Month: October 2020

Routines

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The past 7 months have significantly altered our routines. It is so difficult to adjust. We used to go out for lunch several times a week and out to dinner about twice a month. We would grocery shop once a week, go to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday. I would go to my spinning group on Thursday afternoon, thought nothing of going to the yarn shop, went to a couple of fiber retreats each year and at least one fiber festival. My shop wasn’t just online, there were half a dozen in person craft or holiday markets where I would set up and sell my wares. I would participate in many living history events, dressing in period costume and demonstrating fiber preparation and spinning while talking about how different fiber and fabric preparation were and how they were utilized. We would visit our kids or our kids would visit us, I would babysit grands sometimes for a week at a time.

Now, there are no retreats, no festivals, no craft markets. We haven’t been in a restaurant in 7 months. Lunches “out” are drive thru, eaten in the car. Any shopping is done on line and delivered or picked up curbside. To go to the Farmer’s Market, which is outdoors, I have to pre order so that I can be in the first hour, dash through picking up pre selected, pre paid items while masked. I have not participated in a living history event since last Christmas. We haven’t seen Son 1 and his family since Christmas, Son 2 in a parking lot in May to meet our already by then 5 month old grandson as they headed to a family wedding. We see our daughter and her kids distantly in their yard or ours for brief visits all masked. We will not be able to host the annual family Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.

I know we are not alone, but we are trying to do our part to help end this disaster our world is facing, our country is not taking seriously. I see pictures and posts of folks I know traveling, on vacation, possibly safely, but are they bringing back more virus.

Usually this time of year, we go to the pharmacy and get our flu shots. This year, we have made an appointment with our family physician where we will wait in the car until time to go in masked, get our shot and leave quickly, and hopefully safely.

It hurts me that so many are brushing this deadly virus off as “just the flu,” “why are you wearing a mask outdoors,” “I don’t need a mask, I’m not sick,” “I don’t need to wear my mask over my nose, I don’t breathe through my nose.”

For only the second time since I was old enough to vote, and then it was 21 years old, I didn’t go to the polls on election day. The first time I was in college and then you voted by absentee ballot that had to be witnessed and not just by a family member or friend. This time we did early in person voting because we didn’t want our ballot to be delayed in the mail, marked unable to scan for some arbitrary reason or to be counted late.

I don’t like these times. I fear for our country’s health and it’s democracy.

Our Exercise

Disclaimer: though I avoid politics in my blog and am currently avoiding Facebook, I am going to be lightly political here today.

About the time the university opened in the adjacent town, the town established some safely protocols to try to help protect both the students and the full time town folk. Because of the protocols established by the university, making dining on campus more time consuming and perhaps more dangerous, many more students are eating in town, thus putting them on the town sidewalks. One of the new regulations was to post signage throughout town and even two electronic signs mandating mask wearing while on downtown sidewalks and no group gatherings of more than about 10 people.

At the time these were posted, when we elected to walk the old rail grade that runs from near the public library over into the next town, we commented to each other that we wished they had included the signage on that paved trail as well. Some sections of it are widely used. As seniors, but knowing that exercise and fresh air are important, we have been confining most of our walks to the pond in the state forest nearer our house, always masked or with mask in hand to put on if there are other people walking, jogging, or fishing there.

A couple of weeks ago, smaller, modified versions of the sign above appeared on the trail, much to our delight, but to our dismay, mostly ignored. There are two versions of the signage text, as below:

and one with two masked figures with a line between them labelled 6′.

Today we were in town and decided to walk the Huckleberry trail. Social media and the news began labeling entitled white women as “Karens.” While walking today with few masked individuals passing us, many joggers, several bicycles, one skateboard all unmasked, I jokingly said to hubby that I was going to start calling unmasked “entitled” folks “Donalds.” Do you think we can make it as viral as “Karens”?

Note: I will be remotely sharing my posts to Facebook, but I am not viewing Facebook at this time to see reactions or comments posted there. As a blogger, I would love to see your comments below.

Autumn is falling

Though the temperature today was more like mild summer, when we went on our walk, the evidence of autumn is everywhere.

A cluster of red leaves from a broken oak branch amid the fallen leaves on the trail.

The wood ferns are all browning.

Leaves littering the path, geese resting in the pond before continuing their southward journey. Usually several spend the winter at the pond.

At home, the trees are turning and one young maple has already dropped it’s leaves.

The ridge line we see coming from town is the last to green up in the spring and the first to begin yellowing in the autumn. Soon the woods will be bare and the wildlife can be seen staying away from the open fields and in the edge of the woods. The woods to our north east have thinned enough to begin seeing our nearest neighbor’s house that can only be seen from our house in winter.

The temperatures will fall back after tomorrow to more fall like weather and we will get rain from Delta on the weekend. The frost that was predicted disappeared and I see no chance for at least 2 weeks.