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!