The View from the Hermitage, Day 107

"I'm very concerned, because it could get very bad." Bad news, especially coming from Dr. Fauci, who also said that the current 40,000ish new covid-19 cases daily could very well become 100,000 new cases daily. Right now, four states account for half of each day's new infections, and hospitalization numbers are increasing in 12 states. As older son would say, "Yeah, we're boned." The timing fits given that four of these velcro patches arrived in yesterday's mail.

That pretty much sums up the year so far. I've distributed the extra three, one to older son and two in the mail to younger son and his spouse-equivalent in Richmond.

Pondering the year that is now half over of course reminds me that halfway through the calendar year and my entering my own new year is a good time to check in with those nasty new year's resolutions laid out in this post from January 2. So, for what it's worth, here we go.

Under Health and Fitness, I wanted to drink more water and eat less meat. I'm doing fine on the water one, though my vision may be clouded by the fact it's been hot as balls here lately, and walking the family dog after my own hour-long workout without a water bottle (and, if we're at the park, a small water bowl) can be quite unpleasant. I was doing okay on the meat one until we locked down to get through the pandemic. I have come across several meat-less recipes that I will be making again, but on a day-by-day basis, I'm eating more meat than I was in January or February.

Under Carbon Footprint, I had asking servers not to bring me a plastic straw and using as few single-use plastic items as possible. I did fine on both through the start of the pandemic. Saying I'm doing fine now would ignore the fact that I haven't eaten out or gone shopping myself since early March. Of course, I'm using no plastic straws and fewer single-use plastic items; I'm pretty much not using any of either.

Under Emotional, I wanted to use my mind before I used my mouth and learn to "seek serenity in silence." (I had to put that in quotes because it's just so pretentious.) Again, the pandemic messes with this one. Both of those are made so much easier by the fact that I deal with so few people these days  and live in a silent world unless I choose to break that silence.

Finally, I needed one more category with two items, so there was General. Yeah, the pandemic helped here as well. It's easy to do things more slowly when there are no hard deadlines. And making good art is quite easy to do when one has even more spare time than usual calling out to be filled.

I considered for a moment feeling guilty in that it's been so easy to do all those things I wanted to do or thought I should be doing this year. But no, there is enough negativity in the world as a whole and in the world each individual inhabits. I don't need to add to it. Tomorrow, I shall enjoy my pancake breakfast, which will come after my birthday workout of 65 minutes NordicTracking, 65 push-ups, 65 sit-ups, 65 squats, and a 65-second plank. Why all the 65s? I'm turning that perfect square of 64 years, plus one to grow on. The birthday cake comes on Friday night when older son joins us for a dinner of steak on a hot rock, corn on the cob, and salad.

We shall also fly the Maple Leaf flag tomorrow and do a once-through of O Canada. Happy Birthday, Canada! The Great White North looks better and better the longer things are going south on this side of the border.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 106

Following up on yesterday's post, the husband knew where the coffee filters had been put. We will not have to improvise with paper towels or some other substandard product. That might not have ended well. And I will get a pancake breakfast for my birthday. The husband and older son have said they will make them from scratch. They do have two pancake mixes in case the scratch has gone bad by then. Add some real maple syrup, and I think we're all set. It won't be the same as the family around a picnic table in a park, but it will definitely do.

VP Pence appeared in public wearing a mask and urged the public to join him in wearing one. He also called on them to socially distance themselves and to stay away from elderly people. I wonder how HWSNBN views his VP's wearing a mask. Will this mean he'll be replaced on the ticket? Lest you think I'm joking, think about how many real headlines these days sound like ones from The Onion. In this time of pandemic tragedy, there is underlying absurdity. A breeder of labradoodles was named to head a vaccine task force. Masks have nothing to do with protection against the coronavirus; they are instead political statements. HWSNBN has supposedly met with campaign staff to discuss a new nickname for his prospective opponent. Evidently "Sleepy Joe" no longer carries enough negativity. Just when you think it can't get more absurd, it does.

A friend returned some Icelandic guide books and flyers I'd loaned her. We've been there three times in the dead of winter (December to February), and I'd love to go again. Who knows, though, when people from the US will be allowed to enter Iceland or any other European country. There are likely a number of tour companies that had booked things such as river cruises more than a year in advance that will feel some pain now that they have to start cancelling things. I can't say that I blame the European Union or Canada or any other country currently banning those from the US. We've shot ourselves in the foot on this one. I wouldn't let us in either.

The View from the Pandemic, Days 104 and 105

We had a several-hours-long power outage yesterday containing the time in which I'd planned to write something. While I could have used Twiggy (my oh-so-thin laptop) to write something to post when the power returned, I decided instead to join the family dog on the couch and read my current book about the 1918 flu pandemic. The power came back on just in time. I was about to make sandwiches for dinner but instead got to do the fettuccini, corn, and tomato salad I'd planned on making.

As we enter week 15, some states are reversing some of their reopening measures amid coronavirus spikes that rival the earlier ones in New York City. The state graphs on this website are frightening, as is the graph for the country on this related website. I am of the same mind as Dr. Fauci; these spikes are in no way a second wave. (Aside: There is no accepted definition of what constitutes a "second wave," but in my humble opinion it follows a definite and nontrivial-in-length period of time in which there are no or very, very few cases.) There are currently two states and two what, territories?, listed as "beating covid-19." Not too long ago there were twice that number or more.In other words, we're slowly losing the battle.

When this all started 15 weeks ago, the first grocery list we gave to older son contained the item "coffee filters." He came back with two boxes, each containing 200 or so filters. The husband inquired why he got two; we certainly didn't need that many. Here we are 15 weeks later approaching the end of the first box, and I can't remember where we put the second one. I may have to put filters on Friday's list so that we'll get two more boxes.

Its being Sunday, older son and I took the family dog to the park again. For the first time, we noticed no other people even carrying masks they did not have on. We did see two women sitting and reading. They sat about 10 or 12 feet apart, facing in opposite directions. I will give them a pass on not having masks since they were doing everything else they could to protect each other. Truth be told, they were far enough away that they might have had masks they were not wearing; it was hard to tell.

July 4 looms next weekend. I honestly don't know if it's as big of a cookout sort of day or weekend as Memorial Day. I know some states saw increases attributed to Memorial Day gatherings. I guess we'll see about July 4two weeks later. And Wednesday is Canada Day. We were in Canada on Canada Day several times. Each time, we breakfasted at a community pancake party. As a result, I no longer get a birthday dinner; I get a birthday breakfast of, what else, pancakes. Yes, I share a birthday with Canada, though I'm significantly younger.

