In the “What the ???” department: April 18th. Snow.
I’ve seen snow in early April before, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it this late. When I got up this morning, Don was saying “Isn’t it beautiful?” My response: “No.”
I can’t see any beauty in this heavy wet snow. But my consolation is the temperature reaching 49 today, so it will melt. But right now? It’s still snowing.
The lights have flickered twice, which seems ominous, so I’m going to try to get this published before I lose the draft.
We’re still watching Cheers on Netflix, tracking the story from the very beginning. Yesterday, we reached the end of the season, where the actor playing Coach, Nicholas Colasanto, died. We knew it was coming but it was if it was happening in real time. He was such a wonderful actor; no one but Colasanto could have played that character as real and without artifice as he did. He never commented – by that, I mean the actor never gave any indication that he was acting or that he was smarter than Coach in real life, and I’ve seen many actors fall prey to that. Actors and directors call that ‘commenting.’ No, it was from the heart, honest and beautiful and funny. Colasanto died 35 years ago, it hardly seems possible, and to us it was as if it had just happened. He was so gifted, so wonderful. Both of us were huge fans of Cheers, but we figured out that the reason we don’t always remember the earlier episodes was because we were very busy then. Don was constantly acting in plays and performing every night. I was in graduate school, attending classes during the day, rehearsing every night. Neither of us had a VCR in those days.
I’m reading Modern Nature by Derek Jarman. And I’m determined to start a jigsaw puzzle today.
Doing our best to stay focused, happy, and to deal with all of this in a positive way.
Stay safe. Stay home.
Happy Saturday.
Bonjour Claudia,
You have snow and here it is like June in April !! Yesterday, April 17th, I picked the first rose – more one month ahead – inimaginable vraiment !! Le monde est fou (comme Mr Orange).
We are all still in confinement (officialy since march 17th but we started ourselves to stay home before this date).
Some schools could re-open starting on May 11th but it is not sure. All will be done very slowly with great great precautions.
Garde le moral Claudia, bon weekend à tous les deux et à bientôt !! Hugs – forbidden for the moment :o) –
I think most schools in this country will not re-open, Helene. Stay safe, my friend!
Snow…I heard it was coming here too…this week has been so so cold and windy. I don’t go out, of course-almost 40 days in, but when I take the trash out…I am almost blown away.
Again, I must say I enjoy your blog-your positive attitude no matter what…and your honesty when sometimes you just want things to go differently. I am so tired of reading responses to blogs that are negative…when all we are trying to do is save lives…and so it goes…life goes on…enjoy hearing about the books you are reading…and doing…won’t be long and you will be working in the yard, and that will be therapeutic. I have to admit I miss having my own home in the spring…apartment living can be constraining during that time…planting flowers, etc. IN the meantime, I am never bored and have much to do in my life. Keep writing and encouraging others…I have no clue where you live and don’t need to know…seems to me it is NY…forgetful me…I have told you I love NYC…and upstate NY….around Niagara Falls…around Albany, etc. etc.
I live in the Hudson Valley, Brenda. It’s considered upstate to those who dwell in NYC, but we’re an hour south of Albany. Thank you for your kind words. Stay safe!
I’m sorry that the late snow made you unhappy but I love this photo that you took. I think trees are so lovely in this bare state and in the snow. I have several photos like this hanging in my home. I live in Phoenix and our summers are so hot and so long that the photos give me some comfort. I hope you and Don stay healthy.
Well I guess it would be a nice contrast to the heat of Albany! Stay safe, Christina!
Been awhile since I have made any comments. We are having rain again. Earlier this week I made the comment “This is mid-April. Not suppose to be this cold” The wind was awful earlier this week. Right now I am not sure what day the awful wind was.
So this leads me to a line in a book I am reading at the moment and it is about “TIME”. —-This is the problem with time, thinks Rose. It doesn’t follow its own rules. It stretches or compresses at will. It’s either a lingering house guest or an escape artist.–from the book “”The Evening Chorus””–by Helen Humphreys. To me it describes what it is like during this time of quarantine. Also describes this time in my life too. We are starting a new chapter in our lives of being empty nesters. Our daughter has left the nest and starting a new chapter in her life. Again with time how fast children grow up.
