That’s what I want to do sometimes when I read a thread and it’s so clear how grim things are on so many fronts – I want to stick my fingers in my ears and say la la la I can’t hear you, like when I was a kid.
So if anyone else out there is feeling overwhelmed at times, and I know you’re out there because you are sending me email messages, let’s use this thread to talk about fun things we used to do when we were kids. Or talk about what tricks you have up your sleeve for when you start to feel overwhelmed.
Oh to be a kid again, stealing a sprig of lilacs from a bush and sniffing it constantly as I was walking home from school. The worst thing we had to worry about in the summer was getting home before dinner so we wouldn’t get in trouble. I used to pick up grasshoppers and put them in the basket of my bicycle and take them for a ride – I thought that jumping all the time must make them tired!
Here’s a bonus picture of some zucchini from my garden this week. oops, I think a cucumber snuck in there also!
I have a better picture but in that one you can see my messy countertops, and I can’t have that. :-)
I like the round zucchini. They don’t go from “I’ll be able to pick that tomorrow” to “oh my god, get the wheelbarrow because this one is huge” as soon as you turn your back.
Open thread.
jeffreyw
Putting this slot out of its misery.
There go two miscreants
I had never seen the round ones before! I’ll have to suggest them to my neighbor who has a vegetable garden and does worry about the explosive growth of zucchini.
Eunicecycle
When I get overwhelmed I go outside and watch birds in my backyard or spend time with my grandkids. And can I use this to say how excited I am because we’re leaving in the morning to visit my brand new granddaughter in Texas? Not excited about the Texas part but that’s where she is, so I’m going! She was born on 711 so free slurpees for life.
WaterGirl
@Eunicecycle: Very exciting news. Big congratulations!
Mike in NC
Sounds a bit like another corrupt asshole whose name escapes me right now.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
I adore cucumbers and yellow squash, but never could abide zucchini. Dunno why – they seem bitter to my palate.
FelonyGovt
This comic is how I feel a lot when I can’t stand any more bad news.
Steve in the ATL
@Mike in NC: I do something similar before I play golf with people. I start talking about my shoulder injury and the resultant limited range of motion….
stacib
Overwhelmed – that’s me. To help take me from the real stuff, I’m reading (for the nth time), the Jean Auel series, The Clan of the Cave Bear. I particularly like the 2nd, 3rd and 4th books of the series.
FastEdD
Swimming in the backyard pool with the pet turtle. He likes the company and in the water we are equal.
SiubhanDuinne
@stacib:
I enjoyed those books when they first came out, but haven’t read them since. Glad to know they stand up well to rereading.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
Same. Actually, not sure I got through the end of the series.
Starfish
I am on vacation, and it is fun. I am eating potato chips and seeing the sights.
Steeplejack
@FastEdD:
That sounds like fun. The chlorine doesn’t bother the turtle, or maybe it’s not in there that long?
Steeplejack
@Starfish:
The sights of where?
The Thin Black Duke
I’m looking forward to seeing Jordan Peele’s Nope this weekend. After the gawdawful news of the past few weeks, an alien abduction story is going to be a pleasant changeup.
Starfish
@Steeplejack: Seattle. The flowers and the trees here are giant.
Argiope
I was feeling pretty terrible two days ago, living in the Theocratic Autocracy of Ohio while trying to teach the next generation of gynecologic health providers, and couldn’t find my happy warrior self anywhere. Just completely enraged, disgusted and disheartened despite using my usual strategies of exercise and meditation. Fortunately the garage door was acting up so I agreed to help my husband fix it. The thing is older than dirt–possibly older than I am–and we ended up employing a mallet on some metal to try to get the thing back in its tracks. This was spectacularly unsuccessful and we have to buy new garage doors, but whacking the hell out of a metal object with that mallet was therapeutic. I really did feel better afterwards. Thinking of hiring myself out for demolition projects just for mental health reasons.
WaterGirl
@FastEdD: Pics or it didn’t happen.
Sure Lurkalot
Nice zukes WG! I like the round ones too.
piratedan
grew up in rural Northern Virginia and many a night, when I was battling adolescence and in the fading dusk of the growing darkness; sitting in my shorts on the front steps looking across the sloping yard and watching the flickering of lightening bugs, randomly lighting themselves up and finding that you don’t even have to understand something to be able to sit back and enjoy the moment.
