Little is really making sense right now...retreating to my bubble.
Last week I got to speak at a gardening event in Vermont - my wife and I spent a bit of time on either side biking, kayaking, got to see Diana Krall (in Burlington), found some nice local wood fired pizza and microbrews - spent a few days on a lake in New Hampshire. No radio, no TV, no papers - just enjoying spending time together, chats (we met when I was at grad school in NH and she was a nurse nearby who lived in VT) - so we got to go down memory lane.
We got back last night. I perused DU - got a bit up to date on the sessions debacle. Read today's news about shootings. Listened to a bit of 1A while getting our dog from a friend - more sessions stuff.
I've nothing to say - I feel so out of my depths. My own life - writing, gardening, my wife, our pets, our kids - I can do, and do well and enjoyably. The world out there - divisions, hatred, violence, lies, misrepresentations, collusion, bizarre use of religion as a weapon and divider, the nasty politics - I can't make sense of it right now. It is all moving too fast - forget about life on steroids - this is some new, social-media and 24 hours news cycle fed maelstrom. Yes, I know that every period of history goes through this. That doesn't make it right.
So - I've got to head back to where life is making sense - there are tomato plants to water, a third book to write, a dog to walk, a lake to kayak - even naps to take....great music to listen to, books to read.
Escaping?
You betcha.
When it becomes something outrageous for and to everyone when a foreign power steals our election....when it becomes clear that truthing, or guns, violence, lies, obfuscation - is something for everyone to be outraged by...when life starts to make sense again, when there is widespread acknowledgement that each of us gets one shot at this life, and each one of us deserves to make the best of that shot - I will dip back in.
= new reply since forum marked as read
And I think you're doing the right thing........for you.
I need to be here, still.
I'll keep a light on for you!
61 here, feel 30s most days...just a tad older on others!
Your presence won't be needed until Tuesday, November 6, 2018, and of course you should come well informed then. 
Otherwise, we most of us probably vastly, vastly, vastly overestimate the value of yammering on social media to the political process. Only a relative few take the extra steps to make a genuine contribution in between polling days.
Have a lovely time enjoying your garden and life in general, making your part of America great.
It is amazing the positive vibe shared when groups of gardeners get together - and I know that there is a mix of ideologies. Just fascinating, the power of common interests.
a real mix of ideologies (she is by far of the few on the left...and she is as far left as I am) - but somehow they make it work (the big rule - NO POLITICS talk!)
We all have our way of doing that. Be well.
I need to regroup, too. I feel utterly obsolete, and if I think about what is being done to my country it gets to be too much. It's like every dystopian scifi novel I ever read as a young person has slithered to life.
My place of personal peace is this: me, shelving my books in my personal library, handling each one like an old friend that speaks to me, and rediscovering my own soul.
I won't be able to have chickens any more due to the HOA, but my favorite SIL will be only 2 miles away and she has a backyard flock and a great edible garden from fruit trees to tomatoes. Remind me of the titles of your books -- her birthday's coming up shortly.
Best wishes, always.
Would love to look them up.
Hubby did some errands early in the morning. Came home and got busy in the yard. I got out there and cut back a floribunda rose that I let get out of hand. A crescent loppers kind of job. Feels good to get back to where you belong in your heart. It helps to deal with all the hatefulness out in the world.
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