Got my hands on all sorts of popular media this summer in between melting sessions in the pool and refreshing the BC Wildfire dashboard on my laptop to make sure the fires don't make it down here or anywhere else that I love. I could exist on a strip of grey and black bedrock as long as I had a little shade and some carnival french fries with malt vinegar easily enough anyway so I'm not worried. I'm not big on stuff. I'm not big on nostalgia in the current sense. My memories are in the darkest parts of my brain and I spend a lot of time just sitting in there talking to myself and I'm my own best and worst company so it doesn't exactly matter, now, does it?
I want a S'mores drink from Starbucks knowing I won't like it. I like their chocolate chip frappucinos with chocolate whipped cream but they don't make them like that any more and my glucose levels (just checked) were just on the upper end of still-perfect, as we know I subsist on a permanent diet of refined sugar and raw sugar alike.
We have new neighbours. A young dysfunctional but incredibly sweet and growing family in over their heads in this neighbourhood but they are renting and so won't be here long anyway. They are nice and normal at least and that's all I could ask for. As a non-normie I get to be the weirdo again and that's great.
(Oy, my nails are too long to type today. This is taking forever.)
Onto the obsessions of the summer.
I had a slow start. I was lent a Frieda McFadden book. All the rage. I hated it. Back to working my way through The Lighthouse Witches. A book I started in November and forgot to pick up again forever.
I looked forward to Project Hail Mary and Disclosure Day. Thought the 'aliens' would be shadowy all-knowing entities. Hate it when they aren't. Most impressed by the knitwear and Emily Blunt's flawless Russian conversation, as someone who loves to practice every chance I get but I actually didn't like either movie.
What I did love?
Hadestown.
I didn't know about it until I saw a Tiktok with best musical numbers and I was instantly Oh, what is that?
What is that indeed? Spurred on by a movie poster I found it on Youtube-one of the broadway shows thanks to a Reddit post that said it's listed as ...a slime tutorial to keep it up as long as possible as a cam and good enough for me, I have zero standards and..
Just wow. It's up there with Miss Saigon handily. HANDILY. So good I haven't stopped singing the lines all week. Lochlan too. PJ endlessly. August even is humming it nonstop. So GOOD.
What else do I love?
Flowstars.
Heard about these from a friend of a friend of a friend and looked them up and am so impressed. Lochlan knew about them but dismissed them as something he didn't want to add to his rep but FAILED TO SHOW ME.
Oh wow, what a mistake.
Now I have a full-size one and a mini and I'm terrible at it but will chip away. The learning curve is decent but doable and it's just a weirdly fun and soft activity that also makes you sweat and can be done in a smallish area, unless Lochlan's routines which need a wide berth because of the fire and spectacle of it all.
This is quiet and gentle almost but add some LED lights and skill and it's positively hypnotic.
Why don't people tell me things? Tired of finding everything out ten years later somewhat organically. The hype train fails to pick me up and take me anywhere and the remote train that travels all the way out to me bringing word from town hasn't been seen in years so I guess I reap what I sow, right?
In any case I'm hoping the hot weather is done for the year. My french bob persists into a regular bob at this point (growing it back out so I can put it up next summer-going to spend the winter recollection silver pins to do so) and my tattoos were well-protected from the sun this summer as I swam with the roof on the pool without opening it up after spring was over and I gardened in a UV shirt this year. My tomato plants are 2 inches high and the pears and apples are almost ready so good enough for me.
People want to know how the boys are doing and let me tell you they're all doing great. They are writing and swimming and sitting and talking in the shade of the front porch and helping me at every turn and gardening and reading and just settling into quiet retired life. Those who still work are consulting. They're all open and loving with each other and encouraging and sweet. Some small amounts of travelling have been done. I haven't gone to much. I've done some.
Ben is quiet and present. Jake isn't around much at all anymore. Maybe I'm letting his light dim a little on purpose in order for the rest of us to turn our faces to the sun. Maybe it's time for that or maybe he'll be back. Who knows what ghosts want and why? It must be frustrating for them as it is for us.
That's okay though. In the meantime we have lots to do.