Fri. Aug. 15, 2025: Not Fun on the Block

image courtesy of  Ирина via pixabay.com

Friday, August 15, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Chiron Retrograde

Hazy and humid

We are at the end of another week, and halfway through August.

If you haven’t yet had the chance, and you want something fun to listen to this weekend, try “The Effie Effect.” You can listen here. And I’m going to keep plugging it for a few more weeks!

Yesterday wasn’t all that hot, only in the mid-80’s, but it was 94% humidity, so it was heavy.

There was some stuff to do for the Boiler House residency over the past few days, which is always fun. I will work on the program in early September for it, and meet next week with the library contact who is putting together the reading. This week, the library has gone full out with a series of events culminating today in the Friends throwing an ice cream social this afternoon and Joyce Maynard doing a program this evening that’s so big it had to be moved to the Downstreet Hotel. So I’m going to give them a minute to catch their collective breath before going over the details for our reading!

I had a hard time getting going, mostly due to the construction noise and disruption.

Managed the July pieces for Llewellyn. Could not concentrate on ANGEL HUNT. I managed to adapt a couple of episodes into a chapter. Even a little progress is better than no progress.

By then, I was sweaty and disgusting and had to shower before my meeting.

Swung by the post office on my way to my meeting to mail some bills and buy some stamps. And, of course, catch up on everything that’s going on.

Then, it was off to Steeple City Social. The walk and the post office took less time than expected, so I arrived very early for the meeting. I settled in with an iced coffee and a Nutella babka bun, which was amazing. I drafted a poem on the topic for the next event at the Mount – even though I haven’t yet said I would do it. There are some decent bones there, but I’m trying to say too much. I need to narrow the focus.

My colleague arrived, and we had a great chat. She is a fellow mystery writer, local to the city. She’s also a Master Gardener. So we had lots of things to chat about. Time just flew, and it was nice to get to know a local colleague. There’s so much for “emerging” and “aspiring” and not enough support or resources for the working artists who aren’t famous, but are putting in the time and creating solid, steady work.

After we parted ways, I walked the few blocks down to Mosaic, where a fellow cohort member headed up an exhibit that one of my students from last week’s workshops had several pieces in. So it was nice to turn out to support them and catch up.

I was getting pinged constantly there, and had to leave after just a few minutes. The closed off street was causing a problem for the Chewy delivery. But by the time I got home, the Fed Ex guy had muscled through, and the box was in front of my door. So we have happy cats.

Because of the chaos on the street, I walked down and back. It wasn’t far, but in the heat and humidity, I was pretty wiped out by the time I got back, and my face was red as a beet. How many showers can one take in a single day? We are finding out it’s quite a few.

In order to get the free shipping, I’d ordered more catnip strawberries, and I also ordered catnip bubbles. Tessa didn’t get a strawberry last time (she got a carrot), so she got one last night, and Charlotte and Bea got new strawberries. I hoped Willa wouldn’t notice she didn’t get a new catnip toy, since she was the only one even remotely interested in the catnip bubbles. The other three run away when they see them. The fluid is weird and sticky and drippy, so I don’t think it’s a hit with any of us.

More and more instructions are coming in for tomorrow’s party, and I’m getting intimidated by it all.

Heated up some leftovers for dinner, which were surprisingly good, and read in the evening, when not playing with the cats. Slept reasonably well, although it didn’t get as cool as promised, and we never got the promised thunderstorms, either.

Slept through the night, which is rare, even though it didn’t get as cool as promised.

I had to take out the garbage very early this morning, because they will be pouring the new sidewalks right in front of the house – which means I can’t go grocery shopping, either.  None of this would be a problem if they bothered to communicate, but they don’t. This is an election year, and the incumbents have just lost this neighborhood. I was talking up the importance of voting, but this simply reaffirmed the general belief in this neighborhood that the city doesn’t care about the non-wealthy residents, and this incident, showing a lack of basic respect and courtesy, has proved it, so why vote? I understand, even though I feel that one must always vote. But the incumbents have definitely brought this on themselves. I still have no response from the city, and it’s now been two days. “Look out the window and you can figure it out, we don’t have to respond to your concerns” only makes things worse. “This is for your own good, eat it” doesn’t work, either.

I will either have to try and squeeze grocery shopping in this afternoon, once they leave, before the Maynard event, tomorrow morning before I leave for Greenfield (which is pretty much a non-starter) or sometime on Sunday. Stay tuned to see how it all shakes out. I already had to dip into my emergency coffee reserves. Yes, I keep “emergency coffee” in case I run out of the regular coffee, mostly already ground so if the power goes out, I can still heat water and use the French press instead of the big, programmable coffee maker.

Today will be a head down working day. Hopefully, I can do at least a partial grocery run in the afternoon, and then make it to the Maynard event this evening.

Tomorrow is a very stacked day, so I just have to flow with it and hope for the best. It’ll all be fun, just stressful if I’m too early or too late for something.

Sunday should be a quiet day, to recover and work on one or more poems. I find I need a lot more mental space to work on poetry than a lot of other forms.

Oh, by the way, by the time I got up, Bea had stolen all the new strawberries and put them wherever she keeps her secret stash.

Have a great weekend!