Slow summer news
TL;DR summary:
Plans for creating an introvert-& neurodivergent-friendly gathering space.
sale reminder
flower pics
Discord update
Pippin health update (with pics of COURSE)
Firstly, I have for years wanted to start a book club, only without all the guilt, stress, pressure, queen bee politics, and friendship fractures I hear about book clubs causing. Like, I want people to come hang at my house for a few hours once a month or so to do A Fun Thing together. Being a Book Person, I naturally think hanging out with books is the most fun thing possible. The problem was, book clubs are built on Discussion And Analysis, which inevitably turns into unfun judgy gatekeeping of other people’s opinions. Worse, book clubs require everyone reading the SAME book, with all the inevitable conflicts over which book, and who gets to decide. Worst, the foundation bedrock is “required reading,” which is inherently unfun.
It also couldn’t be a book club because book clubs “meet,” and a “meeting” is too close to a “party” for my comfort. (the idea of inviting people to a party gives me hives and panic nausea. Hard pass.) So I turned the idea upside down and shook it hard, figuratively speaking.
Out dropped “Bring Your Own Book” Club. Heck, members wouldn’t even have to bring a book. Bring a craft project, a computer or tablet, a recipe and ingredients, whatever.
“Parallel Play Open House Club” would be a more accurate name, but that doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. Basically, I have plenty of house spaces where people doing their own thing can exist in moderate proximity to other people doing their own things, and I want to have people IN my house more often. The BYOB element makes it drop-in friendly on a per occurrence basis, and as long as I block out a big enough block of time, I can accommodate widely differing work & transportation schedules.
Since I love feeding people and puttering in my kitchen, that zone would be open for collaborative play. People could bring foods they want to make/share, bring or order food for themselves alone, bring only appetite for whatever’s on offer—or avoid food altogether, there’s plenty of house. And at a point after dinner the living room will become an entertainment zone with the TV showing an unserious movie. But no one’s required to watch. Keep on reading or playing, or hang out in the backyard in the warmer months.
Anyway. Next step is making a chat group of people I know are interested and sending out actual times and dates. If you’re local & interested and don’t get a text this week, pleasePleasePLEASE contact me with your interest—I’m aiming at August 29 for a trial run, and starting small, but if it works out to be comfy for everyone, I should have space for a dozen or so.
So. That’s my big ambition.
Topic two: a reminder. Relics From A Traveling Show ebook is on sale for $0.99 this August. That’s Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Apple, and more. Fair warning, in currencies other than USDollars it’s sometimes more than $0.99, but I dropped it to the minimum allowed by The Algorithms.
Thirdly, yard pics, because flowers are pretty, and the veggies are thriving.
Different angle on the yard, showcasing all the cardinal flowers and turtleheads. The hummingbirds love both.
Veggie update. The tomato vines are definitely going to hit the top of the trellis before the year’s out.
Fourth: Discord invite: If you follow my Patreon, you are welcome to join my tiny Discord server. It’s nothing fancy or organized, mainly pet posts, memes and chatter from me, and fine folks who either know me from the Outside World or followed me from Facebook. Message me if you’d like to join, I’m not comfy putting invites in posts. My handle is kmherkes there, but I keep it in lurker mode unless I know someone’s trying to friend me.
Best for last: A Pippin update. There was an unplanned vet visit this week, and there shall be a Planned Visit next week, partly due to Pippin catching a sinus infection. He’s a sneezy-wheezy cat at the best of times, but he’d been exceptionally sniffly over the weekend, his energy level was down and appetite was off Monday. By Tuesday night he was sleeping mainly sitting upright and gurgling in an alarming way.
Our vet got us in right away Wednesday, which was fantastic. Pips handled his trip in the car and the visit to the clinic with laid-back cheer, walking on his harness like a good boy and not hissing at the vet even once. He especially enjoyed getting to stand the Big Dog scale instead of being set on the baby scale they use for most cats. (He clocks in at 23 lbs now.)
He is currently the most spoiled cat in the world. TWO Churu tube treats a day (goop with immune system booster sprinkled on top) plus two chewy treats (antibiotic pills inside pill pockets.) Extra flavor packets atop his kibble (probiotic powder that he thinks tastes delicious) and extra rounds of The Kibble Toss game. The last two things are our way of making sure he gets enough calories since he was so congested it’s hard for him to chew and food doesn’t have much flavor.
The antibiotics did their usual magic, small improvement within hours of the first dose and back to his usual energy after the third. He goes back next week for a wellness check. As long as all’s well, he’ll get his annual checkup and vaccinations at the same time. Efficiency!
sniffly boi lounging in the window.
Much less sniffly boi a few days later.
This has been a long post, but you’ve made it to the end! Thanks for reading, that’s all for now.