You know, I’ve never been much of a fan of William Wordsworth’s poetry. Too romantic for me. Too flowery, and too many classical references. With the exception of the “Lucy Poems,” I don’t like his work much. But that doesn’t stop snippets of his poems from swimming to the surface of my brain every now and then. Like now. When the world seems to be “too much with us.” Or with me, I guess I should say. And what I really want to do is retreat from everything and everyone.
Maybe this feeling is just because I’m in a bad mood today. My stomach has been giving me some grief over the past few weeks. I’ve been trying to isolate what might be the problem. Clearly something I ate at last night’s book club supper at our house should be on the verboten list. But what’s not clear is which “something” that is. Sigh.
Maybe this feeling stems from the fact that much loved friends and family are facing domestic and family crises. And nothing I can say or do will make it better. Especially hard for them when their situations seemed so positive just a short time ago. But enough about that. Their stories are not mine to tell, so I’ll move on.
Maybe I’m just tired. I’ve had a busy week. Not busy by my former working life standards. But busier that I usually have.
And maybe, you know… maybe… it’s just the world. Our world.
Covid numbers are rising in our area lately. The medical officer of health is warning people to wear masks again in crowded public spaces, particularly indoors, and suggesting that stores consider requiring customers to wear masks. Telling us to take this “seventh wave seriously.” We’re already doing that. But, seventh wave. Let that sink in. Remember how agast we all were at the news there would be second and third waves? Lockdown seems like such an innocent time now.
Google (gleefully, it seemed) informed me this morning that the WHO is considering the “monkeypox” situation a “global emergency.” As if we needed another one.
Seriously. Plague and pestilence. Heat waves. Wildfires. The omnipresent coverage of the January 6 hearings in the United States. Hubby has been glued to the television for those.
Wahhhhh. I feel like Bugs Bunny when he wails…. “Get me outta here!”
“Okay, okay,” the universe answers. “Calm down, Rabbit. Things are not that bad. Things are very bad for some people. Never forget that. But not for you. You have options.”
Yes, I do. I do have options.
But some days, like today, when it seems the world is too much with us… or with me… I forget that. But not for long.
And so, this morning, I exercised my options. I retreated. Turned off my phone, the computer, my ipad, and withdrew to the deck. With my “TBR” pile of books.
I am currently reading Elly Griffiths newest Ruth Galloway novel, The Locked Room. Oddly enough it’s set at the beginning of the pandemic back in 2020. How quaint all the remarks made by characters about the virus being “only the flu” seem in retrospect. When one character comments “It’s hardly the bubonic plague,” another replies: “I expect that’s what they thought about the bubonic plague once.” Ha. How true, how true. Anyway, I’m enjoying the book immensely. Despite the fact that some of you said this latest Ruth Galloway mystery was disappointing. Maybe it’s because reading an ongoing series is a bit like visiting old friends. Only without having to expend energy to make conversation. This morning I didn’t even want to expend energy making conversation with Hubby. Hence after a few minutes conferring about supper, he gulped his tea and left me to my own devices on the deck.
Next up I am going to tackle the doorstop of a book on Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne. I first heard of The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym when Wendy (from York) sent me an article about the book. And then I listened to a Slightly Foxed discussion about Pym. Imagine, if you will, my delight when I discovered that the lovely women over at Slightly Foxed had devoted a whole podcast to “Barbara Pym and Other Excellent Women.” Here is the link in case you’d like to listen to it too. Lots of other gentle reads are mentioned in this podcast. Gentle reads are the perfect panacea for those days when the world is too much with us.
I bought the new Frances Liardet novel Think of Me a few weeks ago with my birthday gift card. I loved her book We Must Be Brave and waxed lyrical about it in this post. As I wrote last year, We Must Be Brave was so good I read it “in bed at night, over breakfast, sitting on the side of the tub, and standing in the kitchen while the potatoes boiled over.” Ha. I can’t be trusted with supper when I’m in the midst of a good book, my friends. I’m hoping the new Liardet book is as good.
I also have to read the Peter May book The Night Gate. It needs to go back to the library. Hubby read it and really enjoyed it. And he’s been asking probing questions, eliciting my opinion about his recommendation. So I should probably set aside the Barbara Pym book in favour of this one. I’ll let you know how I get on with it.
In fact I’ll let you know how I get on with all of them. Eventually.
