June Reflections

June was...an interesting month to say the least. A lot of life changes happened for me. I moved back to my college town in Vermont for the summer since my lease started on the first of the month. Following regulations, I quarantined for 10 days (after day 7, got tested for COVID-19 and was 'freed' once I received my negative results). Quarantine was very hard emotionally and mentally. Being basically trapped in a house for ten days, since out-of-state travelers are not supposed to even go outside. So for a social outdoors-driven person this a far cry from an ideal situation. I had to constantly remind myself to be thankful that I even had a roof over my head and all of the other things I was grateful for even in the darker moments. I was also very thankful for my two housemates who also quarantined with me, as we got a crash-course bonding session of 10 days with no one else but each other and four of those days were without wi-fi. Needless to say, we went a little crazy. "Quaran-memes" with all of the crazy stuff we were saying. Handstands and dance parties. Do you know the opening song from Tangled? "7 AM the usual morning lineup..." Yeah, we started doing that list. Got pretty far too. Baking, sewing, gardening, hair brushing, etc...

Anways, after quarantine was up, we were all super excited just to go grocery shopping and started to regain some semblance of normalcy. Our other two housemates moved in which was super excited. Met some of the cute dogs living on the street. Were able to get out a little bit, though since the pandemic is still ongoing we've been staying in more often just to remain safe. (But at least we can get groceries whenever we want now.)

I started working at my Plant and Soil Science Internship through my university and have been enjoying it so far. I'm helping out with a lot of different projects, but the main one is working with bio-drilling tuberous legumes to see if their tubers can naturally break up compacted clay soils, which is an issue many farmers in Vermont face. Legumes are also notoriously good nitrogen fixers, making them even better candidates for soil remediation. Also, a lot of the plants we're growing are edible in one form or another. Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragolonobous) is completely edible, from the roots to shoots to seed pod and even the flowers!

As for other events this month, there's been a lot happening in the world from the pandemic to the much needed recognition and momentum the Black Lives Matter movement is getting, the celebration of Pride Month, and much more. There are many resources out there if you want to educate yourself more about these matters and I encourage you to do so.

If you're looking for some more light-hearted or random media, here's a few of the things I've been enjoying this month.

Music:

Rasputin by Boney M.

Rio by Duran Duran

Fun times in Babylon by Father Misty

Get Down from the musical Six

September by Earth, Wind & Fire

Books:

YA read: The Red Queen Series by Victoria Aveyard

On the list: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Films and Videos:

Good Omens TV series

Jo Franco's videos on YouTube

Elena Taber's videos on YouTube

Bon Appetites' Test Kitchen from home

Artists:

Minnie Small

Melissa Koby

Podcasts:

Rich Roll Podcast "For Colin O'Brady, Infinite Love Fuels Human Potential" and "What Nick Butter Learned Running A Marathon IN eVery Single Country".

The Farbeyond Podcast

Ologies: Special Episode featuring BlackAFinSTEM

Recipes/Food:

Chai tea with apple cinnamon oatmeal and almond butter

Peanut Butter Brownie Microwave Mug Cake by the Early Brawd

Pesto Veggie Pasta

Sourdough English Muffins from King Arthur Flour

Adventures:

Warren Falls in Warren, VT

Biking down to the lake for a picnic dinner

Swimming in the river at sunset

Randomly breaking into song and dancing

These are some of my highlights from the month. There's been plenty of lows, lots of feelings of uncertainty and being trapped, loneliness and frustration, trying to find balance between staying safe and being social, learning to budget, getting into the hang of things in this new way of life...It would be impossible for me to describe everything that happened this month in a single blog post. But the gist of June would be transitions. To a new mode of life, similar in some ways but new in many more. Transitioning to a new home, new job, new way of life, new(-ish) town/state, new season as summer hits with full force, and so on. What are some of the transitions you've been experiencing lately? Any highlights of June you'd be willing to share? (Lowlights are fine too, life isn't complete without the good and the bad). Please comment below and share if you've read, seen, listened, or tried any thing on the list. I hope your month was good, and that July was even better.