Older son, the husband, and I took Lassa, the family dog, on a "pack walk" at a nearby park this morning. The dog park was limited to ten "patrons (humans)" who were asked to keep their distance from each other. Lassa views the dog park as the opportunity to get petted by any and every human there, and there were no humans there at the time, so we just walked. Because we all walk at somewhat different paces and because older son was going where Lass led him, keeping a social distance was easy. All the other people we saw were solitary with the exception of a couple running into the park as we drove out. She was pushing a pram that likely held in infant. He was pushing a double stroller holding two toddlers. Since they couldn't really keep social distance between adult and child being pushed, social distance between the two adults was probably superfluous.
On the news front, once again The Post's front page was all pandemic all the time. The Sports section (now only available on Sunday) was all of six pages, one of which held a full page ad. One and two-thirds of a page were devoted to a list of sports-related movies chosen by Post sportswriters, columnists, and editors. I've seen only four of the 32 movies listed; perhaps I really should get out more. On a related note, the posts of an internet-based quilt group to which I belong have of late focused on what to binge-watch or just watch while hermitting. Most of the titles mentioned are unfamiliar to me, possibly the only person in the country who has never watched any of "Downton Abbey," series or movie, or the movie "Titanic."
My kids are grown, so I won't years from now be asked by my children, "What did you do in the pandemic, Mom?" I'm clearly not watching TV, at least anything other than the news. I am likely on this computer too much, checking email and Facebook far too often. Writing this blog takes more than a few minutes each day. For some strange reason, officers of the quilt guild for which I am webmaster have used their free time to come up with more than several additions to the guild website. I have two non-trivially sized additions to make once I'm done or take a break from writing this post. I was working on a bag my local guild is doing as a sew-along, but I got bored with that and yesterday pieced a small quilt or large wall hanging. Creative undertakings help me ignore whatever news I am not hearing at the time.
While I do follow news of the pandemic on the television or computer, I probably would not need to. What I hear from the husband and older son would be sufficient to tell me things could be going better. I fear being sucked into the news coverage, becoming too obsessed with the who, what, when, etc. of the larger story, in which case my current doses of anti-depressants might not be enough. At the same time, though, I don't want to be the ostrich burying its head in the sand. There is a happy medium out there between too much and too little pandemic news. Some days I can find it; other days, I can't.
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Saturday, March 21, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 6
Once again, every article on the front page of The Washington Post is about the covid-19 pandemic. The Monday through Saturday Sports section is no more, sports having been relegated to be the last pages of the Style section except for on Sunday. When the husband comes up from the bedroom, his first priority is coffee. The next is checking various news sources on his smartphone. I could not escape all this if I tried.
As older son and I walked the family dog this morning, we discussed the current administration in general terms. Older son is reading a book about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. He said he'd had to pause reading the description of FEMA's arriving and trying to normalize things as much as possible. We agreed that we never thought we'd say it, but we both miss President George W. Bush. He, or at least his advisors, knew what circumstances needed. Bush's speech at Ground Zero was what the country needed to hear at that time. Obama's comments after a number of school shootings (Aside: I should not be able to write "a number of" there.) showed his compassion as well as his belief that things should change. Obama's breaking into "Amazing Grace" at the funeral in Charleston--it was what was needed at that time.
And what words or acts are needed now? Certainly not yesterday's incident in the press room, Peter Alexander's question about what the president would tell people who are scared. The President's answer? Words to the effect that the question was a "very nasty" one and Alexander was a "terrible" reporter. The quizzical look on Alexander's face was priceless. It was not a bad question. In fact, it was a softball question that the president could and should have hit out of the park. A gimme presented on a silver platter. Alexander later posed the same question to Vice President Pence, who gave a very appropriate answer: "Don't be afraid. Be vigilant."