So that’s what I’ve been up to today, my friends. Exercising my options. Happy to be able to withdraw from the fray when “the world is too much with us.” Or even when it just seems as if it is. Thanks to my course on Romantic Literature many years ago, Wordsworth’s lines have been circling through my mind today. Like a poetic earworm.
But seriously, a day of reading, and not much else, can be balm to the soul. Reading books I love “knits up the ravell’d sleave of care,” as Shakespeare says in Macbeth.
I hope I haven’t over-egged the quotation pudding. I almost added a line from Wordsworth’s “She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways” but I resisted.
You’re welcome. Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Bugs Bunny. That should be sufficient for any post. Ha.
So. How have you been keeping sane during these days of the world being way, way too much with us? I hope your fans are working smoothly, helping to keep you at least a little cool. And I hope you are safe from fires and pestilence. Gad. I’m getting used to talking about plague-coping strategies. It would have been hard to imagine that back in 2019.
P.S. There are some book affiliate links in this post. If you make a purchase after clicking my link, I will earn a small commission which helps to pay for the blog. Many thanks for that, if you do.
66 thoughts on “When the World Is Too Much With Us”
Yes, I too have found the world to be too much to take this year. I worry endlessly about war, plague, bees and butterflies, food shortages….and on it goes. All the news is horrific to me and so I am on a news hiatus. Although I think as a resident of this planet I should be aware and involved, I also want to hang onto my sanity and humour and emotional equilibrium. So, I read…blogs, books…and I sew, quilt, tend to plants, walk, swim, talk to friends and family, bake…I keep my world small at the moment, it is all I want to handle.
Keeping our world small is a good idea. Especially when we won’t be travelling the big world for a while yet. 🙂
Yes it’s a mad , mad world & we need our escapes more than ever . Even gardening has been stressful lately due to our heatwave . The brown , crunchy grass will recover but I feel for my poor roses . Ah well , it’s over for now & the dog can come out from under his wet tea towel . I’ve been struggling with fictional books again but did enjoy Isabel Allende’s Violeta & will try more of hers . Otherwise it’s been memoirs & biographies . Alan Bennett’s House Arrest is his take on lockdown delivered with his usual dry humour , perfect for Bennett fans ( like me ) I’ve also enjoyed Natasha by Suzanne Finstead , a biography of Natalie Wood . My current read is A High Mortality of Doves by a Kate Ellis . Good so far but we’ll see .
Hope your tummy has settled down now . That’s a wonderful reading spot you have there .
Sorry about your garden!
Thank you for your recommendations!
Mystery solved-it was you who introduced me to Kate Ellis!
D.
Don’t think it was me D – I probably got it from you ? Or Sue ?
So,mystery still unsolved….Maybe Amazon?
D.
I think it was me, Dottoressa. I reached back and began reading Kate Ellis’ earliest Wesley Peterson series a few months ago. The Merchant’s House and The Armada Boy. I liked both of them.
Thank you,as always :)!
D.
Oh…. I must read that Alan Bennett book, Wendy. I love his work. The Uncommon Reader is one of my all time favourite books. I read that Kate Ellis. Not my favourite of hers.
I must say I don’t care for the unlikely turn half way through but I’ll try her other series . She describes the period well .
Dear Sue, I hope your day of reading has righted things in your world. Stomach problems can be very debilitating and I hope yours resolve quickly. The ongoing COVID problem and now monkey pox, plus the usual flu and respiratory viruses (it’s a very cold and wet winter here – the wettest July on record) are enough to justify my regular withdrawals from the world and lots of indulgent reading and viewing. My spirits have been lifted recently by the apparent success of converting an upstairs balcony into a fully enclosed “conservatory”. We liked the balcony well enough but in the 17 years since it was constructed, it leaked into the living room underneath it, and drove me to despair. Many attempts to waterproof the balcony failed so now a roof and windows have been added and the leak is no more. I am so relieved but probably won’t really believe that our indoor water feature is no more until a few years have passed without it returning. It’s time pull together an easy Sunday night supper. I wish you, and all of us, happier and more peaceful days.
Thanks, Maria. Hope the closed in balcony works. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your woes. I too feel like this with so much anxiety-inducing news out there. I try to limit my news and media but the headlines seep into my brain. Also with family problems and the death of 2 friends last week (cancer) make me feel I am sinking into a quagmire. I seem to have stomach problems (am very careful to eat blandly and abstain from wine) and now bladder problems. Not sure if it is all hypochondria in reaction to what is going on around me or serious stuff or just ageing, but yes, the world is too much with me. Books rescue me too. And blogs like yours.
