Raise Your Glass to the Turning of The Seasons

Happy Vernal Equinox! 

I spent the day doing a bit of cleaning, and then spending time wandering by a pretty creek with a friend, and then came home to a quiet evening of reflection and conversations with distant friends. It was a good way for me to commence this new season.

Growing up in Florida as I did, I never really experienced seasons. Or, if I did, they were of the "hot-hotter-hell-hurricane season" variety. So I didn't ever experience the hopeful green of spring, the lively but not killing warmth of summer, the colourful magic of fall, or the holy hush of a winter snow. None of those natural rhythms and routines and rituals were within my realm of experience--and even at a very young age, I felt like this was unnatural and wrong.

It wasn't until after I had moved to Indiana and endured the grim, grey, unrelenting chill of Midwestern winter that I was truly able to appreciate the hope and joy of a burgeoning Midwestern spring. And oddly, I feel like the two need each other--that we cannot really appreciate the joy of spring without having undergone the dark winter. Hello, metaphors, could you be more obvious?

(Now, imagine living in a time where food and warmth were genuinely scarce during the winter, and then I think we can perhaps really appreciate how extreme the joy of spring must have once been.)

Still, it has been rather a long and dark and lonely winter, moreso than usual, so I must admit that I greeted this first day of spring with more than a little...well, not joy, I don't have that much energy...but with extreme and pronounced pleasure. This beautiful first day of spring in 2021 here in Southern Indiana was one of the most fittingly lovely I've yet to encounter. The earth and trees are still bare and brown and grey, of course,  but the sky was a brilliant, cloudless blue; the air was crisp, the world touched with plenty of sunlight...and my spirits were raised by the news that on Monday, my age group will become eligible for the COVID vaccine here in Indiana.

It was perfectly fitting news to have on today, of all days. I certainly could have done without the grim isolation of this Coronavirus Winter, but I will admit, the spring is all the more joyful for knowing that it seems like we are coming to this cruel, blighted winter's end. 

Friday Frivolities, Volume 1

The older and hopefully wiser I become, the more I realize that most of the joy I find in life comes from the little stuff. The frivolous stuff, one might say. (But if it brings us joy, and joy is the substance of life, can it really be frivolous?) Anyway, here's a rundown on the things bringing me joy right now:

• So many people in my life are getting vaccinated, or have appointments to get their first vaccine. Middle Sister, and her husband. My Duncle and Aunt. Some of my closest colleagues. Many of my friends. This makes me so, so happy for them, and a little weight of worry is slowly being lifted from my heart. Do I have FOMO? Hell yeah I do. But that's okay. My time is coming.

• The advent of Spring! Admittedly, I have a love-hate relationship with spring. It heralds the onslaught of the Bad Times (AKA my nemesis, summer), but by the end of winter, even I am ready for a break in the relentless grey and chill, and now that I live in a place with four honest-to-god seasons, I very much do appreciate the metaphorical and literal beauty of rebirth that comes at this time of year. 

• This fool:

His name is Watson. My downstairs neighbor/friend belongs to him, and
I'm pretty sure he has everyone in our building wrapped around his paw.
He uses those soulful beagle eyes to devastating effect.

         

• Slow, quiet Friday evenings in, when I can putter about the kitchen and cook and listen to postmodern rock and pleasantly anticipate a work-free weekend

• Finally finishing the puzzle I've been working on all winter (no pictures, because the cats have already started knocking pieces out of it)

• My latest colouring project...I'm really pleased at how it's turning out so far!

• A work colleague recently gifted me with a "housewarming" gift for my dollhouse. How fun is that? Maybe I'll (eventually) throw a housewarming party for it, teehee!

What are some of the little things bringing you joy right now?

The Unbearable Cuteness of Being

Disclaimer: My mother was legitimately a Crazy Cat Lady. I think, at one time, she had in excess of 40 cats. And while cats populate my dreams at night a lot--I mean, a lot--I keep my crazy cat lady instincts sharply in check. It's amazing how much of a motivation Don't become your mother has become in my life. I've got two cats, and that's quite enough for me to be getting on with. 