What do I need? One in five Americans has been told to stay home; the rest are supposed to distance themselves socially. While many are, I'd like to hear that at least more if not all of the others are doing the same. The photos from Spring Break scare me, as does a photograph the husband showed me of thousands of people in Bangladesh, crowded cheek to jowl to pray for the end of the virus. I know that Bangladesh ranks 10th in the world in terms of population density, but still, can't they do better? Older son says that the people in the house diagonally across the street from him are having nightly barbecue parties on the front lawn. People come and go, and social distance seems a foreign concept.
I need to know that the people leading the federal efforts are the right ones. Vice President Pence may know what people want to hear, but he does not have the appropriate knowledge and experience to direct the federal task force in charge of it all. And don't get me started on Jared Kushner's involvement. If Anthony Fauci dies or gets fired, we're doomed.
I need to know that contract or wage employees are not being sent to a poorhouse or, worse, left high and dry. Our gym is waiving the dues due on April 1, but members who want to can pay their dues, with the money going to help staff in need. Three guesses what we are going, and the first two don't count. I need to know that kids who are too young are not being left home alone because their day care or school has closed. Paychecks vs. children. A reporter on NBC News last night noted that many people are facing Sophie's choice right now.
And I need to know something that no one can say right now, that this is not the new normal. There are so many walls between cultures, genders, religions already; physical distance only magnifies those differences. I need to know that hugging will someday be okay again. I need to know that one day I will get up and be able to read five or six articles on The Post's first page that are not all on the same subject. I need a Sports section, damn it! I need so many things I used to take for granted.
As older son and I walked the family dog this morning, we discussed the current administration in general terms. Older son is reading a book about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. He said he'd had to pause reading the description of FEMA's arriving and trying to normalize things as much as possible. We agreed that we never thought we'd say it, but we both miss President George W. Bush. He, or at least his advisors, knew what circumstances needed. Bush's speech at Ground Zero was what the country needed to hear at that time. Obama's comments after a number of school shootings (Aside: I should not be able to write "a number of" there.) showed his compassion as well as his belief that things should change. Obama's breaking into "Amazing Grace" at the funeral in Charleston--it was what was needed at that time.
And what words or acts are needed now? Certainly not yesterday's incident in the press room, Peter Alexander's question about what the president would tell people who are scared. The President's answer? Words to the effect that the question was a "very nasty" one and Alexander was a "terrible" reporter. The quizzical look on Alexander's face was priceless. It was not a bad question. In fact, it was a softball question that the president could and should have hit out of the park. A gimme presented on a silver platter. Alexander later posed the same question to Vice President Pence, who gave a very appropriate answer: "Don't be afraid. Be vigilant."
What do I need? One in five Americans has been told to stay home; the rest are supposed to distance themselves socially. While many are, I'd like to hear that at least more if not all of the others are doing the same. The photos from Spring Break scare me, as does a photograph the husband showed me of thousands of people in Bangladesh, crowded cheek to jowl to pray for the end of the virus. I know that Bangladesh ranks 10th in the world in terms of population density, but still, can't they do better? Older son says that the people in the house diagonally across the street from him are having nightly barbecue parties on the front lawn. People come and go, and social distance seems a foreign concept.
I need to know that the people leading the federal efforts are the right ones. Vice President Pence may know what people want to hear, but he does not have the appropriate knowledge and experience to direct the federal task force in charge of it all. And don't get me started on Jared Kushner's involvement. If Anthony Fauci dies or gets fired, we're doomed.
I need to know that contract or wage employees are not being sent to a poorhouse or, worse, left high and dry. Our gym is waiving the dues due on April 1, but members who want to can pay their dues, with the money going to help staff in need. Three guesses what we are going, and the first two don't count. I need to know that kids who are too young are not being left home alone because their day care or school has closed. Paychecks vs. children. A reporter on NBC News last night noted that many people are facing Sophie's choice right now.
And I need to know something that no one can say right now, that this is not the new normal. There are so many walls between cultures, genders, religions already; physical distance only magnifies those differences. I need to know that hugging will someday be okay again. I need to know that one day I will get up and be able to read five or six articles on The Post's first page that are not all on the same subject. I need a Sports section, damn it! I need so many things I used to take for granted.
