And what a week it has been!
Are we done yet??
Perhaps not. On this sunny morning, I walk buoyantly (because it's cold!) to the barn and back...
... I feed the animals and return to fix breakfast. We're back to oatmeal. Sooner or later I was going to wise up and return to at least the occasional healthier morning meal. It wont last though. I'm too old to worry about the white flour/sugar/butter content of a pastry in the morning. Go ahead and take away my wine (a killer they say), my dark chocolate (infused with arsenic), my fatty cheeses (they're fatty), but leave my morning pastry alone! But, today we eat oatmeal.
And we don't talk about the election because Ed has said that he will not stress himself by engaging at length in a review of the political horror show du jour. However, he works in tool and machine design and he is never going to not engage in a review of what happens next in the evolving drama in global production that is about to hit us all, but especially those who rely on Chinese components in the manufacture of their stuff. And it is this drama that we talk about, because it's not at all certain what exactly will transpire and us writers know that the highest level of drama happen when you don't know what comes next.
So we speculate. About the costs of spreading production among other countries, the costs of stockpiling right now, so as to squeeze in some sales before any tariffs (who knows what, and for how long) are seriously on the table (will it be "not today but tomorrow," or "yes tomorrow but gone the next month," or "only on goods manufactured by those who do not play golf in Florida," or something else altogether? ). I doubt that there is a single person in a (small scale, I'm not talking about Fortune 500) manufacturing leadership position that isn't doing some serious math right now, wondering if she or he will still be in business doing the same math next year. Did I mention here how much manufacturers hate uncertainty? We feel for them.
After a while, my head is swimming and I retreat into my world of future travel dreaming. It's my escape into la-la land where the sun is always shining through a window that always comes with a great view. I have a very fertile and completely optimistic take on what future trips should be like.
A brief detour to a medical appointment, and off I go to pick up the kids after school. Usually, Friday pick ups are fun. They're on a pre-weekend high. Today -- meh. Sparrow is fragile and this rubs off on Snowdrop who then needs a break from everything and everyone.
You could say it was the stress of a busy week. Or of busy parents. Of too little rest maybe. Or, of the elections hoopla? (You have to excuse me for calling our elections "hoopla," but to a child, our behaviors and emotions surrounding it are, perhaps, hoopla.) I let them have a quiet car ride.
By the time we get to the farmette lands, they are fine.
Toward evening, there was still a slight uptick in excitement as half the house goes dark on us just when we need the light. I know I blew a circuit, but I cannot get it to reboot for me and Ed is out biking. Once he gets home, we struggle together and all I can think is that I'm just a tiny bit glad that he had a kidney stone and therefore is not out on a sailboat in the middle of the Atlantic right now.
Eventually he dibbles and dabbles and fixes the circuit breaker (something to remember: never, ever, plug in the toaster oven for the kid croissants and the tea kettle for my sanity at the same time). We now can turn on kitchen lights and reheat the chili and proceed with the evening.
But honestly, I'm glad the week is behind us. Are you still going to tell me that November is a pleasant month, up there with May or June? You and I have to agree to disagree on that one.
with love...
