Shock

I started watching the news which I never do during the day, near the start of the Congressional session. They had already gotten to Arizona and the objection so the houses were split to debate.  I heard McConnell and Schumer speak and then it was Cruz's turn.  I had to turn it off when his logic failed him.

I turned the TV back on when I saw a news flash on my phone of the protestors storming the Capitol.  From then on I was in shock.

 

Tears flowed when the broadcasters enumerated all the different units that come to the rescue of Congress. I am well familiar with some of those.  My father in law and brother in law were once in the DC police force, we lived in Maryland for 40 + years, my sister lives in the VA suburbs as do my husband's family.  These pictures, these descriptions just didn't make sense for what I knew America is like.

At least there was this good news in the afternoon: Democrats have the majority in the Senate.

I'm writing this at 7:30 am.  I've only seen one headline that the Congress affirmed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's electoral votes.  I can only hope that there is action being taken to remove tRump from office now. The fault for this rests with him, his sycophants, his enablers, and the media that amplified his lies as facts .

Books Read

 You'd think with all the quarantining that 2020 would have been a banner year for reading.  Not the case. I only read 64 books whereas 2019 was 79 and 2018 was 81.  I think I can explain this because library books were harder to come by, I did a lot of jigsaw puzzles in the first several months of our lock down at Vantage House, and I just got turned off by some of the books I started and just couldn't stomach.  Those don't get added to my list even if I read the ends before giving up on them. 

So I just posted the last 7 books I read to my list here.  Of these I'd recommend the latest Louise Penny book but only if you've read the others in her series.  If you haven't read her then start with her first one. Well worth it if you like mysteries.  

I'd also recommend The Nickel Boys for a picture of what racism has been like and likely continues in this form.  For lighter reading the historical fiction The Two Mrs. Carlyles is good.

What am I reading now?  I started In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larsen, a narrative non-fiction about the U.S. Ambassador to Germany in 1933.  It's well written but it's not comfortable reading in light of who we still are trying to extricate ourselves from in the form of tRump.  I see too many parallels between Hitler and tRump and Hitler's minions and tRumps kowtowing senators.  Maybe I'll get back to it after January 6th or 20th.   (Thanks to Marcia LaRue for pointing out my error.) It's the February selection for my book group.

So you probably noticed the photos had nothing to do with my content.  I  am so looking forward to being able to travel again so I went into my photo files and brought up some photos from a trip to Europe some years ago.

The View from Here

 I will always think of 2021 as the year we settled into living at this old house.  Though move in was in December, January is really the month it will feel like our home.

Here are a few photos of that I see every day now.

The view from the windows near my desk.

Our barn out back.

The field and mountain behind us.  We still have snow because its mostly shaded all day.

One daughter gave me a bird feeder for my birthday and the other daughter gave me one for Christmas. We bought the tallest hook at Home Depot which had two hooks before I got the second feeder.  What a premonition!

Looking at the house from the deck. The oldest part on the right was once a post office we've recently learned from the previous owner.  She said there was once signage in the cellar.  Our son in law happened upon a map and we could locate our house labeled post office and store, too.  One day we'll get to the historical society to learn more.

The back part of the house was a barn.  It may have been converted to living space at some point but in 1992 the previous owner gutted it and renovated it.  Now it's a great room.

The beams from when it was a barn are still visible.  The doorway on the left goes into the older part.

I love these steps to our second floor - master bedroom, bathroom and Dan's study are up there.

Here's the front part of that room.  My desk is behind me and not visible.  There's a guest room with another bath to the right.  Again the original beams are still visible. 

In the house we built in 2005 and sold in 2016 we had old timbers and lots of windows.  I think that's why this house appealed to us so much.

 Here is that house:

Welcome New Year 2021

 Don't know about you but I'm having trouble reading any article that looks back to reminisce about 2020. Let's just close that chapter and look forward to better times in 2021.

But for the sake of a laugh, here's what a friend forwarded to me.

Here are 12 things to consider as we get closer to closing the door on one of the most horrible years of our lifetime. 

1. The dumbest thing I ever bought was a 2020 planner. 

2. I was so bored I called Jake from State Farm just to talk to someone.  He asked me what I was wearing. 

3. 2019:  Stay away from negative people.  2020:  Stay away from positive people. 

4. The world has turned upside down.  Old folks are sneaking out of the house & their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors! 

5. This morning I saw a neighbor talking to her dog.  It was obvious she thought her dog understood her.  I came into my house & told my cat.  We laughed a lot. 

6. Every few days try your jeans on just to make sure they fit.  Pajamas will have you believe all is well in the kingdom. 

7. Does anyone know if we can take showers yet or should we just keep washing our hands? 

8. This virus has done what no woman has been able to do.  Cancel sports, shut down all bars & keep men at home! 

9. I never thought the comment, “I wouldn’t touch him/her with a 6-foot pole” would become a national policy, but here we are! 

10. I need to practice social-distancing from the refrigerator. 

11. I hope the weather is good tomorrow for my trip to the Backyard.  I’m getting tired of the Living Room. 

12. Never in a million years could I have imagined I would go up to a bank teller wearing a mask & ask for money. 

Happy New Year!  It's got to be.