Content but not

Today was a beautiful spring day in Fort Worth. Started out a bit chilly but soon warmed up so that I could have the patio door open, and Sophie could come and go at will. The ground cover planted last fall is looking green and healthy, and my new lettuce plants look good. It even smells like spring.

I spent an almost-peaceful day at home. I say almost because I found myself embroiled in problems that go with posting book text on various digital platforms—the size is not right, the ISBN doesn’t match (now a problem with two books), the pricing is not according to our standards. Makes me crazy. I only discovered some of the problems late in the afternoon, so I’ll wait until tomorrow to call for help. You call one place for Amazon, another for whatever other platforms you have the book on. At this point, I have Amazon in order, I think, but Draft2Digital, the multi-platform outlet, is giving me fits over ISBN numbers.

This afternoon I looked out my kitchen door to see Sophie wandering in the driveway. She had somehow opened the gate from the back yard, where the dogs are confined. Thank goodness the main driveway gate was closed, but it is not always. She came happily when I called—no, wait! She came because Jay was in the yard painting window trim on their guest house, and he called her. She ignores me but will come for someone new. So now I have her escape route to worry about.

The good news: my landline phone works again. Yesterday all the satellite phones in the cottage said, “Base no power.” Christian thought the base had probably died of old age and volunteered to go get me new phones. But tonight, the phone rang! Unavailable was calling, so I didn’t answer. But I called Christian, and sure enough—he checked and found the base, in the main house, had been unplugged. We suspect a couple of sixth-grade boys, but I’m glad he found it before he bought new phones.

Nice casual, easy supper with Carol tonight. We chose to go to Lucille’s Bistro, a comfortable, reliable place. She had pizza, and I had a chicken salad sandwich that I held together by sheer will power as I ate. It wanted to fall apart and drip all over the plate. But it sure was good. We talked taxes and health and politics—we are on the same page on the latter topic. Both appalled and dismayed.

And that’s the second reason for my discontent tonight. I read today that Jared Kushner released confidential information from the daily presidential briefings to the new prince in control of Saudi Arabia, who now boasts he has Kushner “in his pocket.”. In some doing, Kushner may well have triggered the arrest of some 200 Arabian princes and powerful businessmen, and he may some day be ultimately responsible for the execution of some of them. Donald Trump Jr., meanwhile, has been busy trying to get India to ignore its own laws and proceed with the financing and construction of the Trump Tower in that country. Business as usual.

 Meanwhile at home, it’s looking more likely every day that the so-called president was elected by chicanery, orchestrated campaigns of false information, and election tampering. While dismissing those concerns, he’s busy suing a porn star to keep her quiet about an affair he says never happened and replacing his cabinet, almost all of whom have been fired or resigned during his so-far short tenure—pray God that it remains short. The corruption everywhere is so blatant that it astounds.

The country is in such disarray that I am fearful of our future. Yeah, it’s hard to enjoy the beauty of a spring day. The Statue of Liberty weeps for us==and so do I.