844th Friday Blog Roundup
I have been on cicada watch. Every morning, I come down and feed Beorn and then go to the window to check the trees. The cicadas are starting to emerge in other towns nearby, but so far, I haven’t seen any crawl out of the ground. Just the holes they make before they emerge.
Sometimes I whisper to myself, “This is how they felt at Helm’s Deep right before the orcs breached the wall. When they knew that the battle was inevitable, and all they could do was steel themselves to battle Saruman’s beasts.”
Not that I’m dramatic or anything.
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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.
Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.
As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.
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And now the blogs…
But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- None… sniff.
Okay, now my choices this week.
PocoBrat has a beautiful promise in a poem that is there for anyone who needs kind words right now. Plus, I love the idea of doing nice things for yourself. Just because.
Much Ado About Nothing has a post about the feelings that come out when her brain is exhausted. She writes, “Nothing fills a baby shaped hole.” So true.
Finding a Different Path is a birthday-celebrating inspiration, finding the joy in the day and none of the fears of aging. Go wish her a happy half-of-90.
Infertile Phoenix warns that we need to beware of energy-sucking vampires. She writes: “Guard your energy. Be aware of vampires. Your grief is yours, your journey is yours, and your recovery is yours. No one is entitled to the wisdom or rewards of your hard work.” It’s a story with a happy ending about boundaries.
Lastly, The Road Less Travelled has a post about a new exhibit about Mary Lincoln. She explains: “A new exhibit at President Lincoln’s Cottage — a Washington, D.C., museum I had never heard of! — makes the case that Mary was not crazy — she was a bereaved mother. Moreover, the exhibit places the Lincolns’ grief ‘alongside the stories of modern-day bereaved parents and their kids, showing their similarities across time’.” I plan to go see the exhibit.
The roundup to the Roundup: The cicadas are almost here. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between April 30 – May 7) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.
6 comments
I find that cicadas are mostly heard and not seen until later, when they mate and die. Given your propensity for witnessing amorous animals, I’m sure you’ll see the mating part. I usually come across them languishing on the sidewalk, waiting for a hungry bird to come by…
In the meantime, get some earplugs. They’re gonna be LOUD.
Thanks for the shoutout Mel!
Ugh…the cicadas. We have SO many holes already and so many trees. I know my 5 year old isn’t going to step foot outside while they are around. I am so dreading this because they are just so creepy and gross, and HUGE. Ugh no thanks. And I think MD is the epicenter of the “outbreak” or whatever this is called, so yay for us🙄
Thank you for the mention. I hope my post is helpful for someone. As women, we tend to be helpers and nurturers by nature. It is so easy to overly give.
My recommendation for second helpings is Jess’s post, Not Obviously Sad. It is so honest, heartbreaking, and beautiful as she describes the moment that she and her husband decided to end their quest to become parents. https://findingadifferentpath.blogspot.com/2021/05/not-obviously-sad.html
I don’t think we have many cicadas in the Phoenix area. I know we aren’t part of the states where Brood X will be emerging.
Not that I’m complaining: I hate listening to them, and I don’t really enjoy coming face to face with any insects (except maybe butterflies).
In the late 90s my husband and I moved across the country to the east coast (short lived). We happened to be there during one of the cicada every 17 years or whatever events and man were they loud (there were a bunch of trees nears our apt complex where they hung out). Very unusual for us.
Thank you for the kind shoutout, Mel–I very nearly fainted from surprise and happiness :).
Thanks also for the heads up about 17-year cicadas. I’ve now read a very informative article about cicada arrival in MI this year, and I will be providing tons of information at breakfast tomorrow whether people need it or not. Ha.