisies in Europe. 

Grocery store pharmacy gave me $20 credit for getting covid and flu shots together. I will take it! Got recommended the RSV and pneumonia shots as well. Those age ranges now start at 50. Maybe next month. I'm not sure about adding those since I work at home. On the other hand, the Danish had pneumonia a couple years ago and it sent her to the hospital and was scary. 

I can feel a little feverish and off during fall and spring. I just started using my full spectrum light in the morning and maybe that'll help. I'm back on the exercise horse this month and glad to be moving again. I am jogging now and looking forward to when it will feel a bit easier. A couple more weeks ought to help. 

I've been playing my electric keyboard every day now that I've got a stand. It feels fun even though it's slow to make progress on the Joplin rags I'm trying. I have a truly random set of sheet music and am also playing from an Ernest Tubb songbook. I have a pile of classical music books waiting. I have a copy of sheet music for Railroad Blues 1920 that I'm probably going to frame for the image. I looked up the composer, C. Luckeyth Roberts. He taught himself to play piano only on the black keys as a kid. Original. "Got ev'rything I had except my shoes; He left me flat just where I'm at an' blew, that bird has flew." 

Specifics

Last night I woke up near 3am. I also heard a mosquito near my ear. After peeing and putting in an eyedrop, I felt too hot. I turned on the house fan without the pump for the white noise as well as the air movement. I was able to go back to sleep in maybe thirty minutes. In the morning the thermostat said 70F which is the first time I've seen that temp since spring. August wasn't our cool-down this year but September seems to be coming up with the goods.

Mosquitoes in the house is a scourge. We were okay through July but have been seeing them regularly inside since August started. The Instrument is a great help. 

It's a stupid design with heavy D batteries in the handle but it gives me a fighting chance. I can kill one by hand occasionally, but this way I can just swing wildly wherever I've seen a bug. The crackledy-crack! tells me when I've had success. So satisfying. 

I keep coughing and my tonsils are still swollen. I told Nod I would go to the doctor last Friday if the cough was still happening. I lied, because I don't want to go! But I guess I will. And now I have an urgent care appointment for tomorrow morning. There's still time, immune system! You could shut this shit down so I wouldn't have to go. 

I have a tender spot where the gum has receded and need to call the dentist's office. This physical maintenance stuff is work. I'm waiting to feel over my viral whatever it was (Covid) until I try walking/jogging again. My taking the month of July off extended through August. I was reminded that chair squats are helpful for stabilization and all. I managed to do those and planks once already this week. The muscles on the sides of my ribs have noticed! It makes me want to do more even though that is in conflict with a general reluctance to plank.

Ursula's latest Hemlock & Silver is delivering the pleasant distraction. Her characters are just fun to spend time with. Sounds like she has a bunch of new books coming out in the near future. I recently finished The West Passage by Jared Pechaček, which I heard about through bluesky recommendations. A weird and a wonderful combination of down-to-earth characters and wildly alien gods in a vast history. It even reminded me of Wonderland in a couple of corners - that doesn't happen often! I loved Planetfall by Emma Newman with its layered secrets that drive the plot. The sequel After Atlas is set back on earth in a near-dystopia that I found uncomfortably easy to imagine. The third one must be back in space and I will hope to enjoy that one more.