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March 17, 2020

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Donna Connolly

Hi, Sydney - I'm delighted to see this post from you. I've missed them!
Here on Vancouver Island, we have not (yet) been told to shelter in place, but there are more and more closures each day. Like most other places, we are advised to stay home and limit contact.
Some closures have been easier to digest than others. Aren't libraries and bookclubs essential outings?! They ought to be. :D Hopefully, this will all heal and pass without too much more devastation. In the meantime, there is much time to reflect and time to pull home-based tasks from out of the 'later pile.' Hope to see you here again soon!

Sydney

Donna: Well I'm delighted to read your comment! Yay, contact from the outside world!!! Well another bright side--Kindle books (although that doesn't help with the book club part . . .) Sounds like you've got the right attitude so far! Thanks for commenting!

Tom at Sightings

Welcome back! Like you, we're hunkered down and spending our time reading books, watching netflix, trolling the internet, working in the yard and taking walks. I'm looking into taking a course online since our local senior learning center is closed and I feel it would be something to give me a little more focus. Stay calm, stay safe!

Rose

Oh Syd: It was so wonderful to see a post from you in my inbox today. This is day 1 of Vermont closing things down, so I was glad to get my last workout in at the pool last night. Our library is open, but all groups have been cancelled, all my upcoming quilt shows and meetings are also. You're not the only one delaying what the grocery store looks like. I'll wait till the milk goes sour, but that'll only take another day or two. I'm a quilter, so there's things to work on in the studio for shows coming up this summer. But it feels like going into a prison cell, so I haven't been able to bring myself to go downstairs for several days now. That's normally my 'happy place' so feeling this disjointed isn't something I want to bring into that space. At least not yet, and am hoping when I get over that, it'll help me get through this.
Are you guys allowed to go walking outside? Some of our trails/paths are still ice covered so I haven't tried that yet.

Sydney

Tom: That reminds me, there are a couple really great on-line piano teachers--I'll have to go look at some videos this afternoon.

Rose: I was kind of like you about the happy place, not in the mood to play piano for a few days (it felt more like a chore), until I came up with this song a day thing. I guess without the forward motion/deadline of band practice I needed a little self-motivation. We are allowed to take walks, but are instructed to stay 6 feet from anyone who doesn't live with us. So, to be respectful of their owners, I'm not petting the doggies on my walk . . . boo hoo.

Janis @ RetirementallyChallenged

So good to see you back in this little corner of the world! Blogging is a great activity right now (it always is, but it's especially nice now) since it allows us to connect while maintaining a safe, healthy distance. Much is closed around here (SoCal) too and all events and meetings have been cancelled. Since my husband and are happy - when not traveling - to be at home, so far, so good for us. We may get cabin fever after a while, but our "cabin" includes lots of things (hobbies, projects, etc.) to keep us busy and a garden so I'm sure we'll do ok. I do feel so bad for those who depend on a paycheck and own small businesses, though. I hope all this talk of bailouts will include money for them too.

Miriam

Hi, It is really lovely hearing from you!
We are making the best of the situation. I am a knitter and am getting the last laugh about my knitting stash. Between creating and getting ready for Passover, I am more than busy and grateful that we are in good shape.

Meanwhile, we all have to adapt to uncertainty and be mindful of others.

Julie T

Syd, Glad you are back! It was such a joy to see your email in my inbox. Social distancing is tough and so is voluntary (and involuntary) isolation. I am working from home a couple of days a week and can at least take walks on the path behind our house at lunch. Fresh air is wonderful. Denver is not on as tight of lock down as you, yet, but no restaurants, bars, churches or gyms are open. Who knows what the future will bring. Just taking it day by day... On the plus side, I am finally tacking my stack of to be read books. :)

Sydney

Janis, Miriam, and Julie: Thank you for your comments. It's kind of nice that many of us can welcome the forced downtime, huh? I'm up to a five-song gig list so far so way ahead of quarantine goals so far!

Sally Rader

What a nice surprise to see your post!

I am hunkered down in Columbus Ohio- and our governor was one of the first to start shutting stuff down. It started last Thursday and every day a few more types of schools, businesses etc are shut down. You may have heard that our primary election was postponed- supposed to be today. I can go for walks and to the grocery store- I really miss the library! And I had to laugh when I read about your hair cut and color- I just had my done 2 weeks ago- but I was so worried today that I will miss my next appt the first week of April that I literally got on- line today to look into Madison Reed-- and I only attempted to color my own hair one time twenty years ago and that was such a disaster I swore I would never do it again. Take care out there and stay well!!