I heard on the news last night that retailers are having a challenge of keeping jigsaw puzzles in stock. And Walmart fabric section is nearly out of fabric. There is a fabric store, I didn’t know about, close to me doing well and trying to keep up with demands.
Time – at this point in my life, and even before self-isolating – either seems to go very fast or very slow. More often, too quickly. Stay safe, Trina.
Thirty five years ago? Oh, my. It seems like yesterday. That’s a great show and they hold up so well right now. What a fun viewing marathon.
We had a bit but it melted almost as fast as it touched the ground. It’s sunny today. Nippy but sunny. Rick just finished painting my kitchen so once it dries I can put it back together. Big smiles!
Good for Rick! That will make you happy, Jeanie. Stay safe!
hope by now the snow has stopped and, better yet, started melting for you. and that your power stays on!
i agree … “cheers” is well-written, funny (though for some reason, my heart kind of broke for coach) and perfectly cast.
do you have a jigsaw puzzle to work on? hope so. if not, let me know. my brother and i are designated shoppers for the six households in our family and (if i can find one), i will send you a puzzle right away.
taking it easy here today. hope everyone gets a break and can do the same.
stay safe and well, everyone!
kathy in iowa
Your heart broke for him because he was so gentle and also confused. He was adorable. I’m working on a Nancy Drew book cover puzzle that reader Vicki sent me. Thanks so much for offering. I think I’m going to become obsessed with jigsaw puzzles during this time. It’s fun and it’s challenging! Thank you, Kathy. Stay safe!
glad you have a jigsaw puzzle to work on. if you finish that one and need another, please let me know! :)
members of my family and i were working on a jigsaw puzzle before the coronavirus hit the fan. 1000 pieces, but it fits on a card table because the pieces are very, very small. hopefully i can see the finished puzzle soon or, better yet, help them finish it. they are lots of fun and a family tradition … jigsaw puzzles are being worked on in all households but mine right now.
and yeah, now that you mention it, that is why my heart broke for coach … thanks.
hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. and stay safe and well!
kathy in iowa
Thank you, Kathy. xo
To my untrained eye, that looks like quite a bit of snow. We’re gray and gloomy and chilly in SoCalif but NOTHING like you are in the N/E. Wow. The most we’ll get is a trace of rain today.
Very disappointed with our first home delivery directly from our local grocer. Not a very conscientious choice on the fresh produce (i.e., I did NOT order rotting tomatoes) and half of our cart was dumped as out of stock (which we only heard about as they were on their way to our house with the groceries [so I definitely altered the tip a little but disguised it as a thank-you card which the driver did take {was my intent}]). Hands-down going back to Instacart after this; THAT personal shopper with Instacart was SO in touch with us from the minute she went into the store (the woman knew how to shop, for sure!); if our first pick and then our sub was ‘out’, she’d offer other suggestions, texting back & forth, and we got everything (double the order we received today direct from the store) except paper towels; so, I want her back! She picked out beautiful produce and gave us items with good expiration dates, like dated pretty far out so as to last. This guy who delivered our stuff today, really nice and I have no idea if he personally selected the stuff but they just didn’t (whoever did it) do a very good job, and we got our purchases at 8am here at the house, so the store’s stock should have been ‘way up at the start of the day (although who knows if it comes from some other distribution center since it’s a chain, difference being with Instacart that their personal shopper really was actually/physically in the store as we’d normally be were it us).
I’ve had better luck with Walmart.com (non-perishables); have ordered a ton of stuff from them since probably February and they keep in touch on email, only having sent me ONE food item that I wish’d had a longer expiration date but 99% no complaints from me on multiple orders with them, also including pet food and even printer paper (which we’d run thru; although, like everywhere, they have a lot that’s been unavailable across their online store shelves). I guess I was dreaming I’d actually get flour today on the grocery home delivery from my local store; yep, I thought I had it ‘reserved’ from when we ordered and got confirmed on Apr 12 but, nope, I guess they gave my flour to somebody else. But to not even get a loaf of bread? No yogurt? No canned tomatoes? No tomato sauce? No fresh spinach? And of course no yeast for baking.
