Peony of Simmer
Aug. 5th, 2021 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ismoI was saddened to learn that Elizabeth Anne Hull, formerly married to Frederik Pohl, died a couple of days ago. We both attended Jim Gunn's Science Fiction Institute and the Campbell Conference at the University of Kansas back in the 80s. For some reason unknown to me, she decided to bestow her friendship on me, so we met from time to time at the Institute and at various cons and shared breakfast oatmeal or coffee and chat. She was charming, witty, dignified but warm-hearted, sometimes acerbic but in the best way. She and Fred seemed to make a fine team. Fred would not have been as much Fred without her care, concern, and occasional sparring. I supported her congressional campaign, and keep my campaign button among my mementoes. I was sorry that she lost. She would have been a formidable addition to the House of Representatives. Perhaps it was just as well for us that she continued devoting her energies to making the world of SF better. We had fallen out of touch in recent years. I continued to send an occasional note or card, but no longer received a response. I understood that--at a certain point in life, one has to let go of things not at the top of the list. And eventually even of those. I miss her and will always cherish her memory.
My day wasn't what I expected--the monkey wrench being the usual 4 am waking. After my brain ran me through the wringer of various unfortunate scenarios, I was desperate for some mental video that didn't end in disaster. "I always wanted a dog," says I to my brain. "Why don't we think about that? A cute little puppy . . . . Dogs usually like me." So my devious brain promptly served up a scene where I met a dog that DIDN'T like me, bit me, and sent me off to the ER covered in blood. At that point, I gave up. "I just can't with this," I said, and got up and went downstairs where there were more distractions. When it got light, I took another nap, and didn't get "up" up until nearly eleven. By which time I had, as my father used to say, "already bollixed up the whole day."
Determined to accomplish something, I started making bread, but groggily put in too much water. Which meant I had to add more flour than usual. I used up all the remaining whole wheat and a good portion of the unbleached bread flour. It was a tremendous lump of dough, and it took a lot of thumping to get it kneaded. It made FIVE large loaves of bread. I put most of them in the freezer. This will last us a long time, since we aren't having visitors. (Snf) I dragged myself out for a walk, although the AQI was not great. I smelled smoke from time to time. It could have been someone's barbecue, but I didn't see anything like that.
Tomorrow we had planned to meet Deb and the Prussian in Lansing, where she plans to hand over a quilt to the Michigan History Center. The quilt was a COVID project, and contains a COVID-related cartoon, so it's historically relevant. We were going to have a look around the museum and get lunch together. At the last minute, the Sparrowhawk and I chickened out. We've just been hearing so much about infection rates, etc. I feel I'm worrying too much, but we just don't feel like taking any risks right now, alas. We had just been getting in the groove of traveling again, and now we have to rein ourselves in. It's very frustrating.
My day wasn't what I expected--the monkey wrench being the usual 4 am waking. After my brain ran me through the wringer of various unfortunate scenarios, I was desperate for some mental video that didn't end in disaster. "I always wanted a dog," says I to my brain. "Why don't we think about that? A cute little puppy . . . . Dogs usually like me." So my devious brain promptly served up a scene where I met a dog that DIDN'T like me, bit me, and sent me off to the ER covered in blood. At that point, I gave up. "I just can't with this," I said, and got up and went downstairs where there were more distractions. When it got light, I took another nap, and didn't get "up" up until nearly eleven. By which time I had, as my father used to say, "already bollixed up the whole day."
Determined to accomplish something, I started making bread, but groggily put in too much water. Which meant I had to add more flour than usual. I used up all the remaining whole wheat and a good portion of the unbleached bread flour. It was a tremendous lump of dough, and it took a lot of thumping to get it kneaded. It made FIVE large loaves of bread. I put most of them in the freezer. This will last us a long time, since we aren't having visitors. (Snf) I dragged myself out for a walk, although the AQI was not great. I smelled smoke from time to time. It could have been someone's barbecue, but I didn't see anything like that.
Tomorrow we had planned to meet Deb and the Prussian in Lansing, where she plans to hand over a quilt to the Michigan History Center. The quilt was a COVID project, and contains a COVID-related cartoon, so it's historically relevant. We were going to have a look around the museum and get lunch together. At the last minute, the Sparrowhawk and I chickened out. We've just been hearing so much about infection rates, etc. I feel I'm worrying too much, but we just don't feel like taking any risks right now, alas. We had just been getting in the groove of traveling again, and now we have to rein ourselves in. It's very frustrating.
