Welcome to October, Chaos Edition: Smoke in Seattle the Remake, A Week of Chaos and Uncertainty, A Salon Article on Reading for Mental Health, and A Book Giveaway

Sylvia in her pumpkin bed

Welcome to October: Chaos Edition

Well, anyone who was looking forward to crisp air, blue skies, the election being almost over…sorry! Seattle was once again immersed in smoke from California’s massive wildfires, we had maybe the worst Presidential debate in history (in which Trump made fun of Biden for wearing a mask, refused a Covid test before the debate, and his family refused to wear masks…just saying.) And now Covid is sweeping the GOP, putting several, including Trump and Chris Christie, into the hospital.

This Ursula Le Guin thought seems apropos right now: “People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.” —from A Wave in the Mind. 

Is uncertainty making you anxious? It is me. So here’s a picture of apples on the tree in Woodinville. See? Do you feel better now? Good. Because I have a little more to say.

Apples on the tree in Woodinville

I’d feel sorrier for Trump if he didn’t go out of his way to minimize the danger of the coronavirus months after he knew it was an airborne killer, didn’t encourage masking in the White House or among his followers (leading to me constantly, on a cane, having to dodge obnoxious Trump supporters without masks every time I go anywhere in public). If he didn’t  not prevent the deaths of over 200,000 Americans by not providing masks (that were ready to be mailed out to Americans in March until Trump cancelled them), or even encourage them until midsummer, then barely seem to be sorry for these deaths, if he didn’t purposefully expose people after he knew he was sick…Well, a lot of things.

I hope that this helps people realize that mask-wearing, keeping social distance, staying out of crowded indoor rallies, and not being evil really does protect you from Covid. (I can’t really prove that last one.) I saw film of GOP-ers hugging and touching each other indoors after the Barrett nomination which they were pushing through against the will of the American people, and I was like, well, I haven’t hugged anyone besides Glenn since FEBRUARY. I was afraid to go the dentist for a broken tooth while Trump went knowingly to an indoor fundraiser positive for Covid. So we could say: stupid behavior leads to bad outcomes, and it’s hard to feel sorry for people who bring their problems on the themselves and others with willful ignoring of safety regulations. Especially since I have a lot of friends who got Covid, didn’t get top-notch experimental, expensive treatment, couldn’t even get tests, and were often left to die – or not – at home instead of getting any treatment. Is this the America we want? It’s not the America I want. So, please: vote like your life depends on it.

Smoke in Seattle, a Harvest Moon and Mars

So I haven’t been able to go outside the last couple of days without coughing, a sore throat, and nosebleeds. Sound like a repeat of just a little bit ago? We are lucky that we, unlike some of our friends in Napa and northern California, aren’t losing their homes to yet another gigantic evil wildfire. 2020 – the year that just keeps giving us terrible, terrible things!

This was my picture of the Harvest Moon the first night of the smoke. It was an even deeper red than this at moonrise, almost invisible except a, let’s face it, evil? spooky? foreboding? smudge in the sky.

We did have one day before the smoke descended on us where we went on a Monday afternoon to a very empty pumpkin farm and masked up to get pumpkins, corn, apples, and took some pictures in the empty field in the sun. This was the last sunshine I’ve experienced, so I’m glad we got some fresh air and sun when we did. That’s my 2020 Fall motto: grab sunshine and fresh air while you can.

My Salon Article on Reading for Mental Health

Salon Article on Reading for Mental Health

This year has been tough on all of us. One thing I did with my nervous energy was read through books by Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, Joan Didion, Rebecca Solnit, poetry by Ilya Kaminsky, Jericho Brown, Lesley Wheeler, and Matthea Harvey, start a book club with my mom, read a terrific book recommended by my little brother…Check out the article to read all about it.

Salon: Reading List for the Pandemic for Mental Health

I hope this article might be helpful to you and you pick up at least one of the books for yourself!

The Robot Scientist’s Daughter

Book Giveaway: The Robot Scientist’s Daughter from Mayapple Press

Another book giveaway: this week, my third book, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, a book about growing up in one of America’s secret city, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It has robots, radioactive wasps, redacted government documents, wildfires, fox fire…

Anyway, if you want to enter the giveaway…and you’ve made it this far in this post…leave a comment on this blog post with your e-mail so I can contact you if you win.

I’ll choose the winner using a random number generator next Sunday (10/11/20).

Warning; I can’t ship Internationally, so American entries only. And good luck!

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.