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.
Well, it’s getting real out there. We are fine, but anxious. Kids are sick in NYC and have been for more than a week. Sick enough to go in to the ER last week, fluids given, no tests, sent home. Wish they would be more vocal about it, but mustn’t nag, so that adds to our anxiety.
I have been ordering groceries online for more than a year, but today, nearly everything I ordered was “out of stock” or “low stock, choose a substitute”. And not just another brand—I mean, order something entirely different. Not time to panic, but things are certainly not normal anymore. Powdered sugar in your coffee, anyone? Going to the kitchen to make pasta next. While smiling.
Of course you’re anxious. No tests? Is it because they didn’t think they were needed or no tests available?
Hang in there, Shanna, and keep us posted. Much love.
I believe that at the time they went to the ER there were no tests, but that’s just my guess. The boys are not communicating with us as much as we’d like and I can only hope that it’s because they are not feeling well and not because they are entirely too sick! At least there are two of them and I hope that one of them is well enough to take care of the other. I do know that they have fevers and that is worrying.
Of course it is. Sending you love, Shanna.
Well, it looks like I was venting. I do know how fortunate we are and I’m grateful. Mr. Wizard is going for a drive—the first in many days! I’ll wait for the surprise groceries to see what we’re really dealing with. Meantime Mr. W says he’ll be taking the cow in to trade for some magic beans.
Stay safe. Stay well.
You are allowed to vent here. Everyone is going to feel the need to do that at some time or other. Feel free. Yes, we are fortunate, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t worried. Stay safe.
Day seven…that’s all? It’s rather hard to believe that’s all it’s been. We are holding our own…being good curve flatteners. (I don’t know if that’s a word or not, but it seems applicable.). We’ve started to tackle our to do lists but, are taking our time, lest we run out of items to do too fast.
Thanks for that pretty picture! I am craving pretty…and laughter. The latter is a little more difficult, but it’s out there.
Still rainy, windy, and generally gloomy here. If only the sun would come out, I’m sure our moods would be greatly improved. Hope you have a good day. I think I’ll vacuum today…gotta get my exercise in after all! ;)
Laughter is so needed right now. Don makes me laugh. And some of the posts I see on IG are making me chuckle. All is appreciated. The sun would make a huge difference right about now. Stay safe.
I’m waiting for the announcement from work to say how long our schools will be closed. We plan to go out today to look for food. Based on our experience last weekend, I’m not looking forward to it. I will never look at a fully stocked grocery store the same. But the birds are singing like crazy and the wisteria is blooming, so I’m trying to appreciate the pretty things in the day. Thank you for the peepers chorus. If you like to look at plants, mhcbotanicgarden on instagram has been posting pictures from their flower show that had to be cancelled.
Oh, wisteria! How lovely. That’s a good thing, Linda. I will check out that account. Take care of yourself, Linda.
Hi Claudia,
There is alot of helping others going on around here. The police are even delivering meds from the pharmacies for those that are not able to go out. Some local restaurants are giving out free kids meals. Neighbors checking on neighbors…good stuff. I keep thinking of the Mister Rogers quote “look for the helpers.”
Technology is wonderful too. My 10 year old granddaughter was sent home from school with a chromebook and she gets a daily message from her teacher, assignments, and right now she is in a virtual meeting with her teacher and classmates!
There is also the bad news…my son was laid off and my daughter-in-laws hours have been reduced. So that’s a worry.
As a retired nurse I also worry for my nurse friends who are dealing with this and the shortage of supplies they need.
Trying to take it one day at a time.
Stay well
Marilyn
Yes, that is bad news. Nearly everyone we know who is in the theater has been laid off for more than a week now. It’s very worrisome. My sister’s sons aren’t working, they’ve been sent home. It’s very hard. Take care of yourself, Marilyn.
I worry about that call for retired nurses and doctors to join the fight. They’re retired; so they’re largely in their 60s and 70s, true? They go back in there and they’ve already got one risk factor themselves: Their age. But they’re dedicated people; they’ll want to help; it’s what got them into their careers in the first place. Still … worrisome. And what to do.
Yes, worrisome.