Protests continue, with calls for taking down more and more monuments or renaming this or that. Faculty at Washington and Lee University have suggested that "Lee" be remove from the name. There is a move at Princeton University to remove Woodrow Wilson's name from one of the schools. In Orange County, California, there are calls starting to rename the airport currently named for actor John Wayne. While I understand why such tangible names should be changed or statues, removed, I do not want history to be expunged of those people or events. We ignore history at our peril. There's some truth to "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (It just occurred to me to wonder who first said that. It was apparently George Santayana.)

As for being condemned to repeat the past, can we please remember the novel coronavirus so as not to have to endure it again?

The View from the Hermitage, Day 103

I'm on a roll packing up the house for the hardwood floor refinishing coming way too soon (July 20), so I'll think about that rather than pandemics or systemic racism or police brutality or any other current world matter. I expect I shall have something to say tomorrow. Have a good Friday evening.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 102

It's been pretty much a do-nothing day here so far (and we're more than halfway through it). Older son asked me to update my Amazon wish list so that he and his father would have some gift ideas for my birthday next week. That took the time between the family dog's second walk and a needed shower before lunch. It was hard to think of things for the list. The pandemic and hermitting have made me look more closely at what I have, and it seems more than enough most days. The things about which I find myself thinking I need turn out to be wants not needs when thought about more closely. (I love the obtuseness of that sentence!)

Since then, I've watched the governor's briefing. He views things as under control enough that future briefings will be as needed. One of the health bigwigs there will soon be departing to a position with the CDC. She had the audacity to make the statement that using a seven-day rolling average, they were consistently testing the 10,000 people per day that they needed to. Do not make such a statement to a data nerd when the raw numbers are readily available going day-by-day through the chart released by the Department of Health. Looking through seven-day averages, starting on June 7 (I was not patient enough to copy numbers back into May), there have been two, yes, two seven-day averages over 10,000, and those were at the start of June.

I did spend some time going through "stuff." The basement family room has been something of a disaster area since we moved my mother out of her condo. The disaster area worsened when we had our interior re-painted and had to clean off shelves, take art off the walls, etc. In four weeks, we're having the hardwood floors refinished which means moving everything out. I'm working on make the family room more livable since we will be living there for a week. The family cat is getting very nervous seeing things boxed up and moved to the sunroom.

The assisted living place where my mother lives is arranging point prevalence covid-19 testing for all the residents and staff. There have been outbreaks (an outbreak is four cases at the same location) at four long-term-care facilities around here; I think it's three that have had deaths. No one where Mom lives has been symptomatic. The form letter I got indicated that the prevalence testing will help guide them in terms of planning for letting residents eat or socialize in groups, reopening for visitors, and so on. It will be interesting to see the results.

So I could now go move more stuff, work on a quilt, load more quilt photos to my website, or start the new jigsaw puzzle that arrived today. The puzzle will probably win.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 101

Case numbers are surging in multiple states. New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will require people entering from those surging states to self-quarantine for 14 days.  If you want to figure out which states might be affected, there are some fascinating charts here. Look at the set of red graphs, "States and Territories that Need to Take Action." You can't miss the surging states. They're the ones with the upward vertical lines. I would not want to be in Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Oklahoma, South Carolina, or Texas right now. Virginia is starting to creep up. Maine now requires visitors to self-quarantine for 14 days or get tested for covid-19 and self-quarantine until the test results come back. That sounds like a very good system. Let visitors choose; I expect most will take the test. I certainly would.

The US may soon be country non grata in relation to the European Union. The report I saw said that there were two plans under consideration with both refusing entry to Americans until the situation on this side of the pond has been corrected. I can't put all the blame on HWSNBN, though. Yes, he pushed for reopening sooner rather than later. He sets a very questionable standard by refusing to wear a mask or require those around him to wear them. Still, people don't have to pay attention to him. In fact, they could use him as an example of what not to do. Just because restaurants are now open does not mean you have to go out to eat in them. Just because HWSNBN doesn't wear a mask doesn't mean you shouldn't.

I have to be honest, though. Were I in those fearless teen or twenty-something years of age, I might very well be doing the same unwise things so many people are right now. I think most of us go through ages in which we feel invincible. One reason is because at those ages, we know we know everything. I probably could have used someone whispering in my ear, "You know nothing, Jean Lightner." I'm not sure at what age I flipped the page to the one that told me I was human and not immune to bad decisions or bad luck. We can probably all remember things we've done that could have turned out so differently and not in a good sense. We probably had good luck when we made some of those bad decisions or made good decisions when our luck was bad. I'm glad to be facing these times as an adult (or reasonable imitation of one) instead.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 100

We're in triple digits now! I have faith this daily posting will not make it to quadruple digits. Dr. Fauci says we may very well have a vaccine by late 2020, and I'm praying he's right.

The governor announced that with all the numbers trending in the right direction (I disagree with him on that, but he's the governor and I'm not), the state will move into Phase 3 a week from tomorrow, July 1. The only problem with that date, for me, is that it's my birthday. I know the state administration is thinking that July 1, the start of the new fiscal year in Virginia, is a good date to choose. I happen to disagree. I do not want almost maximal reopening for a birthday present. I'm not going to obsess about it, though. I have enough other things to obsess about.

A reporter did ask the governor if he would take the state back to Phase 1 or 2 should cases start to grow as they have in some of the other reopened states. He hedged a bit but finally said he really didn't want to have to do that, but he would if absolutely necessary. He said the numbers were going down because Virginians had been so compliant with social distancing and wearing "facial coverings" and stressed the need to continue those behaviors.

Racial justice protests in South Carolina have been suspended after at least 13 people who had participated now test positive for the coronavirus. Richmond has had something in the neighborhood of 25 straight days/nights of protests. There's been no mention of coronavirus circulating at those, but you have to wonder with that much daily contact. Mention may well be coming.

HWSNBN now claims that he was not joking when he said that he'd ordered staff to slow down coronavirus testing. He does not kid, he said. He cares nothing about people, even people he is hoping will re-elect him. If I start to wonder how anyone could support him, I have to remind myself that he was elected in 2016, at least as far as the Electoral College went. It could happen again. If it were to come to pass, I expect the husband's comments about retiring to Canada (he has dual citizenship) will be made with a new fervor. If HWSNBN is not re-elected, it will take whoever is elected a whole four-year term to undo the debacle that will be there on January 20, 2021. If we have four more years of HWSNBN, we may never undo what has been done. We might also have a constitutional crisis with HWSNBN wanting to serve a third term.

And we might not. Not having hope is counterproductive, so I choose to believe that re-election will not come to pass.

The View from the Pandemic, Day 99

Hooyah! My last double-digit day here! I did not really think about how long this all might last when I thought to myself that a quarantine journal would be interesting to keep and blogging seemed a good way to do it. I can tell people to look here if they want to know if I'm still alive and kicking.

