Last week I got together with 3 of my 4 sisters for a birthday, and it was wonderful because of how long it's been. And I heard from my long-lost youngest sister out in Utah too. The world is different there. The Mormons have huge families; her town is small so when she goes anywhere she's always running into neighbors; however, her immediate neighbors are spaced far, far apart and she'd have to hike a ways to see more than 2.
It's funny how alike you and siblings can remain, depending on circumstances. The youngest, Yvonne, and I started (inevitably, because we are weird) talking about Star Trek after a while on the phone, and we discovered we agree who the utterly best character is in any of the additional series Voyager/Deep Space Nine/Enterprise. (It's Shran the Andorian!)
I've been online shopping for curtains for my living room, which has 3 walls of windows so it will be expensive to redo. I've had dark cranberry colored long curtains for about 12, 13 years and I am dreadfully sick of the color. They serve the purpose of keeping it dim enough and cool, but I need a change. The carpet is tan, the couch and recliner are black, so I could easily go with light blue or tan drapes.
All I find for a price I can afford is that awful microfiber, which looks like something you'd make medical supplies out of. And most of them have metal grommets, which won't work, because my rods are those cheap cafe ones that you don't want showing. I think this week I'll look in the Red White & Blue store, which in the past used to have tons of curtains. If I can find sets of curtains that coordinate, like blue and tan together, it could work out.
***
Yvonne asked me if events this year make me want to write fiction based on them. I had to say no. Besides not wanting to live through a lot of it again, I think when stories are based on real-life catastrophes, you have to write it very, very, very well -- or it seems cheap. Your version of events needs to be well-formed, well-thought-out, and insightful or leading others to new thoughts about it. I don't have enough to offer on pandemics, police brutality & rampant racism, disgusting autocratic ignorant administrations, or inhuman politicians. I have a vague compulsion to go live in a commune and take care of people. Business is pretty revolting.