A Few Things

Hello, Friends. How are you? What was your week like? Smoke and fires? Fall sweater weather? Early winter? Late summer heat? We’ve had a warm week here in Normandy, and we’ve been glad we didn’t pack away the summer clothes quite yet.

We made some renovation progress over at The Tall House this week and I found it so encouraging. We brought in a power-sander for the attic floors (it took 3 people to carry it up and down from the attic!). The bathtub and faucet for the attic were delivered. Window restoration on two of the floors finished this week. We arranged for glass to be added to the “barn doors” that lead into the back yard. And plaster work started on the main floor.

I’m so grateful for the forward momentum!

And hey, I know I haven’t been great about writing up all of the house updates here on the blog, but if you’re curious, I share almost daily on Instagram stories, and then save those stories into highlights. (I wish I could figure out a way to publish the same content here simultaneously — if you hear of a way, please let me know.)

Are you ready to jump into links? Here are a few things I’ve wanted to share with you:

-Rise up. Show up. Unite! Join 20+ amazing artists in support of Joe Biden & Kamala Harris! Read about their collective effort and see all of the work (so far!).

-The Crushing Reality of Zoom School. “The kindergarten teacher opens every morning asking children if they had breakfast, knowing not every answer will be yes. Gently, he asks one girl “are there any grown-ups around that can help you?” She shakes her head no, unable to speak because she can’t find the unmute.”

-America Doesn’t Care About Mothers.

-The USPS had a plan to send 5 reusable facemarks to every household in early April. Even had a press release ready. The White House blocked the plan. “There was concern…that households receiving masks might create concern or panic.”

-The World Health Organization has created a free course on Basic Microbiology to help break transmission cycles.

-The CDC indicated face masks may be better COVID protection than a vaccine that’s 70% effective.

-If you refuse to wear a mask, research says you’re outing yourself as a likely sociopath.

-People on social media are talking about the Challenger series on Netflix and it’s so depressing. Apparently the engineers knew there were problems and tried to stop the launch but Reagan insisted it continue. I haven’t watched it yet. Do you remember where you were when it exploded? I was in 6th grade.

-In happier Netflix watching, Ben Blair and I just binged the first season of Cobra Kai and it is nothing short of delightful! Tons of 80s nostalgia, Johnny, the villain from Karate Kid, now a middle-age anti-hero. Great writing. I’m still shocked that it was so good. Have you watched the series?

-If you got to pick, at what age would you die?

Recycling plastic doesn’t work. The makers of plastic – the nation’s largest oil and gas companies – have known that all along, even as they spent millions telling Americans the opposite.

-I keep getting asked about the jeans you can see me wearing on Instagram. They are Levi’s 501s, original fit, no stretch.

Here are some tweets I saved for you:

Agreed.

-A thread on what Critical Race Theory (CRT) is. Click to read the whole thing.

https://twitter.com/eveewing/status/1306788052925325313?s=20

Do you agree?

Don’t listen to the RNC.

What would you add to the responses to this tweet?

https://twitter.com/CallHerApple/status/1306293241285935105?s=20

-We (white people) need to stop asking Black Women to educate us about things we can easily find on Google.

In case you need it.

-If we “keep politics out of sports”, that also means no longer playing the national anthem and suspending any and all military ceremonies from all sporting events.

https://twitter.com/IssueFortyFive/status/1305296026627047425?s=20

Praying hard for the safety of Dawn Wooten, the whistleblower.

Epic flight!

I hope you have a really lovely weekend. I’ll meet you back here next week. I miss you already.

kisses,
Gabrielle

9 thoughts on “A Few Things”

  1. hello Gabby, please know that I found your renovation also encouraging!! And as I am also in this process (though it’s not my property), it has given us ideas and courage. So, thank you. I enjoy instagram for images and videos and I enjoy your blog for the longer posts and the comments.
    Have a peaceful week-end and the last twitt made me really laugh! so, thanks again.

  2. My heart breaks for the little ones trying to do school on Zoom. I don’t understand why we can’t come together as a country to take care of each other. Our sense of community seems to have waned.