Friday, March 20, 2020
The View from the Hermitage Day 5
Captain's Log, Star Date Sometime...
Older son arrived this morning and reported that the governor of California had put the state in lock-down. He opined that he would not be surprised if, late this afternoon after the stock markets close, a similar lock-down would be put into effect nationwide. He told me to be thinking of grocery items that won't go bad and to think in terms of months, not days. We thought that were a national lock-down put in place, it would not start until Monday. That said, if a national lock-down were to be declared, last weekend would be nothing compared to how crowded stores would be this weekend.
I admit that, in response to that thought, I got on chewy.com to order extra pet food and amazon.com to order some extra female-hygiene items. I did not check to see if amazon had toilet paper or disinfectant wipes for sale; I did not want to be tempted to buy some. We have enough toilet paper for quite a while and, well, TMI on the other measures I'd be willing to take.
My nail lady texted to ask me if I planned to keep my appointment next week. I told her I was leaning against it. She texted back in a few minutes to make it a moot point. The owner was closing the salon after today. It would be interesting--and, no, I don't plan on doing this--to drive around and see just what places are still open. Many eating establishments are take-out or delivery only given the limit of 10 people in one space. A couple of restaurants near the university and its hospital were staying open so that hospital employees had somewhere other than the hospital cafeteria at which they could obtain food. Those places were forced to shut down because too many college-age people were trying to get in or were crowding the outdoor seating. Older son said that he had heard that violating the 10-person rule (is that anything like the 5-second rule of dropped food?) could result in the loss of a business license.
Buying gift cards to use later has been suggested as one way to help restaurants stay afloat during these trying times. When I mentioned that to the husband, he somewhat snorted that what if the restaurant had closed by the time the pandemic ended and we would again be able to go out to eat. At one point, I was the cynic in this marriage, but things change over time. I have not purchased any gift cards largely because most of the restaurants on the list were places to which we had no interest in going or returning. So far, cooking all our meals has not been a burden. Given the lack of errands to run, there's not really any time pressure to use as an excuse not to cook.
One thing I do miss is getting decent workouts. I can't run thanks to a knee replacement, and walking takes a longer time to get a good sweat on, especially if the resident dog accompanies. I may resort to pulling out the three-decades-old Nordic Track ski machine and see if it still works. I've been working on strength training with a trainer. We have a nice assortment of hand weights here, but I don't want to do something wrong and end up injured. That's why I wanted to work with a trainer in the first place. I've been doing push-ups and abs (crunches, atomic sit-ups, and the like), but it's hard for me to push myself when doing calisthenics.
And that's about it for this star date.
Captain Jean
Older son arrived this morning and reported that the governor of California had put the state in lock-down. He opined that he would not be surprised if, late this afternoon after the stock markets close, a similar lock-down would be put into effect nationwide. He told me to be thinking of grocery items that won't go bad and to think in terms of months, not days. We thought that were a national lock-down put in place, it would not start until Monday. That said, if a national lock-down were to be declared, last weekend would be nothing compared to how crowded stores would be this weekend.
I admit that, in response to that thought, I got on chewy.com to order extra pet food and amazon.com to order some extra female-hygiene items. I did not check to see if amazon had toilet paper or disinfectant wipes for sale; I did not want to be tempted to buy some. We have enough toilet paper for quite a while and, well, TMI on the other measures I'd be willing to take.
My nail lady texted to ask me if I planned to keep my appointment next week. I told her I was leaning against it. She texted back in a few minutes to make it a moot point. The owner was closing the salon after today. It would be interesting--and, no, I don't plan on doing this--to drive around and see just what places are still open. Many eating establishments are take-out or delivery only given the limit of 10 people in one space. A couple of restaurants near the university and its hospital were staying open so that hospital employees had somewhere other than the hospital cafeteria at which they could obtain food. Those places were forced to shut down because too many college-age people were trying to get in or were crowding the outdoor seating. Older son said that he had heard that violating the 10-person rule (is that anything like the 5-second rule of dropped food?) could result in the loss of a business license.
