February 2021 Randoms

I loved February's Egyptian Pyramids Dishscape! It made me feel like Amelia Peabody all month.

I appreciated this Wall Street Journal article about the therapeutic value of reading books.

I do most of these. The only one I really don't do is audiobooks.

I'm a big believer in the power of routines and schedules.

The December 2020 issue of the The New Era (a magazine I read as a teenager and one that John reads) was the last one before it changed to the new For the Strength of Youth magazine in 2021. 

A cute shop in the town next door

I loved Christopher Plummer as Captain Von Trapp. RIP.

Dinner out with Jen and Jill. Friends since junior high!

Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski are traitors to New England, but congrats to them on winning the Super Bowl. 

Speaking of Tom...(this is a picture in our house)

A cute cookie for Valentine's Day

My mom's front door got "heart attacked" by the young women in her ward. Cute!

A good quote from Dr. Seuss that gets used by the anti-abortion crowd (of which I am a part): 

"A person is a person no matter how small."

I got a manicure. The pale pink shade turned out to match my electric toothbrush and Clarisonic skin brush exactly. I guess I'm really attracted to that shade!

The power of good sleep

My high-school history teacher passed away.

Good advice

We had a Relief Society activity over Zoom led by a woman in the ward who's a professional organizer. I loved her presentation and her slides, and I love organization. It makes my life run so much better!

This woman's obit could be mine! (Knock on wood)

These are some of the reasons I like having a blog.

Cool Trump Art

 I read an article in The Epoch Times about a talented artist named Jon McNaughton who did some really good paintings of President Trump that resonated with me.

"Crossing the Swamp"

Several members of Trump's cabinet and family are in the boat with him. Obviously this is modeled after the inspiring painting of Washington crossing the Delaware in the Revolutionary War. Though Trump isn't as great as Washington was, I very much admire his heroic attempts to drain the swamp that is Washington politics. He fought hard for that and had some success, and the establishment hated him for it.

"Legacy of Hope"

"You Are Fake News." This one is totally spot-on. I liked how Trump called out the totally biased media on a regular basis and had no hesitation in doing so.

I hope he'll be back.

Crazy Times Scrapbook, February 2021

Good news; the coronavirus numbers continued to go down...

I wasn't one of the Massachusetts residents who crashed the state's website. I don't want a vaccine, so I get to avoid the hassle over getting one.

"Real unity would be welcome in these hyper-political times, when friendships can shatter over patronizing an unwoke fast-food joint or mouthing a renegade opinion regarding masks."

Go Trump! I miss him.

I concur with both of these opinions.

The winter storm in Texas was a tragic debacle that also showed how unreliable green energy methods on their own can be.

"...they have been taking nuclear and coal plants offline to please the lords of climate change. But the public pays the price when blackouts occur because climate obeisance has made the grid too fragile."

I hope he's right!

Not to downplay the tragic toll Covid has taken on many people and families, but all this continued hysteria over a virus with a population fatality rate of ~0.15% and an infection fatality rate of ~0.23%? Really?

"...the consistent and rapid decline in daily cases since Jan. 8 can be explained only by natural immunity." 

I think a lot more people have had Covid without knowing it than we realize. I suspect that I might be one of them because of an awful, lingering sickness I had in November/December 2019 that affected my breathing. Even though it's no fun being sick, I'll take natural immunity over a questionable vaccine any day. 

2% positivity rate in Massachusetts 

The toll certainly is tragic.

Back to school full-time in April! It's about time! 🎉

The positivity rate was down to 1.9% by the end of the month.

Today, on March 23rd, it's up to 2% again. Go back down, you, and stay there!

Around the House in February

 Most of my "around the house" pictures from February feature Violet and Bentwood, so an alternate title for this post could be "Around the House With the Pets (and Some Flowers and Other Things) in February." 😄 Too long? 

It cracks me up when Bentwood falls asleep like this.

He's so sweet!

This candle smelled so good!

A lovely bit of summer in winter!

Snow-dusted Violet

This cracks me up too. I found Violet laying like this under the pillows. 😆

A nice little snack of organic blackberries and homemade bread

The full moon