This one, so far.

Where I live.  Don’t know when this is from, years before I moved here, but they took the pole down several years ago.  I hated that pole,  blocked some of my view.  Big turnout for the parade.  Parades are short and not a lot of people turn out now days.  Probably because they are so short.

Gorgeous day today.  This has been the best summer.  Hardly needed the a/c at all, maybe three days all together.  I live in the clouds, though, according to a friend, which makes all the difference.  For clouds, read second floor.  Windows all face north, too, which is an advantage in the hot summer days, but not so much the rest of the year.

Was reading an article about effects of emotional abuse in childhood, and it occurred to me why I have chronic insomnia.  If left alone, I usually fall asleep sometime after 4am.  I spent a good deal of my childhood lying awake in bed, waking for the sound of the screeching brakes of my dad’s car coming around the corner and then into the driveway.  He was a violent alcoholic, and a good portion of my childhood was hell because of it.  If I’ve realized this is the cause before, I completely forgot about it.  But it makes perfect sense to me.  I almost always feel anxious as darkness falls, and I just though it was because if I’m doing okay, I may wake up tomorrow doing not so okay again, so why not stay awake?  But I don’t think that’s really the reason.  It’s the leftover terror in my subconscious.  My dad was lovely man when sober.  Quiet, shy, multi-talented, would do anything for you.  A good person.  That all changed when he was drinking.

Reading is good.  You can learn a lot through reading.  I’ve read 51 books so far this year, not counting the ones that were just so bad I never bothered to finish them.  I signed up for Goodreads a while back and challenged myself to read 50 books this year.  I win.  LOL Year is barely half gone and I’m over the goal already.  I am a very fast reader, probably because I have always read everything in sight.  Practice makes you speedy, apparently.

A couple of books I’ve really enjoyed, just because they had nice little stories, nothing too taxing, are The Tour, by Jean Grainger, and Little Beach Street Bakery, by Jenny Colgan.  The latter one has a puffin.  🙂  An interesting book, although it kind of left a couple of things hanging, was Easter Island, by Jennifer Vandebes.

I bought the first book of Game of Thrones for a couple of dollars. Not sure if I’m going to like it.  I’ve never seen any of the tv show, so that could be an advantage.  Movies never seem to be as good as books, and I’m sure the same thing applies to tv shows.

A series that I plan to reread some day are the Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters.  I loved these books.  She’s kind of a female Indiana Jones, and her husband is kind of an male Indiana Jones.  🙂  Set in the 20’s, if I remember correctly.

I read all the time.  It doesn’t hurt, unless my hands cramp, and laying down, sitting up, whatever, it’s easy with a Kindle.

I also recently read Heidi.  I’ve seen the movie, of course, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually read the book until now.  Lots of religion, and they did kind of treat Peter badly, but I enjoyed it anyway.  It took a few chapters to stop picturing her as Shirley Temple as I read, though.

Feeling a bit less exhausted.  Took three ibuprofen earlier, and less pain = less exhaustion?  Whatever.  I don’t feel like a limp dishrag at the present moment.  It’s a good thing.

I have the rheumatologist tomorrow.  Yay.  Saw my GP Thursday, turns out I have a symptom-less ear infection, second time, so am on Amoxycillin for seven days. And Tuesday I am having a MRI of my brain.  Not sure what I said that sparked her to order one.  I had one when I first got sick, but that was twenty years ago.  I had lesions on my brain then, which I think is a sign of MS, but I don’t have MS, and the neurologist who was meant to explain it all to me was a real jerk and treated me like I was an idiot, so what they really meant I have  no idea.  My current doctor is a much better doctor, so I am hopeful for an explanation of what is going on and what it means.  And if I still have any brains left, anyway. Some days it seems doubtful.

Feeling better leads to wordiness, it seems.  Done now.  🙂