First Hurricane Watch since 2011. Almost “historic.” But then Henri decided to “go West, young (French)man” and we got nothing more than some winds and clouds on our first full day of vacation.
And. Now. It’s. Wednesday. Sigh. Vacation is already half over. So sad. The double whammy of it is that our standard July vacation got pushed to this week due to limited rental availability, so now we’re realllllllllly close to the end of August. Which means we are also realllllllllly close to then end of my favorite season…and while I can get very sad about that I am not thinking or talking about that now. I’m simply enjoying the moment(s) as they come without looking too far ahead.
What is it they say? Don’t be sad it’s (half) over, be glad it happened? And let’s face it, who cares if the glass is half full or half empty? Either way it means there’s still room for an additional half glass of whatever you’re drinking, so fill ‘er up…and cheers!
Speaking of drinking, here’s a gift of a drink that I was given on Sunday night. It’s called The Athlete and it’s Tito’s, soda, and a splash of G2 Grape. You’re welcome. (And thanks, Peter!) (Also, if the G2 Grape is out of stock at Star Market just swap in some G2 Glacier Cherry and call it a Cherry Bomb. We did. Also delicious. And refreshing.)
So yeah, I’m on vacation, which means morning walks, time at the beach, lots of laughs, regular trips to Luke’s Liquors, and strength training in the form of lifting bags of ice and carrying heavy coolers. Standard vacation fare.
Here’s a quick rundown on what else is going on, besides those delicious drinks I just told you about.
One thing I’m “cooking” and eating
What goes better with a nice cocktail than chips and homemade salsa? We “harvested” before vacation, picking everything we could…and it was perfect for salsa. So I made a big batch of that and we have been enjoying tremendously thus far. The great garden experiment has gone well—lots of fun, solid (but not mind-blowing) results, and plenty of insights we hope to remember next year to improve our yield.
A few things I’m watching
I of course watched Jeopardy! all the way through the Joe Buck guest host experiment but at the end it was more to watch Matt Amodio blast his way up the all-time rankings ladder than anything else. I actually don’t care about the guest hosts (other than who might be named the real host) and none of them ruined it for me…but the rotating lineup did make me feel like it was slightly something different than Jeopardy!, like maybe it was “only” a charity event and not the real thing. My final guest host ratings changed between when Joe’s last show aired and now, on account of the pig alert got sounding on Mike Richards. I’m also not sure why those alarm bells didn’t start ringing for the powers that be months ago, though the fact that Mike was the EP probably meant he was trying to control the narrative. But the truth comes out eventually so ferret it out early and save us from this bulkshit. Before I get to my rankings…I occasionally watch The Chase and actually like Sara Haines. She might have been a good candidate for the Jeop job. But alas nobody asked me, and she did not even guest. Anyway, general lesson learned here: in many cases, the more info you have the better the decision you make…and the bigger the decision the more info you need to collect. There are high-stakes situations and there are lowxstakes ones, and the call for different levels of intel to inform the decisions. I’m not sure I’d call choosing a game show host high stakes exactly, but…in any case Levar Burton was not this fan’s favorite. Too dramatic. It’s the nation’s premier game show not Reading Rainbow. Anyway, here’s my final list: 1) Buzzy, 2) David, 3) Blossom, 4) Savannah, 5) Aaron, 6) Joe, 7) Sanjay, 8 ) Ken, 9) Katie, 10) Bill, 11) Robin, 12) Levar, 13) George, 14) Anderson, 15) Oz, 16) Mike. TBH, after my Top 5, it’s more like a 10-way tie, followed by Mike in a very very very distant last place…like he was deep in the red and didn’t stick around for Final Jeopardy. I’m not sure what choosing two hosts got us in the first place (other than only one host) and when all is said and done, why didn’t they just pick Blossom from the get? She wouldn’t have been my first pick but she definitely was the best pick. One great thing about being on vacation with a lot of Jeopardy! watching peeps is being able to talk about this very thing.
Schitt’s Creek, the final season. We put it off and put it off and put it off…and then decided to stop postponing the inevitable. Us waiting to watch wasn’t going to result in the release a new season, so…we bit the bullet…such a funny and sweet ending to such a funny and sweet show. I’ll miss the Roses and Patrick and Stevie and Twyla and Jocelyn and, well, everyone but Roland. I already can’t wait to start from the beginning.
Outer Banks, aka Dawson’s Creek Meets Goonies. Because I was expecting 90210 and instead got this mashup, it took me a while to warm up to it…but now that I’ve watched the first season, I’m hooked with a gaff.
And of course I am watching our Blink footage religiously in search of our mail carrier. Some days I think it’s Joe, and then the next day it’s some stranger. What is going on? The Ladies of The 220 need answers!
Some of my current reading material
Everybody Writes, by Ann Handley. I blasted through this book written by a well-known player in the (content) marketing space; it was a good read, providing many tips (some new, some reminders) of many good writing practices that I need to pay attention to both here and in my work. 🤦🏼♀️
Daily Stoic/Your True Home. Before this trip I took pictures of the pages in my dailies and brought them with me so that I could stay current with them. The passages are so good at grounding me and helping me focus each morning. It’s rare to have a day where the entries don’t echo with me, and some leave me feeling downright shook. Stoic last week served me a re-re-re-reminder not to fight strength with strength. Not that I find myself “fighting” a lot (and certainly not on vacation!) but it’s a good reminder for more pleasantly managing daily interpersonal “differences.” Your True Home opened me up to the fact you can’t have happiness without compassion. We can’t change who we are but we can change how we act and react. I really appreciate the moments I spend on these lessons each day. Not being a complete jerk is really hard work. 😂😂😂
About The Common Good. My Bowdoin peeps should appreciate (and at a minimum understand) the notion of the Common Good. This headline in The Atlantic, “Some Americans No Longer Believe in the Common Good”, both attracted and disheartened me, until I decided to focus on the word “some” (not “most”!) and have a read. Those who are unwilling to sacrifice a small part of their daily comforts for the good of our country seem to be the loudest right now. But the statistics show that they are not in the majority. Most of us are thinking of one another. My grandmother would be proud. For me the article provided a good general reminder not to back down in the face of a blusterous bully. Not to get worn down and tired out. Not to stop speaking up. All that stuff. If most of us are in it for each other, for the Common Good, we should rise up. We will.
Anxious People by Fredrick Backman. Never read A Man Called Ove but loved Beartown and honestly for me this title was irresistible. So it’s my vacation read, I’m enjoying it thus far, and the chapters are short, making it a perfect book for when one can’t get too deeply focused.
Thanks for being here, as always. I continue to have fun writing this and also continue to have deep appreciation for you reading it. Hope you’re having a good week so far, that you have a good rest of the week, and that you enjoy an awesome weekend. Catch you next Thursday! But before I go, let me leave you with this one from one of the great singer-songwriters who left this Earth recently, Nanci Griffith. It’s a hard life wherever you go, but it can be a pretty great life wherever you are.
Off to walk…gotta snap my morning picture.