Pandemics make for interesting connections or re-connections. I Zoomed this morning with someone I had not see in 30 years or a hair more. Her now-31-year-old son was a babe in arms when last we saw each other. I met her while I was in grad school; she was living with one of the post-docs in the psych department. They split, and she ended up back in Canada. Over the years, we've exchanged Christmas cards and become friends on Facebook. She's a fiber artist and does some amazing work. I wonder if I were to devote myself to the fibrous things with which I play if I could do amazing work. She was supposed to teach an in-person class on goldwork, but the pandemic turned it into a video class instead. She wanted someone to look at her first few videos and give some feedback. Which I did. It was great to reconnect more closely than Facebook, so at least the pandemic was good for that.

The pandemic has also been good for finishing a jigsaw puzzle. Younger son and partner gave it to us well over a year ago. We started it, but had to work on it using a card table, in the guest room, to protect it from the family cat. When we had guests, the table got moved to another room with a cutting mat on top of the puzzle. Then I needed the card table for the quilt show so the puzzle was moved yet again until the card table came home. I decided we needed something different, so I taped together the lids of some bankers boxes to make a shallow box large enough for the puzzle. The husband then cut two pieces of plywood, one to serve as a base for the puzzle and one to serve as the top. We finished the puzzle last night and, as you might expect given its history, two pieces were missing. I haven't found them yet, but I haven't looked seriously. I did order another puzzle, though I had to look to find one the same size or smaller so that we could use the same container. The puzzle we finished was antique world map; the one I ordered is a shot of the houses along one of Amsterdam's canals. It's by the same company and is the same size as the map puzzle.

The husband, older son, and I have had some good dog-walking conversations about the statues being torn down or removed. George Washington and Ulysses Grant were two of the latest. Those tearing down Grant's statue noted that he owned "a slave." Older son said he had read that Grant had inherited the slave and freed him before a year had passed. Washington also owned slaves, but so did most landowners in his day. The husband made the interesting distinction of a statue on Robert E. Lee in Lexington, Virginia, home to Washington and Lee University, which Lee helped found, compared to one honoring his Civil War service. The former would be okay to the husband, but the latter would not. He's got a good point. I'm waiting for someone to deface or try to tear down the statue of Thomas Jefferson on the UVA Grounds in front of the Rotunda. Yes, Jefferson owned slaves and may have taken one as a long-time lover. The statue, though, honors him for the University of Virginia, which would not exist without him.

Pandemic news remains the same. Case numbers are soaring in some states. Virginia's went down over the weekend, but weekend counts are sometimes spotty. It will be interesting to see the numbers that come out tomorrow. Cases her were rising last week. I seriously hope that if they keep going up the governor holds off on moving the state to Phase Three of reopening. He can be really clueless at times. There was a bit of a kerfuffle here when someone found his page in the medical school yearbook contained a photo of someone in KKK garb and someone in blackface. The governor said he did not remember that at all and had no idea why such a photo had been put on his page. He did admit that he had worn blackface to dress like Michael Jackson for some sort of costume party. He said, in a press conference, that he had even learned to moonwalk. He then started to come out from behind his podium before looking to his wife who had been sitting on his right. "My wife informs me it would not be appropriate to demonstrate it," he said as he went back behind the podium. Clueless!

Postscript to the blackface "scandal." Our attorney general admitted to appearing in blackface at at least one social gathering during his time here at the university. Like the governor, he declined to resign. At the same time, it came out that two women had made separate charges of past sexual assault by our lieutenant governor. He did not resign either. We do have an interesting state, er, commonwealth government here.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 98

Ninety-eight days or 14 weeks. Time is playing tricks inside my head. I've been adding quilt photos to my website and just copied more pictures from passport backup drives to this laptop. In doing so, I saw the folder Eclipse2017. Going through it, it was indeed from the trip the husband and I took to Asheville, North Carolina to watch a total eclipse of the sun. But was it really 2017? That's approaching three years ago! It can't have been that long! Going through the photos, I remember the state park we visited to see the eclipse outside a city. We had to hike a fair ways to get to where we viewed things. Walking back to the car, a ranger stopped and gave us a ride back to the parking lot. He said he was not supposed to do things like that, but I was limping so much he thought it would be helpful. I had my knee replacement in April 2018, so the eclipse really was in August 2017. Still.....

HWSNBN's rally last night was apparently a flop. The best description I read of the size of the crowd was CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta's saying that the people there should be socially distancing. After all, there was enough room in the arena that they could. HWSNBN also demonstrated, evidently for 20 minutes, how to walk down a ramp (time taken from an article in The New Yorker; older son said it was seven minutes). He wanted (needed?) to counter the negative perception of the time it took him to descend from the podium at the West Point graduation. He also demonstrated that he could drink water using only one hand/arm to lift the glass to his lips. He supposedly used two hands at West Point to keep from spilling any liquid on his expensive silk tie. As the husband noted, water can leave a hell of a stain on a silk tie.

I did see several people in the crowd wearing masks. The stood out as the exception rather than the rule. Never mind that six of the staffers doing advance work on the rally tested positive for the novel coronavirus and that people attending the rally had to sign waivers releasing the campaign from blame should they fall ill during the period that would suggest exposure at the rally. I was pleased, though, to hear how we've been testing so many more people than a list of other countries have. Yeah, right! And if we slow down testing, fewer people will test positive for the virus. I do not understand how his aides or advisors can let him believe such things. I have trouble grasping just how self-centered and oblivious one person can be. I'd say that we don't have to worry about someone pulling his strings behind the scenes except that Vladimir Putin seems in a good position to do so.

And so begins our 15th week.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 97

I just corrected yesterday's post. There were not two Day 95s in a row here. This time of week, though, I have to stop and think what day of the week it is.

I stepped out of the Hermitage today to head down Interstate 64 to Zion Crossroads to see younger son, masked, at a social distance, with a vehicle door between us. He'd come to town to pick up a VW Beetle he had bought and wanted the chance to see us just for a bit and to give his father a Father's Day present. It was great to see him but hard in not being able to hug him or even see the face behind the mask. He had a cute mask, mind you, but it was not as cute as his face would have been.

The number of new covid-19 cases in Virginia went up again yesterday, by about 100. We're nowhere near as bad as many other states, but the slow but steady increase in small increments may be easy to overlook or, worse, dismiss. Weekend counts are always a bit wonky, but if they continue upward, we may be heading for trouble.

At least we're nowhere near Oklahoma or Arizona where the next HWSNBN rally will likely be. I don't think we need to worry about him coming here in the near future. I don't think the state government would bend crowd size limits for him. Nor do I think they'd bend them for the presumptive Democratic candidate, Joe Biden. I love "presumptive" candidate. I can't help but think "presumptuous," though that would not be true in this case.