Having said that, deep in my heart, I am a Crazy Cat Lady. I love these fuckers, even when I am screaming at them. We've driven each other a bit crazy (crazier) over this last year, but we've also been good company. Here are some of the cutest moments over the last 12 months...

This was that one morning, back towards the beginning of the pandemic,
when they were quietly discussing potential rebellion. 

This is the look Indiana gives you to lure you in with his cuteness...
right before he decides to attack you. 

Austen, on the other hand, always acts as innocent as he looks.

That time that Indiana decided to hide from 2020.

And that time that Austen decided to attack 2020 where it hurts. 

I call Indiana "my roadblock." Because he is big and orange and always in the way.

Austen could be a model. 

Indiana can't be bothered. 

Austen has seen some shit. 

Indiana isn't the best at hiding. 

This cat has a look that could melt butter. 

Indiana is VERY good at being a roadblock. 

Austen...well, I guess he sees a lot of shit. 

The observation of one of my colleagues

TRUTH

Best of the Memes

Holy cats, Daylight Savings Time did a number on me this year! I didn't lose an hour, I lost a couple of days. It definitely threw me off my game in a lot of different ways--including my blogging game. I fell off the wagon with my "Blog for 30 Days" challenge, folks. Bad Mel. 

But I'm back tonight, with what may be a bit of a cheat post, but it's still pretty fun. About this time last year, I started keeping a "Plague Diary"--for most of March, all of April, and half of May (essentially when Lockdown was at its most severe, here, in the US) I blogged extensively, keeping a chronicle of my experience of the pandemic. And I'd always try to sign off on a positive note by sharing some of the relevant memes, quotes, and tweets I had come across. A lot of them didn't age well--Tiger King-themed content being a prime example--but some of them remain gems to this day. So, here are my favorite "funnies" from that dark, dark time. Most of them embody gallows humor in some shape or form...but what better way to diminish fear and pain than to laugh at it?

Happy Pandemiversary, Friends. 

Reasons to Stay Alive

 Today, I finally finished a book that's been on my "book-it list"  for a while: Reasons to Stay Alive. 

More or less, it's what you think--a book about depression. It's mostly memoir with a smidge of self-help; the author shares his struggles with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, and also his gradual recovery. Parts of it were a rough read, as one might expect, but parts of it were extraordinarily comforting. On the one hand, the author didn't say anything that I didn't already know...but on the other hand, I felt seen. One of depression's most common weapons is its way of isolating us, making us feel completely alone and like no one else has ever gone through anything like it. So, it's reassuring to once again see a fellow soldier in the trenches. 

Towards the back of the book, the author shares some reasons to stay alive, reasons he had crowdsourced from people online. The reasons were in turns poignant, petty, painful, profound--and all resonated, in some way or another. And it made me think--it can't hurt to have my own list of reasons to stay alive. It's probably a good thing to have in my "toolkit." So, without further ado...

Reasons to Keep Buggering On

• First and foremost: there is a small clutch of people who would be left completely devastated if I exited this Earth. So, I gotta stick around. In other words: Love and duty are the foremost reasons to stay alive. 
• My cats. I'm responsible for these handsome, entitled little fuckers; I give them love and cuddles and food and kindness and shelter, and they are my responsibility. 
• The music of First Aid Kit--both their existing body of work, and whatever future delights they will produce
• Thunderstorms, particularly as they are approaching
• The cacophony of crickets and cicadas on warm summer nights
• The silent glow of fireflies lighting up those same summer nights
• The hugs of both of my brothers-in-law. Seriously, those dudes can hug.
• My Aunt Jo's cooking
• My Eldest Sister's Cooking
• Chris Evans as Captain America
• David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor
• All the books that I still have to read
• The words "crockery" and "cookery". Seriously, what great words!
• My sisters
• Tacos!
• Also, cupcakes. 
• All the places I haven't yet explored with my Travel Companion and North Star, Brian
• The simple contentment that comes on a random day, on which nothing remarkable happens one way or the other
• The sound of ocean waves breaking on the shore
• A good night of sleep, and the feeling of refreshment that comes in the morning
• Also, the feeling of faith that I cannot shake when I say, things may look better in the morning.