Hang in there. Sounds like you have it coming at you from all sides. Take care.
Sorry about your tummy and all the other private and world’s problems…
Susan is so right-I keep my world smaller at the moment as well
I’ve bought Peter May’s book and put the others on the list.
Reading may not not solve the problems,but it can help to deal with them
Despite all my promises to read light literature,it seems that most of the books were dramas,except Angela Marson’s Dead Souls and Elle Cosimano’s Finley Donovan Is Killing It- the latter will be a nice screenplay for a film with Jennifer Aniston or Kate Hudson or someone similar
Dottoressa
Reading can sure make problems move to the back of my mind for a while. Which is really all that we can expect, I guess. I’m grateful for that and for the fact that my woes are so insignificant.
You are heard. I spend a lot of time gazing out of the window – it helps me organise my thoughts, very important for me – and have come to the realisation that the past 2.5 years (!) have, quite naturally, taken a huge toll on all of us. Even if you haven’t caught Covid, every single one of us has been affected by sudden and drastic changes in the status quo. Add in the startling climate changes that are rearing up, damned monkeypox getting its oar in…our government here in UK…war…global recession…you would be a strange human if you weren’t feeling it. In fact, you would be a dangerously denying human if your motto was still Good Vibes Only (don’t start me, she says, mentally rolling up her sleeves). Perhaps your digestive troubles are related; anxiety will out, even if you are trying to keep a lid on stuff. Or – especially if you are doing that. Sitting it out with a good reading pile strikes me as an extremely wise move. I now return to window gazing. Hold the line.
Thanks, Annie. Hold the line… love that admonition.
Hi Sue, it’s such a world of ebbs and flows and, for me right now, I seem to be in a good state. I’m looking forward to a much anticipated overseas trip but obviously with some trepidation. I hope my Pollyanna glasses aren’t too firmly fixed but I have reached a stage of keenly planning, hoping my excitement isn’t misplaced.
My reading is light and my newsfeeds are as brief as necessary. I’m enjoying creative projects and trusting that all will be well. (Next week, or tomorrow, my thoughts about all of the above may be completely different!)
I hope the world is not too much with you. X
Hope your trip is wonderful, Genevieve. 🙂
Not sure I know anyone who doesn’t feel the way you do right now–including me (minus the stomach issues–hope yours resolve soon). Although I have subscriptions to NYTimes, Washington Post and a couple of overseas papers, I find myself merely scanning the headers and then deciding just how much angst I can handle each day before switching off the prophets of doom. Good (or uplifting) news is seemingly hard to find. My answer to the disquiet is the same as yours: books. My TBR list is hilariously(obscenely?) long–eight audio/ebooks on hold in the library; three being read on library Overdrive; six other regular library books I’m diving in and out of (some are overseas tour books); and awaiting delivery of three memoirs and six other travel books from my favorite used book site. Not to mention the rest of many unread books in my library collection. A book glutton. Clearly. But my sanity saver, so happy to go by that appellation.
I am currently awaiting some non-fiction books by a writer suggested to me by Wendy from York. The first one I tried is social history book by Liza Picard… about Restoration London. I’m looking forward to a change of pace. Also I have the audiobook Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers waiting in the wings. That one is thanks to Dottoressa… I think.
I love when you write about books. So happy you are out of your closet!
Dear Sue, Yes, definitely too, too much world. I do wonder if the ‘powers that be’ are just trying to get our attention and this is an old fashioned smack on the backside to wake up and fly right. With that being said I thank you very much for book recommendations and plan to retreat as much as I can…though I am blessed with Grumma babysitting duties these days. Stay safe and well all.
Thanks, Heather.
No need to judge. I’m a book hound and former bookshop owner, but I’m cool with the closet too. All books and no play makes for a different sort of blog. Besides, even in a world on fire, there are insights to be found in navigating personal style. It can be useful, even comforting to locate self-expression within the chaos. What we put out is as important as what we take in. Cheers.
All books and no play…. love that. I can’t write about books all the time. When would I get any reading done? Ha.
Hear hear!
Ah well… I’ll be back in the closet before you know it, Judy. 🙂
I am like you I will grab a book and read to get away. I have always been a reader with a stack of books ready to read. So glad I’m not the only one who does this. My husband doesn’t understand this but now has learned to leave me alone. This getaway does help me in these times of uncertainty. The news makes me extremely depressed. Great post. I’m going to check out your book suggestions.