I just saw a news notification that six members of HWSNBN's campaign in Tulsa have tested positive for covid-19. It's probably good that they caught it before those people might have circulated through the crowd or mingled with bigwigs. The people who attend the rally will have more than enough chances to be exposed.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 96

I just put more quilt photos on my website. I also found photos of one quilt on my passport drive that I do not remember making. The photo has no name other than the image number name. If I remember or learn the origin of that quilt, I'll add it.

The number of coronavirus cases in Virginia inches up. It's not in the worrisome stage a lot of states are, but even a slight upturn means the virus isn't going anywhere. We are in a much better place than Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, or a number of other states, probably because the reopening steps taken here have been smaller or happened over a longer time frame. The governor hinted yesterday that we could enter Phase 3 of reopening a week from today. It will be interesting to see if that happens if the number of new cases continues to creep up.

The courts in Oklahoma refused to block HWSNBN's rally tomorrow night. Will he care if the number of coronavirus cases rises even more sharply in Oklahoma afterwards? No. This is all a game to him. He dismisses Fauci for his comments about whether the NFL will be able to successfully run a full season. I did hear that one of the law enforcement officials with him when he signed his executive order on policing tested positive for coronavirus the next day. I should not hope that HWSNBN catches covid-19, but would that help him takes things seriously? Probably not. His press secretary says that she will not be wearing a mask at the rally, though the campaign chair says he will. I wonder if the press secretary will need to sign a waiver saying that she won't sue should she come down with it post-rally.

The husband continues to tape his lectures in his living room studio. I wonder if I'll absorb some physics listening to this. I never took physics in high school or college. Had I not graduated a year early from high school, I probably would have taken it my senior year. As it was, I stopped my science sequence at chemistry. When I heard other kids talk about physics, it basically sounded like material I'd covered in a differential equations class. I know now that there's much, much more, but having a physicist in the house means I don't need to learn it all.

The weekend looms. Father's Day. The sons expect me to give them ideas of possible gifts. By the time I come up with things they can give, I'm out of ideas of what I can give. So this year, there will be no Father's Day gift from me. He's a good father. I'll tell him that not for the first time. He's a good husband, too, but there is no Spouse's Day. Perhaps that's what wedding anniversaries are for.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 95

I've been on the computer for a while this afternoon working on my website. I recently pulled picture folders off several old laptops and consolidated them. I'm working on putting quilt photos on the site; today I put up some 2009-11 ones. If you want to check them out, it's

https://www.jeanlightnernorum.com/

The governor spoke today from Northern Virginia, tailoring the message to the Latinx community. The good news is that we're not headed to Phase 3 this week. He said he has weekly chats with the other governors and is following closely the covid-19 surges some have seen. Several of the comments were given in Spanish. I actually understood more than I thought I would. I really should practice it more, but then there are so many things and only so much time.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 94

The university announced its formal plans for fall today. The email was long and wordy and contained multiple links to this webpage or that for elaboration. I liked the part in which they noted the expectation that students will be responsible and follow all the mitigation measures. Yeah, the same students gathering on a frat house balcony a couple of weeks ago, standing cheek to jowl and not a mask among them. If the university's public health police don't crack down on the first violator(s), they may never regain control. The email also claimed that fall sports will be held, but policies regarding attendance will be forthcoming. NCAA football with no one in the stands? Of course, the football team here rarely sells out the stadium, so perhaps the normal under-sized crowd will be able to maintain social distance, meaning no cuts in the ticket profits.

It seems that every fall class with 40 or more students will be taught only online. I expect that this has to do with what size classroom or auditorium it might take to hold 40 socially distanced students. Given the extra effort the husband has had to put into taping his summer class, fall will not be fun. At least we will be able to move the classroom studio from the living room to the husband's office upstairs. We'll be putting all the rooms back together after the floors are redone in late July.

The husband is wrestling with his summer school class. Summer school is tight trying to teach a semester's worth of material in three weeks. Taking one day off out of the fourteen scheduled can really hurt. Yesterday, the governor declared Juneteenth, which this year is the day after tomorrow, a state holiday. Today, the university cancelled all of that day's classes. The husband had all his lectures laid out with breakpoints between days carefully selected. Right now, he's seeing if he might need to adjust the material he's already taped for tomorrow's lecture. He's also taped Friday's, but at least he'll have a three-day weekend to figure out how to juggle the material in that one and the other eight. He's royally pissed and for a legitimate reason. (Decision: Tomorrow's lecture will run as already taped; he'll re-tape what he'd recorded to show Friday.)

States continue to report new peaks in covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. China is considering locking down Beijing's 22 million inhabitants. The scary part is that these are still part of the first wave, not the second the experts say will come. With 1918's influenza pandemic, there was actually a period in between the first and second waves in which the virus essentially disappeared. There were no cases. We need to keep that in mind as we watch how things progress now. Maybe we'll learn not to let our guard down too quickly. Yeah, I wish!

The View from the Hermitage, Day 93

It's an overcast, very dreary day. The husband looked out the kitchen window when getting some lunch and asked rhetorically how thick the clouds were to make it as grey as it is out there. There's rain in the forecast for tomorrow and the next day, so the clouds are just getting ready.

The husband wanted to spend the morning taping a new lecture so that he would tape another one this afternoon. Instead, he spent the morning on the phone and/or email battling the bureaucracy of the bookstore that has yet to provide the access code the students need to view the textbook online. He said he'd start taping when I came down here, but the footsteps I hear above me suggest he probably has yet to start. It's gonna be a long three weeks.

Older son has volunteered to take part in a vaccine challenge trial should one (or more) be held. In a challenge trial, people get a dose of the vaccine being tested after which they are given a dose of the virus. If it takes, the vaccine probably isn't doing the intended job. This all happens faster than the usual Phase 3 trials in which people get the vaccine or a placebo and go back to their lives in which they may be exposed to the virus naturally. As he says, he's a perfect subject--young, no dependents, great physical shape, etc. I admire him for being able to volunteer.

As older son and I were walking the family dog this morning, I noticed a pink-trimmed bicycle in the front yard of a house in which a family with a nine-year-old girl lives. I could not help but think how glad I am that I was blessed (cursed?) with two sons rather than daughters. While I was pregnant with younger son, I frequently thought that it would be nice if the second baby were a girl. After the baby popped out and they told me it was a boy, I actually felt a wave of relief. I remember thinking that I could do boys. I got this.

Why wouldn't I have wanted a girl? I'm a tomboy from way back and have never really felt comfortable at female-themed things such as baby or wedding showers. I might have been filled with angst were I to have had a more feminine daughter who was into girl toys, girl clothes, etc. I'm not sure that would have been fair to a girl. I'm sure I felt much more comfortable raising sons than I would have raising a daughter or two.