Buying gift cards to use later has been suggested as one way to help restaurants stay afloat during these trying times. When I mentioned that to the husband, he somewhat snorted that what if the restaurant had closed by the time the pandemic ended and we would again be able to go out to eat. At one point, I was the cynic in this marriage, but things change over time. I have not purchased any gift cards largely because most of the restaurants on the list were places to which we had no interest in going or returning. So far, cooking all our meals has not been a burden. Given the lack of errands to run, there's not really any time pressure to use as an excuse not to cook.
One thing I do miss is getting decent workouts. I can't run thanks to a knee replacement, and walking takes a longer time to get a good sweat on, especially if the resident dog accompanies. I may resort to pulling out the three-decades-old Nordic Track ski machine and see if it still works. I've been working on strength training with a trainer. We have a nice assortment of hand weights here, but I don't want to do something wrong and end up injured. That's why I wanted to work with a trainer in the first place. I've been doing push-ups and abs (crunches, atomic sit-ups, and the like), but it's hard for me to push myself when doing calisthenics.
And that's about it for this star date.
Captain Jean
Thursday, March 19, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 4
The Washington Post's sports section was all of three pages this morning, one of which was filled with Tom Brady. The husband commented that at least for once, they had scores of every sporting event, not just the popular ones. There is one article on the Post's front page not directly linked to the coronavirus; that would be an Election 2020 article, "Sanders may be open to dropping out, team signals." In the 28-page section A, there is one page with no report related to the coronavirus while three of the pages are full-page ads. The pandemic has become our life.
Time is distorted. I look at my watch to see what day of the week it is. There is no "I did this weekly thing yesterday, so today is Thursday." I can't connect one day to another by personal events. The totals of confirmed infected and those who have died rise so quickly that I think several days must have passed. The data analyst I once was tries to repress what the sharp rise really means. The best description of time may be something I saw on Facebook (sorry, but I don't remember the source): What a year this week has been.
And it's going to last a lot longer, I fear, having seen the photos of the Florida beaches during Spring Break. I read a local report of crowded fraternity parties and a large number of students massing and mingling on one of the university's playing fields. Having heard that the number of young people hospitalized with covid-19 is rising, these gatherings could be the breeding ground for the next viral wave. Let's hope that it isn't a tsunami.
It occurred to me that the constant co-existing with the husband could be a harbinger of his retirement. I am used to spending full days in the company of a dog and a cat; having another human in the house 24-7 is something new. So far, so good. That said, he's spending most daytime hours in what passes for his home office, with the door closed to protect the yarn that is also in the room from the wool-crazy cat. I remember a senior woman telling me the story of what happened when her husband retired. She worked part-time from home. When passing through the dining room to get to the kitchen, she found her husband sitting at the table patiently waiting. The punchline to the story was what she said next: "I married him for life, not for lunch." He learned that fairly quickly as I recall.
The White House has issued a document, "15 Days to Slow the Spread." Fifteen days should slow the spread, but if everyone immediately goes back to living their pre-coronavirus lives, we won't have crossed the finish line. Our lives in the age of coronavirus are not normal, and they may never be again. Fifty is the new 30? Abnormality is the new normal. I do not expect to jump back into action when we reach the 15-day mark. Distancing socially for 15 days means we don't have it or catch it during those 15 days. It's not as if the 15 days gives us the immunity to jump right back into the world. Social distancing protects us while we are doing it, but once we stop, all bets are off.
What a year this week has been. And next week's year may be no different.
Time is distorted. I look at my watch to see what day of the week it is. There is no "I did this weekly thing yesterday, so today is Thursday." I can't connect one day to another by personal events. The totals of confirmed infected and those who have died rise so quickly that I think several days must have passed. The data analyst I once was tries to repress what the sharp rise really means. The best description of time may be something I saw on Facebook (sorry, but I don't remember the source): What a year this week has been.
