Good morning, friends, and happy Friday! It’s so deliciously cool here this morning; the air conditioning is off and all the windows are open, and everything just feels so fresh. This is supposed to go on for at least a week or so, I believe, so I’m very appreciative of it all. I so enjoy being able to open the house up.
Not a great week
for stories in the news, eh? I miss the days when we could watch and/or listen
to the news and not be so depressed about the state of everything. I mean, the
news has long been crummy, but now it’s like every story is a reason to panic.
COVID. Monkeypox. Polio making a comeback. Climate change. Massive inflation. Everything is at the
highest levels of awfulness possible, so it’s hard to maintain any kind of
positivity when all these stories are out there and pouring down on us like a
waterfall. I spent some time yesterday playing my guitar to escape it all. Good
therapy right there.
Here's what I
found interesting (ish) online this week!
Oof. We all
know how bad it is out there. Going to the grocery store is just depressing
these days. Some of the prices are so high as to be comical. Who would pay
that, even if they could??? I’m keeping our diets as basic as possible; it
means more time in the kitchen, which, with school starting in ten days, that’s
going to be tricky. My daughter needs a *lot* of direction and constant supervision
when it comes to schoolwork; she’s not one of those kids you can tell to
complete an assignment and she just gets it done. Spending more time in the
kitchen during the school year will definitely mean a little more stress on me.
One more thing that high grocery prices affect.
With all my volunteer
work looking at food pantry websites, I have to wonder if there’s eventually
going to be a sea change in terms of attitudes. So many of the pantries seem to
look down on their clients and demand a ridiculous number of documents and ‘proof’
(can you hear my eyeroll?) that these people actually need help with food. With
grocery prices so freaking high, pantries are seeing record numbers of people needingn help. Are these pantries going to stop poverty-shaming
their clients? I’m not going to hold my breath.
“God,
No, Not Another Case.” Covid Related Stillbirths Didn’t Have to Happen
There are
correlations between COVID cases and stillbirths, and this is devastating to
both the parents and the hospital staff who care for them. Pregnant people are
at higher risk for complications from COVID and have also gotten vaccinated at
lower rates, making them even more vulnerable. This article is just devastating
and especially depressing with the news this week that we’re basically just
going to do nothing at all in terms of keeping each other safe from COVID from
now on. How many more unnecessary stillbirths will happen because of this???
Backyard hens’ eggs
contain 40 times more lead on average than shop eggs, research finds
This article
is out of Australia, but I can’t imagine that the studies would be all that
different elsewhere. I recently read that if you live in an older home, you
shouldn’t eat anything grown within twenty feet of your house, planted or
foraged, because the risk of that plant being contaminated by lead is so much
higher. Not a bad idea to get your soil tested (many county agricultural extension
offices will over this service, at a fee). Definitely something to be aware of.
Rainwater
Everywhere Now Considered Too Toxic for Safe Consumption, Study Finds
WELL. That’s
depressing. We’ve really screwed everything up, haven’t we?
At least
there’s this…
A
vaccine for Lyme disease is in its final clinical trial
Lyme disease
is nasty, and in some areas of the country, you’re practically guaranteed to
get it (I used to live a very short drive away from Lyme, Connecticut, and we’d
occasionally find ticks just crawling all around the house). This would be HUGE
for people in those communities, as well as those who spend a significant
amount of their lives outdoors. We used to have deer stroll through our
backyard in Tennessee all the time, so whenever my son played in the little
forest-y patch behind our house, I had to check him for ticks – and sometimes
he had them. Lyme disease is devastating; I really hope this vaccine trial pans
out.
And that’s it
for this week! Planning on cleaning, reading, and spending more time with my
guitar this weekend. My beleaguered soul needs it. What are you doing to keep
your spirits up lately?
Wishing you
all a wonderful, peaceful weekend. Shalom, friends. : )
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