Okay, enough with the complaining. I know I should be glad I got what I got; there are food and supply shortages everywhere. Just will feel good to someday be able to again ever go to the store ourselves and pick out our own food. Everybody feels the same. We could chance it, and my husband is tempted (we’ll have to at some point for paper goods; hope they’ll have some!) but I just read a pretty-good article yesterday that said if your grandma (I’d be the grandma) has the co-morbidities/underlying health issues that make things very dangerous if she were to get the virus, lock her up for the next two months (to protect her from it), so ‘locked up’ I’ll remain. (I just prefer to use a diff wording than ‘locked up’!)
Lack of sleep and worry about all this stuff has given me more bad dreams than I’ve ever had at any other time in my life. Had to ruefully laugh at myself: Chris Cuomo on CNN has spoken of his weird dreams since getting the virus. Well, I think I’m spared from the virus to this writing as far as I know, but I’m still having his-style weird dreams. He was actually IN mine last night (as we seemed to be ‘stranded’ somewhere and needed to get to my parents’ home for safety from the virus, him and I [in the dream, Mom & Dad were both still alive, though; so “Chris” and I couldn’t land there and risk exposing them, too, and we were instead then further ‘stranded’ with nowhere to go]; but, oh-boy, did I wake up with a start. (I think I was influenced from reading a piece online about why the actor Bruce Willis is holing up in Idaho with his former wife, the actress Demi Moore; something about getting ‘stranded’ there (stuck?), where he has his own home up for sale, and not wanting to take any virus exposure back to his current wife who’s I believe in L.A. [is Idaho a virus hot spot?]. Of course I’d also watched two hours of Chris Cuomo’s show on TV last night at bedtime. But, clearly, my head is a jumble of ‘way too much Covid/quarantine garbage!)
I know what you’re saying about certain TV series’ as I have some real blanks myself. For instance, I never watched Frasier and I never watched Seinfeld. I’d go long, long periods without ever watching television in certain times when indeed I was just too busy with other aspects of life. Mother felt that way about movies in theaters she’d missed when being a young stay-home wife, having babies/rearing kids; no date nights. She’d look forward to seeing the sought-after films come on the TV in later years (with much commercial interruption, although we didn’t know any diff with that back in the day of early TV) and would be a bit crushed if they happened to come on at 2am or some strange hour when she wouldn’t be up to watch (which of course changed once she and Dad got a VCR and could record).
xo
You can’t reserve anything. You can order it, but you get what is available that day. That’s the only way they can do it. No one is going to stash your stuff somewhere. I had clorox wipes on my order but I knew I wouldn’t get them because they are so in demand that someone would get them off the shelf between the time I placed my order and when it was actually picked – today. We would try Instacart but it’s just one more thing to try and process – too much at this point! Stay safe.
We learned that our groceries were packed at a central distribution point, not our own store, which is kinda what we figured. Not even from our own town. I know they’re all doing the best they can do under all sorts of time constraints and other pressures and supply issues. I imagine things aren’t going to improve anytime soon. Yes, naively, ignorantly (hopeful!), I felt when we were reserved and got our list clinched, that somehow that was a guarantee, clearly forgetting you’d said on prior posts that you’d had many of your items not fulfilled either. I guess I just thought our store was different; but, nope, they’re all in the same boat, apparently no matter what store and where you live in the U.S. Which is also I assume why I hear of people (even my own friends and family) going to (risking going to) more than one store when they’re deciding to get ‘out there’ themselves and do their own shopping. But, because I cant/won’t/don’t do that, I get what I get. Again, to be grateful for what can be supplied right now when everything is SO messed up and out of sync/out of order…this is, so far, QUITE an education.
xoxo
Does anyone else have this feeling of paranoia constantly? What did I touch? When did I last clean my hands? Did I just touch my face? What if someone touched/ sneezed/ coughed on these tomatoes? Does my throat hurt? Why is there a car at that house? Jeesh….. it just never ends. I truly long for some peace of mind.