Feels like a year. Thinking about getting into my car and driving the ten miles to have an outside visit (in the 70s and sunny here) with my daughter who is confined to her house because she has a primary immune deficiency. I visited with her a week ago. She sat at the top of her back outside steps and I sat at the bottom and then I swung by my other daughter’s for an outside visit with her and my grandchildren. Then I start to worry about what I would do if my car broke down. I worry that Atlanta will go into lock down and then I won’t have the option. UGH!!! Too much worrying. xo Laura
I’m so sorry. It must be so hard to be apart from them. Gov. Cuomo made a statement today that NY will be in lockdown starting on Sunday. It’s here. But it’s for the best. We need to stamp this virus out and the only way we’re going to do it is to stay home. xo
Hi Claudia
Jennifer Ehle is my Elizabeth Bennett too
Birds singing on the common
A cuddle from my daughters cat
My daughter, stressed from working at home, but safe
Our wonderful NHS and the amazing people who make it what it is
Our amazing almost 94 year old Queen ( and her very photogenic Dorgi) being very sensible and British in her statement yesterday
Catholic mass streamed on line ( not for everyone I know, but a comfort for me)
Friends and family staying in touch safely by text etc
Louise Penny and her Chief Inspector
Grateful for so much – including you, your blog and the community here
One day at a time dear Claudia
Siobhan xx
What a lovely list! You’ve given me an idea for tomorrow’s post. One day at a time, my friend. xo
Hi Claudia, here in California we are in lock down. My son in law is a veterinary assistant and has been told not to come in to work and that his boss will decide on Monday if she will stay closed. I hope she stays closed. I have an autoimmune disease and need him to be away from other people right now. I have severe anxiety and this has me feeling very helpless. Since I live with my daughter and her husband I am staying in my bedroom away from them and my grandson. I wish everyone the best. These are different times for us all. Thank you Claudia for allowing us to vent and for checking in with us on a daily basis. Much love to everyone! April xo
Anxiety is certainly exacerbated by this crisis. Mine has been, too. You’re aren’t helpless, simply by the fact that you’ve chosen to stay in the bedroom. You’re taking positive action, April. Good for you. But I do understand that this situation makes one feel helpless. I just heard that New York State will be on lockdown as of Sunday. Please take care of yourself. xo
Hi Claudia,
Well, just read a not so good headline (which a very bad thing to do!)…re: this could return this country to the “Great Depression”. Now, I’m about at my nervous wits end with this mess, now this!??? EEK!!! I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this point. NO news til later today for us!
THANK YOU so much for letting me vent…
I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s too damn much, isn’t it? You may vent any time!
THANK YOU!!!!! Be well..
xo
Maybe I’m weird. But, at this point I am not feeling anxious about anything. I know we will get through this. Yes, it will take time, but get get through it we will.
And, as we have proven time and time again we will all pull together and help each other. One way or another we will help we will help each other.
Maybe I’m living with my head in the sand, but for now that’s where I will keep it. I’m content.
We will help each other but I’m very fearful for all the small businesses around me that will not be able to stay in business if this goes on as long as is predicted. Or the millions who are now out of work. That’s what is worrisome to me, Trudy.
But you’re right. We will get through this. xo
I think we are all doing the same thing, staying in and praying we stay healthy and don’t come in contact with anyone.
I’m not going to the grocery, a neighbor just now called and ask if I wanted to go with her, No some people are not taking this serious even with only one death in out little town this week.
I’m anxious to get outside and work in my flower bed if this rain will ever quit.
I need to get started on a good book also.
Reading will help. Gardening will help even more! Take care of yourself, Janice.
I have abandoned my TBR pile and find myself reading a tattered paperback copy of Hercules Poirot stories instead. Next up, I think, The Wind in the Willows. Comfort books.
Yes indeed. Comfort books are what we need. Take care, Christy!
feel good movies!! the other day I watched Fly Away Home and today it will be Calendar Girls. Both based on real stories both great.
They’re enormously comforting! Take care, Jan.
I saw your Gov declare the stay home orders today. He is a smart man. Then, I saw the idiot. He had a screaming hissy fit at Peter Alexander calling him a terrible reporter and liar. It was unreal. He turned from orange to purple. I thought we might witness a stroke on live TV.
