Stepping into Fall (with Anxiety,) What Are You Reading, and New Bird Sightings

Stack of pumpkins in Woodinville

Stepping Into Fall (with Anxiety)

The autumn equinox came and went in a deluge of rain, bringing with it the anxiety of a fall with an important and scary election, doomscrolling, the increasing cold and dark, and for me, a bunch of rejections (because why not?)

Now I have decided to embrace fall, with its waning daylight, and increased need for sleep or hot chocolate and cider. I have embraced doing the things I can to decrease dread and panic. (Donations to political causes? Yes! Phone calls to friends who live across country? Yes! Reading books to increase empathy and resilience? Absolutely!)

Sunflowers

What Are You Reading?

I’ve been thinking a lot about how what we consume, culturally, affects our moods. There have been a lot of articles about avoiding “doomscrolling,” overdoing news vs staying informed on everything from coronavirus to the Supreme Court to the Presidential election. But not a lot of articles on what we can do to help our hearts and minds stay resilient, empathetic, and not totally stressed out and doing things like breaking our teeth in our sleep.

Right now I’m reading Margaret Atwood’s recent sequel to Handmaid’s Tale, Testaments, and Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower. Both terrific books that remind us of our responsibilities in the middle of chaos to do what we can to make the world a better place. And I was so impressed with the quality of writing in both books – both writers truly at the top of their games in these books.

So, what are you reading that has helped you cope during the pandemic? Leave your choices in the comments!

Scrub Jay on my back porch

A New Bird Sighting, and Other Natural Phenomenon That Keep Me Sane

Speaking of things that keep you sane…I saw a brand new bird here – a pair of scrub jays! They usually are up in mountains or farther away to the north, so I felt very lucky. I think the pair was a mother and juvenile because one kept begging to be fed! I also have some pictures of hummingbirds in the rain. We’ve had a lot of rainy days since the smoke, but we’re supposed to get some pleasant fall weather coming up this week. I think weather does affect my mood more than I like to think, though I’m hardly what you’d call the “outdoorsy” type. I’ve noticed my garden starting to wane, only dahlias and sunflowers and a few late roses left.

Last night our Ring camera captured a pair of black-tailed coyotes in the back yard. It’s not quite a bobcat, but a reminder that we live in a semi-wild place here. I’m going to make an effort this year to stay connected to nature even when the temptation is to stay inside.

Field Guide Book Giveaway Winner, a Heck of a Week: Broken Teeth, Birds in Smoke, and Saying Goodbye to RBG, Poetry Reading Corner – Rewilding

During smoke a sign of hope – Painted Lady butterfly on dahlias

A Heck of a Week – Broken Teeth, Seattle Smoke, and Saying Goodbye to Ruth Bader Ginsburg

This has been a rough week for us – the Seattle smoke and bad air quality lasted until yesterday morning, and then yesterday was too cold and rainy to do much outside (although I tried.) I’m hoping to really get outside today and enjoy a little bit of fall and fresh air. The stress of being locked in a room for 12 days really took a toll for me.

This week was so stressful, among other things, I broke a tooth in my sleep. My regular dentist couldn’t get me in because three other patients had done the same thing that day. Hoping to get it fixed on Monday, but of course every dental trip brings anxiety because of Covid risk. I also tried to get in my Guggenheim application – it was a “distraction” (ha!) from the stress of not being able to breathe the air, and so, cross your fingers for me – I’m sure I’m a long shot. Big shouts of appreciation to the people that agreed to be recommenders! It’s a difficult application, and it had changed since last year, but at least I tried.

And then there was the loss of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the eve of Rosh Hoshana, a blow that I’ll admit brought a few tears. She’s been such a champion of women her whole life, and someone we could count on as an advocate on the Supreme Court. Who will we count on now? Too bad we can’t put Margaret Atwood on our Supreme Court. I also donated to some worthy causes in RBG’s honor. A good time to fight for what we believe in.

Field Guide to the End of the World cover – felt like real life this last week!

Later on in the blog I’ll post some pictures of birds in that continued to visit during our wildfire smoke, but here’s some good news…

Winner of Field Guide to the End of the World Book Giveaway

I did a random number generator on our comments from last week’s post to choose a winner, and the winner was commenter Amy Poague! Congrats, Amy!

