Tuesday Miscellany

I first heard about the Surgeon General's comments regarding the American problem of loneliness on the afternoon news yesterday. 

It comes as no surprise that the next biggest medical problem facing our country post-Pandemic is an epidemic of loneliness. 

After all, isolating ourselves from others seemingly got most of us through the Pandemic.

For many that isolation became routine and to some very desirable.  

Loneliness does not just strike people who live alone. 

We can be surrounded by all kinds of people and still feel lonely, especially when we don't feel included or comfortable in whatever the group around us is doing. 

We can also engage in all the social media outlets in the world and still feel lonely. 

I do think the Surgeon General brings up several valid points in his warning about loneliness, and I think his book will be very revealing. 

When we think about how our society has gradually, over the past several years, distanced itself from the need to talk to or converse with---not text---other humans, this phenomenon comes as no surprise. 

What we do about this situation, or not, is up to each of us, it seems. 

The first step is recognizing that we can do better for each other and to actively find ways to enhance our connections with other human beings. 

An interesting read and challenge, to say the least. 

 

 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/may/02/us-surgeon-general-warning-loneliness

https://www.vivekmurthy.com/together-book

On a more positive note, a huge "thank you" to my husband Bill who, over the past two days, has stuck with me through the worst AND for the better. 

This achievement took perseverance and finally purchasing a new "cultivator," as Bill has learned they are now called. 

I guess the term "tiller" is now "so yesterday."

Bill told me that when he went to Home Depot yesterday and asked if they had tillers, they said no, but they did have some cultivators. 

Reminds me of the day I went to another local store and asked for a Chicago screw, only to be told that no such thing existed.  

I think the guy was trying to play macho man with the stupid woman customer.  

I can't even remember what he called them when I pointed to them in the store's screw collection. 

At least I left with what I had come to buy, even if I didn't know what I was buying.  

Whatever its name, the new machine Bill purchased yesterday did its work and never faltered as it continued and completed the job the other cultivator refused to do.

BTW:  if anyone is a handy man and wants to take a chance on our older lightweight "tiller," which other than refusing to work, looks almost brand new, we're willing to talk a good price---AS IS. 

 Besides purchasing the new cultivator, Bill also did some spading as I tilled the garden space. 

Happily, our garden spot has now been worked up and is ready for the final stages hosting the veggie and flower crop for the season. 

I am most appreciative of his help and am anxious to put some seeds in the ground. 

Happily, this beautiful weather is being very kind to us, and planting some stuff this early in May is an option.  

And, with beautiful spring weather, the grass is growing greener everywhere, not just above the septic tank, so I'll be spending several hours on the lawnmower today. 

It will be divine. 

Happy Tuesday.