Hello, Friends. How are you? What was your week like? Smoke and fires? Fall sweater weather? Early winter? Late summer heat? We’ve had a warm week here in Normandy, and we’ve been glad we didn’t pack away the summer clothes quite yet.
We made some renovation progress over at The Tall House this week and I found it so encouraging. We brought in a power-sander for the attic floors (it took 3 people to carry it up and down from the attic!). The bathtub and faucet for the attic were delivered. Window restoration on two of the floors finished this week. We arranged for glass to be added to the “barn doors” that lead into the back yard. And plaster work started on the main floor.
I’m so grateful for the forward momentum!
And hey, I know I haven’t been great about writing up all of the house updates here on the blog, but if you’re curious, I share almost daily on Instagram stories, and then save those stories into highlights. (I wish I could figure out a way to publish the same content here simultaneously — if you hear of a way, please let me know.)
Are you ready to jump into links? Here are a few things I’ve wanted to share with you:
-Rise up. Show up. Unite! Join 20+ amazing artists in support of Joe Biden & Kamala Harris! Read about their collective effort and see all of the work (so far!).
-The Crushing Reality of Zoom School. “The kindergarten teacher opens every morning asking children if they had breakfast, knowing not every answer will be yes. Gently, he asks one girl “are there any grown-ups around that can help you?” She shakes her head no, unable to speak because she can’t find the unmute.”
-America Doesn’t Care About Mothers.
-The USPS had a plan to send 5 reusable facemarks to every household in early April. Even had a press release ready. The White House blocked the plan. “There was concern…that households receiving masks might create concern or panic.”
-The World Health Organization has created a free course on Basic Microbiology to help break transmission cycles.
-The CDC indicated face masks may be better COVID protection than a vaccine that’s 70% effective.
-If you refuse to wear a mask, research says you’re outing yourself as a likely sociopath.
-People on social media are talking about the Challenger series on Netflix and it’s so depressing. Apparently the engineers knew there were problems and tried to stop the launch but Reagan insisted it continue. I haven’t watched it yet. Do you remember where you were when it exploded? I was in 6th grade.
-In happier Netflix watching, Ben Blair and I just binged the first season of Cobra Kai and it is nothing short of delightful! Tons of 80s nostalgia, Johnny, the villain from Karate Kid, now a middle-age anti-hero. Great writing. I’m still shocked that it was so good. Have you watched the series?
-If you got to pick, at what age would you die?
–Recycling plastic doesn’t work. The makers of plastic – the nation’s largest oil and gas companies – have known that all along, even as they spent millions telling Americans the opposite.
-I keep getting asked about the jeans you can see me wearing on Instagram. They are Levi’s 501s, original fit, no stretch.
Here are some tweets I saved for you:
–Agreed.
-A thread on what Critical Race Theory (CRT) is. Click to read the whole thing.
–What would you add to the responses to this tweet?
-We (white people) need to stop asking Black Women to educate us about things we can easily find on Google.
-If we “keep politics out of sports”, that also means no longer playing the national anthem and suspending any and all military ceremonies from all sporting events.
–Praying hard for the safety of Dawn Wooten, the whistleblower.
I hope you have a really lovely weekend. I’ll meet you back here next week. I miss you already.
kisses,
Gabrielle
