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Almost the end of February

 And COVID is still dragging on. The numbers are getting better here in Arizona but they are still high. People are tired though and so I see more people without masks in stores--or at least their masks are down below their chins. Our local newspaper kept it such a deep dark secret, about how severe the cases were, how many people actually died in Sierra Vista, that it seemed from the way my church presented it, that it was more an inconvenience than anything else. That people couldn't meet in person.

Ah well, we make up our own minds as to what to do. I am very thankful that on February 11th I had my first shot of the Moderna vaccine. I had very mild side effects that lasted a day and a half. A relief. I am due for the second on March 11th at my doctor's office. Some people have said that second dose had worse side effects. Still, what to me is more important is that the stats are good about people who have had both shots. They are indeed not getting sick from COVID, not being hospitalized, not spreading it. Hope that maybe someday, maybe within this year, COVID will wane to the point of being no worse than flu. And the world could open up again. I'm not under an illusion that it will go back to what it was, that we will be able to travel at will, that everything will look as it did before COVID. But that it will be better, that's my hope.

I am also hoping that the UK and Europe's numbers will continue to improve. Not just because I care about how people are suffering but also so that I can finally travel there. I would also like to travel to Canada but, as Canada is short on vaccine, that might not be possible until Fall. Which is likely when I will be able to travel to the UK. Since I have to use my travel credit before December, in a situation where I'd have to choose between Canada and the UK, it will have to be the UK.

I started working from home full-time on January 3rd for the School District. Coordinating its online course offerings. Part of me enjoys being busy, and enjoys having money coming in. Part of me takes it all way too seriously though. Ironically, or perhaps serendipitously, I have been reading a book called "Boundaries" by two psychologists, John Townsend and Henry Cloud. It was a huge bestseller, people want to get control back into their lives I think. And Townsend and Cloud do a very good job of pointing out ways to do it. Their book is very Biblically based though; that might put some people off. I still find it very worthwhile, especially as I want to make it through these next three months at work without either having a nervous breakdown or leaving in a huff. I definitely feel that the Boundaries book is helping me. It's a day-by-day journey though. Some days I think, yes, I am doing very well. And then the next I am brought up short.

I am also very much enjoying being at home here in our house in Sierra Vista. We have been in the house for 2 and a quarter years now. I think that's almost the longest we have lived in one house since we married. R still talks about longing to move somewhere else. But, for me, I don't feel that wanderlust. At least not a permanent move. Three months in Europe, that would be just fine. But I want to come back to MY house. I don't ever want to go through what I did when we moved back from Ireland. Depending on the kindness of semi-strangers, feeling so vulnerable. No, hard won independence is not to be tossed away.

With working 6.5-8 hours a day, my reading has slowed down quite a bit. During the Christmas season I was reading two books a week. Now it's a struggle to get through one. I find myself at the end of a workday just wanting to watch murder mysteries/crime shows on TV. Yes, that's the genre I am always attracted to. I think because the storyline is suspenseful but easy to follow--good guys, bad guys, the good guys usually win in the end but in the meantime we can bite our nails and breathe a grateful prayer that we are safe and warm. A well-made crime show is gripping and entertaining. Like London Kills or The Pembrokeshire Murders. However, I have gone through all of the recent British crime shows and am now left with the semi-weekly episodes of FBI and NCIS. Or, maybe, I should suck it up and read from the piles of books my cousin Vivienne in Finland has sent me through Amazon.  Very deep psychology books on women and meditation. They require a clear head ;)

Anyway, I will end tonight's musings with some photos of what my life is like here in Sierra Vista, the lovely early morning walks on the golf course and monthly trips over to Bisbee. Life is good.















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