A Chance Encounter and a Verdict

I had my 2nd jab of the Moderna vaccine last Wednesday. The side effects weren't bad but they were noticeable—mostly mild body aches and tiredness. It's nice to have the vaccine in me and to be doing my part, especially when so many others refuse to.

I was in Davannis late Saturday afternoon enjoying a hot sandwich and a cold glass of water when a man and his 5-year-old son pulled up chairs at a table across from mine. The young boy was so adorable and I could tell he really thought the world of his father. Some time passed and the father glanced my way. I told him, "your boy is adorable". He thanked me and said his job as a trucker keeps him away several nights each week so he's sure to make time for his son during his days off. He had a thick Middle Eastern accent. He said he's from Persia and came to America when he was in his early 20s, nearly 30 years ago. I asked if his son speaks Farsi and he replied that he speaks a little. In less than two minutes of talking he was donning his facemask and taking out his phone with its screen covered in cracks to come closer and show me photos of his older boy from a previous marriage. He was a very proud father. Toward the end of our more than 20 minutes spent conversing he mentioned that he no longer feels as welcome here as he once did and that until recently he'd never had anybody tell him to go back to where he came from. How profoundly sad that was to hear but not surprising. Our country is deeply dysfunctional. You can imagine why. We exchanged names and ended our conversation with a handshake and an offer to meet him there again next Saturday at around the same time. I just may. 

The smell of smoke that I recently wrote about is still with me but not as ever-present as it had been. I can now go for a day or two and not notice it, which is nice. It's not like tinnitus, tho, in that I can go for days without noticing my tinnitus but the moment I think about it I'll experience it. The smell of smoke isn't like that. If I'm not noticing it and I happen to think about it, I won't suddenly begin to smell smoke. My lingering chest cough has been slowly improving in the weeks since my first Moderna vaccine. Is it possible that I contracted the Covid virus and that's what has been causing my nose to smell things that aren't there, and experience a cough in my chest when I've not been ill? Is it possible that the vaccine has been able to begin to work on these two unexplained health issues and diminish them? I don't know if it can work that way but I'll take whatever help I can get. 

The jury in the Derek Chauvin murder trial returned their verdict this afternoon, finding Chauvin guilty of all charges against him. I couldn't conceive of a scenario where what he did was acceptable but I worried that a holdout juror or jurors could force a mistrial or cause the jury to settle for the lesser charge of manslaughter. At the beginning of the trial, I felt that 2nd-degree murder might be a lot to ask of the jury but once I saw the full 9 minute and 29-second video of Chauvin snuffing the life out of George Floyd, I knew it was the proper charge. As some people have been saying, it's upsetting that even with HD video of the homicide, many of us were anxious about what the verdict would be. And had it not been for 17-year-old Darnella Frazier's video of the killing, Chauvin would still be a cop abusing his authority on the streets of the 3rd Precinct in Minneapolis—upset when black men allegedly pass bogus twenty-dollar bills, ignoring his own much more grievous offenses like hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax fraud. 

Last week's windy, rainy weather had me down in my shop again working on a sun-catcher. I know I wrote that I was done until the snow flies again but I was wrong. Rain will force me back into my studio, too. The antique glass I used in this piece looks really nice when the sun refracts off of it. Here's a link to it on my Instagram site where I have several additional photos of it where you can more clearly see the antique glass I'm referring to. 

Tammy has me watching a series on Netflix called Dogs. It's a heartwarming series of episodes about the dogs in our lives and the important role they take on as companions. I'm only two episodes in but I can already highly recommend it. 

Now that many of us are vaccinated, we're beginning to resume our group gravel rides out of Northfield on Saturday morning and Tuesday evening. I met with a few of the guys last Saturday for my first ride with them in more than a year. I opted out of tonight's group ride in favor of an easy-paced solo ride this afternoon.

That's all I've got