Jay
When I was a kid in the Maritimes, behind our house, ( later a subdivision went in, so we had to walk a little further), we had woods for 60 miles with only 2 roads, ( gravel) cutting through.
Most of the land was former Loyalist farms, reclaimed by the forests, with some “Kings Mark” ancient white pines, stone walls, feral orchards, abandoned barns, old foundations, several creeks and springs.
After school, and on weekends, as long as we didn’t have swim practice, RLSA classes, swim meets, hockey practice or hockey games, we were “allowed” to run “wild” in the woods.
We would jump from rotting barn beams into mouldering hay stacks, climb maple trees and play elevator, build forts and camps, search rock walls for hidden treasure, ( Loyalists would often create a hide for valuables by putting a coloured rock into the dry stack rock walls, with a small chamber behind it), gather gone to wild apples for our Moms, ( sadly, only my Mom could gather enough wild strawberries or blueberries to bring home, we would eat them as fast as we found them. We would often have to track and find Mom, as she had a habit of getting lost. She was a Crowsnest girl, used to having north and south blocked by mountains, not used to rolling forested low hills in all directions).
Hoodie
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Try golden zucchini, sweeter than the green.
Baud
Are they in allcaps?
HinTN
So, apropos of the topic, I (re)connected with someone I have not seen in decades, although I have had commerce with his younger siblings, at his family picnic on Independence Day. He has kids and grandkids, all of whom were really nice people and that was a wonderful connection to my very distant past. Life does go on.
HinTN
@Steve in the ATL: Fucking mouthpiece – I bet you take their money, too.
MagdaInBlack
@Argiope: One of the most therapeutic things I’ve ever done was knocking out the walls of the house we were remodeling. I could use a few walls to knock down lately.
I cocoon on weekends. I make sure I have everything I will need when I get home Friday night, then spend the weekend in solitude. I listen to my podcasts, cook, read, listen to music and nap a lot.
ghost cat
Sorry. Roasting down here in southern New Mexico. I just can’t seem to get past this stage and back to more carefree times.
FastEdD
@Steeplejack: Not that much chlorine and he doesn’t live there! Turtles aren’t fish, it doesn’t bother them.
mrmoshpotato
I just ignored a few posts last night. Nope!
Bluegal and Driftglass of The Professional Left podcast have said for years that it’s ok to take a break. Others will keep up the fight while you rest and recharge.
FastEdD
@WaterGirl: I taught him to chase my finger around in his tank when I wiggle food in front of him. Put him in the pool and he chases my toe around, nibbling on it. It is the only trick he knows. Adorable.
Argiope
@Jay:
So did you find any of those coloured rocks? (Using my best Canadian spelling, courtesy of U of T circa 1988)
Layer8Problem
The fun thing I did when I was a kid was walk through the woods behind my house looking for streams, old walls, or the foundations of long-vanished buildings. Nothing beat a tedious day better than sitting by a little stream. I was damned lucky to have those woods. [ed: Same as Jay at 22 above! :-) ]
As for when I get overwhelmed, I turn off the news or make a determined effort to ignore whatever other local or personal crisis is at hand for a short period and I go read something interesting. It could be obscure weirdness on Wikipedia, or a book about some strange part of the world (central Asia is a big one for me). Than again, self-medication via two pints of IPA at the local pub does a world of good too, although perhaps not the healthiest pastime.
Steeplejack
I had a good day today. Got a haircut (from a new guy) that looks pretty good. Won’t know for sure until after I shampoo and towel-dry tomorrow. (They always sneak in a bit of Dapper Dan or something so you can’t really judge at the salon.) First haircut since March 8—I was really shaggy. The last three haircuts I got were awful—two from long-time, formerly reliable people, then a really dreadful one from the guy who cuts my brother’s hair. I was running scared. Picked this new guy from reviews on Google Maps. (Dunno if those are Google reviews or Yelp reviews.)
Also got the doughty Kia washed and detailed—equally long overdue. She’s looking fine and running like a top now.
