Sunrise this morning was particularly pretty this morning! Especially with the waning gibbous moon! Audrey said she needed to go outside and with how late sunrise is here in Madison at this time of year (7:01am) I'll take her out on a morning walk in the predawn once it starts to get light and the skies colorful but before the sun has actually created the horizon - elementary schools start at 7:30 so there are usually quite a lot of  people up already. Very chilly and brisk, we were back in under 40mins, but a beautiful morning walk! I also had a short chat with Darnell, the blind man downstairs who was taking his guide dog out at the time. 

Sunset was also gorgeous, but not quite as pretty as this morning's sunrise. (I rarely miss either of them, I can't sleep across the gloaming when the veil is thinnest. I can sleep at any time of day or night, but never across the times day and night switch places. And in my current flat, all my windows and balcony door face east so no matter the

Also. I sometimes forget how much I love a good duffer newsboy cap until I put one on again. They don't do much to keep my ears warm, but I still like them on me! They remind me of my Grandpa Ted, I used to steal his to wear when I was little. 

 I was looking for a hat yesterday other than one of my Packers hats and grabbed this newsboy cap. Once it gets cold enough though, I'll need to switch to one that covers my ears, lol. This is cute, but rather useless in a place where frostbite is legit a concern.

 Also also. It's really wonderful to be able to breathe in the cold air again!!!! I got super sick with what I jokingly called The Death Plague back in 2012 (in hindsight likely MERS based on timing and me having a couple friends who were graduate exchange students from Saudi Arabia who I'd meet up with at cafes to catch up.) I wasn't super sick, but I had a low grade fever for a long time and some exhaustion issues following it but the worst was that the following fall (6 months later) I got cold induced asthma for the first time in my life. Which was quite scary as I'd never experienced any form of asthma before. Bronchial inhalers only helped a little, about the only thing that helped was warming up the air in my lungs or keeping it warm to begin with. So I started having to wear multiple scarves (3+ scarves: one over my chest/lower neck, one wound tightly over my neck and mouth/nose, and a fluffy woolen one over that so all the air I breathed in was always warm. When it got really cold out, I'd need an extra around my throat.) Thus mask wearing is really not that bad to me unless I stupidly decide to wear my glasses and a mask without a bendy nose thing. Fall of 2019 was when my lungs FINALLY healed up and I discovered I could breathe in cold air again instead of having to keep the air warm behind multiple layers of scarves. It was an amazing feeling!! Also, another reason to presume MERS, besides timing and how sick I got and the damage that did to my lungs, is that I have never had any covid symptoms at any point this last year and a half. And there's no way I haven't been exposed. So it means I spent 7 years getting myself accustomed to breathing through cotton before masks became a necessary evil, but also I really love the feeling of breathing in nice crisp air!!

AND!!! I talked to Sarah about it tonight and since she doesn't know how long her SUV will last, she might be interested in buying my 2010 silver Scion off me so I can buy the 2012 black Prius from work. (I was going to do it in late 2019/early 2020 for the better mileage but covid made it so that I wasn't driving all over the place for concerts and I had nobody lined up for the Scion so I decided to hold off on it.  The Scion gets good mileage, but not as good as a Prius.)  I was upfront with her about the issue of the AC compressor being busted and it being a pricey fix and that since I knew them I wouldn't feel comfortable selling at blue book without adjusting for the $1.2k ac compressor fix issue -- and Sarah suggested that if Mikaela's auto shop teacher can help then it would be fair to take off the cost of the part (still pricey, but not nearly as pricey) and let her do the labor herself.  IF Mikaela is interested and they can swing three cars on their monthly insurance.  Which is such a relief to me as I've never sold a used car before or transferred titles or anything of the sort.  But I'd really like to be in the Prius before long concert/festival roadtrips again and it's better for the business to do the sale before end of year.  I'll talk to my mom and to Sarah some more about it but that would be delightful if I can work that out so well! And Mikaela already knows and likes the Scion.

Also, my sister keeps sending me adorable video clips of my nephew and niece trying to guilt trip me to come visit Seattle area. And there are some cheap flights between Thanksgiving and Christmas so I may go visit them in the not too distant future. Flight prices dependent. I found a stupidly cheap flight for $168 roundtrip Madison to Seattle BUT it had an 8hr layover in Vegas on the way there and an 11hr layover in Denver on the way back. Which just sounds awful.... I'd rather spend a bit more and not have such lengthy layovers... Delta supposedly has around $200 fares from Madison to Seattle around that same time after all.

On a completely unrelated note: I saw an ad during a Packers game on CBS (like the only one this season) for a brand new CBS show called Ghosts about a New York couple inheriting an old mansion that's hella haunted with the most motley mix of ghosts possible on the east coast and deciding to renno it into a B&B -- then after a near death experience falling down the stairs she can see and interact with the ghosts. While I don't typically watch currently running shows, this one sounded super fucking hilarious and delightful as a mix of an hgtv show where people don't know wtf they're doing and a motley mix of historical era ghosts (especially seemed brilliant to me as a medium who has seen and interacted with ghosts her entire life.)  I'm only just finishing the pilot but omg it's so good so far!!!!!  I haven't laughed this hard at a new to me show in ages!!! I'm so excited this show was created and exists! Hopefully it doesn't fizzle and stays hilarious! Highly recommend. HIGHLY recommend! 

It's so funny!!

So anyway, that's what I'm doing tonight -- hanging out with my dog at work, drinking tea, binge watching Ghosts, and going through the outdoor icicle lights to untangle them to check each light so that Ian and I can put them up tomorrow while it's actually going to be a high in the low 50s. (I already checked with Ian and he doesn't have any onsite calls or major online calls to deal with tomorrow. Technically, any of the techs taller than me could help -- I can reach the hooks barely on the short step ladder but it's easier if I have someone taller than me to help. Ian has just helped me with the lights up and down for like 5or 7 years now. It's a thing we do together and we catch up on fantasy/scifi books and shows discussion.)