How is it Wednesday? How?!
I hope your day is going better than mine, but if not, we’re all in this together, right? Just existing right now is exhausting.
Do something restorative today, if you’re able.
Garden, take a bath, meditate, eat an entire cake, knit, etc.
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Author Dahlia Adler has a great list of 2020 YA thrillers and mysteries. I love discovering new books, even if I don’t have the energy to read them.
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The Vancouver Aquarium has a new baby otter! And yes, there is a baby otter cam. Otters are far and away my favorite animal, FYI.
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Sarah and I have been streaming Stardew Valley together. It’s been a lot of fun, but then there are moments like this. It took me three more in-game days to catch that damn squid.
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Linda Watson on Twitter has started a Google Calendar for romance virtual events! How fantastic is that!
Greetings, Romancelandia! The calendar for virtual events is here! Bookmark this link and check it often for updates! https://t.co/4oCNWb0ycl
— Linda Watson (@theLindashow) July 15, 2020
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If you’re ever searching for a moment of zen, I’ve been enjoying this YouTube channel of quick clips around Iceland. Iceland seems like a paradise.
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Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
Oldie but goodie, brought to you by a random conversation in a Facebook group about funny cats… drum roll…
“Guy raps in the bathtub about giving his cat a bath”
https://youtu.be/WOndRFZkeh4
Credit: @iammoshow
This information comes waaaay too late for me, but for the youngsters amongst us, guess what? Medically speaking, you don’t need to have a period every month:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/07/why-menstruate-if-you-dont-have/614350/
On the YA mystery/thriller recs, “One of us is Lying” by Karen McManus was really good, and I have “One of us is Next” in my tbr.
Nowness has videos of 8 great & beautiful gardens:https://www.nowness.com/playlist/53525/top-8-great-gardens-episodes?_branch_match_id=771037392643628788
Not exactly peaceful, since I feel the stress from everyone involved, but Indian Matchmaking on Netflix is an unapologetically sympathetic look into modern matchmaking. You can even spoil yourself with the LA Times article on everyone’s relationship status right now Aparna is awesome.
I’m also catching up on the Burn It All Down podcast (they have transcripts on their website). I really feel like an SBTB and BIAD crossover episode would be the coolest thing ever.
@DiscoDollyDeb: That article was illuminating and something I wish I’d known way way back in the day. I’d be interested in the effect on migraines because that was my nightmare, remedied immediately and totally by menopause. The more we know. Thanks for the link.
@Darlynne: same here. Got my first migraine at age 10, three days before I got my first period. From then until I got on Imitrex (over 25 years later), unless I was pregnant, I could rely on two migraines per month. Oddly, my migraines stopped completely after I had my tubes tied (at 40), even though I was still menstruating. So glad all that is in the rear view for me.
Iceland is delightful and I was going to visit it again this Fall. Because 2020 was going to be the year of traveling.
Oh well.
It’s desolate between cities, but beautiful.
I got caught in 2 snowstorms when I went last time in the early October.
Worth it to avoid all the summer tourists.
And the yarn is great, because it’s the land of sheep.
Another woman whose migraines basically disappeared after menopause. The worst was getting one the morning before, or of, the onset of my period, because of course I had no idea a period was due and needed the very painful reminder! One thing I have read for years, but that is not mentioned in the article, is that more periods (generally, women who start earlier than average) are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. So there’s another good reason to have fewer!
“I love discovering new books, even if I don’t have the energy to read them.”
This is very much me at the moment. I have three different TBR book piles in my bedroom strategically placed so that I can look at them at any time and feel better. I will read them but right now it’s slow going. I only have so much emotional energy so I’m rewatching favourite shows and reading my romance e-books because I know I’m guaranteed a HEA and I don’t have to worry unduly about fictional characters I’ve just met!
Seekerville had an extremely interesting post today about how story literally changes our brains: https://seekerville.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-power-of-story.html
Here’s a link directly to the article they mention: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_stories_change_brain?utm_source=GGSC+Newsletter+-+December+2013&utm_campaign=GG+Newsletter+-+Dec+2013+&utm_medium=email
Connie Willis wrote a great Sci fi short story about a world where women no longer have periods called “Even the Queen?” which viewed it as a net positive.
@ Escapeologist–Thank you for the guy rapping about giving his cat a bath video. It’s the greatest thing I’ve seen this year and is now up there with the Tom Holland lip sync battle video as my favorite video ever.
This new song, “Lady by the Sea” by Steven Sanchez is a new favorite of mine and never fails to cheer me up, no matter how emotionally exhausting the day has been:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bUZW6J_rGZo/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEZCNAFEJQDSFXyq4qpAwsIARUAAIhCGAFwAQ==&rs=AOn4CLDBxfHojSc_ixjomwG6jlFtNNWVqQ
Well my day got ENORMOUSLY better thanks to the baby otter cam! Right now I am watching him take a nap while holding a teething toy for baby humans and it is the best. Thanks!
Thought y’all might enjoy these Medieval style song covers — a friend of mine posted a link to “Jolene” on Facbook, but the Pumped Up Kicks version is also amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ_jwWjf8u5mdtac71Be8QA
Nice to see the article about stopping your periods. I got a Mirena IUD a year after my second (last) child – they’re 14 now. So 13 years without a period! It’s been fabulous. Utterly fabulous. I’m on my third IUD (my doc replaces them on a 5 yr cycle). At my nearly-50 age, every appointment for anything asks me how long since my last period, and I love to say, “2007! Because I have an IUD!” It is harder to figure out where I am in the peri/menopause/whatever stage, but … whatever. And you know, I don’t really have any hot flashes? My walking partner is 52 and STILL getting periods that have her up in the night to change. I’m so grateful.
Having served overseas, with limited choices in my brand of pills at the time, I certainly hope the military is covering IUDs for service members. Anyone know?
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