  3. Commenting hear about the abortion post because it is my all time favorite post of yours.

    “Virtual” learning makes you witness things you were previously ignorant to.
    It’s a good thing but also a really bad thing.

    Any other parents SO FULL OF RAGE that you cannot stand it?

    I feel like I’m alone. I hate trump but don’t like Biden either. I believe the virus is real but I also know we need to get back to what matters. Being in school matters. I don’t know how long my kids can last doing the virtual.

    There is so much hypocrisy surrounding the pandemic, I don’t get it. Churches can have people but schools can’t? Kids can play football but not go to class?

    Shouldn’t school be the priority?

    Also, the America/Moms article is really about all women.

    Our country is MISOGYNISTIC at its core.

    1. Omg, SO MUCH rage on a daily basis. I try not to focus on how angry I am because it doesn’t help me get through the day of kindergarten zoom calls and caring for a newborn, but it’s there. I’ll lose my shit if Trump is elected again. At this point I’m just holding out hope for a President Biden and a safe vaccine.

  4. I enjoy watching the progress -it’s a great way to see the actual in time effort it takes, and how great to have all your family working on it together!

    The price of adulting has gone up SO much since Covid, and I feel like much of it is just opportunistic manipulation on the part of the folks at the top who have more than enough it doesn’t bother them.

    Also, I wholeheartedly agree with the worrisome feelings about my fellow citizens being excited to engage in a civil war, “be careful what you wish for” comes to mind, however many many people believe strongly that “patriotism” and “war” go hand in hand, which again, causes me great concern. I wish we could unify and reconnect, that we would work and put as much energy into resolutions that were peaceful and compassionate as we are into stirring the masses into anger and division. Greed and money are such grand tools for destruction, I fear we are falling in love with all that power, money, and fame can grant…no matter that it is we who are willingly trampled in the long run.

    Please VOTE wisely, for you, for others, we’re all united in this current situation.

  5. I was a high school junior in French class when we heard the news about the Challenger explosion. It really affected me – there had been so much press leading up to it because of Christa McAuliffe, the teacher selected to join the flight. I actually wrote one of my college entrance essays on my feelings about it. I didn’t know there was a new documentary, I’ll definitely check it out!

  6. Yay for “Cobra Kai”! My teenage son kept raving about it and when we finally watched it as a family, it was surprisingly entertaining. It really helps to watch the first Karate Kid movie again before watching the series. There are so many subtle references to the original movies. William Zabka is sooo good in it and should have won an Emmy!

  7. I’m loving the insta updates, but seeing the photos on the blog makes me realize how much I miss the regular blog updates (of all professional bloggers). Thanks for sharing your life with us!

    Regarding Zoom school, my 6 year old nephew’s district is all virtual, so my brother and sister in-law found a program through a local non-profit that offers to help with school/child-care, and it’s been a nightmare so far. He acts up, never mutes the microphone causing the other students to leave the Zoom calls because he’s so loud and disruptive. The assistants at the program are not equipped or effectively trained or prepared (I’m not trying to blame them- we are asking young people to do a professional job for little pay) and every day ends in tears for my nephew, his parents, and probably, the teacher and assistants. In a suburban district next to us, that is part virtual, part in person, the first teacher died from Covid, which she was diagnosed with shortly after school started and died a short time later (they’ve only been back in school for 3 weeks). It’s so heart breaking for her family, her students, and our community. I feel like it’s an extra blow because she was a democrat, who took things seriously, and meanwhile all the jerk covid-disbelievers are posting comments on the local news sites about her pre-existing conditions and how masks must not work. This country.

  8. The news about the White House blocking the distribution of masks, The Challenger and also that recycling is a sham is so depressing. They all knew something and didn’t tell us, blatantly misleading the public for their own benefit. Enough. It’s all about money and power. What do we do? I vote, I donate money, I work hard at a company that does good things, I try to be a good parent…but I feel none of it matters (except for the parenting part). Feeling lost right now.

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