The new reality. No green things growing in pots on the porch, not even the Boston Fern, because it’s too early to bring it outside. Groceries delivered and placed on the former kitchen island. By the way, we made a decision to call it The Potting Bench now, even though I don’t actually pot there. I do store lots of pots and gardening stuff inside those drawers and cupboards.
Right after I took this picture, we disinfected everything – wearing gloves, of course. Then we transferred the items to other bags and moved them into the house. Then I folded up all the brown bags and placed them in our recycling bin.
I know I’m exaggerating (but only slightly) – it’s all exhausting. Who knew that an actual trip to the grocery store without gloves and masks, which I used to find tedious, would turn out to be the equivalent of a trip to Disneyland? Or maybe not Disneyland, as I hate crowds and the incessant playing of “It’s a Small World.” Maybe the beach? Anyway, you get the picture.
But score one for getting more paper towels! And this time, the ones I actually like.
My only complaint about the grocery delivery service that we use is the fact that you can’t include a tip during check-out. We don’t have any cash sitting around – well, we did, but we’ve used that for previous deliveries. So we scrabble around for change and magical dollar bills that might turn up in our cabinets. Yesterday, I remembered a five dollar bill that had been sitting in one of my china pieces in the den. I don’t know why it was there, but thank goodness I remembered it.
Moving on.
A bit of background on the Penguins we’re collecting, which are not the same as Penguin Classics, or any other Penguins that have been published or are currently being published. Those I have in abundance.
No, these Penguins came from Allen Lane’s frustration with the “poor quality of reading material on offer at the Exeter train station.” It inspired him to create “cheap, well designed quality books for the mass market.” These books were sold not only at train stations but at Woolworth’s and high street stores for a total of sixpence. “Penguin’s success demonstrated that large audiences existed for serious books.” Since paperbacks at that time were largely pulp novels, this was groundbreaking. The first round of books were published in 1935 under the imprint of Bodley Head, the company Lane and his two brothers owned. The next year, the books began to be published as Penguin Books.
This truly revolutionized the publishing industry. The design of the books was also groundbreaking. Eschewing the lurid cover designs of other paperbacks, the publishers went with the tri band. “Penguin opted for the simple appearance of three horizontal bands, the upper and lower of which were colour-coded according to which series the title belonged to; this is sometimes referred to as the horizontal grid. In the central white panel, the author and title were printed in Gill Sands and in the upper band was a cartouche with the legend “Penguin Books.” The original design was created by 21 year old Edward Young.
Orange/White – general fiction, green/white – crime fiction, cerise/white – travel and adventure, dark blue/white – biographies, yellow/white – miscellaneous, red/white – drama, purple/white – essays and belles lettres, gray/white – world affairs.
American publishers drew on Penguin’s model and started publishing Pocket Books in 1938.
Quotes are from Wikipedia. Another great source is this article from the Smithsonian Magazine.
Anyway, there you have it. We’re collecting a very specific imprint – which consists of tri bands and other variations on that design – that lasted about thirty years. I encourage you to read about it; there’s a fascinating section on publishing during wartime.
Hey, it’s sunny today. Huzzah!
Happy Wednesday.
you are right … all this new stuff we have to do right now: disinfecting, hand-washing, having to figure out safer ways to do usual things in unusual ways, more disinfecting, more hand-washing, thinking about the coronavirus and then trying not to think about it, having to be on guard in the world and even handling plain old mail, and worrying about loved ones … it is exhausting!
i hope everyone has all the food and household necessities they need … plus art supplies, books, movies, treats, whatever helps them (you) rest and re-charge and laugh.
thanks for the information about penguin books … interesting.
we had more snow and freezing fog overnight. several multi-car accidents have been reported. i feel so bad for people having to deal with that and tornadoes and other hard stuff anyway, but added to this pandemic? words like “heart-breaking” and “awful” don’t suffice. praying for the world …
getting a slow start around here this morning, but i have a do-able list and will conquer it this afternoon. that will feel good!
be safe and well, everyone!
kathy in iowa
So sorry you got more snow and freezing rain, Kathy! Goodness. Enough already!
