quick catch-up

 I'm here. (Well, Central Illinois-here). The trip up was not bad except for the drive to the station - heavy rain crossing the Red River, narrow bridge, a double-box Fed Ex truck barrelling what felt like 6" from my side mirror....But at least I'm here now.

I ate dinner in my roomette. They are doing what are called "flex meals" right now - smaller (which is fine with me, a full dinner is a bit much) but the quality is not as good. And of course, it's encouraged you eat in your accommodation for "distancing" and that was different. The train did seem less populated than it was in the before-times. 

I finished "The Gammage Cup" on the way up, highly recommended. It ends happily and, without spoilers, no one important dies, and that's kind of a nice thing (Then again, maybe that's typical of older YA fiction? This was written in the late 1950s). Relatively little violence though the battle with the "mushroom people" does get a little gory. But there are some interesting themes - who is the ingroup and who is the outgroup in a community, how do people look to "family history" as a source of importance, and the fact that history can get twisted - so a character who really wasn't all that bright or great, after all, gets held up as an exemplar and in fact, his descendants become the "ruling class," despite there being "an older magic" that could be looked back to....Also that ruling class seeing the error of their exclusionary ways...

I'm working on the various ongoing projects but also keeping up with Duolingo (I can do it on my phone; I am close to a 500 day streak and I hate to break that). Mowed the lawn for my mom and forgot (until I had done the nearly 1/3 acre) that her mower has a lever to engage a clutch that makes it a "walk behind" mower rather than a "push while the gas engine runs" mower....

It seems weirdly normal as long as we are at home. My mom's town JUST lifted the mask mandate (I think to allow a couple things to re-open) but that doesn't mean individuals can't choose to continue to wear masks; my mom does so I will, too, at least indoors out in public. Outside, seeing friends of hers - all of whom have been vaccinated - it doesn't seem so necessary any more. 

It's nice to see a few longer-time businesses seem to have weathered the pandemic; I have not gone to get a carry-out bubble tea yet but I plan to. And tonight we are ordering calzones (for delivery) from a local franchise that does about fifty different types of them. 

It is also a little weird though - right now, sitting at my dad's old desk, using his old computer, and there are still a couple notepads here with notes (things like passwords and stuff) he had written on them. Perhaps that frisson never goes away, I don't know.