We had some of that “stuff” earlier this week. Today it is sunny and 62*, but OH, so windy!! I think we will watch the One World Together at Home special tonight. It looks like it is on quite a few stations. Something different. Hope you enjoy your evening.
Yes! Did I wash the produce enough when it came in the door? Did I wipe down the grocery items enough? Imagine what I was feeling when I first got sick – I went through periods where I was quite worried and then I would reason it through and get calm again.
Enjoy your program, Chris. Stay safe!
hej, chris k in wisconsin …
i have similar thoughts on repeat. worry, really, about the safety of fresh produce and if i’ve disinfected everything enough. and “where can i find more bleach wipes?!?” also, though i try to show some grace (figuring everyone is tired and stressed), i am scared and get crabby at the grocery store whenever people don’t keep a safer social distance. it is exhausting physically and mentally! but i also know in my heart that things will get better. in the meantime and always, i hope you have peace of mind and easy days.
kathy in iowa
Speaking of bleach wipes, I can’t find any and I’m hoarding my last few! Don was at our farm stand today and a man and his teenage daughter were there – no masks (even though it is now an Executive Order) and the girl started to walk close to Don. He turned around and told her to back off. They were completely clueless.
too bad it was necessary, but good for don!
i know it’s exhausting to always be on guard right now, but hopefully that girl’s father then realized he needs to be more watchful, teach her how to stay safer and also respect people’s personal space. and that they need to wear masks out in public. especially now.
i don’t have a recipe to offer, but someone told me about making their own bleach wipes by mixing rubbing alcohol and water, then soaking some paper towels in that mix in an oblong tupperware container with a lid (dedicated just for that purpose, no longer for food). maybe there are instructions online that could help …? and hopefully rubbing alcohol in the store.
cheers! (couldn’t resist) :)
kathy in iowa
Thanks for that, Kathy. I’ll check it out online. xoxo
My cousin told me on Sunday that she went to multiple stores and could find NO rubbing alcohol. Even when I went to the local drugstore, last time I was physically in a store (briefly) on March 6, I grabbed the last one on my way to the drug counter. I told her I’d give her a hand sanitizer as I have a couple extra. (It would go a long way with her; she doesn’t use it all that frequently but HAS to with one of her volunteer organizations, or else she can’t volunteer.) But other than that, I’d say it’s a google thing to see what other people are coming up with, i.e. their own recipes for sanitizer and disinfectants; and, to be sure, soap & water when nothing else. (I paid a fortune online for that hand sanitizer by the way…was it as far back as late February…and it took me a month to get it.)
She was saying that you sometimes really have to look out of the box on some of these things; that a store you wouldn’t think would carry something like bleach then has some; so, this & that sometimes being found in unlikely locations. (Yet who wants to be running around in the germy world right now when we’re supposed to be staying home? [Oh dear, it’s all becoming so maddening.]) My cousin had said that one of her co-volunteers found some bleach last week at a small outlet store in a city about 45 minutes from the area where we live (amazing that it’s come to this).
I recently found some old, unopened canisters of Lysol disinfecting wipes so called their 800 number, was on hold quite awhile, got a nice customer service rep (knowledgeable and professional) who interestingly told me that even though these three canisters were from SIX YEARS AGO, if they’re still wet (they are), they still have efficacy. I was shocked. So, that was a boon to find them (for a good backup supply) although I’m embarrassed to think they were stashed ‘way back in a cabinet which I hadn’t gotten into in all that time. It’s the ‘state of’ my half-remodeled house and how everything gets shoved around for home improvement; although, in this case, I’m glad it did!
Lucky you! We have about three wipes left. Every time I try to order some, it’s not in stock. Sigh. We do have a bit of rubbing alcohol, but not a whole lot!
I don’t get the clueless people. Do they live under a rock? In that case Don encountered, a 16 year old should certainly understand what is going on, BUT the parent should be leading by example. Such selfish unthinking people wandering the world. It is easy to see how we got into such a predicament, It is “all about me all the time” with way too many people. And they have an orange leader.
I just said this to Don this morning. It’s the ME, ME, ME segment of the population. Thanks, Chris. Stay safe.
Which mimmicks the HIM HIM HIM
xoxo