Rick Wakeman is my favorite folk musician
In July I spent some time in New Hampshire at my spouse’s family cabin (all the amenities except potable water & wifi and who misses wifi these days??) and I got to swim in a lake and listen to loons! We also started the Spike Lee movie Inside Man three nights in a row and I fell asleep every time!
Everyone is grieving right now. The lives we had before and those expectations are firmly gone. Philadelphia has outdoor seating open at restaurants which might be nice to do but I’m not trynna show up to a place where people have to work?? When we talk about things opening up, a lot of people forget that employees have to get there in some capacity and then spend time with people outside of their household. The government should be paying people to stay home, I literally don’t understand how lawmakers let the unemployment benefits lapse.
Other places have indoor seating which sounds to me like a game of Russian Roulette and I’m not one to take that sort of chance.
Last weekend a neighbor I grew up with died of a heart attack. He was thirty-two and had run his body down. It sucks to know people who die before they find any kind of peace or calm.
I have become preoccupied with getting more art and getting art I already have framed (soon I hope). I did a poster order from the National Gallery that included this amazing exhibition poster featuring Jacob Lawrence’s art. It’s HUGE but I am enamored.
Let’s Go Away For A While from Pet Sounds is a big mood for me right now as is It Never Entered My Mind by the Miles Davis Quintet.
“No! No, I’m not gonna simply accept my life now. I’m saving it for when my life is great.”
Aminé’s new video
At my brother’s recommendation I finally watched Baby Driver which was a silly movie but for a week after it I couldn’t stop listening to Debora.
I watched all of the British TV show Catastrophe and it’s one of the only things that made me consistently laugh in a long time! I’m late to the party but if you haven’t seen it I recommend it!
“You are like me, you will die too, but not today:
you, incommensurate, therefore the hours shine:”
Why time feels so weird in 2020
When I was in middle school everyone in my family got sick of caring for our family turtle and my Dad decided we should set it free in a park near our house. He printed out the lyrics to Born Free and had me and my sisters hold hands and sing the chorus.
I love this interview with Andy Samberg and I loved his new movie Palm Springs.
Some of the reasons why Mt. Rushmore sucks :)
“I considered opening with, Every day I wake up frightened, to throw a fucking jolt into a piece about facing down a pandemic in a place where they have a paradise just for the cheeseburgers.”
The podcast Nice White Parents from the New York Times and Serial about public education has three episodes up and they are all infuriating & informative.
My body is a confederate monument. The shifting legacy of crime reporter Edna Buchanan. Dr. Who, Downton Abbey and the mythos of Britain. The brilliant Michaela Coel. Patricia Lockwood’s experience being sick with Covid is hilarious and terrifying. “Cancel culture” has always existed it’s just in different hands now. On the South Philadelphia Columbus statue. “I was a teenage conspiracy theorist.” What Medieval literature and Law and Order: SVU have in common. The popular instagram account Queer Appalachia is not serving the community in the way it depicts. Loneliness in South Korea. I love _yafavtrashman. The origins of the Democratic party turning away from progressives and towards the Southern White vote. Jared Kushner has blood on his hands. Indian Matchmaking and the burden of being brown. Rick Steves is staying home. Roman noses and the stories out bodies betray. What radicalized you?
Food
I made this Nectarine-Basil syrup with basil from my garden today! I think I’m going to try it with cocktails but it’s good even just as a lemonade.
These burger buns are tasty.
My next baking adventure: dulce de leche chocoflan.
My flower arrangement in New Hampshire
Stay particular,
Margaret