Caree Risover

Looks like the UK may have come a little late to the shutting down party, as officially it’s totally voluntary and only begins in earnest for the over 70’s this weekend for a period of 12 weeks. Of course, we are all expecting more stringent measures, and with the risk of needing to self isolate for 14 days if anyone in the house shows symptoms, the panic buying is off the scale. Whilst sensible people have been practising social distancing and continuous washing of hands for what now seems like forever but really has been less than a month, there remains a large number of others who appear to think they are invincible and who are going to need to be reined in, very quickly.

Sandy

Hi Sydney, Love to read your post. Glad you have started posting again. I am in Singapore, we have no lock-down here but we are asked not to travel overseas to avoid importing Covid-19, to stay or work from home, practice social distancing, wash our hands and fill in travel advisory forms for contact tracing whenever we visit community centers, public buildings and even private organisations. We have supermarkets run as well whenever there are dismal news from neighbouring countries (we import almost all our food & 50% of our drinking water). Anyhow, life goes on. Just no more senior community activities for the time being, less social activities, more washing of hands, more laundry and etc. We heard Covid-19 is going to last for several more months ... it is tough on every country and everyone. Hope a vaccine will be available soon. Be safe ...

Sydney

Sandy: By most accounts, Singapore did a great job nipping this in the bud.
Caree: Well even here in the US there are inconsistent policies surrounding voluntary vs mandatory isolation depending on where you live. Not sure that makes a lot of sense, but we'll see. Funny what you say about "what now seems like forever but has been less than a month." Some of the things we were doing last WEEK seem like MONTHS ago!
Sally: I would go back to coloring my hair myself (which I did for years), but I know my hairstylist will yell at me when I get back. She said "we FINALLY got that old color out of your hair" when I saw her last. Luckily no one is seeing me these days except my husband! So there's that. . .

anon

you boomers are shutting down the entire economy because you're afraid of a flu. Seriously, can you boomers kill yourselves? You are the most selfish generation to ever exist. You don't give a shit about climate change, why should we young people give a shit if you get sick and die of some virus? I HOPE the virus gets much stronger and kills you all.

Sydney

Anon: Thank you for that--I needed a good laugh. Although I'm not sure that's what you were going for, but thanks just the same. I'm still chuckling. Hope you enjoyed your spring break at Miami Beach. . .

Tamara R

Anon above has been around for awhile, it's all rather 'yawn' and move on at this point . . .

I vacillate between calmness and non-calmness. Today started calm, shifted to non-calmness when my daughter mentioned she was running low on baby wipes and hadn't been able to find them anywhere(!), then back to calmness when I read an interesting Politico article about what the post-Covid19 USA might look like. Some of it was very encouraging, like the possibility of continuing with an online learning environment for college students, thus alleviating much of the brick-and-mortar cost of education. And a return to investing in the care and well being of our broader base of citizens over the needs of just those few at the top. Good stuff overall.

Over here in Orange County, CA, we are on day three of our shelter at home mandate. All business are closed except those deemed essential, and open restaurants can offer take out but not dine in. Our routine is to get outside for a long walk or hike, but recognizing there are currently no open restroom facilities, be careful to match our mileage to our ability to, well, hold it! LOL

I'm also now shopping early in the AM on T/W/Th, visiting a different store on each day, because it is not possible yet to find everything we need during one trip. And snagging just a few items per stop enables me to self check myself out, thus limiting interactions. Otherwise, we are embracing technology by setting up a series of virtual dates with friends, generally with wine glasses in hand by all. Speaking of wine . . . we have at least a two year supply of it, which I sincerely hope we won't need!

Sydney

Tamara: I hope you are right about post-coronavirus USA. I am reading Nicholas Kristoff's book, Tightrope, right now, and being hit hard with the reality of how hard life is already for so many people. Add to that all the people who will lose their jobs right now because of all this, and we will need some serious help directed their way. Maybe this attention will finally produce some long-term, structural fixes.

We have a few virtual dates set up starting tonight. It's funny because it's all with people who live far away and we've never thought about this before. Another change that I hope lives into post-corona USA.

Thanks for chiming in!

Petra

I'm just reading this now. Isolation measurements seem to be working, so let's keep our fingers crossed and our doors closed.

I hope everyone here gets through this in one piece and with a peaceful mind. :-)

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