Strange Days – Day 27

I’m going to start today with this photo out one of our spectacular sunsets, taken as I walked back from my little mommy’s house next door, a couple of days ago. That’s our little house that you can hardly see, along with so much saved junk (for those times of need, that seem to be here).  That Elm tree shades what used to be the garden and is now slated to become the play yard, and there to the right you can see the Tamarix trees that block some wind from the (cracked, empty) reservoir that I still haven’t figured out how to repurpose.

I think we’re blessed and lucky to live out here in the desert.  We have 40 acres here, with 2 houses and a number of outbuildings in various states of disrepair, that my grandparents bought in the 60’s for a song.  The house is post and pier of native stone and wood, and was built sometime in the mid to late 1800’s.  We have a root cellar that has been used as storage, but may soon be reclaiming its original intent, a defunct windmill that I’d love to repair, and a pump house that encloses the bladder tank and machinery that draws our sweet water up from deep in the earth.

There are a lot of wonderful things about living in a small town, and of course there’s also a downside, but it’s comparatively small, in my opinion.  Although I’ve never been a fan of local politics, (you’d be hard put to find a more conservative place in California), we pretty much keep to ourselves and connect with the few like minded folx out here.

We’re 7 miles from our tiny town, and our local IGA is really stepping up for us. Our little market is fairly well stocked and even now they’re trying hard to make sure we have access to what we might need.  We had some folx coming in from the larger towns around us, especially in the first days of panic hoarding, but our market made provisions for our seniors and locals right away. Our excellent pizza joint, Rock’s, is being awesome about offering take out or dine in your car and has added more delivery days and hours, which is a treat.

The school district is giving out bag lunches to everyone under 18 (enrolled or not) every day, and the teachers of my grandhumans, 5 (Kindergarten) and 9 (4th grade) are really amazing and caring people who are doing an wonderful job of helping their kids through these challenging school days with various remote venues, daily texts and videos, and hard copy work for the kids that need and/or prefer it. The kids can even upload fun, chatty and silly videos for their friends and classmates to their virtual schoolroom, which I think is just so super cool.

Cafe 247 sign reading “Free toilet paper with every wipe”

Cafe 247 sign reading “Fu_k this BS Covid Virus”

Now to the downside of small town, living. I mean, maybe not all small towns, but specifically this tiny desert town full of… man, I don’t even know how to name them without sounding mean and ugly.  Suffice it to say that there are a lot of undereducated, supposedly god fearing, gun toting, right wing, conspiracy theory kinda white folx out here that just blow me away. While most of the small businesses and restaurants in town are acting right, there is one that stands out in its rebellion and it has a rather loud and vehement support base.  Cafe 247, which is a main source of overpriced burgers, burritos and shakes for the various out of town dirt bikers, 4 by-ers and other weekend desert adventurers, is not only open for business, but flaunting it and their conspiracy theory- be amerikan- no masks stance with their signage, their posts in local facebook groups and most tellingly by the number vehicles in the parking lot and of folx at their outdoor tables.

We don’t eat there anyway, after one $80 bill for burgers for 2 adults and 2 kids some years ago, but these people along with the weekend warriors that come through our little town and stop to eat and socialize are the ones that will carry the burden of responsibility when folx start dying here.

But let’s go back to happier news from Thornesworld for a minute.  A couple of cool things, first, our awesome hospice nurse has ordered one of  Fawn’s custom cricut T-shirt designs. She loves it.

Also, Thornesworld is still sending out orders, because who doesn’t need a little magick in their life, especially these days, so Fawn made a nice little mailbox sign and mailbag and our mail woman loved it and took photos for their postal worker newsletter.

Well, that’s it for today from your desert witches. Remember to be gentle with yourselves, but also remember that self care includes moving your body, exercising your mind and feeding your spirit.  Please keep safe and well, my friends.

Blessed be,

93

In Light and Shadow,

~Thorne  

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