Yes, there's still a novel coronavirus wreaking havoc outside my window. I just prefer not to dwell on it today. I'm taking a mental health day.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 92

The husband is upstairs doing his first session of office hours via Zoom. He was going to do them in his office on the second floor until I pointed out that he might want to use the whiteboard that's hanging in his "home classroom." After office hours, he'll be taping Wednesday's lecture. I could have stayed up there, but figured staying down here was safer. No accidental noise this way. I'm hermitting within hermitting, and I do kind of like how that sounds.

The first day of summer approaches. I began this hermitting near the end of winter and honestly don't know when I might finish. I'm about to work my way through the entirety of spring, though. Yesterday marked 13 weeks of hermitting, which is one-fourth of a year or one out of four seasons in the year.Tomorrow is trash and recycling day, so I know it's Monday today. Monday sits between dog-walking at the park and trash day. The other four days of the week run together. I have gotten up in the morning and had to think for a moment to figure out what day it is.

The public health folks in Tulsa would like He Who Shall Not Be Named (HWSNBN) not to hold his rally there on Saturday. They say the potential for a second wave of coronavirus is too high. Will he move it? I doubt it. It's not about the people at the rally, his base; it's about him. An inner part of me I sometimes wish did not exist would love to see him come down with covid-19. I don't necessarily want him to die from it, but a good dose of it might help him acknowledge the seriousness of the problem. That said, I'm not sure if Boris Johnson's bout, including time in the ICU, affected his way of thinking about it.

The protests continue. Richmond had its largest one yesterday. I have not asked younger son if he attended. It's probably better that way. Charlottesville had a "defund the police" rally over the weekend, but shouts from the crowd suggested that by "defund" they meant "abolish." I can see moving some of the money in a police department's budget to social services that address root causes such as poverty, homelessness, etc. Abolishing a police department? If you think the chaos can get bad now, you just wait.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 91

Ninety-one days. Lucky (or not) 13 weeks. Lucky or not, it's been an interesting 13 weeks. Thirteen weeks ago, a pandemic was enough. Who would have foreseen 16 (as of now) days of protests on top of a pandemic?

Virginia evidently has more things (monuments, buildings, schools, streets, etc) named after Confederate figures than any other states. That doesn't really surprise me. Richmond was the last capital of the Confederate States of America, after all. Two of the three branches of the American Civil War Museum are in Richmond; the third is in Appomattox. I glanced through the online museum store to see what sort of memorabilia they offered. It all seemed politely politically correct, though the Daughters of the Confederacy might not agree with me.

Today's Washington Post print Metro section contains the article "College crackdown: Masks in, parties out" that was put out online several days ago under the title "Masks required and fewer parties (allegedly): What college will look like this fall." Enforcing distancing, masks, and other necessary anti-virus strategies will not be easy for institutions. The husband is not optimistic about students here following whatever mitigation measures might be put in place. A survey of undergraduate students indicated that one in 12 students would not be serious about safety, meaning that in a class of 60 students there would be five who would not be playing it safe. That's a bit disconcerting.

The husband taped the first lecture of his summer school course this morning while older son and I took the family dog for her weekly park outing. He's getting ready now to pe the second one. He's not pleased with teaching online. (He did not teach spring semester, so this is his first experience at online instruction.) He said he'd be much happier just going in and blathering (his word) at the students in person. I reminded him that he might be given a choice in the fall whether to teach in person or online. Details as to how fall instruction might proceed are supposedly forthcoming.

States proceeding with reopening are seeing new rises in covid-19 cases. The number of cases in Virginia went down from Friday to Saturday, but not by much. Weekend reporting can be sketchy, so I'll wait for Monday numbers available on Tuesday to see if the line on the chart is still rising. It will be interesting to see how the governor plays it. He keeps citing the seven-day moving average which is going down rather than the daily numbers that have slowly been rising. My fingers are crossed that we do not enter Phase Three on Friday. Let's give Phase Two another week or two ... or more. In the meantime, I shall continue hermitting.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 90

I think I wrote a few days (weeks? time runs together) saying I didn't really feel like traveling. That lasted until I got the 2021catalog from Odysseys Unlimited. They've dropped Turkmenistan from their Silk Road trip and beefed up the locations visited in Kazakhstan. What really caught my eye, though, was a new tour that also touched on the Silk Road. "Exploring the Caucasus" visits Georgia and Armenia with an optional add-on trip to Azerbaijan. They have late May 2021 departure dates that would fit with the husband's academic schedule. We have no intention of booking this in the near future. It might be one we save for 2022 or 2023, if it takes a while to develop a coronavirus vaccine.

I've been satisfying my travel desires by watching a course developed jointly by National Geographic and The Great Courses, Polar Explorations. I've had a "thing" for polar regions for some time. I can't remember when I first read about Shackleton's Endurance expedition, but it was many years ago. The husband finds my polar fascination intriguing since in real life I tend to prefer hot days to cooler ones. We joke that my optimal temperature is 85 degrees Fahrenheit while his is 65.

I checked the state's coronavirus metrics this morning. The seven-day moving average of new cases is still going down, but the raw numbers have been going up for about four days now. The seven-day average of percent of tests that are positive is also going down, but they're testing nowhere near the 10,000 daily tests recommended as a minimum. If the number of cases continues to increase, I hope the governor is willing to delay reopening. I can't see him imposing another lockdown, but that would be okay with me if that's what's needed to get things under control.

He Who Shall Not Be Named (HWSNBN) has moved his Tulsa rally to the day after Juneteenth. Fox News or OANN must have run something noting how folks would view the date. The coronavirus waiver is still going to be used. Considering that Oklahoma's number of cases is once again increasing, the waiver might be a very good idea. I wonder if the Republican National Committee will require delegates to the convention now planned for Jacksonville, Florida to sign waivers. Florida's case numbers are also on the rise.

Tomorrow is HWSNBN's birthday. There's a movement afoot to flood social media with Obama pictures. HWSNBN may not even notice, though, unless someone could hack one of his accounts and post something there. I can dream, can't I?

The View from the Hermitage, Days 88-89

If you looked for a post yesterday, you are correct in noting there was not one here. I would say that yesterday was a bad day, but it was actually the day before, Wednesday, that rivaled Alexander's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. One thing after another, none of them major, but they did pile up.

I love my 20-some-year-old sewing machine (she is named Xena the Warrior Bernina) except when she decides to act up, which she did Wednesday afternoon. There is something unknown in the bobbin assembly that the husband has managed to jury-rig twice. He'll give it a go for the third time this weekend. I'd been quilting a quilt I started the quilting on maybe ten years ago. I decided that the way I was doing the quilting then was not going to look very good, so I folded the quilt and set it aside. Pandemics turn out to be great times to pull out unfinished projects, and I'd pulled this out. I still didn't like how I'd been laying out the quilting, but there was no way I was pulling it all out and starting over. It's a small quilt that will fit nicely over a chair somewhere. It's probably too nice to give to the family dog, but that too is a possibility.

