It’s Friday. Time for my report. Here’s what’s been happening this week:
My back is so much better. The pain has localized into like a side “stitch” kinda thing. I mean, Advil is still my friend, but compared to last week I can’t believe how much better I feel. I read something I thought interesting enough to share…so, on an emotional level it says when we are faced with an emotion, like anger, frustration, guilt, anything really, we are supposed to express it. Not suppress it. The author suggests doing something physical to release the anger or whatever it is, i.e. punch a pillow, throw something (but not at someone) go for a walk, a run, do pushups, something to release it. When we don’t do that, express it, the emotion goes into our subconscious because we have to get rid of it somehow, and then the subconscious releases it back into the body. Now….isn’t that interesting? I mean, isn’t it? That does not negate the fact that I was throwing around a suitcase for 5 days that was most probably too heavy, and that drugs and chiropractors and yoga are not helpful, but I just thought that was fascinating enough to share.
Okay what else? Lantern Flies. I mean What are these things? First it was stink bugs that seemed to be randomly deciding where they would invade. Some houses FULL of them and the next-door neighbor would have nothing. I haven’t seen a stink bug in years. Now Lantern Flies are invading the city as if God has sent a plague. Or is it the Chinese? I thought I was safe up here on the 10th floor keeping my window cracked open but noooo, they are now getting up this high and yesterday I had to shoo one out. Luckily I caught him as he flew in. Then I shut the window. I mean how sad is it not to have that nice fall air coming in your window? As I googled, I found out they are known to “swarm” at night so no cracked window for me. And then with the window shut I look up and see one crawling up the wall. The M.F’er. So I hit him with a broom, grabbed with a Kleenex and into the garbage. THEN I was reading more about the effers and was reading how they are hard to kill and even if you think you got them they spring back to life and wouldn’t you know I went to the garbage can and that little sucker was all back to normal, alive, so I flushed him. I check the toilet every time before sitting. You know just incase they climb back up.
The city is inundated with them. Look at this:
Every time I walk outside I get at least one flown at me, into my face, into my chest or arms, and those are the ones I catch enough to shake off. The other ones seem to love flying into the back of my neck and hair. I mean every.single.time I walk outside. And you know I walk to work so I’m fighting them always. They seem 100 times worse than the stink bugs were. They’re much bigger and they’re harder to kill because they jump. Here is one little tip for you homeowners that I picked up: Plant Milkweed. They are attracted to the scent which is poisonous to them, although some articles say this is not scientifically proven. I hope the city takes note and plants milkweed all over the city. The little critters seem impossible to keep up with and apparently they can be frozen and then come back to life. So even a hard freeze won’t help. If you don’t have them yet, you will. I would start planting that milkweed now if I were you. And here’s another fun fact: the first one in the US was in Berks County, Pennsylvania. I don’t how they know that kind of thing but that’s what I read.
Ok and my last thought I had just today: are we, or are we not, a society of instant gratification? Like on Instagram, we scroll through photos or “clips” – I think Snapchat is even quicker? I don’t know as I don’t have Snapchat but my point is we are a society of quick hits and then we keep scrolling. But when I go to read a news article it seems like forever long. Like even longer than my meaningless blog posts. I keep thinking the article is over and it keeps going on and on and on. And as a writer I think “you could have cut out half of this and it still would have been effective” but no, on and on and on. I can’t really balance/make sense of these two extremes in my head. I like to be informed but sometimes I just want it to be over.
Like this blog is. Over.
xoxoxo
Great blog!!!!
Yes! Those lantern flys are slick. I read to set a bowl outside with equal parts vinegar, water and dish detergent. Apparently they drown in it. Who knows. Try it in the front of that nasty door you need to walk through all the time. Or maybe hide it in a nock along the front of the building. 🤷♀️ Yuk! Good luck!
They’re getting better with this cooler rainy weather 🙏