What are your reasons to stay alive?

10 Instagrammers Getting Me Through the Pandemic

Social media is a tricky, tricky thing. For more than a decade, we've been posting, sharing, liking, friending, blocking, trolling, streaming, gaming, flaming, shaming, doxxing, bullying, bonding, hooking up, ghosting, YouTubing, Facebooking, TikTokking, Zooming, Skyping, Facetiming, Pinning, Tweeting, vlogging, blogging, Instagramming, and god only knows what else. We've been suffering from FOMO (except, perhaps, for the first three months of the pandemic) and we've been comparing ourselves to the "best lives" and wit and pictures and statuses that we see through the various social media outlets to which we're addicted. We know it can get ugly, and toxic.

And yet. And yet. 

I can't speak for anyone but myself when I say, this last year has been made all the more bearable through social media. It's helped me to keep far more connected with people than I would otherwise have been; it's been a comfort and even an inspiration. Except when it hasn't been. 

I'm looking at you, here, Facebook. Last summer, when (especially) America was at its (then) most racist and anti-masking, and I maybe got into more than one scrap online that ended with people threatening me, I decided it was time to step away. I didn't deactivate my profile or anything, but I uninstalled the app from my phone, which sharply reduced my habitual access to that particular outlet. 

Well, nature abhors a vacuum, and during the middle of a pandemic, so do I. Before much time at all passed, I found myself scrolling more through Instagram, looking and saving and liking and basically being the creeper that I am. Food and travel and hobbies and seasons and animals and home decor, as well as the quotidian minutiae of everyday life, all of it represented in my Instagram feed; all of it beckoning and beguiling and inspiring and tempting and sometimes even encouraging me to live a better, or even best, life. I could look, and watch, and dream, and oh! it was a visual feast. 

Here are 10 of my favorite Instagrammers at present; they share highlights of their lives and creations, and I can't help but to feel a little bit inspired when I look at them.

Planning and Planners: 

Planning With Bumble creates fun and gorgeous Happy Planner layouts, shares snipits of her life, and provides little doodling tutorials; her results are invariably fun and pretty.

Sarahboparah is a bullet journaler based out of Yorkshire, England. Every time I look at her impeccably tidy, orderly handwriting, I feel a little calmer and even a little inspired. Like, maybe we can bring order into our own lives if we just write neatly?

Home Decor

offbeat.vintage.girl, based out of Canada, posts pictures of her abode, in which she somehow pulls together Victorian, Craftsman, and Art Nouveau vibes, along with a subtle edge of boho funk. The result is a home that somehow projects a carefully controlled, discreetly colourful chaos and dignified fun.  

On the other end of the home decor spectrum is mycambridgefairytale, whose home is cosy country shabby chic. Weirdly, this is not at all my style, but golly, I do find this a soothing and inspiring Instagrammer to creep on. 

Miniatures

Wildwood_miniatures was probably the first miniature account that began to suck me in, late last summer. At first, I thought I was looking at pictures of "real life" scenes, AKA not miniature. That's how realistic these creations are. 

Cheries_mini likewise showcases a lot of realistic miniature setups. Someone needs to tell this Instagrammer they should have pursued a career in interior design. 

Art/Creativity

2020 and 2021 have been the year of hobbies, haven't they? I certainly haven't been immune to this. I find mandala artwork to be particularly soothing and fun

_inkreations provides both videos of their drawing process, as well as tutorials. I love it when craftspeople share their knowledge, don't you?

Sanafloral's mandala and zentangle creations are a bit more freehand and informal, and therefore a bit less intimidating for those aspiring creatives who might be a bit timid.

Food

2020 and 2021 have also been the years for home cooks to really come into their own. Thank god for the Internet and these wonderful folks, jocooks and saltandlavender, who are so generous when it comes to sharing their delicious recipes.