Last night I had a call from a cousin who now lives in Utah to be near her children. As we wrapped up the visit she asked if I would please call more often because there is no one there she can talk to about politics. (Utah, Texas, they have a lot in common, though with all of the LDS there it might be even worse for her.) And she told me that the kids had discussed end-of-life things amongst themselves and told her that if her husband died first they would work to keep her busy, and if she died first, they agreed they'd have to cook a lot for their father. This cousin is 10 years older than me, so following that trajectory I might not get such a call from my kids for a while, but it's a good thing to think about and discuss sooner rather than later. I think Charmion moving closer to her family must be the result of that same kind of discussion.

I gave myself a weekend off from "doomscrolling" through the emails of blog posts from the political leaders I follow on Substack and a couple of other places. You have to take breaks from the hard stuff if you can, but I'm ready to wade in again tomorrow and do more writing. The muzzleshot from this administration hasn't slowed and it has named more targets that need defending.

It's cold and soggy here today so it looks like indoor work for now. The garden is calling, and the yard was supposed to be mowed yesterday, but it was sodden after a pre-dawn thunderstorm. More rain overnight. Maybe tomorrow will be the day to tune up the mower and give it a run out front.