And I had lunch with my brother and his seven-year-old daughter at a Chinese restaurant. When we were wondering why her lo mein noodles were taking so long to come out, she patiently explained to us that they took longer to prepare because they had to make the dough, put it through the pasta machine, cook it, etc., so of course it would take longer than our stir-fried stuff. Duh. Okay, case closed.
I left them back at Sighthound Hall with a suggestion to watch Kiki’s Delivery Service for their dad-daughter movie night. Great visuals, chick empowerment themes and a cute cat sidekick. What’s not to like?
Since getting home I have had a small, carefully metered dose of the news and will try to get to bed earlier than my usual late hour. Probably will read some fiction on my Kindle. I’ve been trying to do more of that to supplant doom-scrolling on the Internet. So far I have plowed through Liu Cixin’s Three Body trilogy (science fiction) and Mick Herron’s Slough House novels (spy fiction), and I’m into the second book of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series (slightly magical crime fiction). All pretty good.
I have also been reading a book on changing habits, and one thing I have been trying is saying, first thing in the morning, when I sit up on the side of the bed, “This is going to be a great day.” Feels a little silly but also feels like it might help a bit.
Gravenstone
Congratulations! You have discovered the joys of “percussive maintenance”. This is the act of smacking the living shit of some ill mannered piece of equipment until it either resumes the expected function, or visibly requires replacement. You have reached state 2.
Steeplejack
@Starfish:
Cool. Seattle and Portland are two of my favorite spots, although I haven’t been to either in 30 years.
HumboldtBlue
I have some wonderful childhood summertime memories. Every summer in July we’d pile into the VW bus (eight kids, two parents and a dog) and drive from Dover to Fall River, Mass. for two weeks of beach fun at Elephant Rock beach in Rhode Island. For three of those summer we hung out with another large clan, the Von Trapps, and there was an awful lot of kick the can, touch football, dead man’s log (I still don’t know what the fuck that was) and nights at the rinkiest dinkiest fairground/carnival/arcade/ride park I have ever seen, but to a child’s eyes it might as well have been Disneyland.
It was a great time.
mrmoshpotato
@Gravenstone: Have you considered taking up drumming as a hobby? :)
Argiope
@Gravenstone:
Hahaha. I do feel like my gender socialization gave me a late start, but I’m clearly not too old to learn! Give me your rusty, your clanky, your ratchety fixtures yearning to be smashed….
Gravenstone
Enjoying the dubious pleasure of crushing the spirits of some poor customer service drone at Sirius by confirming that I want to drop their service because I now listen to music that they just don’t carry. Looking forward to seeing how he tap dances around that to offer me yet another “bargain” plan to stay.
lowtechcyclist
When I was a kid (and for most of my adult life too), I was a serious bookworm. That was my escape. Nothing like a book to transport you into another world.
I still occasionally re-read books like The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford as a comfort read.
Roger Moore
@Mike in NC:
If he is incapable of stopping shadowy forces from rigging the election, what hope does he have of doing anything else of importance for his country? Seriously, providing free and fair elections is the absolute baseline for a democratic government.
Argiope
@HumboldtBlue:
Was there…singing?
mrmoshpotato
Hopping on my bicycle and going for a ride. Still works today.
And all day out is good for relaxing yet getting exercise.
Layer8Problem
You’re lucky you come here then. This is a Dapper Dan blog. Lawyers, Guns, and Money’s a Fop blog; I’d advise avoiding them.
CarolPW
@Steeplejack: I’ve just finished rereading all of the current Rivers of London set and they are a good antidote to current events. I do find that “Fuck me” has become my response some events in a way that is much more British than American.
prostratedragon
@FastEdD: My, does that ever sound cute! Have fun.
Gin & Tonic
Spent most of the day at the beach. That didn’t suck.
Gin & Tonic
@HumboldtBlue: I hate to burst your childhood bubble, but Elephant Rock beach is a) in Massachusetts and b) private.
mrmoshpotato
@lowtechcyclist:
I devoured Hardy Boys books as a kid.
Steeplejack
@Layer8Problem:
Inorite! Screw those guys.
