Lately I’m fighting a general weakness, and inability to sleep when I need to. Once your circadian rhythms are mixed up, it’s hard to get your sleep schedule back. Right now I can’t sleep at night at all and am taking 2 hour naps during the day. But I’m not good for anything all day, only find some energy in the evening. Not much, though. My eyes are permanently twitching from fatigue — which I resort to treating with coconut oil. I don’t know why it helps to put it on my eyelids, but it does.

Met two of my flock of sisters on the weekend finally, and we were all happy to go without masks, especially my oldest sister. She’s been the most cautious of us, pandemic-wise, and has not been out and about for long. We’re pretty boring when we talk, I guess. But all my sisters and I have worked in health care for years, and we still love talking shop. We got talking about ways to get the best sleep. I laughed when J told me she too sleeps with small things in her hands to make her hands more comfortable. Me, I hold tiny quilted pillows I made; she holds little stuffed animals, like Beanie Baby-sized.

The heat here comes and goes, in cycles of a few days. First extreme heat, then some rain and storm. It’s a weird pattern this year, and I notice the same things are not growing like this time last year. There are no Japanese beetles eating everything up, yet. The roses were able to bloom like crazy without a lot of bugs. The storms seem to have swept them temporarily aside. I guess bugs will come later.

Today is the day my lawn guy comes over to zoom around on the tractor mower. Even though he is so fast, the trimming and cleanup must be awful in this heat. Last week I decided I’d set up a water station for him with drinks, ice, something salty like chips, and a basin of water and a couple of shop cloths so he can put water on his face and hands.

I spend too long reading news. Kept focusing on the terrible condo building collapse. I also am staying in close touch with my friend Mike, because he isn’t vaccinated and may have been exposed; he has cold symptoms and I check each day that they aren’t more. If you’re a visitor or expat in another country, you’re dependent on your host country to vaccinate you. The embassies aren’t doing it.