Amy, contact me (jeannine dot gailey at live dot com) soon so I can send out the book! Hopefully it will make someone’s week a little brighter!

I’m happy to do these book giveaways during a stressful time when people need books and poetry more than ever. I’ll do another book giveaway at the beginning of October – probably a copy of She Returns to the Floating World, which seems like the most Halloween-appropriate book. By the way, if you want to get a copy of Field Guide to the End of the World yourself, since there are still distribution issues that make it appear “Out of stock” on Amazon, you can go here to order a signed copy directly from me. I’m signing with gloves and even use a UV light sanitizer on the book before I send out it out, so it should be totally safe!

Speaking of poetry reading…

Sylvia with Rewilding and “Fall Mood”

Reading Corner – January Gill O’Neil’s Rewilding

The enforced enclosure of the terrible smoke did result in one good thing – I got to catch up on my reading. Besides reading Joan Didion with my mom (this month: The Book of Common Prayer), I finally read the wonderful third book from January Gill O’Neil, Rewilding. (Pictured to the left: Sylvia loved my “fall mood” table so much that she came and put her paws directly on January’s book! She really does love to cuddle a poetry book!)

This book addresses the natural process of rewilding – what happens when we leave a field or a stream alone for a while – and the dissolving and building of bonds between family members during a divorce. January’s language is clear and straightforward, but lovely, in this collection that will move you and make you rethink your own search for your rewilding self.

And speaking of rewilding, did you think there would be a week with no bird pictures?

Birds (And One Butterfly) in Smoke Gallery

So, it’s sunrise here while I’m writing this, and I’m about to go out on my deck and enjoy the newly fresh air, even though it’s a bit chilly. I’ll leave this blog post with a gallery of pictures I took of birds during the Smoke Weeks. The Seattle Times did a story on how birds fared during the smoke and I wanted to give you the pictures from Woodinville during the wildfire smoke event. We kept our bird feeder, bird bath, and bird fountains full, and we had woodpeckers, jays, juncos and hummingbirds abundantly, but the finches and flickers only came back in the last couple of days with the rain.

Fire Season: September 2020

Sunrise, smoke

Fire Season: September 2020

I don’t usually do a mid-week post, but I thought I’d just let you know what’s happening in Washington State. Since Monday, we’ve had 500,000 acres burned across the state. (That’s more acres than usually catch on fire in WA in an entire year.)

Wildfires are in every direction, and the air quality started at about 150 Monday night and stayed that way all yesterday. Even running several air purifiers inside, the air quality is still a little troublesome, causing scratchy eyes and throat, a little cough. The news is full of people crying, evacuated from homes. Our firefighting force is stretched thin, fighting huge fires all across the state, many of whom having just come back from volunteering in California’s fires. The Oregon Coast, where you might think you could go to escape the fires, is on fire. It’s just wildfires in every direction, along with dangerous heat and high wind.

Monday, the day this started, I spent two hours outside, gardening, reading. Air quality was fine. When it got to be almost dark, Glenn and I looked at a black and red cloud on the horizon, and knew the smoke was coming for us. This picture was the sunrise on Tuesday, when it came up and the sky was red.

Smoke Map, early Tuesday, West Coast

I have read many of my friends all along the West Coast being evacuated, and we are preparing a bag just in case, ourselves. The smoke, for now, is enough of a hazard – and they’re saying our hazardous air conditions will not go away until next Monday. That’s a full week of me not being able to go outside at all due to my asthma and lung scarring. Still, it’s much worse for the firefighters, who are working in the worst possible circumstances.

Also, WA State emergency systems has the nerve to suggest we use “N95” masks if you go outside. Where are we supposed to get those, since you outlawed us buying them for the last six months? Are we supposed to knock over a hospital? Come out, please give us actual advice we can use, people!

So, think good thoughts for your friends along the West Coast, the firefighters here in terrible conditions, and I guess hoping to find some N95 masks…

I wrote an apocalypse book and published it in 2016. (Which Amazon is having trouble delivering right now, so if you want a copy, click on “signed copy” and I’ll send one to you!) Turns out I was just a couple of years early..