The husband, older son, and I took the family dog to the park this morning. Once again, we were the only people there wearing masks. We passed two churches, one large and one small, on our way to and from the park. Neither had a single car in its parking lot which was a good thing. The governor here did not give any dispensation to churches for in-person Easter services. Within the subdivision, I saw no evidence of any planned Easter egg hunts. I didn't see any Easter baskets on porches either. The Easter bunny did visit our house, though, and left me a small bag of candy corn. It was the only candy in the house, so the bunny had to make do with it.
I sent an email last night expressing interest in participating in a planned NIH research study. They're looking for people who have not had any form of the new coronavirus. The aim is to quantify undetected cases of coronavirus infections. Specific details don't sound too bad. Participants will have a virtual clinic visit, complete a health assessment, and provide basic demographic information. Acceptance to participate means they want blood, which can be drawn at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, or by yourself in the privacy of your own home. I had my email ready to send when the husband decided he'd also like to volunteer. Of course, he couldn't send his own, separate email expressing interest; I had to edit my email to include him. I figure it's doing my part to help out in the quest for knowledge. I'm not making any masks, but I'll give NIH my blood.
While The Washington Post's front page is again all pandemic all the time, the local paper, The Daily Progress, has a non-pandemic lead story. For several years, the saga of the local Confederate monuments has been debated, a debate that turned violent on August 12, 2017. State law prohibited localities from removing war monuments; whether statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were war memorials or monuments to the culture of the early 1900s here was open to debate. The bill signed by the governor gives localities the ability to remove or alter Confederate monuments. That doesn't mean the ones here are gone, but it definitely makes that possible.
I must say that it was nice to read about something other than the coronavirus, even if it wasn't necessarily a feel-good story. The coronavirus is running enough of my life right now; it doesn't have to have total control. And in the spirit of not letting it run my life, I think I'll get back to work on my quilt.
1 comment:
There is other news out there? What a shocking idea. Even the recipe section of the paper is not immune, cake recipes with no eggs or no flour or no - well you get the idea. I was intrigued by the cake that used two tins of white beans in place of flour and may go back and look at that again in a time when I can rely on being able to replace the beans. At the moment I'd rather have them for actual meals rather than cake.
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