OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

Oysterhood with oysters – first oysters since the beginning of lockdown. A happy Karina.

Sunday morning of work-related reading and a little bit of pure pleasure reading. And some reading up on the Tangerine Troll Tulsa Tragedy. The Covid-19 pandemic is one thing, but this, this is a pandemic of a kind that will never be eradicated as long as people continue showing up to cheer for psychopaths.

I remember my favourite aunt once telling me about a tongue-in-cheek proposal she saw somewhere online: when the wall between US and Mexico is complete, Canada should also build one on its border with the US and the rest of us should chip in for the lid on top. If that egomaniac is re-elected, the US won’t deserve anything else.

After the oysters lunch, I was so energised (they do say that oysters are aphrodisiacs, but you know, lockdown and all) that I decided to fell some trees in my garden in the afternoon. There was a minor injury, and some blood, but nothing that a doctor of philosophy could not handle. And what needed to be done is done!

Afterwards, I made a fire and sat in front of it for a while with Glinka, resting. It is going to be a working Sunday evening, so I am posting this and returning to my duties.

Today, many countries celebrate Father’s Day. We never did when we were children – the tradition did not exist in Poland at the time, and it is something that we never really managed to pick up from anywhere else during our migratory existence. Women’s Day (8 March), Mother’s Day (26 May), Children’s Day (1 June) – those three have always been big in Poland and we still celebrate all of them in the family, yet Father’s Day never caught on. But the internet tells me that it it was introduced in 1965 and it is always celebrated on 23 June in Poland. Interesting. When I was a little girl, I celebrated my Vatko every day, so maybe that is why he never missed the official celebration. Our relationship has transformed over the years and has reached a stage where we would probably both find it awkward trying to introduce Father’s Day celebrations into it. Anyway, Vatko has always been an excellent gift giver, but a very, very reluctant gift receiver. To organise anything involving him has also always posed a challenge (his understanding of time is different to most people – when Vatko says ‘I’ll be there on Wednesday’, he might show up on Friday, or the following Wednesday…). And, apart from anything else, nowadays we are hardly ever in touch – for no particular reason. When there is contact, it is positive, but otherwise we have nearly become strangers to each other, strangers with a treasure trove of shared memories from a distant past. The ebb and flow of family relationships… I must say, however, that no matter what else, I owe two things to my father that I thought a lot about today: he taught me to think for myself and to believe in the impossible; and, he taught me not to be afraid of tools, which is a very practical skill when you are a woman living on your own and have a tree or two in the garden that need taking care of…

Happy Father’s Day to all who celebrate, and Happy Cat Father’s Day to all the lovely cat fathers I know!

Be kind to yourself. Be kind to others. Stay at home.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD