Days SEVEN and EIGHT of Home Containment
10:30 pm Learn that all of California is on lockdown.
10:40 pm Learn that C worked all day Tuesday with a guy now quarantined and exhibiting symptoms. C’s roommate is away for the next near term. My brother, who lives in LA but works sometimes on Long Island, may not be able to return. By air, anyway.
11:00 pm Read a twitter feed peppered with stories about young men almost dying. The symptoms. The difficulty getting tested. Being refused care.
3:00 am Awake
7:00 am Watch YouTube videos on how to make face masks
8:00 am Package a thermometer and electrolyte tablets to ship to LA
9:00 Send HIPAA release back to therapist so we can meet on Zoom
9:30 Eat banana bread with peanut butter thinking, “how delicious” and “maybe I’ll finally use up all the dark brown-skinned bananas in the freezer.”
9:35 K whistles in the shower. Some things don’t change.
9:55 Read Windthread blog about the doe Caroline giving birth to two kids and wonder at the nature of contrast and connection — Grace in California in the birthing shed or with Emrie insisting on sleep at the very same time I read about Gavin Newsom’s order for all of California and learned about C’s recent exposure.
I will get around to uplifting messages but for now I rely on others to put them out (Thank you, Liz. Thank you, Jude).
That guy above, BTW, is the original cut out who became all those Jared Kushner collages.
PS We know about Burr and other corrupt GOP possible insider trading because they’re required to disclose. How much money are the trumps making? There’s reporting about Jared cashing in, but I haven’t had the stomach to pursue it yet.
It’s all seems to be spinning out of control. Breathe .. Breathe .. Breathe!!! I’m trying very hard to keep my anger in check.
Thank you Tina. My mother in law just called. My best friend from childhood just texted. (They both read the blog). How are you?!
Up at my usual 4 am and in sync with you Dee, toasted a slice of the Irish soda bread that I made for St. Patrick’s day and for a quirk, instead of using butter, put peanut butter and sliced banana on top. Felt good about this bread because the raisins in the bread were from the grapes that we dried…
Branch that I brought into the house from ornamental pear tree, now fully in bloom so that uplifts my spirit…
Dyed a piece of cloth with red cabbage and baking soda because I knew it would give me a gorgeous turquoise color, even though it wouldn’t last. Didn’t last at all when I lifted the lid from the jar, had it outside, solar dyeing and almost keeled over with the stench. Washed the cloth and watched all the color leach out but for about 2 glorious minutes, the color was stupendously beautiful…
Husband went shopping yesterday during the Senior hour at Smiths (our Kroeger store) and could only find purse sized Kleenex packets. Came home and quipped, “does this mean that I now have to carry a purse so I can have Kleenex with me!”
There are moments like these, that balance the almost hourly news follow ups about the virus because I still feel the need to read the news and check every few hours, with our states Dept of Health bulletins as well as check on family in CA. Hope your son in CA can stay safe and be well.
Love the idea of bread flavored with raisins that you yourself dried!
What a description of the cloth. Was the purpose purely ephemeral?
The purse comment cracked me up!
I check news too but have just this hour decided to leave my devices downstairs at night. I miss reading books!
Yes, it was purely ephemeral. I knew that the color would not last but I simply needed to dye some cloth since the foraged windfall here is still quite slim. Stir crazy has it’s uses, kept me entertained for about an hour!
My laptop is on a little desk near the bed so it tempts me to do quick news checks. I do read every day, reading and cooking, and a little garden work are keeping me going as is checking in with my favorite bloggers. The idea of connection this way becomes even more important as we share how it goes for each of us during these dire time..
I agree about how much more important our connections here are. And wherever we find them. The main reason I want less news at night is because it’s crowding out my diet of fiction, which as a writer, is important. And pleasurable.
I just get such a kick out of you dyeing for the sheer hour-Long glory of it. Says a lot about you I think. In a great way, of course.
hard to grasp how huge your country is, your son hours away by plane and him having been close to someone possibly/probably infected….how far away you suddenly feel….I don’t know what to say Dee, hang in there, keep on posting, keep us posted
these are weird times
some days I hope I will get infected and gain immunity that way; just heard from my cousin who lives in France and got back home just in time for lock down that her son who lives in London has contracted corona and is on the mend! gives me hope
these are weird times
our eldest is in Kenya, for his thesis, we are trying to get him back, fingers crossed, soon, I dare not mention any date as things keep moving….
I’m treading carefully
Kenya?! Wow. So you share the sense of distance. But yes, Boston to LA and Boston to Boulder are far distances. Since I’m using zoom for everything else, the four of us will start talking on zoom too.
it’s like we are all in someones else’s movie.
Good way to put it. And it’s a Stephen King plot. Or Robin Cook, at least.
Just listened to dumps update…Grrrrr 😡
The ways and reasons to worry seem endless. I’m a professional level worrier, so I have to keep that in check. I have a couple of new masks left from one of our local fires, so I’m good there, plus I am not going anywhere. 😷 So sorry to hear about your boy and J. Still makes the relentless ridiculous jokes and comments and chooses our tv viewing with silly shows…which is better than leaving it on news 24-7, right? Looking for the gifts where I see ’em.😀 Hang in there my friend. xo
Thank you Nancy. You, too. I might make some cloth masks today for local hospitals. I’m too unfocused for anything else.
We are the same but opposite when it come to distance from sons!
Tell yours he can always crash here if need be. Two empty bedrooms. Casey, is it?
My boy is there in California too. Sending the thermometer is a very wise choice. I think the fever comes first? I went out for a walk and came home with a wicked red itchy rash. I just took a very hot shower and it seems to have passed. I am tossing the socks even though they were perfectly fine yesterday and this morning.
No peanut butter. Two grocery shops by daughter and I never asked for it—-I don’t think there is any.
Trump was really unleashed today at the press conference.
I didn’t see him. I’m furious how much time/energy he consumes. All the walk backs and clarifications. But I will probably find some footage.
I think the sore throat might come first. Then the headache. Fever and trouble breathing last. But I imagine it’s different for different people.
Peanut butter is a staple! That’s for sure. I just did my first Insta cart order.
Good to know about sore throat first as I had no idea about that. We drove around twin today a few dog walkers and a few runners. A few cars. So quiet.
We went to the town center for take out ice cream today. Honestly, it felt a little harrowing.
As the mother of a 35 year old man I’ve been dismayed and yet tractor-beamed by the recent age-jump shifts here in the US.
Also – I am getting really tired of the inside of my own mind. Already. Hoping this is just my way of getting all the kinks out right at the outset. on the upside the last of my forced narcissus flowers are at peak bloom. The tulips are greening up and I’m looking forward to seeing how they fare blooming-wise. Continuity and follow through are important but for me a great deal of it feels ungrounded and surreal.