More thoughts in the time of COVID-19
(Sorry for the delay, but here we go … )
Wednesday, Day 62 …
I spent too many hours today trying to get a person (in charge of finances for an organization to which I belong) to understand that all we need for a monthly update is the balance from the end of the previous month with deposits (and their source), deductions (to whom or what), and a current balance. That seems so simple … but you wouldn’t believe the gyrations. I’d rather be reading my book, but I’ll keep trying.
Rain off and on all day. That bed linen is going to be well-rinsed.
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Thursday, Day 63 …
Chilly rain to start the day. I may have to bring in the sheets, put them through a spin to get most of the water out, and drape them over something in front of the wood stove.
I have begun having short spells of vertigo, especially when I stand up suddenly or tilt my head back to look at something over my head. I saw my primary care-giver this afternoon and he sees nothing to aid in a diagnosis and so is sending me to an EENT in Medford to have my middle ear checked.
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Friday, Day 64 …
Today I am a full ninety years old starting on my ninety-first.
I am not old, she said. I am rare. I am the standing ovation at the end of the play. I am the retrospective of life as art. I am the hours connected like dots into good sense. I am the fullness of existing.
You think I am waiting to die but I am waiting to be found.
I am a treasure. I am a map, and these wrinkles are imprints of my journey.
Ask me anything !
~ Samantha Reynolds
~~~
Thursday, Day 70 …
Well … I seem to have fallen down a rabbit hole a few days ago.
The situation with the Watermaster “government entity” has been festering and would appear to be coming to a head much like a pesky backhead or a boil. Of course, as the registered owner of the land, my name is foremost. However, Mark (as heir apparent and forty years younger) is taking the lead. My job is to provide data and supporters.
Second undertaking has been gathering reports from all the local owners’ association Board members (treasurer mentioned previously) in order to organize and make available information since there have been no face-to-face meetings since March. Getting some folks to put in writing what they had planned to say at a meeting is akin to pulling teeth. A big thing with this job is the involvement with the United Way grant designed to bring neighbors together in order to prepare for emergencies. The original plans don’t work in a world of no-more-than-ten-people-together and masks and social distancing and resistance to ZOOM … ad infinitum. Add to that a “lead” organizer for the County who doesn’t seem to know what she is doing or how to use her computer.
I have had a few lovely hours with the Met. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned, they are streaming a different opera from the archives every day. Last week was Rigaletto set in the Rat Pack’s Vegas (rather pointedly accurate in re Sinatra et al which reinforced my position as a fan of the pre-60s Sinatra). And I found that even with the glitz, the story leaves me unsympathetic. It will be a while before I’m ready for it again. This week is Lohengrin and the Masked Ball. Lohengrin was staged in the King Arthur style and reminded me of the story about the tenor who got so wrapped up in the farewell sequence that the swan boat pulled out without him. He is supposed to have turned to the Maestro in the orchestra pit and asked (in English) “Can you tell me when the next swan boat leaves?” And later today I plan on spending time with Masked Ball since the lovely Dimitri sang in the production being streamed.
The garden is another involvement. I’ve been putting plants into the ground for the hummers and butterflies as the weather and the Moon phase allow. It is taking more time than it will in the future because, as I’ve said before, I am having to do some area mending before planting. As of yesterday, there are five plants waiting. Once that’s done I can start on the herb area. I already have sage, oregano, and thyme. The indoor seed start of arnica will be ready to go out soon. The rest is still in the planning stage.
Our local library has been closed, as I’m sure many others have been. But they are getting ready to do curbside exchanges. I have four books on hold which I will go get as soon as the routine is established. In the meantime, I am about a third of the way through the PERN saga and have made a couple of discoveries. In one book I found the first letter I received from Anne McCaffrey, the author. In it she gives me (if I ever get to Dublin) directions to her house. Of course, I think that in those early days, before her real fame, that was a regular feature of fan letter responses. She died a few years ago and I never got to Dublin. The other discovery was a signed copy of one of the books. I’d forgotten I have it. I am enjoying the books all over again and that is a big plus.
For my birthday gift this year, I gave away packets of Shasta Lily seeds (these lilies grow only in a 2 to 3 hundred mile radius of the Mountain) with a request that folks join me in re-establishing the lilies in our area. A lot of the clusters have been destroyed over the years as house pads and driveways were bulldozed. The fun of giving gifts to myself through friends seems to have hit an Aaawwwwwwhhhhhhhh spot with a lot of folks. The responses from those to whom I gave packets (I could afford only a few since they were $6 each) have been overwhelmingly positive, and so far I’ve been asked by two friends (who didn’t make the gift list) if I’d get some seeds for them too.
My chore schedule in re the chickens is getting a bit inconvenient since I can’t close them in until close to eight thirty (2030) and that’s nudging my bedtime pretty close. Of course, the equinox will be here soon and times will start changing again. The sun now rises north of the Mountain’s peak. Six months from now I’ll be complaining about it getting dark before three thirty (1530).
Involvement with the food sharing in this part of the county is beginning to be a consideration again. I’ve been called back to making lunches for the kids during summer hiatus (the schools have been doing that, but school will soon be out for the summer and the schools will no longer be responsible). I said I’d help on tuesday and thursday mornings. And yesterday I got a call asking if I felt secure enough to do my usual job with the produce distribution program. That begins in three weeks. Of course I said “sure”.
One of my grief group buddies, who had been caught at her daughter’s place down in the San Francisco Bay area, has been able to return home. Her fourteen day quarantine will be up next week and so the grief group three of us are planning some social distancing proper get-togethers on an outdoor patio.
And on top of all that, I am now the old person with a new phone which is pushing me further into the present technological world. I am just now beginning to learn how to program it to do the things I want (at this time). George no longer answers my phone and I haven’t yet mastered the caller id feature, so if I don’t answer it means I’m not at my desk and haven’t yet learned how to trace a call in order to call back. Please call again.
~~~
The cherry tree, the crab apple tree and the plum trees are loaded with baby fruit. Mark has begun the clearing required by CalFire for residential safety. It rained most of last week. A cousin said her pantry finally ran dry so she went to the grocery store to restock and came away with a bill for $617plus. I think I’ve found someone to rescue all my genealogy data and pictures from the hard drive out of the computer which died. A friend of Tyler’s died in a tragic accident and we seem to have inherited her dog (a red retriever named Gypsy) so we currently have three dogs.
And now it’s time to start the day,
~~~
The Nguni proverb “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” is often translated as “a person is a person through other persons” speaking particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. In practice, ubuntu is a belief that the common bonds of a group are more important than the divisions within it.
You are all on my prayer candle and I am assuming (trusting) you are safe and well.
So … ‘til next week …