July, 2021

Not confusing at all.

Last time we were under an air quality advisory for smoke from Western fires, it smelled vaguely like a campfire. Today, it smells like burning plastic and is giving me a headache.

It’s been such a wet summer we’ve got a profusion of mushrooms in our yard, including this fairy ring.

I made it down to China Fair today to replace a year and a half’s worth of breakage. They even had our cereal bowls (which I’ve never seen there before) and some coupe glasses (ditto). I sense a Manhattan in my near future.

Today I replaced the filter cartridge on our HEPA filter. New cartridge on the left, old on the right. We bought the filter in spring 2020 to help with indoor air quality in the main living space, and I guess it did its job.

We’re not even going to talk about the amount of cat fur on the pre-filter (in the background on the right) even though I do vacuum it occasionally.

We survived 2020 at least partly by relying on Stella Parks’s chocolate chip cookies. A few times we made a batch, portioned into balls, and froze them. Awesome fresh-baked cookies anytime, freezer to toaster oven to plate in under half an hour. So I figured it’s only fitting to actually buy her book, which I’m sure is jam-packed with more excellent baking projects.

We gathered to celebrate victories of science and reason, and our hopeful, tentative independence from the pandemic. Oh, and Kat & Bob’s birthdays!

It was great to go out in Boston with Kat & Bob (and Steve, not pictured) this evening. We had some unexpectedly nice weather at the Cisco beer garden before the skies opened up.