Simply Moments

I've been having some real trouble concentrating lately.  I've started at least half a dozen books but can't seem to get into them, even though three are authors I love and usually dive right in the minute their books are published.  It's frustrating and unnerving. Books have sustained me through highs and lows, ups and downs, single and coupled.  They have always been my escape, transporting me outside myself to new worlds and adventures.  When I can't read, I feel lost, like half of me is missing. This morning I happened across an article addressing this weirdness.  As the months go by and we're bombarded with fear and anxiety over the political turmoil, a virus sweeping out of control, unemployment...more and more people are feeling exactly as I am: they can't read anymore, nothing holds their attention, concentration is a thing of the past. Well, wow.  I was very relieved to find I wasn't losing the plot...or if I was, at least there were tons of ot...

Recently I discovered an amazing YouTube personality: Li Ziqi , a young Chinese woman who has filmed the most incredible videos of her life in rural China.  She's not only beautifully elegant to watch, but there's nothing she can't do.  Literally.  I've watched her make the most mouth-watering food, often made in a giant wood-fired wok.  In fact, most of her cooking is either done in the wok or in various pots and clay ovens, all with fire.  She grows all her own food, raises her own chickens and geese for meat and eggs, builds bamboo fences, makes furniture and clothes, and grows fabulous gardens overflowing with food and flowers. In one episode she went out to gather mushrooms, then made her own leaf basket to carry them home!   The background music is soothing, relaxing and makes you just melt into watching her work and cook and garden.  She takes care of her ancient granny and often cooks for some of the elderly people nearby, taking them love...

Oh. My. God.  Could we just drop that word from our vocabulary, from the dictionary, from our minds...from the lame duck's constant attempts to thwart democracy--aided by his self-serving Reptilians--as he endlessly spouts of conspiracy ? Imagine this:  Thousands of vote-counting volunteers, hundreds of election officials, a multitude of postal workers across the land...all working together in a single, coordinated movement to corrupt our election process.   Seriously?  It beggars belief that anyone could give credence to such a stunning absurdity, let alone support the person currently hustling to devolve our democracy into authoritarianism for his own gain.   And don't get me started on McConnell, the man who holds the puppet strings and is really running this country. Trump--with absolutely zero political experience--isn't capable of understanding, or frankly even caring, about the American people, a deadly virus, the environment, our allies. ...

I spent most of the past several days trying desperately not to succumb to hours and hours of reading the news, hearing the news, struggling with the news.   It was a solid week of Trump trash talk, inciting people with his endless parade of lies, his constant tweeting.  I particularly loved the one where Covid's been cured--as the numbers continue to climb into the stratosphere.  Or the one where he's already won the election and is preparing to celebrate at the White House tomorrow night. And let's not ignore the Texas highway attack where a dozen or so pickup trucks surrounded the Biden-Harris campaign bus and tried to run it off the road...followed by Trump tweeting: I Love Texas , and calling these idiots "patriots." I finally had to stop before my head exploded.  I'm now limiting myself to one hour of news per day.  I read the NY Times and the Guardian, then shut off my laptop, Kindle, phone and go do something else for the rest of the day, like keep ...