Thanks, Paula. Hope you enjoy some of the suggestions.
Three sayings come to mind:
The old Geritol commercials used to say “When you’ve got your health you’ve got just about everything”.
My mother, at the end of life, said many times “oh, honey, that’s too much”.
My neighbor and friend says “I’m going home and shutting the door”.
Yup.
Gad. I remember Geritol. Aren’t we at the target age for those ads now??
I get overwhelmed thinking what can I do to create change with of all the things happening in the world. I always go back to a quote of Mother Teresa’s, “Take care of your own Calcutta.” I might go for a walk with a bag and pick up trash. (I live in a big city behind a high school, there is always trash.). I might prepare a meal for one of the widowers in my neighborhood. These are small things, but it calms my soul to feel I’m contributing something positive into the world.
That is a great sentiment to keep in one’s mind. Small positive changes still change things.
Have you read Bill Bryson’s The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid? Touted as “…a vivid and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s,” it’s an enchanting story of his youth in Des Moines, Iowa, in a time of “utter normalcy”, when his alter-ego was the Thunderbolt Kid. If you are looking to escape today’s woes, this leap into the past should do it.
Yes….I read that a while ago. Hilarious. Hubby and I kept reading bits aloud to each other. I love Bill Bryson’s work
I don’t think our nervous systems were designed to “digest” this much negative stimulus and perhaps women are more sensitive to our global connectedness and we internalize it – thus our tummy aches. Me, too.
Seventh wave, yes, I am finally recovering after catching Covid – despite being careful and masking all the time when in public. It was not ‘like a cold’ and not fun!
I am very grateful for all of your book recommendations – they helped me focus on something other than feeling like dung. And of all you’ve written about, “Reading in Bed” really touched me deeply.
Thank you for encouraging me/us to drop out and spend a day, or three, reading.
An invaluable public service, Sue!
Reading in Bed was such a great book. There is a Slightly Foxed podcast where they chat with Sue Gee. That’s how I found her.
Well, I’m back from my Danube travels (it was a wonderful trip!) but have tested positive for COVID, so that’s my souvenir. In ordinary times the scratchy throat that popped up Thursday night wouldn’t have caused a blip in my thinking, but with a weekend of social events scheduled, I tested, and a very faint line appeared. Goodbye, social weekend! I’ve got light sniffles and the remains of that scratchy throat, but am otherwise fine, so I’m grateful that it appears to be a very mild case, much like my Delta version was in December. Bloomberg reported today that an Omicron infection may well provide more future immunity than a booster, so bright side?
Travel wardrobe was a mixed success – it was cooler than forecast for the first couple of days, so I had to go buy a jacket (turned out the sweater I’d brought just wasn’t working). Found the COS store in Munich, and picked up an oversized blazer a couple of sizes down from my usual so it didn’t look like I was wearing dad’s coat for dress-up. Then the black pants I thought would be loose/comfy were just too big, so back into the suitcase they went. Lesson: wear things around the house before you put them in the suitcase, instead of just trying them on and saying “that’ll work.” Everything else worked pretty well and my shipmates were shocked and impressed at the (small) size of my suitcase.
I am happy your trip was good, Carol, but sorry you now have Covid. Hope it continues to be a mild case. I think that cruise travellers are the biggest packers of all, aren’t they?
I love your book reviews and also those of your followers especially Dottoressa for her international recommendations. I am currently reading Grand Hotel Europa by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer and loving it. My poor partner has been trying to fix breakfast and I keep calling him to come so I can read yet another passage to him.
Thank you Sarah!
Dottoressa
I will look for that one, Sarah. I too have read lots of books based on Dottoressa’s suggestions.
Spare a thought for those who unlike most of you can not simply tut tut and retreat from the world.
The nurses, firefighters, retail workers, parents.,the homeless.
We have no choice but to carry on. A day on a deck to read..pure luxury!
Yep. When I get overwhelmed, I do spare a thought or two for those who do not have the same “options” as me. I have lots of friends and family in that category.
Great -and relatable- post! I too retreat to my deck with a book to escape -if only momentarily- from the world when it’s just too much. I find it helps my mental health! Thank you for the book recommendations.
I just finished a “gentle read” you might like:
The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett” by Annie Lyons.