Our DIL is in the hospital in labor. No visitors. We are nervous wrecks here. All of this is so very hard on everyone. Please stay home everyone.
I couldn’t believe that. What an ass he is. Any normal President would have welcomed that question as a chance to reassure the American people. Instead, he attacked a man who was simply doing his job.
I’m so sorry you can’t be at the hospital, Chris. Praying for you and your family as you get ready to welcome your grandchild. xoxo
In an interview following, PA said it was a question that most journalists refer to as a “softball”. He was tossing it to him as a way to give an answer to a simple question to reassure the American public. An easy question to actually make him look better. Bumbling idiot. And I think one day (hopefully) Pence’s head is going to snap off as he does his bobblehead impression in the background.
He’s so transparent. He knows he bungled everything, he knows he’s guilty, so he attacks a journalist who asks a legitimate question. You would think I would no longer be shocked by anything he says, but I was shocked. Disgusting.
My husband alerted me to the exchange, saying it was one of the worst news conferences ever. So I watched it for myself and, you’re right, completely disgusting. I shouted out loud. The reporter didn’t ask an inappropriate question. I would have liked an ANSWER to the question. Trump has no right to be so dismissive and demeaning; how dare he shake a finger at the reporter with such a childish reprimand. Why do we expect anything different, though. It’s bottom-feeder behavior, not presidential behavior, not leadership behavior. I hope they play that video clip over and over and over again to show the small-ness of the man who has done his best to get us all killed by this virus.
Given your own fears and doubts, you’re so generous to invite people here to vent. This is only my 4th day in the house. My elderly husband still insists on going out everyday to shop and get the mail. He doesn’t have his head in the sand, believes he is taking appropriate actions when out, but I continue to worry about him. I had a friend tell me today when I was complaining about our “leader” that since due to his position, he’s the only who can make this work, we needed to send him positive thoughts and energy. There is a certain point to this, but it’s not easy. I do see how lovely people can be to one another which is helping. Despite my status as a non-believer in God, I’ve found it very soothing to say the 23 Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer before I go to sleep as I did with my mom when I was a kid. Going back to what comforted me in childhood seems healthy. I may get out my Little Golden Books and A Child’s Garden of Verses. The sun came out this afternoon here, I hope for you there too.
I can’t do it. I can’t send him anything. Too much energy that would be better expended here in my house, trying to keep our spirits up.
The sun came out, went away, came out again and then the stormy clouds came and now it’s windy and rainy. As Don says, “It’s been everything today.” Take care, Nora.
I understand. I saw the press address right after I sent my message and I about lost it. I can’t do it either. Back to books, tea, and cats and positive thoughts for the universe.
Exactly. xo
As I flit back and forth on my two favorite news channels (TV), sometimes unsuccessfully not following my own internal advice to limit how much news I’m ingesting, I’m struck by how much of what’s going on with the virus outbreak…is interesting. For all that the daily news is horrifying and scary, I’m learning a lot. Like, about certain aspects of government; and what various segments of government can do in times of emergency. How it works. Today, understanding how FEMA steps in, for instance. What kinds of authority local and state governments have, not just the feds. Ashamed to say, over the years, I haven’t always bothered my head with a lot of these types of details.
My state (Calif) is on lockdown, but there are various forms of lockdown. We’ll see what happens. Very interesting that the emphasis is, at least here where I am (like posted in writing by authorities), more and more, to stay INSIDE your home, despite the okay to go walk your dog. Do not go out there unless you absolutely must. Try hard to stay inside your house. Not forever, but surely in these next critical weeks. I go out my front door, that’s a public place. I go out in my backyard, which is behind quite-tall, solid-wood fencing with a hillside behind us (private land and also fenced), not so public (better). I realize I’m lucky; I’ve had other times in my life when I lived in a tiny apartment in a building full of other tenants, and nobody had space to exercise; when all you could do for fresh air or some light was open one window.