And it's going to last a lot longer, I fear, having seen the photos of the Florida beaches during Spring Break. I read a local report of crowded fraternity parties and a large number of students massing and mingling on one of the university's playing fields. Having heard that the number of young people hospitalized with covid-19 is rising, these gatherings could be the breeding ground for the next viral wave. Let's hope that it isn't a tsunami.
It occurred to me that the constant co-existing with the husband could be a harbinger of his retirement. I am used to spending full days in the company of a dog and a cat; having another human in the house 24-7 is something new. So far, so good. That said, he's spending most daytime hours in what passes for his home office, with the door closed to protect the yarn that is also in the room from the wool-crazy cat. I remember a senior woman telling me the story of what happened when her husband retired. She worked part-time from home. When passing through the dining room to get to the kitchen, she found her husband sitting at the table patiently waiting. The punchline to the story was what she said next: "I married him for life, not for lunch." He learned that fairly quickly as I recall.
The White House has issued a document, "15 Days to Slow the Spread." Fifteen days should slow the spread, but if everyone immediately goes back to living their pre-coronavirus lives, we won't have crossed the finish line. Our lives in the age of coronavirus are not normal, and they may never be again. Fifty is the new 30? Abnormality is the new normal. I do not expect to jump back into action when we reach the 15-day mark. Distancing socially for 15 days means we don't have it or catch it during those 15 days. It's not as if the 15 days gives us the immunity to jump right back into the world. Social distancing protects us while we are doing it, but once we stop, all bets are off.
What a year this week has been. And next week's year may be no different.
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 3
The University of Virginia has effectively shut down for now. Were I still working there, I would not have been affected given that I already worked from home. Now, though,
To be clear, those who must report for work will have to do so. Those who can work remotely will have to do so.
It appears I was ahead of the times.
Previously, students were encouraged to go home but had the option of staying on Grounds (UVA does not have a "campus;" it has "Grounds." Now, though, students
must make plans to leave by Friday, March 20, unless they meet one of the following criteria: 1) international students who are unable to secure travel to return home; 2) persons for whom their on-Grounds residence is their only home (including graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff for whom their on-Grounds residence is their permanent address); or 3) students for whom traveling home would present a severe health or safety risk.
Graduation has also been cancelled, which will please some students and parents and likely displease more. Younger son "walked the Lawn" (or went through the formal graduation bit), while older son did not. I must admit that going to see younger son walk (and we did not actually see him until later, at the departmental ceremony at which he received his diploma) was enough for me. I went through the formal graduation ceremony at the undergraduate level (not at UVA) but passed on it at for my master's and doctorate. My doctoral supervisor left UVA a week after my orals; he had told me that had he stayed here, I would have been walking.
Because I have not been out much at all, I have not seen directly how local life has changed. There was less traffic yesterday when I went for my mammogram, but that could also have been due to UVA students moving home and K-12 schools not operating. My neighbors appear still to be working. I have seen a grocery store clerk and the owner of a computer services firm heading out to their respective jobs. The owner of a construction firm has also been out and about. We actually have several houses here with family member(s) who already worked from home.
I'm not sure how many eating establishments are still open and how many are closed or only serving take-out. We live several miles outside town so I don't know if any of the meal delivery services would come here. I'm not craving restaurant food, though. I'm instead enjoying making meals here and being able to eat them with the husband who has no gym to visit on his way home from work. Normally, I'm hungry for dinner before he gets home, so we eat separately.
