Sunday, July 5, 2020

Life: It Goes On - July 5

Happy Sunday! Anyone else happy that the Fourth of July is over? I feel like a cranky old lady these days about fireworks. In my defense, it was literally so loud for about an hour and a half last night that we could hardly hear the friends we were with as we sat on their deck watching fireworks; everyone seems to be trying to one up each other. On the plus side, I don't think that I heard sirens all evening (although, again, I might not have been able to over the noise!) so I'm hoping everyone survived the evening with all of their body parts intact. 

Last Week I: 

 Listened To: I'm still working my way through The New Jim Crow and also started Brit Bennet's latest, The Vanished. And, of course, I had to listen to the Hamilton soundtrack to get ready for the movie. 

Watched:
 Hamilton, twice, on Friday - once with Mini-me and his gf and Miss H, lights out, stereo at the highest volume I think it's ever been, and snacks. Loved, loved it and may well watch it again today. 

Read: I'm not reading much, to be honest. I finished Manderley Forever and started Blue Ticket (which I hope to finish today) but I can't really focus on reading right now (again). No idea what's up next to read in print.

Made: Steaks, sweet potato fries, and caprese salad for Hamilton viewing night dinner and an egg casserole for the annual Fourth of July breakfast. It's that time of year when you'll see caprese salad show up a lot on this weekly post!

Enjoyed: It wasn't the usual Fourth of July breakfast, only about 15 of us on my parents' neighbors' patio, but it was nice to just have people I know around and really get a chance to talk to people. 

This Week I’m:  

Planning: On doing some gardening today. My parents are reducing their garden beds so this gal, who can never saw "no" to something free, has quite a lot of peony plants to get in the ground.

Thinking About:
 
Thursday I watched the first episode of When They See Us, which is heartbreaking and made me so angry. I know that it's a dramatization but even taking that into account, it made me ashamed of our judicial system. If you're of at least a certain age, you'll remember the case of the Central Park Five, the five innocent black young men that were railroaded into prison for raping a white jogger in Central Park. 

Feeling: Relieved - Miss H hit a deer on her way home last night and, while her car will need some work, it is drivable and, most importantly, she is fine. But it was one of those calls you don't want to get late at night and it was hard to go back to sleep once I knew she was fine. I'll be dragging today!

Looking forward to: Mini-me's and Ms. S's visit next week. Can't wait to see them!

Question of the week: How are you holding up with all that's going on?

7 comments:

  1. Fireworks are illegal in my county, and with the sanctioned city and county firework events cancelled because of the worsening of the virus spread, many took it upon themselves to shoot off their own. It reminded me a bit of my childhood, all the neighborhood displays and block parties. We could see some of the higher fireworks from our drive way last night. It gave the holiday more of a "normal" feel in a way. There's a reason they are illegal here though, and the fire department was over-extended--over 100 fires. 911 had a wait time which rarely happens. Arrests for DUIs were also up considerably. Some likened the sounds to a war zone with all the noise.

    I have The New Jim Crow coming up on my TBR pile. I was eyeing that and How to Be an Antiracist, and am trying to decide which to start next of the two. The Vanished is one I also hope to read.

    We loved Hamilton as well. It was very good, wasn't it? We've only seen it once so far, but I'm sure will watch it again and again.

    We're still isolating for the most part. I envy you being able to get together with family and friends. We aren't there yet.

    I am glad Miss H is okay and her car wasn't too damaged when she hit the deer. How did the deer fare? Or maybe I don't want to know.

    I hope you have a great week, Lisa. Stay safe and well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm beyond disappointed about where we are, pandemic-wise. It looked like we had some things under control, and then everything spirals downwards.

    I'm sure everyone has watched Hamilton by now, but I still need to sit down and watch it. Somehow this long weekend flew by.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've been wanting to read The Vanishing Half - it sounds great - and I still need to read Brit's first novel!

    I wish we had Disney Plus, so I could finally see Hamilton.

    Sounds like a nice holiday weekend for you.

    Hope you can get into reading and enjoy your books this week -

    Sue

    2020 Big Book Summer Challenge

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad Miss H is okay. My daughter once was hit BY a deer on her way home from work one night. The deer literally ran into her driver's side door while she was driving. It scared her half to death but she was fine and it made for a good story. I haven't watched more then the first 20 minutes of Hamilton yet but lights out full volume seems like the way to go.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A deer!! That is very scary. I am glad she is okay.

    Fireworks this year were M80s. Our city's show was cancelled so people were just being major asses shooting off seriously illegal stuff and they started at 7 and ended at 2 in the morning. My dog is usually fine but she has not been herself since we've been home all time. She was very antsy and eventually passed out from exhaustion.

    I guess we are as good as we can be. I am not in the best of moods though. I have to give myself a pep talk every morning just to get through the day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hamilton is amazing! I'll be watching it again this week, for sure. The Vote on PBS also looks promising. Can't wait to dive into that one as well. Glad you had a decent 4th. I'm also super cranky about the fireworks. We have a firework ban in our neighborhood so we all just sat on our big field out front and just watched them light up all around us. And we had a few fires in our town, unfortunately. But nothing too serious, thankfully. Glad your daughter is OK as well! That is very scary. Hope your week is going great!

    Life can get pretty depressing right now but I try to remember the good things in life and to enjoy family and friends and help out where I can. But yeah, it's tough. There's a local store a town over that has mandated masks in their store so I go out of my way an extra 15 minutes so I can feel safer at their store. So that's life in my sphere. Enjoy your week and more Hamilton!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Glad Miss H is okay!

    We watched Hamilton on the weekend too! And I do plan to watch it again and again!

    ReplyDelete