During the late afternoon we had one of our summer thunderstorms, this one featuring the closest ever lightening strike. The lightening and thunder occurred simultaneously and must have been right overhead. The rain was nothing short of torrential. Afterwards, thanks to a call on my cell phone from older son, we realized that the land line phone was posting a "no line" message. No phone line means no DSL internet. The husband finally got a real person at the phone company, and set up a repair visit for today. He decided, though, to try to figure out what was wrong just in case the needed fix was inside the house. Outside repairs are free; inside repairs cost big bucks. As he was going from thing to thing, I at one point tried to tell him something. I got irked because he appeared to be discounting my effort to help out, so I was cleaning off the dinner table in a not-so-good frame of mind. I knocked my wine glass over and in trying to stop at least some of it from hitting the floor, managed to impale my right palm on a shard of glass sticking straight up. Not a good evening from any angle except that the husband did figure out a likely cause for the outage.

We survived yesterday thanks to smart phones, though the husband did go to older son's house to send a long email without having to type it on a teeny phone keyboard. The repairman came fairly early this morning. The husband's diagnosis was correct, and the fix took minutes. Life has been good again. The husband will get to Xena this weekend, and my palm is fine as long as I don't directly knock where the cut is. Life is good.

And beyond the doors of the Hermitage, cases of covid-19 from the novel coronavirus have risen in over 20 states since they began to reopen. I have yet to see anything definite regarding virus spread from the recent protests, but that's probably coming any day now. I just read online that the governor of Oregon is putting reopening on hold due to a rise in covid-19 cases. She's not moving the state or any part of it back; they just won't be going forward for a while.

And then there is the continuing fallout from the protests in a political sense. He Who Shall Not Be Named is going back on the campaign trail, starting with a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Juneteenth. Perhaps his assistants are scared to tell him about the Tulsa massacre; they're evidently still looking for some of the mass graves that resulted from it. Beyond that, remember the virus that was magically going to disappear? You won't be able to get into the campaign rally without signing a waiver. You get exposed to the virus at the rally? How sad? Too bad! And the military leadership has noted that they're okay with renaming forts or installations named after Confederate figures. He Who Shall Not Be Named says that will destroy a heritage of which we should be proud. I used to see bumper stickers showing the Confederate flag with the words "Heritage Not Hate." I haven't seen one recently, but I'm sure they're still out there.

So much is happening on so many fronts that it is hard to synthesize it all and make sense of it. I feel a need to rely on the media to do much of that for me, which is a bad way to feel. Pondering it all on my own weighs on me. I find myself playing solitaire on the laptop or phone, an activity that I know from past experience is related to my depression. The pandemic alone was burdensome enough; the protests added to it is overwhelming. It's too early to start making dinner, which will be leftovers; I think I'll go knit or read, either of which should take some of my mind of some of the things.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 87

I just had a nice Zoom call with my mom. This followed the collapse into unusability of Xena the Warrior Bernina aka my sewing machine. If the husband cannot repair it (this would be the third time for the same problem), I'll have to cope with knitting/crocheting or weaving or doll modification. It's going to take some thinking to figure out how to fill in the time I was planning to spend quilting. I'll be back tomorrow, with news of Xena's restored health or of how else I can spend some time.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 86

Early morning highlight: The 1970s channel on DirecTV this morning followed Carly Simon's "That's the Was I Always Heard It Should Be" with Mac Davis's "Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me." It was probably unintentional, but it did engender some interesting thoughts given the lyrics of the two songs.

On the coronavirus side, the governor today laid out the plan for K-12 schools; the one for higher education will come on Thursday. State government must like the three-phase approach to opening, because schools have to go through their own three phases. After hearing just a summary of what will be involved, I can say for certain that I would not want to be on a school board or working in the central office of a school division at this time. Divisions (or private schools) will have to submit detailed plans of how they will manage each phase. One of the central points is the maintenance of social distancing. Desks must be six feet apart. Kids on buses must be six feet apart. Kids are supposed to be kept in the same group as much as possible. Forget the cafeteria--kids will eat in a classroom. Schools will have to stagger kids, maybe having them come every other day. It seems as if it will be much easier to implement everything for the elementary grades, but less so for middle and high school. Thursday's briefing will include the state plan for colleges and universities. I told the husband we could watch it together.

The WHO kept things interesting by announcing that there was very little virus transmission from asymptomatic people, that the real contagion came from folks incubating the virus before their symptoms appear. Not too much later, WHO announced they had misinterpreted the question and there was virus transmission from asymptomatic people. There is so much we're still learning about the virus, its transmission, its effects, that it would not have surprised me to hear that early models had been incorrect about asymptomatic transmission. So many things seem to change from day to day.

Protests continue but are becoming more peaceful. Are protestors tired of violence, or are they realizing it doesn't get them anywhere. "Defund the police" is the new mantra, though it's not clear exactly what defunding the police would involve. Will they have to hold bake sales or car washes or  stand in the median with large boots as firemen sometimes do? That would actually be somewhat humorous in a demented sort of way. There used to be a button or magnet to the effect that it would be nice if schools got the funding they needed, and the branches of the military had to hold bake sales. Only in our dreams, I'm afraid.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 85

Having read "Protestors risk infection to 'do whatever it takes'" (subheadlined "Pent-up anger, fatalism drive many to a choice: Marches over quarantine") in today's Washington Post, I'm trying not to feel guilty or over-reacting with my ultra-serious self-quarantine. On the one hand, I am quite active and physically fit for my age and gender. On the other, I have underlying medical issues of varying degrees of severity with my heart, lungs, and kidneys. Three strikes against me? Then there is having had pneumonia almost a year ago now. I only sought medical care because the husband took me and walked me in. After the exam and x-rays, the doc told the husband that it was a very good thing he brought me in when he did. I was by no means seriously ill; I recuperated at home. Left to my own devices, though, I could have ended up much worse. When they say that pneumonia can be one manifestation of covid-19, it scares me possibly more than the underlying health issues.

Moving on to The New York Times, I found this article: "When 511 Epidemiologists Expect to Fly, Hug and Do 18 Other Everyday Activities Again." Here's the intro: "Many epidemiologists are already comfortable going to the doctor, socializing with small groups outside or bringing in mail, despite the coronavirus. But unless there’s an effective vaccine or treatment first, it will be more than a year before many say they will be willing to go to concerts, sporting events or religious services. And some may never greet people with hugs or handshakes again."