I checked the various news sources on my phone first thing this morning. "First thing" was earlier than hoped for thanks to not sleeping at all well. I've looked at some updates as they appear on my phone. I may turn on CNN as I'm getting dinner out. The angel on one shoulder wants to be informed while the devil on the other insists that no news is good news. It is good, I suppose, that the news is so easily obtained should I want to pursue it. In the days of the Spanish flu pandemic, news did not come quickly. If I want to know how a family member or friend is, all I need to do is phone. Total aside here, but I just realized that there have been far fewer junk mail calls yesterday and today than last week or the week before. Maybe the spam-callers aren't filling the cheek-to-jowl phone banks, but keeping a social distance from each other and giving all of us a break.
Boredom? Not for me, anyway. I have enough fiber supplies to last for more that=n a few months. I think I'll go back to my studio and work on the bag below.
To be clear, those who must report for work will have to do so. Those who can work remotely will have to do so.
It appears I was ahead of the times.
Previously, students were encouraged to go home but had the option of staying on Grounds (UVA does not have a "campus;" it has "Grounds." Now, though, students
must make plans to leave by Friday, March 20, unless they meet one of the following criteria: 1) international students who are unable to secure travel to return home; 2) persons for whom their on-Grounds residence is their only home (including graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff for whom their on-Grounds residence is their permanent address); or 3) students for whom traveling home would present a severe health or safety risk.
Graduation has also been cancelled, which will please some students and parents and likely displease more. Younger son "walked the Lawn" (or went through the formal graduation bit), while older son did not. I must admit that going to see younger son walk (and we did not actually see him until later, at the departmental ceremony at which he received his diploma) was enough for me. I went through the formal graduation ceremony at the undergraduate level (not at UVA) but passed on it at for my master's and doctorate. My doctoral supervisor left UVA a week after my orals; he had told me that had he stayed here, I would have been walking.
Because I have not been out much at all, I have not seen directly how local life has changed. There was less traffic yesterday when I went for my mammogram, but that could also have been due to UVA students moving home and K-12 schools not operating. My neighbors appear still to be working. I have seen a grocery store clerk and the owner of a computer services firm heading out to their respective jobs. The owner of a construction firm has also been out and about. We actually have several houses here with family member(s) who already worked from home.
I'm not sure how many eating establishments are still open and how many are closed or only serving take-out. We live several miles outside town so I don't know if any of the meal delivery services would come here. I'm not craving restaurant food, though. I'm instead enjoying making meals here and being able to eat them with the husband who has no gym to visit on his way home from work. Normally, I'm hungry for dinner before he gets home, so we eat separately.
I checked the various news sources on my phone first thing this morning. "First thing" was earlier than hoped for thanks to not sleeping at all well. I've looked at some updates as they appear on my phone. I may turn on CNN as I'm getting dinner out. The angel on one shoulder wants to be informed while the devil on the other insists that no news is good news. It is good, I suppose, that the news is so easily obtained should I want to pursue it. In the days of the Spanish flu pandemic, news did not come quickly. If I want to know how a family member or friend is, all I need to do is phone. Total aside here, but I just realized that there have been far fewer junk mail calls yesterday and today than last week or the week before. Maybe the spam-callers aren't filling the cheek-to-jowl phone banks, but keeping a social distance from each other and giving all of us a break.
Boredom? Not for me, anyway. I have enough fiber supplies to last for more that=n a few months. I think I'll go back to my studio and work on the bag below.
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 2
I ventured out for my annual breast-squishing today, and that's it until the husband and I take my car to the shop tomorrow night for its annual physical. We'll leave her there tomorrow evening, and see about getting her the next day. She seems to be running well, so I'm hoping it's just topping off various fluids and checking various other things.
Older son has been keeping a close eye on us. He insists that he will bring us anything we need from the grocery store, drug store, and so on. This morning, he took my mother's laundry back to her assisted living facility so that I would not have to. When he heard we would be dropping my car off tomorrow evening after the shop had closed (social distancing), he said that he would go by the next afternoon to pay and pick up the key so that we could go get it after the shop had closed.
