Mary Beth Writes

This painting is by Andrea Kowch  http://andreakowch.com/

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Regarding Time: It’s been about a million months since the quarantine started. It will be an at least one epoch if not two, until a vaccine is available to quell it. Election Day is here now (I’ve already voted, have you?) yet it feels as if it will never be done and gone. Even when Nov 3 arrives we could be in for more epochs of anxious and angry waiting as ballots are tallied, argued over, recounted, all while lawyers and politicians fight and scrap.

These are Crazy Times. When you your anticipate some kind of good ending, that’s hope. When you don’t what’s going to happen, that’s Advent. I guess we are in Crazy Advent Time now.

Remember back the olden days when we had one or two crises at a time, and we all talked about it for a couple days or even weeks? I sit down here to write about one horrible thing; they literally took breast-feeding babies out of their mom’s arms at the border. Trump PAID those 400 people at his “rally” yesterday- where did he get the $? In my district some voters received ballots that don’t have my Democratic candidates on them. Senator Ron Johnson says Covid isn’t that big a deal, then he got it, he’s not said much lately, apparently one of his kids-in-law owns a corporate jet on which he flies Dad so RoJo doesn’t have to mix with the hoi-poi. Friends went to a demonstration last night against the cop shooting of Alvin Cole. Friends left at 7;30 with people leaving in orderly fashion, as heavy armor including a tank rolled into the area. Who's instigating violence?

 It’s Just This Crazy. Being a reasonably sensitive and caring person in this time is like living with bees in your head.

I think this is the part where I should tell you what to think and how to address all this. Hah. I don’t know.

In 2018 I wrote a sermon about Julian of Norwich. I think of Julian often  when I’m overwhelmed. This time we are in is not as horrendous as her time was. She spent her adult life considering how to respond to suffering and loss and craziness. Maybe you’d like to read my old sermon. Right Here. 

Goofy News: I mentioned that I was going to wear colorful clothes for a week to see if it made any difference in my daily life. It didn’t. But Judy suggested I feature fashion photos of “what I wore this week.” Which seems like a good way to lighten a mood.

Monday – I met some friends outside and this worked.

 

Tuesday I forgot to take a photo, but this is the shirt I wore.

Reaping nasturtium pods for home-grown capers. Orange pants are camouflage when sneaking up on nasturtiums.

We hiked at High Cliffs State Park. Note my sporty clip-on glasses.

My daughter lived in Egypt one summer. That’s the Arabic alphabet on the scarf!

A casual Saturday.

I’m ready to wear a black t-shirts again. Thinking about what to wear every day was above my paygrade.

After uncovering the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Whitmer this week, the FBI released a list of the white nationalist men accused of this crime. I grew up in Michigan. I perused that list to see if I would recognize any of the names. I don’t.

But isn’t this telling about what’s real and what’s not real in our nation?

To live in a propaganda state means one absorbs what the media puts in front of us. We learn to be anxious or afraid or racist around whomever the state/media designates as “scary.” Adult Black men and women. Asian people, no, I should say people of Asian heritage. Anyone with tawny skin speaking a language we don’t know - as if most of us could recognize Arabic from Urdu from Vietnamese. People speaking Spanish. A woman wearing hijab. A person with disfigurements. A person talking to themselves with what might be mental illness.

Most of us who are not the above, are NOT anxious around scruffy white men. Even though, right now, the FBI is telling us that white nationalist terrorist groups are our most serious threat.

We need to readjust our brains. The danger isn’t where the stereotypes insisted it was. It is exactly this close – that when we see a list of white national terrorism suspects, we scan the list.

This close.

And this. If one has too many green tomatoes. Ahem

One can make a very tasty bread by using your banana bread recipe … but … replace the mushed banana with diced/smooshed green tomatoes.

Comments

Love your outfits! I wear the same 2 shorts or jeans since march 17th when I learned classes would go to online. My dress clothes lie in a wrinkled heap on closet floor. I am bored with myself and I love the idea...will try it this week. Thanks for another piece full of intriguing truths.

Good pictures. Good read. Flu shot and voting is on my agenda for the week.

I love your wedding photo, and your nasturtium-camo outfit!
Mary Beth's picture

Thanks! Our wedding was on a very steamy, hot June Saturday which one can sort of tell by looking at my enthusiastic hair.

I just love the humour, mettle, political insight and sheer goddamn determination to live in right ways in these 'crazy times'. So though we've never met, many thanks for sharing all this, and cheering and making human our days. Juliet from Oxford
Mary Beth's picture

Thanks right back at you, Juliet from Oxford. Sigh, I miss Endeavor. Anyways, thank you for your comment and thanks to all of you who respond. Without readers, writers are a sorry lot.

The photos are making me smile --- a bit of fun in the middle of all of this. You look great, and the photos of you & Len made me think of our many good times together. Those dinner conversations are much missed, and wouldn't we have lots of topics these days:) We are voting early, in person next week -- can't wait to get this party started! Keep writing, when I see your post to let us know that something new has been added I have this conversation with myself --- should I read it right away or save it for something special later? Hugs!

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Len’s Birthday

11/30/2023

Last week I mentioned that Monday of this week would be Len’s birthday. A friend remarked to me ever so kindly later that day, “I thought his birthday was the 30th?”

It is. Len’s birthday is the 30th. This same friend has commented to me, over the years, about how much I remember.

Covid Diary #1350 Thanksgiving

11/22/2023

Today is 1350 days since the that March Friday in 2020 when we all went into quarantine.

Today is 60 years since JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963. I remember that day, so does Len, so do many of you. Here’s a scary truth. We are as far today from that day – as that day was from the Wright brother’s first flight at Kitty Hawk on Dec 17, 1903.

Quarantine Diary #1349 Sci-Fi & Prophecy

11/21/2023

We both took Covid tests this morning and both of us still have pink lines. I asked the internet what this means and it says I might be pregnant.

I have a call into my doctor’s office to discuss. I feel so much better that if I didn’t know I have Covid, I wouldn’t know it. I’ve been sicker than this after too much pie.

Covid Diary #1347

11/19/2023

A few of you might realize yesterday we were 1345 days since March 13, 2020, and today we’re at 1347. Yup, I used a different calculator. Just a fun reminder that precision depends as much on asking the right question as doing perfect math.

I’m in day #4 of having Covid. No more chills. I have a fever of 100.4 which is more impressive than the 100.2 that Len achieved on his Day #4.  I’m taking various OTC meds and I keep track of them in my phone’s notes because, wow, it’s so easy to have no memory of the last time one took something. I’m good. Enough.

Covid Diary #1345

11/18/2023

I thought I was done with the Covid Diary but guess what? Len and I caught Covid this week! Actually, Covid caught us. We have continued to wear masks in stores, library, meetings, and our church so we will never know for sure where Len encountered Covid. And since I got it four days later, I guess we know where I got it…

My New Substack for Short Stories

11/11/2023

Let’s call this “Old Dog Versus New Tricks.” Does it feel to you as if I’ve been extra quiet these past months? It does to me. One big reason is that I’ve been figuring out Substack.

Here’s the deal: In addition to this blog, I’ve been writing more creative fiction. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and I’m finally taking it seriously. I’m not giving up this website, but substack is going to let me concentrate on short stories and other stand-alone pieces.

What’s Substack?

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