NEEDS MUST

I’ll have to quit watching or reading the news. Again.

Being curious, I like to know what is going on around us, but it has become too much. I spend much of my time shaking my head at the manipulation and misinformation floating out there, and the gullible, selfish acceptance of it all by an astonishing segment of the population, the cruelty towards both animals and people, and the idiocy of book burnings. Because I read it usually while drinking my coffees (yes, that’s plural) in the morning, it sets my day off on the wrong foot. There it is. I’ll be on a no-news-diet for a few days.

It was exactly that, the usual aggravation after attention to CBC and Facebook, which made me decide to do something I very rarely do; watch a movie. Friday night I went overboard, and binge watched the 4 Jason Bourne movies, one after the other. It was the story of more manipulation, exactly what I was attempting to avoid, but at least it was a STORY, and the manipulators paid for it in the end, mostly. I watched until 8 AM on Saturday morning, just pausing now and then for toilet breaks or to put more wood on the fire.

I purposely didn’t cover the mouthy parrot, childishly gleeful about payback; the TV was loud to compensate for the noise of the ceiling fans that distribute the fire’s warmth, and because the spies on the screen seemed to whisper a lot of the time. That bird had been cranky all day, squawking loudly no matter how I tried to soothe her. Now it was her turn to put up with the noise. So there! I did make it up to her somewhat when the binge was over by setting my laptop to parrot calls on Google, and let it play for nearly an hour while I prepared for the day. I ran out of steam around 10:30 and the beasts and I went to bed. Most of the beautiful, sunny day was spent snoozing. Not at all productive, but needs must. My mood was much better…until I read the news again last night. Before I became too upset, I closed down everything and returned to bed where, surprisingly, I slept wonderfully until 4:30 AM.

This morning I purposely ignored the news. I skimmed Facebook briefly, skipping over anything except friends’ posts and humorous quips. Then I closed it down. It will be music today, background to preparing a beef barley soup and cinnamon buns for my grandson and his family, and my son with Little Flea, who will be coming for an early supper. The bird has been uncovered and is reasonable, the beasts are sitting patiently waiting on their breakfast, and I’ve found my SMILE!

Sharing it with you, and wishing you a great day!