
My monthly marker for June is a photo of the Eagle Nebula. I honestly can’t get enough of space photos. June, of course, marked our third month of staying home during the Covid-19 pandemic. I continued to only go out for doctor appointments (twice) and otherwise I was at home. I really miss going out to eat at a restaurant, and I miss getting to stitch with friends in person and going to my guild meetings. But, it’s not worth it to me to go out for anything non-essential, even though Texas started opening things back up to almost full capacity. Masks aren’t mandatory and people are out doing stupid things, so I just stay home. So, let’s look back at June.

★ I continue to take comfort in my cross-stitching and the friends I’ve made because of it
★ We started our “spring” deep cleaning in the house and managed to get the upstairs done, the dining room, entry, and the kitchen
★ Our kitchen cleaning included going through our bar area and taking stock of what we have and what we may need to drink sooner rather than later – we decided that Sangria and Pina Coladas were high on the list. And let me tell you, that Sangria was good!
★ I have taken to having a cocktail after work, which I never do, but I’m kind of in that place of whatever it takes to deal with everything going on is ok
★ I’ve been spending a lot more time on Zoom with friends and my guilds are now all meeting virtually. Thutmose attends all those meetings with me for moral support.
★ The Black Lives Matter movement is showing me that I have a lot of work to do in this area and white privilege and bias are so pervasive that unless I am actively learning and listening and reflecting, I don’t even know they are there. I’m hopeful we can work towards necessary change and social justice.
★ One of the places where I’m really taking a hard look at bias is in the cross-stitch community. Not too long ago it was brought to my attention that all the people in mainstream cross-stitch patterns are white. For that matter, all the mainstream designers are white. I took part in a diversity and inclusion stitch along because representation matters, and I chose to change the skin and hair color in one of my pieces to be more inclusive.
★ I’m getting back to my self-care routines. With everything happening, I have been seriously slacking off in this area. Intuitive selection: Believe essential oil for clarity of thought and spiritual grounding; Iolite for enhancing inner wisdom and self-awareness in order to break negative patterns and make positive shifts; and Opalite for removing energy blockages of the chakras and assisting during transitions.