View from the Hermitage, Day 249

I hid from the news this morning by deleting work emails from as far back as 2016. Along the way< I also deleted too many messages from Amazon.com that I'd failed to delete after the package shipped or arrived. I also found several emails related to the Homeowners Association that I really should read. "Should read" means that they are now in Twiggy's HOA folder for later perusal. Or not. I have to be honest here. I also put in time on finding photographs for the holiday photo deal for my mom. The ones from my brother should be coming in the next couple of days, which is good since the facility would like the photos by Monday. Now I have to pick the ones to send. I've sent an email to the facility's Activities Director asking if 12 photos would be too many. I can get the human photos down to four (two kids and two grandkids, with significant others in pictures with kids or grandkid), but there are also about eight animals I know Mom would enjoy seeing. Twelve may be more photos that they're expecting, so I just wanted to know up front. 

I realized that the amount of time needed to finish the needle felted scene for my brother-in-law was really not that long. So I finished it with no increased pain to my wrist. It's ready to send, and I'm ready to try to find some other hand work that's easier on wrists. Here's the scene I was doing; it's based on a greeting card showing the aurora.

This was my first attempt at doing an actual scene in felt, and I learned a lot. I got a compliment from a friend who, in retirement, has become a full-time fabric artist. She said it showed the movement of the lights. Barrie will like it more than the Lee Valley Tools gift card he's gotten from his brother the past couple of years. 

The CDC and just about everyone else is recommending people not plan or cancel family get-togethers for Thanksgiving. Every time I hear that, I run through that two people are coming here, one of whom has had covid-19, after both have been quarantining for 14 days, and we'll be eating outside or in separate spaces. If one of them brings it in, and I get it, it will be my own fault. I can vow, though, that should I get it, no one else will get it from me. I'm going right back to extreme hermiting as of Black Friday. That said, I've lost track of the "Black Friday Starts Now" sales I've seen advertised; there have been quite a few already.

The Lame Duck is inviting Michiganers with some say in the electoral process to the White House. If he thinks he can beg, borrow, or steal enough electoral votes to overturn Uncle Joe's victory, he can't if we don't let him. If he's inviting them to lay some groundwork for a run in 2024, while despicable, that would be legal. I wish he would follow the prediction of one pundit and go to Mar-A-Lago for the weekend but not return. He can try to "rule" from there until January 20. And there is always the 25th amendment to fall back on. I wonder if Pence could pardon him if Pence rose to the Presidency as a result of the 25th amendment's "the president is not doing his job" rationale. 

Virginia covid-19 numbers just keep giving. The seven-day rolling average of number of new cases now exceeds 1,800. Do I hear 2,000? And it's looking as though my predicted 250,000 new cases in one day won't be met this week. I bet it will be sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, though, sad as it is to say that.