A Field Report - August 2020 . . .

I had not planned on writing a field report today, but as I sit down to write one seems to be called for.  The thoughts in my head aren't easily pulled together - so much continues to happen around us.

Health

I'm feeling good, and the cooler temps have meant an uptick in my walking most days in the last week or so.  Here's this morning's "View from the Path" photo.

It is a beautiful pond and I very much appreciate having it so close by.  Here's me on my walk yesterday:

A friend on Instagram suggested that since I was alone, I should pull the mask down.  Even though I live in an area that is not crowded, I wear a mask because my doctor has said that I should wear one anytime I leave the house.  So I do.  In addition, I never know who I might meet on my walks.  Some days I don't see anyone, but plenty of days I do, and almost none of them are wearing masks.  So, I wear mine.  I just found these wicking head bands.  I open them all the way up and they fit my sweaty melonhead.  Since this doesn't always happen, I'm always grateful when I find a product that works and fits.  And they do work.  It's such a relief to not have sweat dripping down my face and soaking my mask any more!  Yay! 

My knee has FINALLY healed after my 5th June fall that split it open.  As I look at the scar, I probably should have had it stitched, but how do you stitch the bendy part of your knee?  The scar is about 1/2" tall and about an inch and quarter long.  The main scab got knocked off a couple of weeks ago, and a second, much smaller one formed in that roundy spot in the middle.  It finally fell off earlier this week.  There is obviously still a lot of skin that will eventually flake off, but for all intents and purposes, this one is done and dusted!

The World

Here is an update on my summer project.  I've written 80 postcards to swing states and have 220 to go.  I shoot for 10/day most days and will be done in plenty of time to send them in late October on their assigned date.

I've just spent the past four evenings watching the Democratic National Convention.  It was excellent.  I think they should do it virtually every time!

It's no secret that I support the Democratic ticket.  In fact, when Vice President Biden picked Kamala Harris as his running mate, I felt hopeful about our country's future for the first time in a very long time.  The convention speeches were amazing.  If you missed them they are well worth watching, and if you need to pick just one, listen to Joe Biden.  He was electrifying.  I'm not kidding.

• Here is Kamala Harris
• Here is President Obama
• Here is Michelle Obama
• Here is Vice President Biden

I will be watching the Republican National Convention next week - as much of it as I can stomach.  I confess that I'm not looking forward to it - but I believe that it's important that I hear for myself what they have to say.  I have a feeling that the fact-checking next week will be exhausting . . .

This election is more consequential than any other in our lifetime and it will determine what our country will look like for many years into the future.  You MUST register to vote and you MUST vote on November 3, 2020.  

Your vote is your business.  Mine will be for:

 Organization

The kitchen is still in pretty good shape, and so is my office.  I continue to work on building a routine for myself, and - all told - it's going better than I had any right to anticipate.  As mentioned above, since the morning temps have cooled off I've been able to get out more to walk, and Morning Pages get written most mornings.  These two things seem to ground me well for whatever the day has in store.

I managed to get the majority of the African violets repotted so if you happen to watch my podcast, in the next episode you'll see that things on the shelves look a little different.  Finally   :-D

One area, however, where it's time for me to become more mindful is the area of spending.  I have wasted a crap-ton of money on Stuff.   I.  Didn't.  Need. 

I'm serious.  Here is my most recent waste of hundreds of dollars.

 

It's a small bell jar.  I've had it for  - wait for it - years. 

YEARS later, I needed a container for the plant you see in that photo.  It's a corytoplectus cutucuensis, one of what African violet growers call "the other gesneriads."  It's a cousin of the African violet and I grew it from seed.  I've grown it before and found that, in my growing conditions it needed a dome of some kind to provide enough humidity.  It's a plant that grows "up," and the only dome I had could grow it for awhile, but then I was stuck. 

A couple of years ago, at a local nursery I found a conservatory stand.  I didn't get it at the time but I really liked it, and last year I remembered it and decided it was the end-all be-all answer to my problem.  So, I motored on over to the nursery and bought it for about $150 give or take.  And I put my corytoplectus cutucuensis into it, sure it was the solution . . .  

