Tennessee?

My dad suggested checking out Knoxville, TN as a possible retirement place. I thought, "Yeah right," but it has a lot going for it. It's diverse and multicultural. Lots of arts and music. Plus there are a lot of great hiking spots in the Smokies. Road trip (once we get past the virus)! My boss, who's from Tennessee, also suggested Chattanooga. I've looked into it, and it seems like it's worth checking out. Both cities have operas!

At work, we talked about when to go back to the library, and we're thinking about the beginning of August. (I said that I'd like a couple of weeks to get settled before school starts.)

COVID-19 cases increased, and the Fed issued a bad economic forecast, so people sold their stocks. Sheesh. Saw that coming. The rest of the year is going to be a roller coaster, but we knew that.

Decided to lie down for a while before cooking dinner, and woke up at 1:30 AM. Woke up with "Pomp and Circumstance" playing in my head even though that's not what I was dreaming about. My mind is a weird place to visit. Threw a can of chunky soup in the microwave and threw some laundry in the washer. Did dishes.

Read a bunch of reviews of places on Best Places. Time to go back to sleep.

Cranky

I've been feeling kind of dizzy this morning. I decided to go to the credit union on Monday and take a longer nap now.

Ran out and ran errands. Picked up soda and milk. It was my inaugural run of my cloth mask. I found that it's tougher to breathe through than the disposable masks, plus sweat pools underneath it. I was cranky during my errands, which might have had something to do with the mask. I kept on thinking that people who weren't wearing masks were assholes, which doesn't help. Now I'm sitting here, cooling off. 86 degrees F right now.

On more positive news, my beets are coming up! I'll take a picture of the garden, but the beets probably won't show up because they're very tiny.

Back row: Cherry tomato, regular tomato, cherry tomato. Front row: empty pot, basil, chives, oregano. The patch of dirt in a grow bag is the beets.

My Italian teacher had to cancel my lesson. I missed the e-mail because it went into my junk folder. Bah. No lesson next week because she canceled all her lessons. Maybe she's moving back to Italy? So my next lesson is in two weeks.

I never heard from the monitor seller, so I just opened a return request. I found a monitor on Amazon that would work, and it probably would be better packed.

I checked travel restrictions in Tennessee, and there are no restrictions. I might see if I can take a trip during the fall. It's supposed to be very pretty in the fall. I'd probably break up the trip down because I want to be well-rested when I get there. Maybe the trip up too? There's a Motel 6 in Lexington, Kentucky just off the highway to stop there. I looked into Motel 6's and Best Westerns in Knoxville and Chattanooga in case I don't feel comfortable staying in Airbnbs. The Best Westerns have a fridge and microwave.

Decided to use the FitDesk before making dinner. I brought out my laptop, but I find myself stopping when I type. I'll post this while I'm pedaling.

Added: Made HelloFresh shrimp with zucchini ribbons and rice. Pretty good. I've yet to have a bad meal with HelloFresh. Need to clean up the kitchen and crash.

There's been a "strong increase" in COVID-19 cases in Tennessee according to Fortune, so maybe not.