There were only four of the 20 everyday activities that more than 41 percent of the sample said they would be willing to do "this summer:" "Bring in mail without precautions; See a doctor for a non-urgent appointment; Vacation overnight within driving distance; Get a haircut at a salon or barber shop." There were six activities that would take a year or more for 42 percent or more of the sample; 64 percent said they would wait that long to "Attend a sporting event, concert or play." Only three percent of the sample said they would be willing to do that "this summer." 

Possibly more interesting were the activities that more than one percent of the sample said they would "never again" do: "Bring in mail without precautions; Exercise at a gym or fitness studio;
Hug or shake hands when greeting a friend; Go out with someone you don't know well; Attend a church or other religious service."

The activity that most intrigues me is bringing in mail without precautions. It was the activity most likely to be done soon; 64 percent said they would do it this summer. However, three percent of the sample said they would never again do it. I think this most intrigues me because it is the one activity on the list that I have not stopped doing even temporarily. The mailbox is at the top of our driveway. Unless the husband is working outside or arriving home from work or the gym (and it's been over three months since he's done that), I am the one who walks up to fetch the mail, sometimes in the company of the family dog. When I bring the mail in, I open things that need to be opened; I don't wipe the outsides of the envelopes first. I think the husband may have done that once, but certainly not much more than that.

The activity most comparable to marching in a protest or demonstration would be the sporting event, concert, or play for which most of the sample would wait a year or more. Seeing the percent of people "in the know" who would not do that right now does, I admit, make me feel better about not breaking hermitting to go out myself. Any  port in a storm perhaps? Maybe, but I'll take what I can get right now.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 84

84 days.
12 weeks
3 months
25% of a year

Any way you look at it, this has been going on for a pretty long time now. I've tried to remember what I was thinking, back when this all started, in terms of how long it might last. I'm not sure I even had a duration in mind. There is some evidence from Los Angeles of an increase in cases since the reopening and discounting the protest crowds. Seven-day rolling averages of the number of cases and the percent of cases that come back positive both had very slight increases here in Virginia. I'll be watching the next couple of days to see if the arrows continue to point up. Would the governor slow down reopening as a result, having the state remain at Phase Two for longer than two to three weeks? What relative increase might motivate him to take the state back to Phase One. I can't see him taking the state back to Stage Zero; the uproar would be deafening. That duration may be longer than I igiht have thought.

We took our Sunday morning walk in the park earlier than usual today. Besides being cooler, there were fewer people there. I expect, though, that it did get as crowded as last week later. As of Tuesday, the restrooms will again be open, as will the playgrounds and picnic areas. Playground equipment will not be cleaned, so it's up to parents or caregivers to clean as they wish. If I had small children, I'm not sure how I would feel about taking them to a public playground. It would certainly amuse them, but just how worried would I be about their catching something?

I thought that as things reopened, I might be tempted to eat out even if it's just picking up take-out, or pop into a store for something I didn't want to wait to get until older son did the weekly grocery shopping. That hasn't happened. I'm learning that many of the things I think I need are things I really don't even want enough to try to get them. More goodness resulting from the pandemic, I guess.

In trying (unsuccessfully) to straighten up the dining room table yesterday, I came across a catalog from the tour company we used to visit Peru and were going to use to visit the Silk Road. I leafed through it, seeing several trips that appealed to me--Morocco, Jordan, Ethiopia--after which I stopped and pondered. Do I really want to visit those places? Not really if it has to be soon. The wide, wide world that used to look so inviting, stoking my curiosity, kindling my sense of adventure, no longer does, or no longer does at this specific moment. I have the image of one of the monsters from Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. It's standing outside my immediate frame of reference, where my here and now opens to that wide, wide world. It's got a conspiratorial look on its face as its index finger slowly bids me to come. Not right now, Monster, not right now.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 83

I've ordered a velcro-backed patch that shows flames coming out of a dumpster labeled "2020." The husband, older son, and I were waxing philosophically about what else could go wrong this year. Pandemic, massive demonstrations, plague of locusts (yes, there was one), what could come next. The Yellowstone volcano, one of us suggested. Several days later, I found an article noting increased seismic activity in that area. Bad news? Is the good news that it would be an extinction-level event after which nothing would matter?

I don't think this is the year anybody hoped for or would have predicted. One person might have forecast that there would be a pandemic of some nature. Another might have predicted that black lives might finally matter. Most people probably would have predicted some form of white-on-black violence or police-on-black violence. I'd bet nobody would have predicted two full months - March and April - with no school shootings. Is the world, as a planet not all the people, in a triple biorhythm low? I mean, really!

All that said, there is something of a good side to 2020 so far, at least in some small part. For many, staying at - and working from - home have helped us slow down a bit. We may still have to log on to a computer and start working at 8:00 am local time, but we don't have to fight traffic or weather or the parking gods to get to an office by 7:50 to start work there at 8:00. Small kids at home may be a distraction, but we might see a new side of them, something we don't see when they - and us - are tired in the evening. We can't go to the gym, but we can take a walk in the neighborhood or on a community trail. The outdoors for the most part smells much better than a gym or locker room. Without the driving to and from work or the gym, we might have some extra time in our day, time we can spend reading, hobbying, or in quality time with spouse and/or kids. In all those ways, maybe 2020 hasn't been all bad after all. On the other hand, in oh so many ways 2020 has sucked royally; I gotta be honest.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 82

Older son says that he read the CDC is concerned that, in the wake of the demonstrations, people are forgetting the novel coronavirus. I don't doubt that they are. I actually had to scan the front page of this morning's Washington Post to see where there might be some news of the virus. It may well be, though, that the mass demonstrations that have been occurring nightly for over a week, not to mention the even larger one planned for Washington, DC tomorrow, will bring on a second wave of covid-19 cases. The virus will bump the demonstrations off the front page just as the demonstrations have, for now, bumped the virus onto some inner page(s).

I have mentioned the devil bag. It could use some fine tuning aka tightening of most of the belts to get rid of the holes, but for now it is done. I got a rigid heddle loom for Christmas last year and have finally gotten around to learning to use it. I'm still climbing the hill that is the weaving learning curve. I was perusing the book Time to Weave, and came across the directions for a container made using bias plaited weaving. I've seen these done in paper or the skins of juice boxes, and thought of using my collection of random martial arts belts to make one. This was a good idea only in the sense of stretching myself and giving me practice with the art of patience. Using flexible strips of fabric rather than stiffer pieces of paper made the whole thing multiple times harder.

I started out trying to be too creative with the belts arranged such that there no belt touched another of the same color. Much frustration and profanity later, I took everything apart and started over. The weaving is done using groups of four belts, so I arranged the belts into easily recognizable groups of four. It still took several sessions (I would quit when to continue would have damaged the work-in-progress or myself), and finishing the top took even longer. But I did it. I expect that it will be filled with skeins of yarn when I unpack my yarn stash after the floors have been done.