Stay safe, Kathy.
thanks, claudia.
it wasn’t the snow so much that freezing fog … ugh!
read the other comments (hi, everyone! hope you’re well!) … hope don found the yogurt he likes. i enjoy the strawberry non-dairy, no-gelatin “silk” (brand) yogurt. glad to have some in the fridge right now.
stay safe!
kathy in iowa
He likes plain yogurt. (I don’t, but he does!)
kathy, are you (finally) home now? Or do you still go in on certain days? We have had the same weird weather. We had heavy snow flurries on and off all day yesterday. Kind of crazy as it stayed sunny most of the time. So cold out today!! take care!!!!!
hi, chris k in wisconsin!
the weather is weird, isn’t it? it’s the middle of april … come on!
still working at least three days a week. fortunate to have a job, but it is scary … many people not social-distancing (and chiding me for taking precautions), but still need help. some can’t hear unless you get closer to them. some have in-home helpers like housekeepers who go to other people’s homes so i worry about that increased risk of exposure. trying to not touch a thing (even with gloves on) or sit down (which feels rude to some people), then come home and immediately take a long hot shower. and cry. ugh.
sorry to unload a bit there. thanks for asking and listening!
and many thanks to the people who face much bigger risks … all the health care workers, police, firefighters, grocery store workers, truck drivers, delivery workers, etc. … may they all stay safe, have what they need and may a vaccine come soon!
on a happier note, i am getting things done at home and have some time to paint (watercolor) and knit.
how are you and your family? hope well and happy, stocked up!
also hope you didn’t get so much snow that you had to shovel it.
kathy in iowa
Please don’t diminish your personal feelings of being frightened and worried because others have it worse. We are all in this together, not by our own chooseing, and our feelings do matter and are important. You matter!!
Our family is all in good health as of this moment in time. Nothing, of course, to take for granted. Sad that we can’t be together. Sad that we can’t be in a room as a family and pass that little munchkin off to each other to hold and snuggle. But, the way to get there is to stay home and stay safe. We can’t rush it!
And a SPECIAL THANKS to Claudia to let us chat amongst ourselves and share how we feel on HER blog! She always has done that, but right now it seems especially lovely. ♡
hej, chris …
thanks for your support.
i wasn’t trying to minimize my feelings or situation… just trying to thank people who take the biggest risks to help people and keep the supply chain going … heroes!
:)
and yes, thanks to claudia for fostering a warm and caring community here! :)
chris, i hope you can hold your little granddaughter and see the rest of your family real soon! :)
glad you all are well and hope you all stay that way!
thanks again.
kathy in iowa
The information on Penguin books is very interesting. I had no idea about any of that. Books fascinate me in so many ways!
I grocery shopped today with much anxiety. Face mask, gloves, hand sanitizer and a wipe for the steering wheel. All suited up. There was not one can or bag of cat food. Not one! So there goes the only one person goes out once a week idea. My husband headed for a Target and a different grocery chain in a nearby town. But…there was toilet paper. Thankful for that little blessing!
Same here. Don had to go to another store this morning because our order didn’t have the yogurt he requested. Glad you got toilet paper! Stay safe, Judy.
Hi Judy,
I’ve ordered all our cat’s food online: wet food from Amazon and dry food from Wal-mart. I figured finding food for the at during the brief times I’m out of the house should be the least of my worries. Another reason I go online: our cat is going on 15 next month so I’m kind of picky about the food she eats at this stage of her Golden Years.
Kay (from SE Wisconsin)
Hello Kay,
I order my wet and dry cat food, dry dog food and cat litter from Chewy.com. Some limited wet cat food choices, but found fancy feast that our picky rescue enjoys. Free shipping and front door delivery is quick , reasonable prices.
Hi Kay,
Yes, we do order most of our cat food on line from Chewy, Petco, and Amazon. A few things were not in stock however. My Chewy order was quite late and I was getting nervous! We feed a small feral cat colony of 9 or 10 cats and a few nightly visitors who live at the farm next door. They eat a lot!
That is fascinating. I remember those and as I said, I may have to scrounge around to see if I still do. The background is great.
