Whelp, took four years, but COVID finally got me and the kiddo. Boo.

Luckily, our cases are mild and I was able to get on Paxlovid the day I tested positive. Sadly, this did put a bit of a crimp in some of my  birthday staycation plans. I was able to do some things, but I cancelled the fancy birthday dinner with the husband along with my massage and facial. I do not want to add the summer surge. 

But, it did give me an excuse to loaf around, read, color, and and watch the kiddo sing along to Taylor Swift songs while she watched the concert on her tablet.

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I honestly can't remember why I put Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan on my TBR list, but I've been enjoying YA romantasy books as of late. I opted to grab all three of the titles in this series from the library. I'm about halfway in and the whole book has been world building and narrative set up. The story is just starting to take off. I like where things are going. I forgot, however, that this was a sapphic romance. I have zero issues with that, I just forgot that was the romance part of this series. 

*Books shared here are affiliate links for Bookshop.org

• You don't want to fall in the water here. [Sketchplanations]

• I'm not a runner, but this seems kind of fun. [Men's Journal]

• My money is on this photo winning the Pulitzer for breaking news. [The Atlantic - gift link]

• A good explainer on risk and uncertainty. [ParentData]

• Rather helpful baking tips. [King Arthur]

• How special athletic equipment gets to the Olympics. [WaPo - gift link]

• The rise of the shared restaurant table. [The Atlantic - gift link]

• This pillow won't help you sleep. [David Lebovitz Newsletter]

• The problems with our solar industry. [Planet Money]

• We're still bowling alone and it's not helping us at all. [The Daily]

• Why When Harry Met Sally​ is so darn good. [Hot and Bothered]

• How the romance wing of publishing works. [Culture Study]

• This drone footage captures the sheer scale of climbing Everest. [DJI]

• Icarus is a documentary on sports doping. It started by focusing on one amateur cyclist trying out a doping regime... and exploded into something else. The cyclist (who is also the filmmaker) received direction from a  head lab scientist in Russia. During the course of the documentary, the scientist falls under a global investigation. It was fascinating! I'm bummed the sequel is not available for streaming. [Netflix]

• The final stages of the Tour de France were great COVID recovery TV. Cycling is like slow TV but with enough action to keep it interesting. Plus, I loved the added travel elements and sweeping vistas from helicopters. The spectators can be particularly interesting. Our kiddo liked spotting the ones dressed as pigs and dinosaurs. [Peacock]

• Covid stole my appetite for a few days. My dinner one night was a short stack of Ritz crackers and a cup of my kiddo's applesauce. That meal was weirdly delicious. [Mott's]

• Before Covid hit, my lunch meal prep for the week was sheet plan eggplant parm. I don't really follow a recipe, it's more of a gut thing. I slice the eggplant in thick medallions, dip them in egg, then cover in seasoned breadcrumbs. Those get baked at 400 for about 15-minutes, then I flip and back for 10 more. Finally, I top each slice with pasta sauce and shredded mozzarella, then back into the oven to melt the cheese. They reheat fairly well in the microwave.

The weather across the US has been intense this summer. This week, Chicago was hammered by a derecho. This photographer managed to capture the chaos in a beautiful composition. [@barrybutler9]

If you been roasting during these heat waves, might I recommend a cooling diversion to the Antarctic? brr is an aptly named blog written by someone living on Antarctica. It’s not updated often, but the archives are fun to explore.

I took my last dose of Paxlovid this morning. I am very much looking forward to being done with the bitter taste side effect.