Wednesday HodgePodge

1.  Do you think the pandemic has had any kind of positive impact on your mental health? Explain.

Not one bit.  Truly, it's been a struggle.

 I haven't seen the inside of my house since March -- I live with my mother and my sisters,  I am "temporarily" staying with my boyfriend Drew to protect my 87-year-old mom from the virus.   Drew, who was so sick from Covid 19 for three weeks in March and April, and is still not 100%.  

I am constantly worrying about my older daughter Jen, who is considered "essential" and has been on the job all during the pandemic, and she lives with her boyfriend, a health care worker.  I am worried about my younger daughter Becca, who was in Barcelona when the travel ban was announced and had to scramble to get home, and who has been alone in her apartment for most of the pandemic. 

And oh, yeah, I started a new job on March 23, the day the company sent everyone home to work remotely, so I have never met most of my coworkers.

2. A hot mess, hot under the collar, in hot water, hot button, hot diggity dog!, hot shot, hot seat....choose one and tell us how it applies to your life currently.

A hot mess.  I still haven't gotten around to making an appointment at the now-reopened salon, and I have about an inch of roots showing.  Not to mention, the humidity is making my hair do that Roseanne Rosannadanna things...

3. Speaking of the hot seat, do you work well under pressure or do you actively avoid high pressure situations? 

I am convinced that no one can survive law school, let alone the legal profession, unless they can handle working in a a pressure cooker. Some of my best writing takes place when I am up against a deadline.

4. Hotdogs-yay or nay? If you said yay how do you like yours? Did you know July is National hotdog month? 

I had no idea it was National Hotdog Month!  I'll have one fresh off the grill, in a bun of course, with ketchup and relish.   Or maybe I'll have Gulden's Spicy Brown mustard and sauerkraut instead.  

5. I read here a list of America's coolest Southern towns. They are Marfa Texas, Greenville South Carolina, Abindgon Virginia, Athens Georgia, Bentonville Arkansas, Florence Alabama, Oxford Mississippi, Abita Springs Louisiana, Wilmington North Carolina, Monroeville Alabama, McMinnville Tennessee, Natchez Mississippi.  How many on the list have you seen in person? Which town on the list would you most like to see?

I haven't been to any of those towns.  They all sound  lovely.

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

By now you may have heard the story.  Billy Joel still lives here on Long Island.  He has a house in Centre Island and owns a motorcycle shop in Oyster Bay, and he's known for riding his bike around North Shore towns.  He was on his motorcycle one day last month, riding though Huntington, when he spotted a discarded piano on the sidewalk.  Then this happened:

No word on what happened to the piano, but my guess is that the instrument was rescued...