what day is it? oh yes, Saturday. Happy Saturday, my DU friends. Coffee thoughts...
This is becoming particularly surreal, isn't it? Each of us is experiencing the pandemic in entirely unique, individual ways depending upon where we live, how we live, who we are. It is like an overlapping part of a Venn diagram - we feel like part of the world, yet not completely - part of the country, but not completely - part of our city or town, but not completely - the essence is our family, our specific location, our home. It is very, very weird. Once again there is luck of the draw - if we are or are not in a high concentration area of the virus, if we are in a red or blue state, a red or blue city. It can make your head swirl. And I've not even mentioned our failed bumbling idiot wannabe king yet....and I won't, not in this post.
For my wife and I, it is disorienting for sure, but yet not entirely different to how we were living, which makes it even more weird. Both retired, we also recently moved from a suburban to much more rural area - just in the nick of time. We managed to sell our suburban house - again, just in the nick of time in so many ways, able to complete the transaction using email. Such times we live in.
Prior to the pandemic, we woke, listened to music during breakfast, and did our respective things - my wife worked on her quilts, me on my writing or (now) gardening. Occasionally there was a lunch trip out, often a walk on nearby trails. We live a pretty quiet secluded life - preferring to cook and eat at home, and watch streaming video content in the evenings. Because we don't watch TV or listen to the radio, the only way news moves into our lives is through specific reading on the web.
Now that we are in this, there is that oversheen of impending doom and dread - watching the local stats slowly rise. Yesterday I ventured out shopping, wearing a mask that my wife made. My glasses steam up when I wear a mask. My dogs look at me like I am some alien (they are thinking "it smells like him, but what happened to his face?!"
. I note that I am nearly the only one in the store with a mask. I walked through and made my purchases, being careful to not touch my face - got home and washed well, put the mask into the wash.
As to our day, we still wake, have our coffee and music, and do our respective things. We are more somber, sedate, as the death toll mounts. We wonder if there will be some way the virus works itself into our lives, our home. We worry about our two daughters, both in areas of much higher infection concentrations, in areas with many more people. I've added one thing - a weekly Instagram Live, taking gardening questions - right now Fridays at 3 PM EST. Yesterday I was in my garage demonstrating how I transplant my seedlings. Gardening is my way of putting the worries of this situation on my mental backburner. Quilting and knitting is my wife's. Music and books and movies are shared and loved by both of us.
It is so odd - the spring is beautiful here, the birds are singing constant choruses. One could look inward and see the beauty and the peace. Then one looks outward and sees the peril and the horrors.
How is it even possible to make sense of that - just as I often fail to know even what day, or what time, it is.
That's one big pot of home roasted Ethiopian talking this morning. I decided to leave politics out of it. Have a safe day, my fellow DUers. Be well. Stay well.
= new reply since forum marked as read
until I did a trip to the grocery store last Monday. I hadn't been out of the neighborhood for almost three weeks where Snowy and I have been walking primarily downtown Raleigh. We do hear the birds, though, since there is so much less traffic.
Driving the couple of miles from downtown to Cameron Village where I shop for groceries, I could hardly believe it! Dogwood in full bloom. Azaleas in full bloom. Tulips and redbud trees blooming. It was amazing. I had no idea because we have been so cooped up.
Coming back from the store, I drove past the Executive Mansion (Governor's residence) and was astonished at the glorious grounds. Spotted a brilliant white dogwood in bloom a block from the Mansion.
So the next day Snowy and I walked up to the Mansion. Here are three shots I took with my cell phone.
Grounds of the Executive Mansion
Old Dogwood in Full Bloom
It's not spring in the South without hot pink azaleas
I wondered yesterday whether it was Friday or Saturday when I first woke up. For me, it was a real eye opener to discover just how much has changed in nature while the days of the last few weeks have run together.