Yeah no.  See the red arrows?  They are pointing to the huge gaps around the door of the stand.  Gaps so big that humidity could not be maintained and I nearly lost the plant.  I cut it back and restarted it, which meant that I could use my original small plastic dome again.  For awhile.

But all the while I was on the lookout for a tall dome or container of some sort.  When I want something, I'm like a dog with a bone.  I just can't let it go - I have to find what I need.  My search led me to an Exo-terra lizard/reptile habitat that set me back about $185 more or less.  It seemed perfect!!

It's taller than it is wide, and it can open from the front, and although there are air holes in the front, you can close them off.  Plus, it has that amazingly cool Buddha in the back that is actually made of out styrofoam!  It weighs about 60-70 pounds.  That means I would never be able to take it to convention with a plant in it . . . I don't even know how I got it from the car into the house by myself.  J was here and had to help me move it up onto this table, which was the perfect size for it.  And I just knew it would be perfect even though I couldn't move it and would never be able to take a plant to show in it.  And then I realized that the top is a screen.  That means no humidity.  But it's a removable screen!  I just knew I could go to a big box store and get them to cut me a piece of plexiglass to fit and then it would be humidity-city in there! 

Except I haven't ever gotten over to a big box store to do that, and now it seems like a non-essential trip.

I was going through stuff down in my basement earlier this year, when I came across a box that I didn't recognize.  Actually there was more than one box I didn't recognize - one of which turned out to be a case of panty liners that I got on sale when I needed to spend some of my FSA money a few years ago.  I'll have those until the cows come home.  But I digress.

Back to the pertinent box.  I was like, "what the hell is this?!"  So I opened it, and it was a large bell jar that I forgot I had.  I felt pretty foolish.  But the corytoplectus cutucuensis (hereinafter referred to as C.C. so I don't have to type it out every time) was still in the small plastic dome, so I didn't think too much more about it until a couple of days ago when I was down in the basement repotting plants.  

The C.C. really needed to be potted up, and I decided was going to try out the bell jar.  It is quite large so I wasn't sure what I was going to do for a base, but I thought I would figure something out.  So I went over to the shelf to pull it out, and saw another box behind it.  Once again I was like, "geez, what's this one?"  I pulled it out, too, and - surprise surprise surprise - I apparently bought two bell jars.  One larger and one smaller - and I got them so long ago that I can't remember if they came from Colonial Williamsburg or Mount Vernon . . .   Never even opened until I stumbled across the larger one earlier this year.  And the smaller one is the perfect size for what I needed and the base of the old plastic dome was a perfect fit for it.  Plus the old plastic base fit perfectly into the round plant stand that I wanted to use for it.  So I repotted the C.C., washed the dome, and Bob's your uncle.

I mean, look at it again.   It's PERFECT.

It's perfect, it's beautiful, and there was no need for me to spend an additional $300-odd dollars over the years on stuff that didn't work, because I already had it . . . 

And so, I think it might actually be time for me to go down to the basement and finish the sorting and tossing and donating that I've been doing in fits and starts down there in some fashion for the past 16 years.  The most difficult box will be my mom's funeral box.  I tried with it once, about six years ago and wasn't able to do it.  I don't know if I can do it now, but it's worth a go.

Embracing Hope

I talked earlier about the hope I feel for our country now that Biden/Harris is the Democratic ticket.   I'm holding on to that in the months to come.  November will be here before we know it. Remember that every vote counts.  I cannot stress this enough.  If you're worried about voting in person on election day and think that there could be a problem with voting by mail, nearly all states have early voting.  This is what I will be doing this year.  I've thought and thought about voting by mail, but this election is too important for anything to go wrong, and so I've decided that I will mask and glove up, and I'll be first in line when the early voting polls open.  

Last night, Vice President Biden quoted the Irish poet, Seamus Heaney's The Cure at Troy:

History says, Don’t hope
On this side of the grave,
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.

Then he said, “This is our moment to make hope and history rhyme.”

Rise up, America.