Lagniappe - June 19, 2020

* Of course, it's Juneteenth!! This is something that I wasn't even aware of until a couple of years ago, even though I grew up in the South. Given all the racial angst in our country right now, Juneteenth has special significance, especially for the Black community. Definitely something important to recognize and celebrate!

* I realized when I pulled up my blog that I haven't posted in a month which means that I haven't posted since the racial unrest started. Yikes. So much is happening. Sometimes it feels like the world is crashing down around us and then sometimes it feels like a new world is coming up from the ashes like a phoenix. It just depends on what's going on that day.

* In an attempt to become more educated about racism and the current thinking about it, Patrick and I just finished listening to the audiobook of How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi. Wow. So many thoughts. But, I'm not going to post them all here. You have to read the book because the author presents them all more clearly than I can. The main idea is that structural racism isn't from hate and ignorance which is why compassion and education aren't making it better. It's more about power and policy. So, read the book. And, really, read the book. The author narrates the audiobook and he's not a great narrator. Which is a bummer because I can feel his intensity, but it would have been better with a different narrator.

* Minh, our Vietnamese student has gone back home. Well, she may not be back home yet. Vietnam has had really low Covid-19 numbers by having a very intense policy of quarantining people coming into the country as well as contact tracing the few people who do get sick. So, she's with a family friend and will go back to Vietnam when the embassy has a flight ready to take people and put them right into a quarantine camp. Yikes! But, they don't want to risk Covid-19!

* Speaking of Covid-19, are you still wearing your masks?! Please do!! Here in Waupaca County, we're up to 79 cases. Our family was supposed to go to Family Camp tomorrow, but we've decided to take a year off. Blah. Instead, Lydia will come here for the week. We've also now made Marilyn (Patrick's mom) part of our social circle so we do stuff with her once or twice a week. We can always take walks or go to the State Park and watch movies. Mostly we will just hang out and enjoy each other.

* Chris and Jenna came by a week or so ago. They had Archives, Jenna's service dog with them, of course. He had just been away for a couple of weeks for some extra training, and Jenna has been working with him on some new things. She started to breathe hard like she was hyperventilating and Archives jumped up on her chest to get her to sit down and then pushed her to lie down. A few minutes later Chris scratched his fingers on his jeans (one of Jenna's compulsions). Archives came right up and used his paw to push Chris's hand down. He is an incredibly well-trained dog.

* I finally figured out how to deal with the flower beds since I hate yardwork and I have a headache most of the time. I hire someone!! Someone came and looked at it and should be sending me an email so we can get started. Yay!

* Here are some pictures of the figurines that Patrick has been carving and painting. Stay tuned for more details about where you can buy them online!!

What's new with you?!! Comments always welcome - here or on Facebook or Twitter!

Catherine