So, today I discovered that the soundside boardwalk goes WAY further south that I had known and I walked the whole bit and it was lovely. About 2 miles when all was said and done.
Got lots of reference shots of things I’ll likely never draw, and a great shot of a willet or heron. Still no idea which it may be.
Same bird, different angle of the sun:
Then I got myself a frosty beer, which was excellent and people watched for a while in the breeze. The ice cream shop wasn’t open yet, so I went for the next best thing, an iced Mucky Duck, which is milk and espresso and chocolate, caramel, and hazelnut syrup. YUM.
Day started well with seeing a deer on the way to get coffee, so that was pretty awesome.
I’ve settled into great a routine of: wake before 8 with no alarm – feeling ACTUALLY REFRESHED, get coffee, read paper, check on turtles, and to walk to beach. Very relaxing AND healthy!
Not many turtles this morning – I suspect the rain and wind the past 24 hours had them hunkered down in calmer parts of the creek and they’re sleeping in.
As far as the paper goes, I am resolved to get a regular newspaper once a week when I am back home. There is so much more than the hellscape of news I get online, and a physical paper really is the best way to find it.
The Pet Resort sent a photo of Lily this morning – while she doesn’t look thrilled it looks like the in-house rescue remedy is helping. I so wish we could bring her here. She would love the screened in porch. But I know they’re taking good care of her. And I know she is loving the fleece in her condo.
It’s early for pictures
Another fun thing being here is that it gets my creative juices going. I write more, I doodle more, get more good photos, I just, I don’t know, am able to create and think more clearly it seems. I guess the removal of the day to day survival nonsense helps a lot. I wish we all could have that a lot more often. Lord knows we ALL need it.
Like this plant I saw the other day – I can see a bracelet or necklace here, and I may have to hit up the bead shop and see if I can make that happen.
Ocean is still a bit angry this morning – and I see a necklace thick with grey and purple freshwater pearls there.
I so love this place. Just gotta figure out how to get here with the cat permanently.
And I got my pato tacos immediately on Friday afternoon, so all is well. :-D
Been getting coffee for the house and a real proper newspaper from Duck’s Cottage every morning, which is just lovely. Given how the news is just a firehose of awful, the paper is great – it’s nice to read things like the fact that the Virginia Beach sweet corn crop is awesome this year. And the funny pages and horoscopes. It also feels like such a slow lane indulgence. If this is retirement, I need to get there asap.
The turtles are still here and appear to be thriving, despite a drop in the water level in the creek, which is admittedly a bit concerning. Lots of other neat wildlife here, too – and we even encountered a juvenile rat snake! Pics and a video of our new friend Roger the Rat Snake are in this post, but I will put them at the very, very end.
In further evidence that I am getting old, it’s cool and rainy and breezy today and I am 100% OK with that – still out on the screened in porch with a hoodie and jeans and it’s all good. Mostly cause it’s also very quiet, LOL.
Last night, I tried – I shit you not – sweet corn ice cream. Weird, yet good! Also gave me big flashbacks to Japan where sweet corn flavor was used for desserts & sweets as much, if not more, than in savory dishes.
OK, if you want to see pics and a video of Roger the Rat Snake – scroll down – if not, close the tab sand have a great day!
I am on PTO and it is awesome. I like my job, but damn, I am ready for a bit of an extended break.
Watching UK politics right now and its kinda wild. Best I can figure out, the Tories have wanted Boris Johnson out for a while, and I guess hiring a sexpest made it convenient to do now – cause I don’t think they actually *care* that he hired a sexpest, it’s just good timing for them. While I’ll be happy to see the last of that twat, I just hope they don’t replace him with someone worse.
It has been pretty hilarious watching everyone just turn on him, though.
Mixed bag of weather down in NC this coming week and honestly, I don’t care. I can eat my emotions in the sun or the rain.
Couple quick errands to run today, one load of laundry, and that’s really all I need to do to go. I am taking a page from my brothers book and just putting everything in a plastic tote. Easy to fit in the car and shouldn’t alarm the cat the way a duffel bag appearing would. And I am all about not alarming the cat today.
And now it’s time to pry myself off the sofa and get those errands done. You have an awesome day.
Did *not* get shitcanned! Meeting got moved from morning to afternoon and was asked, “Hey, can you give us a list of everything you’re working on?” and corporate’s very shortsighted weirdness about labor costs did make me very “Uhhhhhhh” going into it.
Fortunately it did seem to be more of a right hand-left hand thing. Director in Makati wants more testing of module from hell and thought I was a good one to put on the case and asked US Director to come to me. Director in Makati seemingly did not talk to QC team lead in Makati who has already put the wheels in motion on this. I said (nicely) they needed to talk to each other and I was not getting in the middle of this.
I did flat out also say, “Well, glad I’m not getting laid off” and both US boss & Director were, “LOL, Wut? You have six months worth of work on your to-do list. You have job security.” I mean, l’ll believe it when I can retire from this company, but it was nice to hear.
Well, time to go slog through some meetings and get through my last day before vacation!!!!
Free to get shot, get covid, get exploited, get ignored by your government.