I really don’t understand the “day after the haircut” phenomenon. Even if I specify no Dapper Dan and think that I haven’t received it, I can’t really tell how my hair is going to look going forward until after I take a shower, shampoo it and dry it myself (resetting it to “normal”). Maybe the blow dryers they use have some special powers?
I was thinking of another Coen brothers movie on the way to my haircut this morning. I was listening to the ’60s channel on SiriusXM, and the First Edition (Kenny Rogers!) came on with “Just Dropped In (to See What Condition My Condition Was In).” Classic. Couldn’t help thinking of this scene.
BeautifulPlumage
@Starfish: (waves from across Lake WA) Welcome! You’re getting our best weather right now. Clear skies, 78-82 temps, and everything is still green.
Check out the local college radio KEXP if you like real DJ’s and a broad mix of genres. 90.3 FM and also streams.
scav
Luckily, half the people on the street have upped (temporary) sticks so I spend nearly every minute of the day staring down a hose. Plants I can deal with. Plus, one of the gardens is extravagantly full of roses, so I can bring some home as a bonus (the rest being vegetables, which isn’t rough either. Imagine dining on 14+ fresh artichokes! Raspberry season has started.)
stacib
@mrmoshpotato: It was The Happy Hollisters, for me. :-) A new adventure with every book. Loved them.
WaterGirl
@piratedan: lighting bugs, yes!
Almost Retired
My oldest son is en route to South America and dropped off the beloved Grand-dog , a pitbull mix who is a delightful whirlwind of neuroses. Although I am up to my forehead wrinkles in trial prep – for what I hope will be my last trial which allows me to drop the “almost” from my nym – I am dedicating nearly all of my remaining news-following time the next two weeks to dog spoiling.
Dogs understand the concept of grandparents. She gets a dog treat from me after every long walk, which drives my son nuts with the indulgence (“Dad, the long walk is the fucking treat”). But she knows not to expect that at home. I was thinking about opening a college fund for her, but that might be taking it too far.
WaterGirl
@Baud: No, only John Cole is special enough for all caps.
BeautifulPlumage
@Layer8Problem: I also lived in a place with acres of woods. Both your & Jay’s experiences sound familiar.
Like others, I’ve also always been a reader, so books are a current escape. When I went through tough time a decade ago I re-read all the humor I could find. It helped.
HumboldtBlue
@Gin & Tonic:
Yeah, I realized that after I thought about it, but we did take a route that went through Little Compton, and whether it was private or not, that’s where we went. Family’s got hours of 8mm film and a few hundred photographs of our days spent there.
Gin & Tonic
@mrmoshpotato: I read a lot of Tom Swift books, and then a lot of Doc Savage books.
WaterGirl
@FastEdD: sweet!
HumboldtBlue
@Argiope:
Not that I recall, although my family was very musical as well, mom was a master’s in music ed and both she and dad played multiple instruments and sang. A lot more game-playing than music-making.
Almost Retired
@stacib: OMG, this makes me so happy to hear! Jerry West’s grandson and his wife are old college friends of mine, and they are now the keepers of the flame of the Happy Hollisters series.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@piratedan: I caught one the other night for my 7 yo. It would not light up in my hands, however. I’ve been in my neighborhood 12 years. Zero lightning bugs for the first 8 or 9 years. The last few years I think we had 1 resident lightning bug that I’d see walking the hound. I’ve seen more this summer than ever before. Not anything like when I was a kid but a couple more here and there.
When I was a 10 yo kid I’d wade neck deep in 3 gross golf course ponds near my house. I’d find 100s. When I wasn’t doing that my friend and I would hit the golfballs I found past twilight on the 13th hole like a driving range until we got chased home.
schrodingers_cat
I play word games, solve puzzles, read, workout, draw, color, crochet. Wordle fans have you tried th Waffle game.
Gin & Tonic
@HumboldtBlue: Well, from Fall River you’d most likely have driven through Little Compton, but Elephant Rock Beach is *incredibly* restrictive. Unless you own a house in the immediate vicinity, you can’t be a member.
Layer8Problem
@Steeplejack: My partner and I watched the first episode of The Old Man the other night. Jeff Bridges was not nearly as laid back in that one as he was in Lebowski.
SpaceUnit
I’ve been overwhelmed this summer. Nothing but shitty news.
