Are you having a “zip a dee doo dah” day?

I did take a really nice walk in the forest with my cat. She was having a zippy morning, and stopped to thank me for taking her there and spending time letting her explore, by looking up, then standing up on her back paws, and reaching up with her paws to pull my hand to rub her chin.

No. It was over 100 degrees here. Too hot for the bliss you describe.

I’ve been enforcing more than ever not being on social media except for a couple times a day. One of those is the evening, and I’ve really been trying to stick to it after all the craziness our country is going through. So after a certain hour, I watch a movie or a show or two that I’m streaming, and I read, and I refuse to be on Facebook or Twitter. Reading especially allows me to withdraw from the craziness. So not exactly a whole day, but rather pretty much every day at set times.

We visited the Georgian House in Edinburgh to learn how the rich lived in early 18th Century Scotland. It was a life of luxury but without running water or electricity. News came from newspapers that were expensive and had print so small you needed a magnifying glass to read it. We spent a couple of hours there walking from room to room each with a friendly guide happy to answer our questions. We left with a vivid impression of a vanished lifestyle.

6:54am right now, and so far the day is average, watching some saved TV shows. Today should have a decent amount of fun though. Planning on making a nice lunch that I know my husband will appreciate and tonight getting together with friends (about 10 of us) for a “July 4” party.

I try to have at least a little bit of fun every day to give my brain and stress level a break. Mostly, I get that break doing zumba, dancing, going to a presentation, or watching TV.

Compartmentalization is definitely key for me to have some happiness.

At 8:30 AM it was 82* F, forecast of 102* F with heat index of 110 to 115* F.

I’m staying in the air conditioning, I’ll do all my zipping and dahhing inside ! ! !

I had a Zip-a-dee-doo-dah 4th!
An annual Flotilla of boats and rafts and kayaks tethered on a lake on a sunny Berkshires Pond.
Then the traditional 4th celebration with 18,000 friends at Tanglewood with James Taylor.
A little peek at Tanglewood Lawn filling

I hope all had a great 4th!

Wonderful time here, too!
Lots of noise, lots of food, and lots of fun conversation.

One couple is staying with us and they cleaned up a lot of the mess so we didn’t have to face it this morning. Nice!

Hit 100* F confirmed with another private weather station in neighborhood and heat index hit 119* F.

UUUGGGGGHHHH ! !

Fuck it. I’d rather have a bad day, and a bad life, than sit on my hands while the world burns. Lack of introspection and personal accountability have a lot to do with how we find ourselves here. If the best I can do while I’m here is be an infinitesimally small part of the solution, it’s a heck of a lot better than shrugging it off any dancing my children into the inferno. We don’t deserve a damn thing. We get what we get, then we die, but in the mean time we have to sleep at night.

Enjoying yourself isn’t bad, but it’s not a goal you can ethically align yourself with. It’s a tool for balancing mental health and allowing you to carry on the fight.

And happy 4th all!

@Smashley Sorry that you seem to deride the simple act of enjoying life. Your demanding tone and pessimism is pretty powerful. Why don’t you try to get in the habit having positive and hopeful thoughts? The health benefits of positive thinking are pretty well documented.

“What goes about comes about.” -Karma

“As you think, so shall you be.” -Bruce Lee

Good health.
Stay strong.

I live in a corner apartment inside the fork of two busy streets. Traffic noise is constant.

But the corner gives me wonderful airflow, and the site is filled with tall trees. Plus there is a small river and huge strip of parkland nearby. So the apartment yard is a bird sanctuary.

Thus any day I stay home is a zip a dee doo dah day. Birds are singing and eating the food I provide. I sit outside after work and watching my goldfinch friends eat up my thistle seed.

@gondwanalon – If I weren’t optimistic, I’d never have had kids in the first place. If I weren’t hopeful, I wouldn’t bother caring and would only pursue enjoyment.

I don’t deride enjoyment, or healthful behavior, only the pursuit of them as goals in and of themselves, without acknowledging the pressing issues of our time, or our own roles in making them worse or better.

But thanks for the warm wishes. Love for each other is never a bad thing.

My husband and I went to see A Quiet Place- Day One. This movie really surprised me, in a good way. It was much better than I thought it would be. We had a great time and I was finally able to eat some solid food after not eating much for the past two weeks due to illness.

@jonsblond

Cheeses Christ, would I like to see QP- D1! ;-p

^It needs to be seen in a theater to appreciate how quiet the movie is. There would be an occasional cough in the theater and both my husband and I reacted the same. We were both thinking “Cheeses Christ, we’re dead!” :D