EOW No. 16

Is anyone else stuck in the summer doldrums like me?  It's been hot for far too long now and even the plants are turning brown with sun exposure.  The basil plant we had, which was growing magnificently, has dropped over half of its leaves and our tomato plant is continuing to flower but barely putting out any more tomatoes.  Luckily, we had half a week of rain this week which cheered everyone up, but the temps are rising again.  I suppose our saving grace is that fall is around the corner and then the holidays and a fast sprint to the end of the year.  Four more months until 2022.  Can you even believe it?  I'm still reeling / recovering from 2020.

As I mentioned before, we're back in the office "full-time" with exceptions granted to people with extenuating circumstances.  Meanwhile, the COVID cases in Texas continue to go up, with pediatric ICU beds completely full.  The COVID testing center near our house has a line of cars wrapped around the corner every single day.  Most companies I've heard of have extended their WFH policy.  This article in the Atlantic titled Why Managers Fear a Remote-Work Future outlines a lot of why I think a lot of companies are pushing a return-to-office policy.

You all know I've been a fan of NPR's book lists for a very long time now and they've recently put out their poll of the 50 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Last Decade.  I can't say that I disagree with any of the books that made this list.  If you're a fan of speculative fiction, you'll find multiple books on the list to add to your to-read pile.

Parlor Palm from The Sill

Recently, one of my good friends had a birthday and instead of the usual alcoholic beverage birthday gift, I gave him a parlor palm (pet friendly) from The Sill instead.  It's his first plant, and he's told me that he's gotten so much joy from caring for the plant and how he appreciated it as a gift.  We have a lot of empty flower pots and planters at our house and now I'm wondering why I haven't made it a point of bringing a plant / flower / herb as a gift instead of a bottle of wine as a present.  

This blog post had a lot more about plants than I had originally intended but such is the way of blogging, I suppose.  I hope you all have a plant and book-filled weekend!