As life things have turned out, I shall have the chance to be even more of a hermit later this month. It turns out that we will not be able to live in the basement while the hardwood floors upstairs are refinished. Not wanting to look for a hotel that would accept the family dog and cat, and not wanting to board them, we inquired of younger son and his spouse-equivalent whether we could use their cabin for a week. They live in Richmond City, but own 155 acres north of the city on which currently sits a simple two-bedroom house or cabin. They of course said yes, because that's what families do. It's not clear exactly which week we'll be doing this, maybe the week of the 20th or the next week.
It turns out that using the Internet at the cabin requires driving out to the main road and down it about a mile to a church parking lot. That's also the closest spot at which it's possible to get a cellular signal. If the husband needs Internet access for something major, he can drive back here (it's less than two hours driving) and stay with older son. I expect I will spend much of the day we come back here deleting superfluous emails and otherwise tying up digital loose ends. To be safe, I guess we should plan that one of us will drive to the church every evening just to check for any near or other emergency messages.
Needless to say, I have already created a pile of creative things to take with me. There will, after all, be lots of time that needs filling. A couple of needle felting kits I've neglected. Some fabric ink plus t-shirts and a canvas bag that need embellishing. My new small loom and some yarn that needs weaving. A book to finish and a couple more to start. I will, of course, take too many things, but that is definitely better than not taking enough and having to drive into civilization to buy things I don't really need.
The final plus side of this is that we may not need to rent a pod in which to store our furniture. If we will not be living in the basement, there's a hell of a lot of space down there. We can shift things and get half of the garage empty for things such as a long couch that will not make the curve to go down the stairs to the basement.
Meanwhile, the number of covid-19 cases in Virginia creeps back up. And who knows what this long weekend might spawn. Setting Virginia aside for a moment, I cannot imagine what it must be like to live in a state such as Arizona, Florida, South Carolina, or Texas. I expect my anxiety would be somewhere through the roof and in the clouds even were I hermitting as seriously as possible. No matter what I read or learned, I would likely feel as if virus seeds were wafting in the air all around me just waiting to slip in.
They took three more Confederate statues down in Richmond yesterday. One was of Matthew Fontaine Maury, known as "pathfinder of the seas." Naval ROTC at the University of Virginia resides in Maury Hall; I wonder how long it will be before the powers that be rename that building. The other two statues were cannons erected at the request of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society. The inscription beneath one is "This cannon marks the location of the second line of the Confederate defenses of Richmond." The inscription beneath the other notes that it commemorates "the spot where in 1861 a large earthwork of the inner line of defense was constructed." Upon hearing those inscriptions, older son and the husband suggested that the cannons might have been left there with a line added to each inscription noting that those defenses did not hold. The Confederacy lost. As one of the advisors of HWSNBN noted, history is written by the winners.
Combining the novel coronavirus with the current wave of demonstrations, an article I read yesterday suggested that the demonstrations did not contribute to the surge in covid-19 cases. I find that hard to believe. Evidently, the Memorial Day gatherings did contribute to the surge. If so, I expect that the July 4 gatherings tonight and tomorrow will contribute to their own surges. Lots to look forward to this month.
Speaking of July 4 gatherings, older son has endured nightly fireworks barrages set off by his neighbors. He noted that he's not sure what fireworks they might be planning for the weekend, but yesterday watched as a porta-a-potty was delivered to their yard.
2 comments:
Older son has my sincere sympathies. We have fireworks set-off-ers in the neighborhood, but probably 1/4-1/2 miles away,,not next door or just down the street. We hear booms, but not too closely.
I don't expect good things to come from July 4th celebrations unless everyone keeps a mask on the whole time. Lots of photos I've seen from protests show most people wearing masks, but that could also be selective photographing.
As for testing, I know a young girl and her brother who think they have Covid-19 but cannot get tested! I sincerely they don't develop bad enough symptoms to be hospitalized (probably the only way they would get tested)!
After this length of time a change in scenery will feel like a holiday. Think of it - looking out of the window and seeing something different.
I'm pretty sure that here this weekend will come with photos of pubs rammed solid with drinkers and would be diners wandering the streets looking for somewhere to eat. If your 4th is mostly outdoors it will fair better than ours, here people will be inside because outdoor seating will be wet and windy.
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