My mother couldn't believe I'd really had my appendix removed, since I was only in the hospital ~36 hours; when she'd had hers removed in 1937 or so, she was in the hospital for two weeks.

My maternal line is an illustration of improved surgical techniques. Grandma, Mom, and my sister all had their gall bladders removed. My grandmother had a foot-long incision and bedrest for a week. Mom had a four inch incision and was up and about in a few days. My sister had it done laparoscopically and was feeling nearly up to snuff in a day.

I think some of the improvements in recovery time is also related to the time before people are willing to have surgery. Grandma had hers out in the middle of the Great Depression, when money was super tight. I'm sure there was a period of "let's see if this will get better on its own" for her that my sister did not have.

My mother couldn't believe I'd really had my appendix removed, since I was only in the hospital ~36 hours

That's particularly amusing to me (now) because when I had my appendix out a few years ago Brendon went around the system and got me out in less than 24 hours because "I didn't want to be in the hospital and wanted to go home". When he came in all happy to get me dressed and out of there I was nothing short of horrified at the thought of actually moving enough to get out of bed and dressed. Like, walk 20 feet from car to house, you got to be joking. But I managed.

I think about how both my mother and I would probably have died at my birth and don't romanticize much before the 20th century.

Me, too.

edit: And if I had survived, Peanut's childbirth would have killed both of us without intervention.

I like the aesthetics of past eras, but that's it. Modern medicine and plumbing are great.

So, I’ve had my subscription to Asimov’s for a long time now, and my satisfaction with it has been pretty uneven lately. Sometimes I’ll read a whole issue and not be happy with any of it and think about canceling, but it hasn’t happened enough times in a row for me to do it, at least not without something in the Coming Soon that I want to stick around for.

The May issue has a baseball story I really like, so I feel like I should say so, if only so I’ll remember later. Tin Man by Rick Wilber and Brad Aiken. It doesn’t have a mind-blowing premise that everyone must read right now, or anything, but it’s a good story. The SF-nal aspects are plausible and tidy and the baseball aspects fit nicely into that slot in my brain (which is not a very knowledgeable slot, ymmv of course)

Atropa, I keep hearing "You should love cottagecore!" As an aesthetic, sure - but I grew up with septic leach fields, and my mom's second husband raised sheep. (Yes, there are pictures of a smol Ken with said sheep.)

My library send me a note this morning saying "Hey, your hold on The Hollow Places is ready", so that's my afternoon handled.

I suspect all the people who love cottagecore do not have an understanding of actual rural or farm life.

A couple of rounds of "Power's out, well pump's out, the animals still have to be watered, where's the manual pump? Yes, before coffee - and how long will it take you to get the backup stove up to temp so that you can have the coffee? Did you prep the night before? Okay, look for the hand mill when you come back, and where's the BIG electric lantern so you're not breaking your neck wandering the Dark Sky-compliant outbuildings?" would enliven the discussions.

I suspect all the people who love cottagecore do not have an understanding of actual rural or farm life.

Or they just want to live in Miss Honey's cottage with a sweet garden.