Sunday afternoon

^Resilience

It’s still cool enough to sit in front of the fan on the front porch – not something I expected at 5 pm. I’m drinking a Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beer in a can, feet propped up. Just took a walk and so far so good, although if I am going to get in good enough shape to walk those hills in Lisbon, I need to step it up. Maybe when I am at work I will walk up and down the stairs several times a day.

After a day away from looking at the tapestry, I decided that the black drops are fine and I wove further along on it. It is a challenge for me to weave something that I am pretty much designing as I go along. It is not like painting, for sure! Maybe I’ll get it done by the end of the summer. I have an appointment with a new eye doctor on July 13.

We had massages by students at a massage school yesterday. Great deal to get an hour long massage for $25! I was concerned when I asked the student who worked on me if he had been vaccinated and he said no. I choked back the urge to castigate him, put my mask back on, and enjoyed the massage. He wore a mask. My hope is that he had not been vaccinated because he already had the virus.

But why? Why? Why? Vaccines are plentiful here. We are so lucky! Most of the rest of the world is still working on getting to the level of vaccination that we are because they haven’t been able to get the vaccines quickly enough.  Why are people in health related professions even allowed to see patients/clients without being vaccinated? Why aren’t students required to be vaccinated for Covid when they are required to be vaccinated for other diseases? I am baffled.

We could have been at the end of this thing by now if people weren’t so goddamned stupid about it. I follow a page called Safe Communities Portugal and they posted today that they are hoping to have 70% vaccinated by some time in September so that bodes well. In the United States, 100% of the people who can be vaccinated could be vaccinated if they weren’t brainwashed and stubborn.

Oh, don’t think that because I am not writing about all the disasters that are happening worldwide that I am not intensely aware of them. I just don’t see the need to when others do it so much better.

I’m not sure why I did not listen to Spotify for so long. The playlists that are offered up nowadays are great! I’ve been listening to a lot of early-mid 20th century music, and today WFDD offered up a playlist with the theme of I-95 South from Roanoke Rapids to Lumberton.

I am not an audio person, generally, but I might have to turn into one so that I can rest my eyes other than when I am sleeping.

Reading: switched to A Game of Thrones from Emerald Germs of Ireland.  Yes, I watched the first season of “Game of Thrones,” and the last two seasons, because the costumes, scenery, and dragons were awesome. The first season was a little tough for me to stomach. I tend to take violent content into my dreams at night.  I find the book to be more palatable, and there are no surprises here, which is not especially great, but I’ve always enjoyed reading a book more than seeing the movie or TV show. I even stopped watching Poldark when I took up reading the series of books, even though I found Aiden Turner to be quite yummy. I know what comes after where I stopped watching the series, and I don’t particularly care to see it acted out.

TV: I started watching “The Good Place” and “Doc Martin” again. I’m also giving “Sweet Tooth” a try.

I booked a hotel room for the night in Dublin between when we arrive from Portugal and get on a train to Westport the next day. It is over near Christchurch Cathedral so maybe we’ll have a little bit of time to see something in Dublin that morning, but I suspect that we will be worn out. I’m thinking that I’d like to have lunch at the Brazen Head and combine some history with my food. So I only have one hotel room night to book for our big trip now – the last night before we get on the plane for home from Dublin. Here’s hoping that Ireland is open for business by then!