It's a bit hard to get used to a kid, even an adult kid, offering to do so much. I guess that if he were doing something because he thought we were not able do it, it would be different. While emailing him a recipe (for rice, corn, and cheese casserole), I thanked him for all he was doing or offering to do. He noted that we were important to him, and that knowing we were "squared away" helped take away any worries he might have. We raised a good adult.
We heard today from the company with whom we had booked a May 14 trip to part of the Silk Road, in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. Needless to say, the trip has been canceled due to covid-19. The company said we could defer the trip until a later date or take a full refund. I told them that with the husband's being a university professor, it was tricky to find a tour that meshed with his teaching schedule. I asked for the full refund but noted that if a rescheduled, later tour did fit with the husband's teaching schedule we would re-book with them.
I must admit that while I had my fingers crossed that we would get a full refund, I wasn't 100 percent sure that we would. I know that hotels and flights are often booked in advance, and that money might not be recoverable. We had purchased trip insurance from the tour company, and I figured that if it was the insurance handling the reimbursement we would not see the money we'd paid for the two policies. Not so. We are getting the full cost, including what we paid for the trip insurance, back. In case you're wondering, the tour company is Odysseys Unlimited, and we think they're a pretty class act.
And so we have survived Day 2 in the hermitage. I haven't gotten bored yet even if I might be boring anyone reading this. I checked the news feeds less today than I did yesterday. I hope that doesn't mean that life in the hermitage is becoming the norm.
Older son has been keeping a close eye on us. He insists that he will bring us anything we need from the grocery store, drug store, and so on. This morning, he took my mother's laundry back to her assisted living facility so that I would not have to. When he heard we would be dropping my car off tomorrow evening after the shop had closed (social distancing), he said that he would go by the next afternoon to pay and pick up the key so that we could go get it after the shop had closed.
It's a bit hard to get used to a kid, even an adult kid, offering to do so much. I guess that if he were doing something because he thought we were not able do it, it would be different. While emailing him a recipe (for rice, corn, and cheese casserole), I thanked him for all he was doing or offering to do. He noted that we were important to him, and that knowing we were "squared away" helped take away any worries he might have. We raised a good adult.
We heard today from the company with whom we had booked a May 14 trip to part of the Silk Road, in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. Needless to say, the trip has been canceled due to covid-19. The company said we could defer the trip until a later date or take a full refund. I told them that with the husband's being a university professor, it was tricky to find a tour that meshed with his teaching schedule. I asked for the full refund but noted that if a rescheduled, later tour did fit with the husband's teaching schedule we would re-book with them.
I must admit that while I had my fingers crossed that we would get a full refund, I wasn't 100 percent sure that we would. I know that hotels and flights are often booked in advance, and that money might not be recoverable. We had purchased trip insurance from the tour company, and I figured that if it was the insurance handling the reimbursement we would not see the money we'd paid for the two policies. Not so. We are getting the full cost, including what we paid for the trip insurance, back. In case you're wondering, the tour company is Odysseys Unlimited, and we think they're a pretty class act.
And so we have survived Day 2 in the hermitage. I haven't gotten bored yet even if I might be boring anyone reading this. I checked the news feeds less today than I did yesterday. I hope that doesn't mean that life in the hermitage is becoming the norm.
Monday, March 16, 2020
The View from the Hermitage, Day 1
And by "hermitage," I don't mean the palace now museum in Leningrad. I told people last week that, being an over-60 asthmatic who had had pneumonia less than a year ago, I would be hermitting. This week, the practice has been termed "social distancing" and everyone is encouraged to practice it. Welcome to a pandemic!
I try to refrain from thinking of all the post-apocalyptic books I read in a past life or analogous movies I saw. I keep recalling the contemporary take on The Planet of the Apes that ended with the ominous drop of blood falling from the nose of a character about to go fly a plane full of passengers. The seed of a pandemic. It makes me wonder just what was the seed of this one.