All my food is still in the garage — day two. It’s all sanitized and out of bags. I did bring in some for the fridge, although to be honest, it’s colder in the garage, I think! I do the same procedure — delivered outside. Brought into the garage and sanitized with gloves, etc., then it sits there for two or three days if possible. Fresh comes in and is washed with soap. I’ve read differing things on this but my infectious disease doc said wash with soap for 20 seconds like hands and then rinse the heck out of it. I have a dedicated scrubber for that. So, if he says it’s OK, I’m on board. No chances here. Boxed things in bags get out of the box when it’s time to come in.
Interestingly enough, I’m good with all this. I mean, what else is there that can’t wait? I suspect I’ll keep some of this up even after the plague.
We don’t have a garage, so we can’t leave it in another building for a few days. It has to come in right after we wipe it down. I have read articles from experts that say the chances of something on a box or bottle or whatever infecting us is rare. Nevertheless, we take precautions. Stay safe, Jeanie.
It is a lot of work…all the sanitizing that we are doing. And then, I wonder if I’m doing enough? But, along with social distancing, if it helps to stop the spread…then I’d say it’s worth it. So onward I sanitize.
One of the bonuses of the stay at home order, is all the new recipes I’m trying. Trying to use what we have before we have to go and forage again. And sometimes it does seem like foraging, with the hit or miss grocery runs. I don’t think we’ve been able to get exactly what we wanted when we wanted since the middle of March. Grocery shopping has certainly become more interesting than it used to be.
The Penguin books sound interesting. Thanks for the info. Stay well! ;)
Yep. We’ll do it, but boy, will I jump for joy when I don’t have to any longer.
It does seem like foraging, doesn’t it? Our order yesterday didn’t include the yogurt Don has every day, so he made a run to our local grocery store this morning. I’m not truly comparing it to wartime, because, let’s face it, it isn’t that – BUT, there is an element to all of this that is very much like that. Sigh.
Stay safe, Donna.
Such interesting info on the books! Thanks for sharing. Hope your hunt going forward is a successful one.
Our daughter did grocery shopping for us and her elderly aunt yesterday. She delivered right to our door. Stacked everything outside. We talked thru the glass door for about 10 minutes. We had left a large box of dog treats outside for her to take at some point to drop off at our son & DIL’s for their dogs. Ours won’t eat them. Picky dog!! Then after an hour or so we brought it all in and disinfected. There is a sense of calm that comes over me when we have a new loaf of bread, gallon of milk, and lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber again!! Not to mention the treats! So we should be good for another 2 weeks or so.
I am listening to your Gov. He also has a calming effect on me. Hope you both have a peaceful day today!
It’s amazing how comforting it is to have the pantry stocked.
Stay safe, Chris.
I’ve gone to the grocery store ever two weeks since we started being at home. I suppose we should switch to delivery. I like being able to look and see just what’s available. During the “senior hour” early in the day it’s pretty quiet with mainly all the personal shoppers pushing carts around filling orders.
Today my brother texted his every day routine. Includes “read and waste time until lunch, read and waste time until dinner, walk dog, pour some whiskey and watch CNN…” I told him that, strangely enough, except for dog walking and liquor, my days are pretty much like his. With Dean back beyond the laundry rm in his office all day, mostly on the phone, I’m super aware of keeping quiet. He’s trying desperately to get in on some of that stimulus money for his non-profit. It requires jumping through lots of paperwork hoops and talking endlessly on the phone with his banker. So glad his office has a door and I can also shut the kitchen door to the laundry so there’s 2 doors between us. That way I can also play music when I read or knit.
Lots of brief snowstorms yesterday. Enough to cover and stay on the ground. Woke up to temps in the 20’s and frost. Enough already!
Take care.
Kay
hej, kay …
best wishes and prayers that your husband’s and your efforts are successful in getting financial support!
stay safe and well!
kathy in iowa
Hi Kathy,
Thanks for your good wishes. He deals with clean water technology, something that every person on this planet needs. So we’re very hopeful.
K.
Enough already, indeed! Stay safe, Kay.
For 6 weeks, my husband has been ‘suiting up’ (gloves, sanitizer, and mask) to shop once a week. He never shopped before and has come home with some pretty interesting stuff. This Thurs. he will drive and I will shop for the first time in weeks. (I need some kind of mild laundry detergent with no smell). You struck it lucky with the paper towels. They are not to be found around us. I’m not fond of crowds under the best of circumstances so now I’m a little panicked on venturing out. We buy bags each time, wipe everything down inside the bags, throw the bags in recycle, and clean any surface they touched. Also, we spray the bottom of our shoes before entering the house. The best part of this is having our dogs. They have no idea Corvid 19 exists and make things seem normal at home. Love our dogs! You and Don have a good week.
