Wednesday, May 26th, 2021

Crazy Weather

Today is a weird day as far as the weather is concerned.

The day started out sunny and hot, to turn humid and sticky in the afternoon which was followed by the slightest of thunderstorms bringing about twenty drops of rain just as I had moved my office to the outside. As it started to rain, I scrambled to cover the outdoor furniture, moved inside, just for it to stop. So, off I went to uncover everything again and move back outside as the house is hot. I have a dislike for the AC and prefer to be out, where a nice breeze is now. I expect to have to cover everything again in an hour or so as I can still hear the thunder grumbling in the background, almost like drums to the song of the Cicadas, which continue to emerge from their seventeen years underground. I think about a hundred of them appeared in my garden over the day. Their mating song is increasing in volume as more are settling into the trees surrounding my house. The birds are chirping to the song of the Cicadas creating quite a cacophony.

So far, the mating song of the Cicadas is not deafeningly loud, and the creatures are not too invasive of my space as they mainly seem to appear in the early hours of the morning. They then dry their wings and fly into the trees in the afternoon to join the crowds. Except of course for those who die before. My garden is littered with husks and dead Cicadas.

The kid mowing my lawn came today in an attempt to finish the back. What a production! He apparently could not get the cord to work with any of my three outdoor outlets. I may need to have them checked. In the end I dropped my outside office extension cord from my office window and that did the trick. Somehow, I think I will not have him come back as the lawn looks hacked rather than cut. Presumably this is mainly due to the jungle it had turned into, but still, the cuttings are not tidily raked, and the past few weeks were just a bit too much for me. He is a nice kid though, so I feel a bit bad about not employing him anymore.

Beyond that nothing much happened today. I swam. EM is at work, but not feeling well. There is no food in the house (according to her) as I did not do a grocery run prior to our upcoming trip, which coincides with the full reopening of Montgomery County and the end of this blog as we then return to life as we knew it – or so I hope.

It is strange to think about ending my daily writting for good. It has been carthegic on many levels. It has kept my family and friends abreast of our life in a time when meeting has been hard. It has helped me to structure my day, with the blog being the last of my daily chores. I liked the time it gave me to reflect n each days events. It has taught me gratitude and a certain amount of humbleness. EM and I are a few of the lucky ones with a lovely home, the ability to work and in a limited way see friends. The disruption to our lives has been far less severe than to many, less fortunate, people. I have a regular income. We have a lovely home. EM could finish her high school. All my family members survived the pandemic in good health. What more could we ask for?

The vaccine will give us protection, as far as we know now for at least ten months and then we shall see about booster shots. We are both very much looking forward to our trip. It will be fun a first stepback to a normal life.

EM has been invited to two graduation parties and is now planning one for herself. Step one being to figure out what a graduation party is about. First however is the actual graduation on June 4th. It will be live streamed so our family in Europe can participate, which is nice. I shall try to meet up with A.’s family so we can sit together. I am not sure if the bleachers or the field are the best option. I should have scouted it out the day of the BCCSD team send of. Also, the girls still need to decide on a venue for the graduation dinner. Lots of festivities to look forward to after our trip.

The virus continues to disappear, from the news, but also in public life it seems. Over the past twenty-four hours 29k new cases were reported to bring the US total to 33.96 million. Nonetheless, scientists are making the case for continued testing, urging the administration to expand access to rapid at home tests. I think I should invest in a couple of at home rapid tests. The main question is how to get my hands on them. In Germany they are sold at the local super market, why not here? In an effort to get more people to take a shot,

United Airlines has a sweepstake for one year of free flights in any class. Trust me, I signed up for their mileage plus program as this is something I could really use. Now that travel is coming back that is.