Unplanned

This is where I say, Mom is fine. Somehow. Well done, 2011 Toyota Corolla, you served well to the very end.

Well. My to-do list has some new items.

More On Voting

We just had our primary election in Florida, and turnout in my county was about 25%.

One in four. Oh, people. We can do better.

(I am happy to report, by the way, that the school board candidate who wanted students to kneel for the cross lost.)

They do say they expect turnout in November to be closer to 90%, because it's the presidential election, and gosh, I would hope so. I mean, if you're not voting now...with everything that's at stake....when?

If you've been reading here for a while, you have probably gathered that I am...not a Republican. I was not a huge Biden fan but not hugely against him, even after his debate performance, but when he stepped aside for Kamala Harris, and with all that has happened since then, I have been surprised by the feelings of hope that I'm experiencing. 

And I freely admit that I knew nothing about Tim Walz, but the more I hear, the more I love him. LOVE him. 

I mean, he looks kind of grandpa-like, but he isn't at all old. Compare him to the opposition, for instance.

Remember the man or bear debate from earlier this year?

I know this one is virtually impossible to read, but if you search on "Tim Walz high school project genocide" there are a number of articles on it. It's fascinating! The way he thinks!

There is the absolutely hysterical fact that the other side is trying to claim that Walz wasn't really a coach, because he was an assistant coach, and, like, really? That's the big dirt on him?

Now, of course, for the editors among us, there is a dark side of the ticket to brace for:

Anyway! In all seriousness, I am very reliable in terms of voting in every election--are you? if not, maybe now is the time to start? don't feel bad for the past, change for the future!--but I will admit that I've never been that involved in campaigning, etcetera. But this year, this last month, I am feeling a bit more inspired, and when I saw mention of Postcards to Swing States, I thought, that is something I could do. 

I mean, I am not knocking on doors, or making phone calls, or working the polls. Let's be honest. These are all great things to do, but not for me (eww, people). Writing postcards encouraging people to vote, though, that I can do. And I can afford the stamps, as well as the hand cramps (though if I do some every week, that should be minimal). I signed up to do 100, and chose Florida specifically.

My postcards and instructions arrived this week, and the paperwork has some suggested messages. And maybe I am overly sensitive, but I do not at all like the first suggestion:

Message A: This “social pressure” message is the most effective based on many studies:

Thank you for being a voter! Who you vote for is private, but whether you vote is public record. Please vote in the Tues. Nov 5 election!

That sounds like a threat! No! Personally, I would not at all like to get that message. But the other two suggestions are better, and I'll probably alternate between them.

If you are a US citizen, please register to vote now. And if you're already registered, you can double-check and make sure you still are, here.

Please. It's so important.

Knowing My Limits; Sunset Sky

The light in our freezer has been acting up recently, going out--sometimes coming back on, but now not for a while--so I pulled out the manual to see if I could replace it. After all, I change the water filter, how much harder can a light bulb be? Even if I can barely tell where the bulb actually is...?

Well. The first thing the book says is to unplug the fridge. Umm. Really? Not that that's difficult, of course, but it seems ominous. I've never needed to unplug a fridge.

Next, it warns that I should wear gloves, to avoid getting cut. Nope, I'm out. I am not a handy person in the slightest, and if there's that much of a chance of the bulb breaking--and presumably showering the freezer with broken glass--no, thank you. I know my limits.

Is this something you would do without thinking twice? Have you hit a similar point where you instantly knew something was more than you were comfortable dealing with?

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Last night, I got off a zoom call with friends and went into the kitchen to feed the cat, because of course. There was a glow to the sky that made me look out the window, and wow.

That's through the window, and does not capture the almost orange glow of reality. So I stepped outside, and although the building obstructs the view more, the color is more true.

It was something else. The tourists got a good sunset, for sure.

Trip Anticipation, Part One; and Movie Scenes That Stick With You

I've written many times about how much I enjoy planning and anticipating and thinking about upcoming trips, treats, and the like. Since my New England trip in the spring, I haven't had any firm plans for next trips, but now there are a couple of things in the works, yay.

First up, I knew that I wanted to visit my aunt near Syracuse for Apple Festival in October, if everyone's health allowed it, but I finally made my plane reservations last week*. Which meant I had to do so much sorting through flight times that didn't work for me!
*With trip insurance, of course, just in case

My mother has long said that the reason the flights in and out of Syracuse are few, not direct, and poorly timed is because the airlines know that no one is going there unless they have to (she was glad to move away from the area after growing up there, as you can surmise). My feeling is that they are very much scheduling for business travelers, which is why there are so many early-morning and evening flights. 

No, I don't want to leave at 7 AM.

No, I don't want to arrive after midnight.

No, I don't want a seven-hour layover.

No, a 43-minute layover is not a good idea!

In any event, I was able to find flights that work better for me, so now I can start the fun of planning! I'll need to rent a car, which I haven't done in a while, so hit me up with any advice or recent experience you have on that.

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Have you ever found you remember a scene in a movie much more strongly than you remember the movie overall?

I was looking at a list of movies yesterday and it included No Reservations (do I need to say "spoilers" before I talk about a movie from 17 years ago?). I remember seeing it, but have only vague memories of it. However, I immediately remembered that one scene, the one where Catherine Zeta-Jones as the chef has her take-this-job-and-shove-it moment, and I found it on YouTube:

I watched it several times, and I can't pin down why I found it just SO satisfying, but yeah. I love it. While not feeling the need to watch the whole movie again.

BTW, I don't exactly need the Portuguese subtitles, but although there is a clip of this scene on the IMDB page, it cuts off before the (very satisfying) end of the scene, and also it changes "the asshole on 7" to "the guy on 7," which really mutes the impact, I think. I suppose there's a PG-13 version? Don't know why.