Don has been nervous every time he has gone out to shop. It never stops. I understand. Stay safe, Patty.
A year ago we started ordering our toilet paper from a company called Who Gives a Crap. They donate 50% of their profits to building toilets and improving sanitation in developing countries. So that’s at least one thing we don’t have to worry about. The company is out of stock for new customers, but you can go on a waitlist if it’s something you’re interested in (right now, they’re “wiped out”.) It’s worth it just for the puns and jokes they send in their emails.
Love that, Linda!
Stay safe.
The Penguin books sound like an interesting story to read about. I must look it up. Glad you received your groceries. We do the same with our deliveries. We war gloves and sanitized all the bags. We then put the groceries away. One of us will do each job. I usually take care of the bags. I was going to get a delivery on April 17 th but I received an e-mail that it will now be Saturday or Sunday. They will let me know which day and time.
Marilyn
Thank goodness for home delivery, Marilyn! Stay safe.
You mention Disneyland and It’s a small world, what great memories came to mind of a great holiday in your country. And the time when on the It’s a small world ride, it stopped mid way for a long while, BUT the music continued. After awhile we felt like walking out…………. LOL
Take care in this unusual time.
Oh boy! I would have gone slightly mad! Stay safe, Wendy.
We haven’t been able to buy paper towels since early March. The last time we were physically in any kind of store was March 18 and my husband wasn’t able to get any paper goods that I can recall (seems like a lifetime ago), so we’re trying to ration our small stash of paper goods we started collecting in February. You of course can’t get any paper goods online (home delivery) from our local grocer or even Walmart.com and the like. My husband took one of our cars for a spin thru the shopping center just to charge up the battery, since our cars aren’t getting driven and we’ve now had two dead batteries already, and he did notice a woman coming out of a store which can be referred to as a close-out store (not a dollar store) and she had one pack of paper towels so I guess the only way we’ll get any again is to physically go IN a store which we’re trying to avoid (and will do so for as long as we can). As a hedge against it, we did buy up some extra white floursack-type towels and will just have to go back to the days of our younger parents and grandparents when paper towels didn’t exist in a kitchen. My doctors had always told me over the years that paper towels are so much more sanitary because it’s one & done, throw the paper into the trash (although clearly my eco-conscious friends think paper towels are a menace to the environment).
Very sobering couple of days to see the projections about distancing and living like this up to 2022. (At least in SoCalif where I am.) Trying to wrap the head around it; let it sink in. I didn’t even have any kind of ‘big’ life to start with, yet I keep seeing what will have to be changed for my husband and myself. We really have to rethink our lives and how we’ll live & be. Who would have ever thought when this all started that things would come to this … I do feel sorry for young single adults who want to mingle and date and fall in love; for children who want to be on the playground with their friends at recess/lunch break; what if you’re a kid trying to learn a musical instrument and who would normally join the school band or orchestra, all sitting close to each other clustered on a stage?
When you think of ALL the many ways people gather in groups, it’s just staggering. No county fair this year; no community fireworks at 4th of July; no high school football in the fall? How can you do a Veteran’s Day parade when people can’t line up on the sidewalk? How will it be regulated with people wanting to visit a museum or a zoo or an aquarium (if they even want to chance it in the first place)? Would one dare to go on any kind of summer road trip anywhere? (Where you’d normally get a motel, go out to eat, fill up your fuel tank at a gas station, use the bathroom at a roadside rest? Maybe.) We’re trying to keep people off the ski slopes here … ‘no play days’ … don’t ‘go to the snow’ … but I watched a video clip on the TV news showing snow-boarders squeezing their bodies/boards through road barriers.
Just 1000 things with one situation affecting another. Like you peel one layer of the onion, and here’s another, then another. I feel like I’ve been living such a temporary existence with very diluted focus and concentration on much of anything but news headlines and trying to keep abreast of all the ever-changing developments and where I fit into that picture (including risk) … but as it begins to really hit home, I know I have to figure this out for good. and really develop a framework and structure to my days like I’ve been talking and talking to myself about but just haven’t been able to implement in a homebound life.
