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

— @HaggardHawks

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My love called it “the trans-continental cyber-surgery”, and so it was. It took well over two hours, there was quite a lot of tension involved (on my side; my brother was as cool as a real surgeon), moments of doubts were inescapable, but in the end, I managed to transplant the power supply box from an old computer into my own and gain access to my files. We were also able to diagnose how the old power supply box died and what else was damaged in the process – luckily nothing truly essential, and the patient, although no longer fully operational, is alive and well. And when it was all done, I felt like Chuck Noland in Cast Away, beating my breast and shouting “I have made fire!” It was only towards the end of the procedure that my brother explained that we were not performing computer brain surgery, but computer heart surgery. It just shows you how much I know about computers … but I DID IT! I fixed my computer. At least temporarily. A new desktop computer will have to be bought the moment the budget allows (hopefully in August).

The above screenshots were Krystian’s view of last night’s operation. This was mine:

And, as always, nothing happens in this house without catssistance.

And no, we did not mistakenly take the President’s iPad.

This day begged to be spent in bed, but I had a cover design meeting to go to and shopping to do and other work to accomplish that did not allow me to stay under the duvet on this rainy-windy-freezing-misery-of-a-day. But in the late afternoon, I finally managed to slip under the covers and put on the electric blanket and proofread a book in bed.

In the evening, it was time for a literary curry – literary because the recipe came from Melissa A. Volker and the spices from Helen Moffett. It was delicious.

My love and I had it in front of the fireplace with cats basking in the warmth of the fire. Now, it is time for bed.

“#COVID19 UPDATE: A total of 46,893 tests were conducted in the last 24 hrs, with 11,093 new cases, which represents a 23.7% positivity rate. A further 297 #COVID19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 59,092 to date.” (NICD)

And these are the recorded numbers ONLY …

The third wave might be a tsunami.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

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

— NICD