I would like to present myself as always perky, cheerful, and eager to learn my physics in the screens of this Weblog but I regret that I can't, at least for the last few weeks. A number of different factors have slowed me down, both mentally and physically. Probably the most important factor is biological. I am at a Certain Age where changes happen to ladies, to put it gently. I recently tried a "natural" plant-based hormonal remedy sold over the counter which had quite the wrong reaction on me, and I am still trying to overcome its effects. Just because something is "natural" or "herbal" doesn't mean it can't get out of hand. Meanwhile, I put up with various non-threatening but unpleasant draggy symptoms which are predictably part of this passage. I don't know whether physics mixes well with menopause. Well, there is also the family and class reunion thing. You read here about my latest trip up to New England for my father's eighty-fifth birthday. I will be going back up there again in mid-June for the class reunion. The whole thing is making me anxious, the family is anxious about other things, the friends are anxious about me, and, like, my entire world is one nervous dither, which I would rather avoid, but I can't, my art is already up in their school gallery.

So I try to get art done and physics too, even if it's only one little drawing or one page of the text and a couple problems, despite a gross lack of concentration and eating too much broccoli. The trouble is, if you get a big bunch of broccoli, you have to eat it all before it goes bad. Broccoli is one of my favorite vegetables, but a week's worth of it is just too much. Fortunately it does not have any hormonal effects. It has other effects related to chemistry and physics, the release of carbon dioxide, methane, and gas diffusion in the atmosphere. Every action has its equal and opposite reaction, and I think I'll stop right there.

Posted at 9:39 pm | link