Stress Reading Update (Already)

My friends! After I complained yesterday about how I can't borrow any more library books through the Hoopla app this month because I only get 10* and I borrowed them all, and I read your comments on it, I got to thinking: 
*Poor Engie only gets two a month! I feel so greedy, wanting more than 10.

• I have a card from my local library system (Card One)
• I have a card through the reciprocal borrowing program with another library system (Card Two)
• In the Libby app, I can see and borrow books using both cards
• I only have the Hoopla app through the first library
• But does the second library use Hoopla too?

IT DOES.

I needed to use my other email address to set up the account, but it let me, and not only that: it gives me 20 books a month. TWENTY! Forget about accomplishing anything, I'll be reading now.

Yeah, you know I borrowed a book the minute I got this set up...

Stress Reading

While I have definitely done plenty of stress eating through worrying times, lately I've been adding another coping mechanism: stress reading. I have read A TON this summer, to the point where, this week, I learned that the Hoopla library program/app/thing has a monthly limit. Because I hit it. For the first time ever. Halfway through the month.

Mind you, I do prefer to borrow ebooks through Libby, so I tend to go to that first, and that program also has limits, but it's by number of books borrowed, so if I hit 10 and want to borrow another, I can just return one to open a spot. But Hoopla is different. Apparently.

I mean. I'm in the middle of a series! but I'll just have to read other things for the next two weeks. Apparently.

Yarn!

Recently some of my (yarn-enabling) friends mentioned that Purl Soho was having a sale, and I capitulated to the temptation, telling myself that I have been wanting to explore more knitting with cotton now that I'm in Florida, and they have a lovely yarn called Morning that is 75% cotton and 25% yak, which softens it up beautifully. I was looking through projects using it on Ravelry, and came across a beautiful rainbow blanket someone made, and, well, you know how I am about rainbows. I bought most of the same colors.

They also threw in a little sample skein:

With regular skein, for scale:

Santolina. For cotton/rayon/hemp, it's softer than I would have expected.

So that might be fun to play around with. Someday, when I find the time. I have so many happily ongoing projects right now, I'm not feeling the need to start anything new*. Though as I plan a couple of trips, that may change!
*Subject to change without notice

Voting

This weekend I finally pulled out my absentee ballot and sat down to review my voting for the August primary. As a registered Democrat, I was voting for US Senator, and then two races each for circuit court judge and school board, each with just two candidates. A fairly simple one this time! It will of course be much longer in November.

The school board ones were very interesting to me (I mean, "interesting"), as they are not done by party: that is, I was only voting for the Democratic options for Senator, to pick who will run against the Republican candidate in the final election, but the school board candidates, who as it happens are Republicans (not that unusual in Florida), are not separated by party in the same way.

Which meant that when I was reading about each candidate, I ran into things like this (as a "Value You Bring to this Position"):

Ohhhhh-kay. Kneel for the cross. In public schools. Yeah, no.

The ballot is completed, as is Mom's, and I dropped them both off at the library, which is an early voting site. I'm a big fan of early voting, though absentee is even easier, as I can do my research at home and fill it out without waiting in line. How does it work where you are? Do you have early voting? I think it's a great idea. Anything to make it easier for people to vote!

Anyway, the library is very convenient: I had a book due to return, and a hold that came in, so two errands in one stop. Yay!

I really liked the first one, Legends & Lattes; hopefully this one will be as good.

Re-Post: Review of Full Speed to a Crash Landing, by Beth Revis

Back in June, I wrote about a good book that I got to read ahead of publication, and now that it's out, I wanted to re-post what I wrote, in case any sci-fi fans could use the reminder! 

Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis comes out August 6, or as we can now call it, Tuesday. 

I was approved for an advance copy by Daw Books--thanks, y'all!

Publisher's description:

A high octane sexy space heist from New York Times-bestselling author Beth Revis, the first in a novella trilogy

Ada Lamarr may have gotten to the spaceship wreck first, but looter’s rights won’t get her far when she’s got a hole in the side of her ship and her spacesuit is almost out of air. Fortunately for her, help arrives in the form of a government salvage crew—and while they reluctantly rescue her from certain death, they are not pleased to have an unexpected passenger along on their classified mission.
...
A phenomenally fun novella that kicks off a trilogy of sexy space heists and romantic tension, Full Speed to a Crash Landing is packed with great characters and full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end.

My review:

I raced through reading this and enjoyed every twist and turn along the way! Ada has an upfront attitude and hidden depths, and she’s not the only one who may not be fully what they seem. As layers are pulled back, I was constantly reevaluating what had come before—it really made me think. I kept putting it down to ponder and then immediately picking it back up because I had to know what would happen next. The ending was both satisfying and left me wanting more: I look forward to reading the next in the series.

Also, I really want to talk about some things in the book that would be spoilers, so please read it and then let me know, and we can talk!

Yeah, Yeah, Hi, I'm Here

I didn't intend to go silent there, but life was a bit much and blogging fell down the to-do list. Mom was in the hospital for two days recently after a medication interaction knocked her sideways, and she's still a bit wobbly, but we're hanging in there.

I did want to pop on today to mention that we're not in danger from the tropical storm you may have heard about (Debby: did you ever hear a less threatening storm name?*), which is currently going by the west coast of Florida. It's side-swiping us, so we're getting plenty of wind** and rain, but we're lucky and it's nothing more. I mean, there's probably street flooding, but I'm not going out today, so not a problem.
*It's making me think of Debbie in the movie Addams Family Values, and I suppose she did have a dark side to her apparent perky cheer, didn't she?
**It is SO windy right now

 Anyway. We're here, we're fine, and I need to restrain myself from reading all day and get some things done.

Reading all day is much more fun, though.