My husband walks the dog now, when he figures the fewest numbers of people will be on the streets (for instance, it’s not very pleasant to be out when it’s cold at 10pm, nor could it probably be considered personally safe [he carries a big walking stick; it’s its own sort of weapon in a pinch] but he’s also done it at 5am; it’s a personal choice and not our regular ‘routine’, but also a very planned thing [staying mindful]). However, we may stop doing it altogether. Not sure yet; we’re still talking it out between us; our dog is old and we can run her a bit in the rear yard which would probably be enough for her anyway.
With my husband, despite the amount of time (too much!) he spends on his phone/internet, he’s otherwise the guy who never stops moving. These dog walks are also as much for my husband, as he is conditioned to a lot of physical exercise on a daily basis (an example, when he was still working full-time just over a year ago, and he did this for 25 years if you include the employer he had before that one, he always ran up and down flights of stairs many times throughout the work day, never taking an elevator … his physical location gave him 150 acres in which to fast-walk between a large complex of buildings). But can we now, just temporarily in this crisis, find other ways for him to get in some aerobic exercise?
Yes. Again, we’re lucky. He can walk up and down our back hillside. We have sturdy steps going up the hill and even a handrail; we CAN modify his exercise/physical activity routine; just get creative about it. (Wishing we’d kept our indoor treadmill!)
My dad, all my life, did exercises-in-place he learned in the U. S. Army; he’d stand in front of the bathroom mirror and go thru a whole set. And for a long time and into his 80s, his doctor considered him to be one of the ‘super-elderly’. I’ve read that the ageless actress Helen Mirren does the same thing; I have it in my papers somewhere (the article that profiled her), that she does a set of exercises-in-place, like standing exercises similar to Dad’s, designed for the RAF or maybe it was the Canadian military (trying to remember; I’ve forgotten!). I need to look it up; somebody told me her exercise routine is posted on youtube; just mere minutes of very-effective exercise. She never has to leave her house.
For a few months, to get thru this danger of the virus, can we change (temporarily), and why not? I listened to a reporter based in Italy, of how EVEN NOW, with all their mortality, people are STILL out on the street, walking around, which I’m sure is stretching local law enforcement to give out the warnings, and of course contributing to spread.
In the meantime, I have two new heroes in my life: Dr. Anthony Fauci and Andrew Cuomo. Every time I see Cuomo speak on a talk show or in a news conference, I cheer the guy; he has credibility, he is understandable. I wish he was the President. I’d be hanging on to his every word. I’m out here on the west coast; I’ve known very little about either guy.
And I’m going to go into the kitchen now and attempt to get a casserole started. Me, the non-cook. But part of my new norm as a person (safe!!) behind closed doors.
It came to my mind last night: Anne Frank. I’m sure it’s already been mentioned but I’m not plugged into much social media at all; I don’t know what people are coming up with out there. But because when I was younger and I had a world-history teacher in high school who saturated us about WW2, particularly Germany and all the horrors of the Nazi regime, making us look at reel after reel of black & white footage of Hitler’s ovens and the suffering people in the camps to where I developed nightmares (true, true story; and teens need their sleep), I would shun knowing or reading anything about that era and that war, despite the fact that my folks lived it here in the U.S. in the 40s, my dad and uncle (and too numerous to mention relatives) were military veterans, etc.
So, to this day, I’m effectively ignorant of many of the details of Anne Frank’s life and story. (I plan to remedy that; I’m going to increase my reading on the subject and her. She wasn’t required reading when I was in school. And with my mother being half-Dutch, I think she avoided having the Diary at home, not wanting to think of Amsterdam and her beloved Netherlands under siege. When I was on vacation in Amsterdam in my early 20s, you didn’t see me going with the rest of my group to tour Anne Frank House; I just couldn’t do it.) But I know enough that she and her family were reduced to living in an attic for a very long time, in fear of being caught and punished by the enemy at any given time. So, if we’re behind doors (cooped up, as my cousin moans about it), where I am or anywhere in America or the world, for months on end right now in 2020, dare not complain. Think of her. Think of Anne Frank and her family. No comparison, really; still, an enemy is an enemy, and Covid-19 is OUR enemy, wanting to wipe out the human race if it could have its way. Consider all the people in the world, over time, who have found ways to deal with an enemy and prevail. We can do a lot to fight and keep ourselves safe from the enemy; do our part. Buck up; don’t grouse. Figure it out. Be brave.
