More thoughts in the time of COVID-19 …
Weather has warmed up … more like late Spring and early Summer.
I had seen notes that due to the pandemic, sunrise at Stonehenge would be broadcast LIVE this year. No crowds. That would suit me fine. I’d really like to experience the solstice at Stonehenge, like I’d like to experience a lot of places, but without all the people. I know that is selfish, but with a crowd what can you actually experience other than the crowd?
So with hope, I checked out the offered site, which was supposed to be free, only to find it was not actually free. The upfront request said it would be free as long as you provided them with functioning credit card information including the protective three number code on the back of the card. No way …
I finally found a site with acceptable pictures which was actually free on YouTube and sat down to wait. Sunrise at Stonehenge was a bit after 2000 (8 pm) here. It was interesting, but overall it was a bit of a bust. People in fluorescent vests could be seen moving around and lights of cars on the A whatever road were other signs of attendance. But there was fog in the low area to the east and rather heavy cloud cover. Oh well …
This morning, on the old Mid-Summer Day, the sun came in my window at 0606. Soon I’ll notice the beginning of its trip south.
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Prepping lunches for local kids is already falling into a routine … masks, gloves, temperature check. We aren’t preparing as many this year, due to restrictions on group size, so we are finishing earlier … taking only about 90 minutes rather than the up to 4 hours we did last year when we were making over 200 each day.
And this year a professional chef is planning the menus. Yesterday it was soft tacos, fruit yogurt, oranges, and milk.
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The radio club interaction with the bicycle event I’ve told you about is fini. What they requested would be violations of our federal licenses, so I told the event director “Thanks for thinking of us, but no thanks.” All those members who took time to respond to my notice of action were in agreement. It sounded like it would have been interesting, but not at the risk of losing my license.
Next up (unless cancelled due to health restrictions)? … the TinMan triathlon the first sunday in September. Turning out to be a not so busy summer.
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I recently came across a phrase which would seem to explain some of the trouble I’ve been having with my computer lately. The phrase is “frequency illusion” which is defined as seeing something when we expect to see it. I can make a typo, re-read it several times, and still see what I thought I wrote and not the actual error. At least now I have a name for it.
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Big thing with the landowners’ association right now is the increasing trespass and parking on the private road which borders the reservoir. It is getting worse. Weekends are particularly bad. I’ve been doing some of the legal research and Wow … how can anyone spend years studying the legal profession. Gobbledy gook … sleep inducing … obscure. Sort of like studying the Talmud.
Roads around here have been a problem from the git-go. The developers of this subdivision made a whole slew of errors and we are trying to put them right. The roads have been an issue ever since we moved here, but it seems to have reached the boiling point. One contributing factor is the new Fire Chief. He pointed out that illegal parking makes it difficult, if not impossible, for large fire fighting equipment to access areas of the Ranch. Maybe this time we will get something done.
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The world is in turmoil all around us.
I know it will never be the same.
The old “normal” no longer exists.
And in the turmoil there are lessons … A Jewish folk story goes like this:
A child regularly returns from school in tears because her peers insult and tease her daily. Her parents suggest channeling that pain by hammering one nail into her wall for every cutting remark. For a while, this helps, but one day the child is again in tears because her wall is now full and there is no more space to hammer the therapeutic nails. Her parents suggest a new course of action that will refocus the girl’s attention: any time someone says something nice, she should remove a nail. This also works for a time, but again, one day the child comes home upset — the nails are gone but her wall is full of holes.
What is the lesson?
Many wounds, including the gaping wounds of racism, leave a mark that cannot be erased.
So … ‘til next week …