The Antidote

Well the obvious antidote to getting bogged down in bad news is to just take a break from the news for a bit. I've been doing an all weekend news blackout, and it's good.

But the other, more important, solution is to get out and do something fun. Gardening, cooking, and a huge cleaning binge help too. So I've been doing all of it.

Saturday was gorgeously sunny, summer weather - warm and beautiful. So I took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island to poke around, stopped at a lovely little nursery and fondled plants, and basked on the top sun deck of the ferry. Lovely day and just what I needed.

The mountains were so pretty, still with a little snowcap, from the Olympics to the Cascades. Puget Sound was dazzling and glittering in the sunlight. A nice light breeze, and nothing hurried or on a deadline.

Sunday was an all day cleaning binge - organizing all the bits and pieces, and deep cleaning top to bottom. Contented sigh. It feels so good to have a sparkling clean house. Every room, the laundry, the dishes. Today I'm going to mess it up a bit, because I'm doing some cooking. I'm making a strawberry rhubarb fruit crisp and super gourmet burgers for the cookout this afternoon. I'm hoping the overcast skies depart shortly. We're supposed to have sun breaks by afternoon. It's always more fun to eat outside in a little sunshine rather than huddling in the cloudy with sweaters.

The mental break has sparked a bunch of new ideas too. House projects, garden shuffling, new dreams. A long vacation weekend does everyone good. Hope you all are enjoying some time off to breathe too. Happy Memorial Day!