We know now of what a long road this is going to be til a vaccine; it’s beginning to settle in with a big thud; that, for the rest of this year, and likely all of next, our lives are going to be quite altered although we’ll get used to it, since there’s no choice; until a vaccine, the virus lurks and, for too many people, its damage is irreversible/deadly; still highly contagious; we can’t allow ourselves to be spreaders either. I get weary of worrying about the supply chain of prescription drugs and food (and the more complicated ways of now having to ‘procure’); I get sick of all this disinfecting, sure. I miss the beach; I want out. I wish I could be like the rich people who can change the scenery with their second homes/vacay homes to escape to (unless they’re in Michigan I guess). We’ve all got our gripes and inconveniences and disappointments; concerns and fears. But we can’t let our guard down. I know so much is centered around this mass ‘testing’, if it can ever happen, but they still don’t know if you’ve had the virus if you can still be reinfected with it; just seems the vaccine is the only thing that will turn this around (but Gov Cuomo said as much today).
And I think there are going to be a lot of paramedics, doctors, nurses, janitors, delivery folks, grocery stockers, etc. who may have some post-trauma due to all the stress, urgency/pressure and uneasiness, even if they’re lucky enough not to get the virus. These people are exhausted, physically and mentally.
It’s all so disheartening. We have to comfort ourselves with the fact that we have shelter, in our case – pensions, that we have the sense to do what is right. Stay safe, Vicki.
Thank you so much for the info on the Penguins. I thought I knew about them, but I never heard of these particular ones. How fascinating! We haven’t done grocery delivery yet, altho every time my husband goes out it gives me the willies. Now it seems we’re too late on the bandwagon, and most everywhere is putting “new” customers on a waiting list!! Not waiting for delivery, but waiting to even make an order. I tried a small privately owned farm coop my friends told me about and was able to get some nice fresh veggies and some beautifully baked local bread. There is another farm just down the road from us which is much loved by locals. They usually offer full or half boxes of weekly produce. If they do that this year, you can bet we’ll be getting a half box. Also local eggs, honey, and pasta sauce. They say grocery stores are “recession proof”, but I think the wave of the future for so many reasons will be the small farms, and I thought so even before Covid. I hope that you and Don will have some warm days soon so that you can get outside. That’s so healing for you. Stay safe!
We visit a local farm stand as well. That helps! Stay safe, Nora.
Claudia, I was fascinated to read about the beginning of Penguins. I never expected to hear about Exeter station. In 2018 I travelled to the U.K. and Scotland. I will never forget the delayed plane flight from Glasgow with us worrying if we would catch the train from Exeter to the south. The taxi trip to the station was nail biting and we tumbled out of the taxi with about 2 minutes to the train’s arrival. We had to go up in the lift and across the line to our platform. I was an exhausted wreck as I got onto the overcrowded train and tried to get to my booked seat which of course people were sitting in………….. Going back to the Penguins – I have read many and own a few. Good luck with the collection.
Did the grocery shop today – it absolutely exhausts me with the cleaning of everything when I get home and then I have to put it all away. There are still a few items left on the kitchen floor which I will put away tomorrow morning. I was just too tired tonight. Couldn’t be bothered with cooking a proper tea, so opened a tin of baked beans with a few pieces of toast – a good old standby when you are hungry and tired.
The fridge repairman comes tomorrow – not a day too soon.
Grocery shopping is completely exhausting these days! By the way, we love beans and toast!
Glad your fridge is going to be repaired. Stay safe, Robyn.
For God’s sake, go to the ATM or bank drive through to get some cash to tip the delivery people. These people are putting themselves as risk to keep you safe. They deserve generous tips.
They aren’t allowed to take tips, I just learned. And, I will add that I don’t need a lecture from you. We are generous tippers. My example of scrabbling around for money was in addition to what we had in our wallets – and, I might add, in addition to the part of the delivery fee that goes to the drivers. I’ve rewritten this comment a few times in order to be clear and if I wasn’t clear in my post, I’m sorry.
But the lecture? Not at all called for. I don’t need or require a lesson on tipping, thank you.