But then today I discovered that KT Tunstall is playing not one but two shows here in Colorado next month. One in Boulder and one in Steamboat Springs. Trying to decide which show to attend. I’m leaning towards both.
I luvs her.
Steeplejack
@CarolPW:
I am liking them so far, although I am only 15% into Moon over Soho. (Love how precise the Kindle is.) There have been a couple of sloppy nits that have bugged me. No spoilers ahead! In the first book a character is shot in the back at the end of Chapter 9, but immediately afterward, and through the rest of the book, the wound is described as a chest wound. And in the first book Leslie May has five sisters, reduced to three in the second book. The second is maybe only noticeable on binge-reading, but the first is a pretty big clunker.
Anyway, that aside, I’m enjoying the series and am speeding ahead.
Layer8Problem
@WaterGirl: Number one on my list of why I’d probably forgo moving out west: no fireflies.
Steeplejack
@Almost Retired:
Dog college should be free to all! No crippling loans!
Almost Retired
@Steeplejack: Wrong. In my day, dogs had to work as service animals to afford college, so why should these overindulged GenZ puppies get a pass?
Steeplejack
@Layer8Problem:
The Old Man has been recommended to me by friends. Think I’m going to binge it soon.
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack: Hairstylists do have better more powerful dryers, and they have better styling skills as well.
Steeplejack
@Almost Retired:
Dog college was so much cheaper then. You’re living in the past! You can’t pay your way through with a part-time job barking at a junkyard now.
Steeplejack
@schrodingers_cat:
I have no hair dryer, so they’re definitely ahead of me there.
FelonyGovt
@Almost Retired: Congrats on preparing for your last (?) trial! I’m stuck in what I hope will be one of my last multi-day hearings. I’m more than ready to be retired.
lowtechcyclist
@SpaceUnit:
Whatever happened to her? Well, not her, she’s out there touring as you say, but after “Black Horse and a Cherry Tree” and “Suddenly I See,” which are both terrific songs, I really expected her to have a Sheryl Crow sort of career arc. And then she pretty much disappeared from the airwaves. I really expected to hear a lot more from her.
SpaceUnit
@lowtechcyclist:
She’s been around all along. I agree that her career didn’t take off like I thought it was going to. I think maybe her people didn’t know whether they should try to market her as pop or adult contemporary or just what.
She’s been putting out great music all this time though. I think she’s awesome.
NotMax
‘@Steeplejack
La méthode Coué?
kalakal
@piratedan: Lightning bugs. I first saw them about 8 years ago in New Jersey ( you don’t get them in the UK) . I thought I was hallucinating :). When my wife stopped laughing she explained. I was entranced, pure magic. They’re such a wonderful phenomenon.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Eh, maybe not that fancy. It does feel good to say something in opposition to the tidal wave of bullshit we face every day.
Steeplejack
Well, I’m off to bed to read on the Kindle, although I’m sure I won’t be able to resist checking Balloon Juice a time or two on my phone.
Lawrence O’Donnell is in fine form tonight, ragging on the Secret Service, but I just don’t have the stamina.
trollhattan
Yeehaw! Ride’m Tom.
HumboldtBlue
@Gin & Tonic:
I just did a quick image search, and I gotta say, every photo my family has is of that rock and that beach. I was aged 8-11, so either my grandparents had connections or there is another beach that you can access through Little Compton with an elephant-like rock offshore that was climbed by me and my family members.
Sandia Blanca
@Steeplejack: Another fan here of the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. He also does graphic novels that fill in some of the between-books gaps.
Jay
@Argiope:
yup, even found “treasure” once, an intact bone china tea set with some silver coins in it.
Steeplejack
@Sandia Blanca:
I have often wondered how graphic novels work out on the Kindle. I haven’t bought any yet.
Same with cookbooks, with their illustrations and fancy formatting.
joel hanes
snuck
sneaked
The Truffle
I love summer. There, I said it. For me, it is tied up with memories of eating ice cream and playing outside. During the summer, I basically lived at the local town pool. I’ve never been a winter person; the only winter sport I like is ice skating. Give me a pool in 90 degree weather and I’m happy (as long as I’m wearing sunscreen).