Well…it’s been a week, which has sometimes seemed like a year. But we’re hanging in there here at the cottage. We’re doing our best to remember to be kind, send love to all, to be aware that on any given day one or both of us is going to have a hard time with this. It’s something we have never experienced before – none of us – so we take it day by day.

Today is rainy and foggy. Sigh.

I’m staying away from the news, though in my online explorations on Instagram I do encounter more facts and figures. Sometimes I read them, sometimes I don’t. But speaking of Instagram, I find much there that is heartening. Well known singers giving little concerts every day. Cooks sharing recipes. Book lovers posting their favorite ‘comfort’ reads. Gal Godot and many other performers singing “Imagine.” Jennifer Ehle, my favorite Elizabeth Bennett, reading Pride and Prejudice  out loud on IG Live. (Note to self: despite your TBR piles staring you in the face, I think a reread of P & P is in order.) The sharing and support that is cropping up all over the place on IG reminds me of how good we are. How we can and do rise to the occasion. Parisians clapping nightly for health care workers. A street seller in Columbia who sells sweets for $1 being give $100 instead by a couple who suspected he wasn’t earning any money because of the pandemic. Turns out he had no food in his house. The goodness and generosity of our fellow man is what I want to cling to. In Italy: a video of Fred & Ginger being projected onto a building (to the sound of Cheek to Cheek even though the dance is to Pick Yourself Up) and a couple dancing inside their apartment. Beautiful.

Bless them all.

Nothing else new here. I’m still reading The Sisters  (it’s 529 pages long) but I’m more than halfway through. Our copy of the Census arrived in yesterday’s mail. I’m looking into procuring absentee ballots for our primary on April 28th because who knows where we’ll be then. I’m yearning to start some sort of clearing outside, but the temperatures and the rain of the last two days have delayed that. I posted a quick video on IG of the nightly chorus from the peepers and bullfrog that live next door. We watched The Kings Speech (one of our favorites) last night. It’s time for feel-good movies.

I hope you’re well. Please take care of yourselves and STAY HOME.

Happy Friday.

We need a little beauty today. The tulips are doing that artful drooping that I love.

We made a mistake last night. We tuned into MSNBC to watch the primary results, but most of the coverage, sandwiched in between primary results, was of COVID-19. A lot of experts spoke and it was solid information, but way too much of it. What we heard was alarming; much of it I’d already read during the course of the day, but suffice to say this strange new world of self-quarantine, self-isolation, social distancing, whatever you want to call it, might be with us much longer than 14 days. It’s too overwhelming to take in. Though I slept, I woke up early and I feel edgy today.

So: No More. We will know what we have to know and the fact is, we already know it. We’ll do what has to be done. But I’m going back to the safe distance from the news that I usually maintain. A lot of figures and charts and ominous predictions are not something I want to take in or have in my brain. Fear is catching. Let’s not fan the flames.

Let’s help each other out here. But I ask you to try to refrain from dire predictions and lots of facts and figures. We don’t need that. I don’t need that. What we do  need is love and support and tips and ideas as to how to spend our time at home and affirmations and prayers and helpful words for each other during this stressful time. Share your unease, share how you’re coping with anxiety, share thoughts and truths and we will reach out to each other as we always do in this little community. Share helpful podcasts and book titles and movies to watch. If you see the humor or irony in this situation – and it’s there – share it. Of course, I realize that is already happening in the comments because you are wonderful, giving people who reach out to others. The joy of this blog is, and has always been, the loving community we have created here. Thank you for that.

You know I believe this: We are all one. I can’t think of a time where this truth is more imperative, more profound. I’m praying for everyone, everywhere. Let’s send out positive energy to all the world.

Happy Wednesday.