Can’t believe I’m looking forward to work to have something to focus on other than this hellhole of a county for a little while.
Of course, that brings its own nonsense, as my director has set a meeting this morning with me and my US boss to talk about allocating more of my time to testing the module from hell. Thing is, we’re already doing exactly that, and he should be having this conversation with the team lead. So, I have no idea what the fuck is going on there. Hopefully the director is just a little behind the curve with the plan for the module from hell and I’m not gonna be stuck telling team lead, “Well, the director said…” Oh, and this is all assuming this isn’t me getting laid off with a fake meeting description.
But, only two days of work (or less if I’m getting shitcanned) and then I’m outta here to spend some time ignoring the world as best as I can for a little bit. I realize I’m incredibly privileged to be able to do that, but if I don’t, I’m gonna lose my fucking mind.
I’m also kinda grumpy this morning cause I thought the fireworks had finally finished last night and I went to bed and they started up again and went on until at least 11:30. I so hate when the 4th is on a weeknight.
Well, time to go get things done and see if I still have a job at the end of the day, LOL.
Been trying to pinpoint when the 4th started getting weird for me, and I can’t really place it, but it definitely went from a house festooned with flags and bunting just being festive, if a bit silly, to “that seems a bit much” to “oh, white nationalists, fanfuckingtastic.”
In a minuscule act of “Fuck all y’all”, I wore my “Let Me Be Great” pride hoodie out to get coffee and do the marketing this morning.
We look back at the founders of the country and understandably think they were complete dinosaurs. But *for their time* – they were radical and you could even say, somewhat progressive. They wanted better for the country. I genuinely think if we could teleport them here, and get them past the shock of cars and equal rights for all – I think if we could show them how much progress has been made, they would ask why we’re going backwards and in their name, no less.
I also can’t help but wonder where we might be had King George just given Parliament a shove and said, “give them a few seats, it won’t be the end of the world.” While the monarchy is kinda dumb, to have been a Commonwealth might not have been the worst thing.
It’s a humid, grey, calm morning out there – storms came through overnight and everything is very damp and extra green. It’s like Mother Nature knew I needed some extra calm.
I have been at loose ends about this country many times in my life – but never as much as now. And part of the problem is that I genuinely don’t understand why the R’s are the way they are. I don’t understand this level of hate for basically everyone and this belief that progression hurts them. I just genuinely do not get it.
And I sit here looking at my to-do list for the house and it all feels a bit pointless, but it also has to be done. It’s all very weird.
I’ve not done much for the 4th in ages and ages, and this year there is certainly nothing to celebrate. I’ll be doing some grilling, but just because I have an extra day off work to enjoy some grilling.
In *not* fucked up and depressing news, we have a hummingbird in the yard! I was on the porch yesterday and saw a bird I didn’t recognize briefly sitting on the porch – small, longer beak than the other birds that frequent the yard. Then a bit later, I saw it flying around the front window and there was no mistaking what it was. Not sure if it truly lives in the yard or was just passing through, but I genuinely cannot recall the last time I saw one around here. Now if I could just get one of the Eastern Bluebirds I’ve seen up the street come into the yard as well, that would be super cool.
Well, time to go muck about the house and control what I can.
I’m not the most politically savvy person, but I think I figured out why Democrats on a national level are doing nothing but fundraising off our collective trauma, and it is one hell of a downer.
They’re just getting their golden parachutes taken care of.
When the Supreme Court rules that state legislatures can decide federal election results regardless of the vote count – and we all know they will – there aren’t enough Democratic state legislatures for the Democrats to have a majority in the House, Senate, or to win the White House. And that’s that.
You’d think they’d be pressing harder for flipping state legislatures, but they’re just looking out for themselves. Because if nothing else, they know you only survive this country with money, and they’ll make sure they survive and fuck the rest of us.
You should still vote in every damn election – ESPECIALLY your state and local ones. They’re all we’re gonna have.
And I can’t even blame the cat. I just rolled over and I was wide awake at 7:45. On a Saturday.
But I’ve got coffee, so it’s all good. Yesterday was a very successful day – got to Petco for Lily’s gifts, over to REI for shorts (of course, not on sale, *sob*) and got my haircut and colored. And resisted the urge to have my stylist cut it to a pixie length and dye it blue.
I also did find a great swim top at REI – it’s a regular sports bra type top and then it has a flowy tank top over it. Perfect for someone who did zero work on their abs over the winter, LOL.
Today’s excitement is an oil change at 11. I scheduled it online for 11:40, cause, sleep in Saturday – and they called yesterday and said “oh, the techs go to lunch at noon, so if you come in at 11:40, you’ll be stuck waiting while they have lunch.” I appreciate the fact that they let me know this and moved the appointment up – but why let folks schedule appointments at 11:40 then?
The dealership online scheduling is a bit of a mess, but I still have some free oil changes, so…
It feels weird to worry about oil changes and whatnot when the country is essentially now a fascist-capitalist state, but the world still spins on its axis – the bins need to go out, dinner still needs to go on the table, and no one needs a seized up engine on top of everything else.
And on that note, I’m off to the dealership. Take care of yourself today – we all need it.
Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female. 