Everything seems to be in a conundrum and with no end in sight. I have been in a bit of a funk just feeling restless and emotionally flat for a while. Hopefully this too will pass. I have been reading the Palace Papers which has provided some distraction from the weather and mild reassurance that money can’t buy happiness. It’s a lengthy slog through some of the chapters without the author targeting or gingerly handling any member of the family with kid gloves. I am now starting Kristen Hannah’s The Four Winds. I’ll keep you posted. Sorry to hear you haven’t felt well. Hope that resolves. It’s so humid I retreat to my recliner rather than the deck or patio. Next time I’m there I’ll raise a glass of iced tea to our shared circumstances and pray for us both!
You’re right, Kat, the humidity makes the deck not so attractive some days. Still, early morning tea before the heat sets in is wonderful.
I’ll look for that book, Lindsey. I’m always on the hunt for gentle reads.
Sue I hope your tummy troubles flee soon. No doubt stressful times are part of it, the digestive tract and nervous system, including the brain, are intertwined. ie gut feeling…
I love reading the comments from fellow readers I always glean amazing insights and today my basket is full o’gleans!!
Susan ‘I keep my world small’ that’s good advice!
Dottoressa’s ‘ Reading may not not solve the problems,but it can help to deal with them’
Annie’s suggestion ‘ …you would be a strange human if you weren’t feeling it.’
Wendyloch ‘ It can be useful, even comforting to locate self-expression within the chaos. What we put out is as important as what we take in.’ Permission requested to have this as a tattoo???
Linda reminding us to “Take care of your own Calcutta.” …so much wisdom in just a few words.
Diana urges us to think of those who can’t turn away but must be present and accounted for on the front lines. I get it, I was a healthcare professional for 37 years at one of Canada’s largest hospital and ended my gig while Covid was moving into year two. No vax, no mask ( in the beginning), fearing every day I would bring it home to my family or my +65 self would catch it and die in ICU watching my husband and sons crying on a cellphone held by a PPE clad nurse. Now I get to worry about our 31 year old son, father of three, as he heads out to his hospital shifts and my 26 yr old university student who toils at retail.
Perhaps more than many on this forum I get where you are coming from but remember comparison is the thief of joy. I’d hazard a guess that, without exception, every one here is very grateful for all you and your colleagues do. I am.
Taking care of our own Calcutta… A lot of work to clean it up and the work is never done but worth the sweat and the tears.
Stay well all.
Tummy troubles come and go with me. Just that at this moment they are coming and not going. I second that about being grateful to those who are unable to retreat to their deck with a book when they get overwhelmed by the crazy world we live in.
I have never appreciated my lifelong avid reading habit more than in the last couple of years, when the world has indeed been too much with us and good books have been a very welcome solace. My “to read” list is satisfyingly long, and I am very thankful to you and all of your commenters for helping to populate it.
I have recently been absorbed in the Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) Cormoran Strike series. I resisted trying these for a long time for reasons that are not clear to me, but have found them to be very engrossing. In an entirely different genre, I just started Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land and have high hopes for it based on a previous book of his that I loved (All the Light We Cannot See).
One additional brief remark: I have been distressed by recent comments that denigrate your fashion posts in comparison to book posts. I feel as if you became my “friend” because we have common tastes in reading. I don’t have a special interest in fashion, but happily read whatever you wish to share about your wardrobe or any other subject. It’s much like the friendships I have in real life: we have a core of common interests and values, and lots of divergent interests as well; it keeps things interesting! If you’re kind enough to invite us to visit with you on a regular basis, I’m on board for whatever the discussion may be … sometimes I’ll be jotting down notes and contributing my own ideas and other times I’ll just enjoy listening.
I feel if it was just about books, most would get bored. Fortunately, books are punctuated by fashion, by travel……I ‘m here for books and fashion, two of my favourite passions.
I feel time spent reading a book on a patio is time well spent. Enjoy your time on your deck on the river Sue! And, don’t let anyone make you feel guilty. We’ve worked hard all our life, we have trials/stresses others are not aware of; enjoy any times of happiness or contentment you can carve out.
I too for some reason resisted the Galbraith books for a long time. Then I listened to them all as audiobooks, and loved them I can’t wait for her next one which comes out soon, I think.
As to the other issue… thanks for the support, my friend. 🙂
Sorry to hear of your tummy troubles. I hope you are feeling better now. Our emotional state can affect our physical well being I am sure.
We are in the middle of winter and it has been a wet, windy and cold one so far so that is adding to the general woes of the world. Normally books and reading are my happy place but I find it hard to concentrate on anything much at present. I think keeping my world small might be the way to go. Stay strong all.
