the heat of November

I've made a decision - with two days left to go before the U.S. election, I am going to ignore it completely. My anxiety, which left me sleepless Friday night, will not change the outcome and only makes me miserable. So I'm going to refuse to watch or listen to anything about it. Especially because I expect some Russian-engineered horror to happen any minute - an attack to attempt to make the orange blowhole look presidential. No, stop, see, there it goes again. I will not think about it.

Instead - this glorious weather. Yesterday was so sublime, it was hard to comprehend - November 5th! I'd hired a friend of Anna's to come help me sort out some of the chaos in the house, especially the basement, but when she arrived, I apologized, gave her $20 as a "consulting fee," and asked her to come back in two weeks when the weather is bad. No way I could spend hours in the basement on such a heavenly day. She was pleased, and I took off for a long bike ride, all afternoon, with Jean-Marc and Richard. We went to the Leslie Street Spit, relishing the hot sun, the birds, the view.

Nine swans a'swimming. In November.

Jean-Marc made a delicious dinner and we lay on their bed to watch the new Netflix series, "The Crown," about the early years of Queen Elizabeth II. A beautiful series, especially interesting to watch with Richard, who was once an assistant to the Lieutenant Governor and is now CTV's official royalty expert. He knows the real story and is outraged by the small changes made, I assume for dramatic effect. Only Richard and the people actually involved know or care that this event actually took place at Balmoral not Sandringham, or "The black dress was on the plane, of course! They didn't carry it on for her. Shocking."

The series shows an intelligent, sensitive, vulnerable young woman thrust into public life long before she wanted to be. As usual with these British series, it's beautifully acted, directed and written. We watched two episodes and as they began to watch a third, I went home. Two solid hours was enough. My first Netflix binge watch; now I understand how much fun that is. There will be more - Rogers is apparently soon giving us Netflix for free. It will be a good winter.

P.S. Listening to "Sunday Morning" on CBC radio right now, Michael Enright with esteemed guests discussing ... guess what? THE #@$#@ ELECTION. And I'm riveted.

Sigh.