I’m having these ongoing talks with myself. I’m not good with taking things one day at a time and living in the moment. But I can change. I have that ability! We all do! Stronger than we think…
This is something else that came over me today. About how this is not a time to judge and hate but, as you say, find kindness and love when we’re all uneasy.
(Of course, I’m verbal in my judgment of Trump, even when I realize the anger and frustration toward him is a waste of my energy. But to a bigger point as follows…)
There was a CNN reporter in L.A. who shared that she was the victim of a racial slur. I believe she self-stated that she was Asian-American. Apparently they were setting up their ‘live shot’ and a man came right up to her on the street where this location shot was, and he hurled a horrible wording to her. She was so shocked that she asked him to repeat it, and he didn’t mind saying it again. She said she hadn’t had anything like that said to her since she was maybe in elementary school.
Not helpful. Instead, hurtful. Of course Trump is fueling the fire every time he calls it the Chinese virus. She didn’t deserve that person’s nasty words; she’s just trying to do her job and deliver the news of the day. How unfair; how cruel.
For me, being shut up inside, not being able to ‘see’ my whole neighborhood, I find I’m too attuned to the comings & goings of my immediate neighbors, and my husband has been pointing out that I need to attend to my own situation and not theirs. But it’s hard, when I’m scared to my bones of this virus because I don’t want to get sick and die, to hear the cars starting up and taking off; the doors slamming shut on the houses as people leave. Where are they going? Why aren’t they staying inside as we’ve been instructed to do? Why don’t they want to protect themselves…and me? Up until last night’s statewide lockdown announcement, my husband would say, “They’re young. They have jobs to go to. They have kids. What are they supposed to do for money? They have to go to work.”
Well, one of these young neighbors saw my husband out in the driveway (it’s hard to keep my husband indoors), and he called over: “Everything okay with you guys? Do you need any help?” Turns out, his job is now temporarily (hope it’s temporary) suspended, and the reason we see him at home, but back & forth to his vehicle, is because he is helping out more than one shut-in senior, bringing them food, their medicines; whatever they’re needing. He’s made it his mission (he was formerly a paramedic, so he clearly has a deeply-ingrained call to rescue and serve). Now, I feel like such a sh*t, because edgy-me was condemning him for having some kind of attention-deficit disorder or something, thinking he couldn’t curb his restlessness at home, so there he goes, back on the road again.
We don’t exactly know what’s going on with people. It’s like the ‘ol saying, “Don’t judge the book by its cover.” Other than those blatant video images/photographs of reckless youth on the Florida beaches, head to head and side by side on their beach towels in the sand, we have to believe that, by now, a majority of people ARE being careful and following the rules. I will hold on to that hope and curb judgment as much as possible. We all need to focus our emotions and opinions on more worthwhile things right now.
A lesson I keep learning and relearning all the time. xo
I’m currently reading the section of The Sisters that has to do with wartime London. They made great sacrifices. We can too. I had to read The Diary of Anne Frank in school. It is so moving and life-affirming. You should read it. Thanks, Vicki.
My census arrived yesterday too. I’m now reading The Magpie Murders and loving it.
I had my doc appointment today and boy, is there office on task. I came in and when I told them I had a fever yesterday but gone today, they still gave me a mask and got me in a room very fast. They’ve eliminated all non-patients in the waiting room, apart from transport or designated caregiver for the very old. The pharmacy will deliver. One of Doc P’s recommendations is “more netflix, less news!” I will take him up on that one. I was so delighted to be able to leave a couple boxes of chocolate for him and his staff that had been sent to me when I was sick earlier this year. Yes, true — I’m the one person in the world who can live without chocolate candy happily. They were unopened and they were very happy. We both won!
Hang in there — we’ve only just begun!
Your doctor’s recommendation is an excellent one! I loved The Magpie Murders. It’s such fun. Take care, Jeanie.
All the best!
The same to you, Regula. Take care of yourself!