I just heard from my sister (by other parents) in Maine that He Who Shall Not Be Named is today visiting a plant there that makes swabs for covid-19 testing. She notes that "when the President arrives at the facility, he will not do what EVERY OTHER PERSON WHO ENTERS THE FACILITY MUST DO: don a smock, hairnet, booties, and mask. As a result, every swab produced during the visit will have to be incinerated." It's all about him. Yes, the people who work in that plant deserve to be thanked and their work, applauded. But to then make them throw out however many hundreds or thousands of swabs they make while he is there just belittles their efforts. 

But in smile-worthy news, Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington, DC, had the street in front of the White House emblazoned with "Black Lives Matter" in bright yellow paint. She also invoked the third amendment to get the National Guard out of the city. The little-known third amendment says that troops cannot be housed in private residences or facilities. In other words, the Guard should not be staying in hotels in the city. Mayor Bowser rocks!

As for the huge demonstration planned for DC tomorrow, let's hope it is not too interesting.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 81

I spent most of the day fighting the devil bag, a bias pleated bag I'm trying to weave out of martial arts belts. If I can subdue it tonight or tomorrow morning, I'll include a photo in tomorrow's post.

Have a good evening!

The View from the Hermitage, Day 80

In breaking news, they've charged the other three officers in the George Floyd case and upped the charges against the officer who kept his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck. The district attorney, however, says that getting convictions will not be easy. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? How bad will the demonstrations be if some or all of the officers are acquitted? If so, federal charges on violating Mr. Floyd's civil rights might be possible; I don't know the specifics of the law.

On the coronavirus front, Dr. Fauci says that we might have 100 million doses of a vaccine ready by the end of the year. Interestingly, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 7 in 10 Americans say they would get it if immunizations were free. Turning that around, 3 in 10 say they would not get it. Of that group, 14 percent cited "Don't trust vaccines in general" as the reason why they would not seek out the vaccine. I'd take the vaccine. Shoot, I'd take it even if I had to pay for it. I paid $90some this spring for a typhoid vaccine I ended up not needing since our trip was cancelled. It's good for five years, though, and there may be other trips in that time.

Never having talked with anyone who eschews vaccines, I wonder sometimes why they would not get them. I can somewhat understand the situation with Christian Scientists; it's part of their religion. Are the others conspiracy theorists who see the vaccines as government attempts to tag people? Infect people with a very delayed action something? Vaccines come from science, and science is bad? My dad was a biology teacher, so "science" was never a dirty word in my world. Weighing the consequences of covid-19, measles, pneumonia, etc., I'd rather be vaccinated than come down with whatever the vaccine will protect me from.

The governor gives another virus briefing tomorrow. I've gotten in the habit of watching them even if they sometimes raise my high-to-begin-with blood pressure. I can always be doing something as I listen; the graphics they have are often hard to see anyway. I'm interested in seeing how the gym to which we belong plans to restrict clients on the premises to 30 percent of occupancy, not that I plan to go back to working out there in the near future. The Nordic Track ski machine at the Hermitage is doing just fine. I do occasionally miss working with the trainer I was seeing, but under the state's Phase Two guidelines, a trainer has to stay 10 feet away from a client. I am not bench pressing any amount of weight without the trainer spotting for me.

Day 80. Did I hear an "are we there yet?" from the back seat?

The View from the Hermitage, Day 79

The first hour of the governor's briefing centered on racial inequity without discussing in any detail last night's gathering in Richmond at which, before the stated curfew, the crowd got tear-gassed. Younger son and his domestic partner (I have also called her his spouse-equivalent or plain old daughter-in-law despite the fact that they aren't married at least not as far as I know, but they've been together 11.5 years) were out for a walk and happened by the gathering just before the gas was fired. When they first posted reports on Facebook, I thought they were part of the protest; they say they were just walking. They said that the police chief later said it was three policemen who were not following orders and who would no longer be out on the street working the protests.

And then there was He Who Shall Not Be Named who had the crowds outside the White House flash-banged and tear-gassed so that he could walk across the street for a photo op at the church at which all presidents since James Madison have worshipped at least once. I imagine that the walk through the park and across the street was meant to make up for his hiding in the White House bunker on Friday. Probably playing to his evangelical base, he even held up a Bible as a prop. The Episcopal bishop overseeing the diocese was not pleased.

And there is me, not pleased that the governor is moving most of the state to Phase II of reopening on Friday. I must be looking at different metrics than the governor's office is, because I don't see things improving as much as they do. They have yet to really even meet the conditions the governor laid out when describing how the phases would proceed. Needless to say, the husband knew what the governor had said based on the expletive I shouted at my laptop.

A quickie post, I know, but the afternoon time not spent watching the briefing was spent wrestling with trying to weave a basket out of martial arts belts. Stay tuned tomorrow for details on that.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 78

I liked life better when the pandemic was the lead story and there were no curfews or closed roads into or around cities that burned nightly. A random virus seems easier to fight than the divisiveness that probably has always lay beneath daily concerns but that has been transformed into chaos by He Who Shall Not Be Named. His handling of the pandemic has been bad enough but pales in comparison to his handling of the protests. At least with the virus, there are scientists or doctors I trust--Anthony Fauci, for instance--to guide us. I don't really see someone who I would trust to guide us through the cultural divide that grows wider every day.

The local demonstrations have so far been peaceful. We had our local taste of violent protest on August 12, 2017, after which there has been no need to specify in what state Charlottesville is located. We exist as simply "Charlottesville." I'd like to think that the violence three years ago will act as a shield against violence that might come to pass now. I am probably naive. I did not know demonstrations were occurring locally on Saturday until I saw the Facebook post of a friend going to take part. I must not routinely check the correct news sources to hear of such things before they happened. I would not have gone, though, even had I known about it. Besides the self-quarantining, I have been known to have panic attacks in crowds and do my best to avoid being in them.

The two events--the virus and the racial unrest--are, of course, linked. While George Floyd's murder was undoubtedly the spark, much of the fire since and in other cities has likely been fanned by people venting their frustration over the social restrictions or economic consequences brought on by the virus. Or am I being naive again? I don't want to belittle the George Floyd incident, but there have been too many similar incidents in recent years that led to mass demonstrations but only in the city in which the incident happened. I'm thinking of Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015. There were riots, but they did not spread to cities in all 50 states nor did they occur nightly for almost a week.

I find it difficult to wrap my head around the violence, wondering if, in the long run, it does more harm than good. Is it a distraction from the incident that started it? Will it keep us from addressing the issues in a relevant way? Or is my naivety showing one more time?