I am “on” “vacation” this week and so far: meh. A lot of this can be blamed on the fact that we are not, as planned, in Paris, and on the fact that we are a lot more sad and angry about it than we had anticipated. We pretended to be okay with it but you know what? It sucks! Frankly, right now it is hard to imagine a time when such a trip will be possible again. We keep saying “next year!” but have you read the news?
A few years ago my husband and I started the tradition of Play Week, which is where we take a week off of work and stay home to do all the things we talk about doing and never do. We make a big list of day trips and restaurants and throw in one boring home project like cleaning the basement. I love Play Week but our unplanned Play Week is not feeling very playful this year.
A “staycation” right now is more or less just what you’re already doing only without the element of work. Which, sure, it’s nice to not work. But I don’t want to go to restaurants, I don’t want to go to museums or anywhere else that might be crowded or full of people that “don’t believe in” the pandemic or who are too FREE and AMERICAN to wear a mask.
Have you seen the videos of these women throwing fits in grocery stores because someone asked them to wear a mask? They are uniformly thirtysomething blondes in upscale grocery stores. Is there a “type” for this kind of thing or is this a disinformation campaign designed to make spoiled white women look…well, more ridiculous? I know we all have a breaking point but throwing a tantrum in Trader Joe’s is just very…well, trashy seems a bit strong but if the bedazzled Bebe shirt fits, so be it.
On Friday I am dropping the dogs off at daycare and boarding them until Sunday. I have…concerns about the puppy, namely that they will call me and request that I immediately remove her from the premises, but I also need a break. At some point, she will have to get used to being boarded anyway. And in Before Times we had planned to have her there for a week already at this point, though when I made those reservations I could not have known she was going to be How She Is, which is to say difficult in every conceivable way.
I haven’t talked about cooking in this newsletter as much as I used to. This is partly because it’s not as effective a distraction as it was in the early months of this ordeal, and partly because it’s hot now. But last weekend my husband bought a smoker and tomorrow he’s going to do ribs. My contribution will be this corn salad with chili and lime, although the Tajín I ordered from Amazon will not arrive in time to use it. (I have gone sort of HAM w/r/t Amazon lately which is not a great look in general, I know!! God is still working on me, okay!)
I am not sure what we will do for the Fourth (inasmuch as anyone is “doing” anything for the Fourth in this stupid timeline) but I can assure you it will involve a smoked meat.