Heavy clouds

Weather is gloomy, I'm feeling a little gloomy. Left the radio on all night and woke up at some point scared, not sure if I had a nightmare or if it was whatever they were talking about or if it were the constant voices outside (which I don't usually hear.) Feeling the lingering remnants of that. Last week it was 93 degrees and yesterday I kept a (light) jacket on all day. Our heater kicked on for the first time in months, blowing dusty air all over. There's a filter, but I don't think it's the right one or in the right place: the house gets dusty, and the filter remains relatively clean. Not sure where else it could go.  At any rate, my head is clogged up, including my ears which is making me feel slow of thought and in that groggy "head-cold" universe. And while I like snow, and winter in general, somehow I am not looking forward to the cold and darkness and the end of summer. I feel that more every year, and I've lived here pretty much my whole life (I spent one winter in Central America where it was dark for 10 to 12 hours of every day. No lingering dusk or dawn. Boom!  The day began.  The day ended.)

Looked up Crock-Pot recipes. When I first got it (a gift from my mother, years ago) I was frustrated by how long it took to cook anything...I come to find out that it was because I kept taking the lid off and losing all the heat. It's probably also better with a heavier glass lid, this one is plastic. Should remember to get freezer bags, too. I always get bored after eating the same thing two days in a row (exception being tacos. Barring food poisoning, I imagine I could happily eat tacos everyday for the rest of my life, for at least one meal.  I think it's the smell of chili powder, or the heating up of the masa dough for freshly made tortillas.)

The heavy clouds are persistent, neither burning off nor moving. It's very still out. Saw a handful of swallows on my walk.  Migrators? And lots of clover; all of it the three-leafed variety, from what I could tell. My eyes aren't currently trained to see it any other way.