There seems to be no news other than the covid-19 pandemic. Even the Democratic presidential primary race is being pushed aside, though part of that may be that the race has really narrowed to just two candidates. Not for the first day, The Washington Post's front page is all pandemic all over. There is one article on last night's primary debate, the first with only two candidates, but even that article led with a mention of the "growing coronavirus pandemic."
Hermitting is coming easily to me, as I suspected it would. Being an introvert does have its very good points. Thanks to social media (is e-mail considered social media?), I can keep in touch with faraway friends. Thanks to the telephone, I can keep in touch with my mother who is in an assisted living facility on lockdown. Interestingly, when I thanked them--two different people, one today and one yesterday--for restricting access to all but staff or essential medical personnel, they thanked me. It seems that not all family members think isolating the most vulnerable is a good idea.
The sports pages are shrinking daily. The NFL draft looms in April and will offer some distraction. There is no March Madness, leading The Washington Post to run the story "Sports' hiatus leaves vasectomy patients deflated." Evidently, vasectomy appointments nearly double in March compared to other months. It seems men who will be snipped look forward to spending the suggested two days of bed rest in a recliner in front of day-long-into-the-night college basketball games.
Were I still working my former job, nothing about work would have changed. I only worked from home. The current situation at the university is that faculty and students can exchange knowledge electronically while staff are expected to be on-site to maintain the normal workings of the U. Is anything normal right now? Especially with public schools closed (most of the private ones are closed as well), parents need the option of being at home. That said, I've seen several posts on a local newsgroup from teenagers ready to take on child care; they might as well earn some cash while they can. At least here, online instruction for K-12 will take a while to get going.
These thoughts have been random, put down now and then as I have been updating the local quilt guild's website (caqg.weebly.com if you're interested) and doing random things around the house. So much for all the thoughts that come to me when I am not at a keyboard. Perhaps I shall be more cogent tomorrow.
I try to refrain from thinking of all the post-apocalyptic books I read in a past life or analogous movies I saw. I keep recalling the contemporary take on The Planet of the Apes that ended with the ominous drop of blood falling from the nose of a character about to go fly a plane full of passengers. The seed of a pandemic. It makes me wonder just what was the seed of this one.
There seems to be no news other than the covid-19 pandemic. Even the Democratic presidential primary race is being pushed aside, though part of that may be that the race has really narrowed to just two candidates. Not for the first day, The Washington Post's front page is all pandemic all over. There is one article on last night's primary debate, the first with only two candidates, but even that article led with a mention of the "growing coronavirus pandemic."
Hermitting is coming easily to me, as I suspected it would. Being an introvert does have its very good points. Thanks to social media (is e-mail considered social media?), I can keep in touch with faraway friends. Thanks to the telephone, I can keep in touch with my mother who is in an assisted living facility on lockdown. Interestingly, when I thanked them--two different people, one today and one yesterday--for restricting access to all but staff or essential medical personnel, they thanked me. It seems that not all family members think isolating the most vulnerable is a good idea.
The sports pages are shrinking daily. The NFL draft looms in April and will offer some distraction. There is no March Madness, leading The Washington Post to run the story "Sports' hiatus leaves vasectomy patients deflated." Evidently, vasectomy appointments nearly double in March compared to other months. It seems men who will be snipped look forward to spending the suggested two days of bed rest in a recliner in front of day-long-into-the-night college basketball games.
Were I still working my former job, nothing about work would have changed. I only worked from home. The current situation at the university is that faculty and students can exchange knowledge electronically while staff are expected to be on-site to maintain the normal workings of the U. Is anything normal right now? Especially with public schools closed (most of the private ones are closed as well), parents need the option of being at home. That said, I've seen several posts on a local newsgroup from teenagers ready to take on child care; they might as well earn some cash while they can. At least here, online instruction for K-12 will take a while to get going.
These thoughts have been random, put down now and then as I have been updating the local quilt guild's website (caqg.weebly.com if you're interested) and doing random things around the house. So much for all the thoughts that come to me when I am not at a keyboard. Perhaps I shall be more cogent tomorrow.
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