Nothing like a cold wet day to make curling up with a book seem like the best idea ever. 🙂
Just watched the mid-day news. Fires everywhere, here in Greece one of the ancient forests in the north, home to a rare eagle, they are trying to save the nests where they can. And in California the Yosemite Park is threatened. Italy suffering a terrible drought. I try to make myself watch , to keep informed. But we can’t take on all the troubles of the world, and it’s only with the advent of the Internet, and to a lesser degree television that we are so bombarded with information from every corner of the planet. I do try to take care of my Calcutta, but if the big guys won’t act what more can anyone do?
Like you, reading is my solace, at the moment I’m reading a very unusual little book, a collection of short stories by
Tove Jansson, called A Winter Book. She was the creator of the Moomin series for children, I think it’s loosely autobiographical, in which case she must have been a VERY eccentric child ! I just received a new pile of books from the UK so I’m a happy bunny for the time being, shutting the world outside to get on with it.
Hope your tum is better now, Tums are such a barometer of our emotions aren’t they ?
“Take care of my Calcutta”… that’s a great sentiment isn’t it?
Sometimes it seems the world comes crashing in to make it even smaller–I have relatives in Highland Park, IL (July 4 shooting) who were not hurt, but the trauma hit close to home. I find the rise of far-right extremism terrifying and the inability, because of Covid, to be involved in community events, whether for fun or as a volunteer, is like a straightjacket. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve joined a group to help bring some Ukrainian people to our city and that helps with my world-weary fatigue.
Reading Louise Penny books (while sitting outside with wine or coffee) helps me retreat. Even though they are murder mysteries, the characters, for the most part, are good and caring people (and the books are not overly violent).
You are not alone in feeling overwhelmed and frozen in place with worldwide events. Right now the world feels like one step forward and ten back. But, I try to heed the words of my high school 1972 graduating class motto…..keep on truckin’.
So sorry to hear that family members were there at that shooting, Heidi. How traumatic that day must have been. Makes us all feel unsafe in the world sometimes to think of what could have happened. Best tune out some news and do as your high school motto says… “Keep on truckin’.” I remember that line too from my highschool days in the seventies. Although “truckin” has newer connotations for those of us who live in Ottawa after last winter’s protest. 🙂
Your mention of the “Lucy Poems” made me smile … something I haven’t done enough of lately for various reasons including this turbulent world! The “Lucy Poems” were my favorite and I learned of them in one of my first English literature classes in college. Such carefree days! Thank you for the wonderful trip down memory lane. I hope your tummy troubles go away soon. I retreat with books when I need to shut out the world. My favorites are any of the Inspector Lynley novels by Elizabeth George. Always a delight!
I learned a couple of the “Lucy Poems” by heart back in university. I just loved the rhythm and the rhyme. I can still recite bits… although I rarely do. Ha.
I had to go find this Wordsworth poem after reading this. Being married to an English major whose father was a classics major, I knew we must have a book of his poetry somewhere. And we did. The cobwebs gathered on a volume stored in our garage have been brushed off and the book is now at my side. Timely. The words, relevant still.
Hi Sue,
Sorry to hear of your friends and family in crisis. How awful for them and difficult for you. That feeling of helplessness. I hope that things get better for all of them soon.
Sorry also that your stomach is giving you trouble. I hope that gets better right away.
The world is quite challenging right now. Here in the U.S. I fear for our country. I worry about the next generation and understand why they are so frustrated with the adults in the room (the room that is the planet).
We’ve (my husband and I) have watched every minute of the Jan. 6th hearings. I read today about some congressional staffers having a sit-in about the inaction over climate change. Good for them!
Books are a good way to escape it all for a bit. You have quite a stack of them!
I enjoyed Beach Read by Emily Henry for a summer escape. It is beach reading and Henry wove a good tale. Just finished Ruth Reichl’s My Kitchen Year, which makes me want to head into the kitchen and cook. Now into Alice Water’s Coming to My Senses (another foodie).
While on vacation, I recognized my 66th birthday and thought of your post about aging (as well as Frances Stout’s). I shared them with my handful of readers. I didn’t write about how I was feeling about aging. I wasn’t quite up to the task. Perhaps more on that later.
I hope that you have a good weekend, with a good tummy, some lovely outdoor time and some fun.
Happy 66th to you! Thanks for sharing my post. 🙂
Comments are closed.