Continue... Repeat...

As has become my norm this week, thoughts are a whirl of different bits and pieces, so another bulleted list:

• News..... at least my consumption of it.... WAY DOWN from my usual.  Since the demise of daily newspaper delivery of any MEANINGFUL NEWSPAPER, my new consumption shifted to primarily NPR and some smaller amount of CNN.  I still (pre Covid-19) would pick up a New York Times perhaps 2-3 times a week at either 7-11 or a coffee shop (again pre Covid-19).  But, whereas before, I would typically listen to NPR for most work hours when I wasn't lecturing and watch CNN for an hour or so with my wife in the evenings.... that has changed during Covid.  There is, for me, too much repetitiveness currently in the news with scant depth EVEN in NPR of late.  My current consumption of news has changed to no New York Times (due to no 7-11 or coffee shop visits since Covid-19), and perhaps 15 minutes of NPR in the morning and 15 minutes of CNN in the evening.  

•  I ran 7.3 miles this morning (~12 km) this morning and pushed myself to a new speed PR for that distance this morning.  It felt good.  I think the cooler temperatures (~58 degrees F (~14 C)) inspired me.  I am still considering trying to buy a new pair of (damn expensive) shoes.  With ~500 miles recommended for replacing shoes by shoe salespeople, I have to grudgingly admit that at ~1,700 I probably should get a new pair.

• Foods.... after I finished praying the Rosary during my run this morning, I drifted off into a mental exercise while I completed running about certain food preferences at the moment... and was imagining what variety of a few items I would choose if I was to become limited to only one type.  So, for instance, I thought about if I could have only one type of nut to consume, which type would I select.... and my answer was "roasted almonds".  In my thoughts, I was primarily considering that if I had to limit to one, which one would I think would be the most flavorful and useful for me in the long term.  So.... nuts = roasted almonds; fruit = bananas; grain = oats (oatmeal); legumes = black beans; vegetable = broccoli.  The vegetable one was especially challenging to pick only one.  I would have liked to select "salad" but that is a multifaceted affair, so it would not count.  

•  In addition to "Watermelon Man" which I wrote about a few days ago, I have another song that I am working through on the tenor saxophone now and have found a nice backing instrument track to play along to.  The new song is "I'm in the Mood for Love".  I have always enjoyed this song, but I was inspired when I found some sheet music that was nicely set up with also some "improvisation suggestions" that I found intriguing and inspiring... improvisation is not a thing I am particularly skilled at, so I was excited to find some guidance and perhaps I can become better at it.

• I am planning to work like a Tasmanian Devil on cleaning and organizing the garage this weekend, and on thoroughly weeding the garden.  I am *hoping* that I get to a point where I can spend time hanging a few cabinets along one garage wall.  I believe my youngest son will likely be available to help me with the hanging and positioning of these cabinets.  I am also planning to give some plant food to the garden plants and the flowering plants in the yard.  

• I cannot say my pipe yearnings have diminished in any appreciable way since I last wrote about them yesterday.  I am at a loss on how to get the yearning to return to its more manageable levels that it HAD been before the last 10 days or so.   I keep thinking perhaps doing *some* of the rituals without actually smoking my pipes might help to carry me through this time until the strong yearnings dissipate.  So, in addition to keeping a pipe in my shirt pocket that I can fiddle with through the day, I have now started to carry around one of my Zippo pipe lighters and fiddle with that too.  I am hoping it will help satiate some of this and not actually be a step on a slippery slope.  But... we shall see I guess. 

• Oh, I also almost forgot!  I am going to tear all the old damn plastic "doo-dads" from the dish washer and replace them with the new plastic "doo-dads"  this afternoon and get the beast back up to top form (I hope!).   

• One other thing I have been thinking about for some odd reason on my run this morning... with the lawn in an especially freshly mowed state at the moment, I have been thinking about digging out our old croquet set this weekend and trying to entice family to play.   

PipeTobacco