Musings …

More thoughts in the time of COVID-19

Things have gotten wet again.  The rain began friday afternoon with large, widely spaced drops (the kind you can walk between) and continued intermittently until last sunday. Some clouds since then but sun as well. 

 ~~~

The red fence roses are blooming.  They aren’t the large blossoms some roses have, but they sure are nice.  I’ll be drying petals for use later.

I’ll also be drying yarrow.  I got an email from a neighbor, whose meadow is a prime place for yarrow, telling me the time to gather has arrived.  I need yarrow for itch tincture, for healing salve, for air purification smudges, and for blood clotting poultices. So as soon as things dry out a bit …

~~~

Tyler has a new pet … a rainbow boa named Calypso.  She will be a challenge since she is bigger than the snakes he has had in the past and needs a warmer atmosphere than is ours, but he is determined.  She is a “rescue” from down in the Sacramento area.  Her previous owner had to move due to work and couldn’t find a rental which would allow her to keep her pet.  

Information is that Calypso will bite if scared but her teeth, although sharp, are small and she has no venom.  So a bite will probably be similar to a rose thorn prick.

I may have trouble remembering her name.  Every time I think of it I have to sort out Calypso and Calliope.

~~~

My volunteer time packing summer lunches for children began yesterday.  For the next month or two, tuesday and thursday mornings will mean being out of the house by 0630.  Maybe now, with definite plans for a couple of days a week, the disorientation of days all seeming the same will begin to fade.  A couple of times I’ve said things indicating I really didn’t know what day it was.  At first that upset me a bit, but then I read an article saying it is a symptom of being housebound.  That got me thinking about those folks who are in extended care facilities, working at monotonous jobs like on cruise ships, and in prisons.  Is time disorientation a symptom for them?  I can see how it could be a major factor in hating mornings … sort of a feeling of  here we go again.

This morning I spent a few minutes just watching and hearing the birds wake to a new day.  That was nice.

~~~

The OLD 1,000 gallon propane tank that George and I lived with for all those years sprang a leak.  The repairs were done (it took some time since the parts needed weren’t off-the-shelf any longer due to the tank’s age).  The next step was 600 gallons of propane in the tank and we now have ready cooking and hot water.  From now on (at least for the foreseeable future) we will be making monthly payments and refilling the tank once a year.

Saturday I was able to dry the egg shells to add calcium to the chicken feed (one hen has been laying soft-shelled eggs – if only I could get her to lay soft-boiled eggs).

~~~

The amateur radio club has been asked to do communications for an unusual bicycle event.  It is called a Grinduro, is a two-day event held in various countries, and is similar to the Tour de France.   It could be interesting since it draws participants from all over the world, but what they are asking is more in tune with what professional communication companies do than with what we, as amateur radio operators, are allowed to do.  As a result, speaking as the event coordinator for the radio club, I have written to say thanks for thinking of us but no thanks.

~~~

Our library is once again making books available (I told you about the drive-up window) so I’m back to a couple of the series I had been reading.  Just finished “Cruel as the Grave”, a mystery set in the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the conflict over who was to be King of England … Richard LionHeart or John.  Penman is a whiz at mixing history and storytelling.  

~~~

And speaking of authors …

Philip K. Dick once said in an interview …

“… my early conclusions as to what is “human”?  It’s not what you look like, or what planet you were born on.  It’s how kind you are. The quality of kindness, to me, distinguishes us … and will forever, whatever shape we take, wherever we go, whatever we become.  For me, HUMAN is my credo.  May it be yours.” (1976)

So …  when you can be anything, be kind.

‘Til next week …

More thoughts in the time of COVID-19

We had nice, gentle rain which cleared off all the yellow pollen.  But three days without rain and it is all over everything again.  Still, the worst of the evergreen fertile time seems to be past and the catalpa is leafing out but without blooming.  The butterfly-hummer plants I set out all seem to be doing well. The area under Mikayla’s cherry tree is scattered with new trees which is very unusual for that tree.  It has never happened before that I can remember.  There are oddles of evergreen starts everywhere you look.  

The trees are really dedicated this year.  Are they trying to tell us something?   Maybe just that nothing lasts forever?  Or that the times, they are a-changin’?

Last sunday we had snow … some flakes, but mostly what we call “corn” snow, small ball snow.  There has been snow this late in the season in the past.  One year (I can’t recall the date) there was snow on the 4th of July.  And another year there was a freezing rain storm, with strong winds, in August.  

Next?  An Australian Christmas ?!

By the way, did you know that pairing of a question mark with an exclamation mark is called an interrobang?

~~~

Self-knowledge which has been creeping up on me slowly came clear last friday.  I can no longer do a five, or at the very most six, hour work stretch.  I was out running errands from 0930 until about 1400 without a break and after unloading the groceries etc. at home I was more than ready for a nap.  

I am still basically healthy and able to do most of the things I have always done … but not for the same stretches of time or at the same pace.

Oh well …

~~~

Saturday was a day of revelation … things worthy of thought.

First came from a book … surprised?  I finished reading “Hag Seed” by Margaret Atwood.  Yup.  THE Margaret Atwood of “The Handmaid’s Tale”.  But this time she was reimagining Shakespeare.  Reimagining “The Tempest” to be exact.  The thing that caught my attention was the imagining, by the director in the book, of Prospero’s cloak.  It was to be composed of stuffed, furry toys from which the stuffing had been removed so what was left were fake animal pelts complete with google eyes, fangs, and claws.

To those of you who know little or nothing of opera, especially modern opera, that will mean nothing.  And since I have yet to learn how to add photos to this blog, I can’t show you the costume which immediately came to mind.  It was Akhnaten’s regal outfit from the Met’s production of the Philip Glass opera.  If you can find it on the net, look at the hem area and the top of the sleeves … and then we can talk.

Also on saturday I was able to watch another opera … a 2008 production of “Thaïs”  with Renee Fleming.  In that opera a celibate monk sets out to save a sinful Priestess of the Goddess of Love.  That plot line triggered thoughts of love … particularly romantic love … and what it means to be in love, to make love, and to love. 

How would you explain the differences?

P.S. In “Thaïs” the monk ends up sexually desiring the Priestess who has entered a convent to die.  Sort of like a Shakspeare finale … Hamlet comes to mind.

~~~

Was at a “lockdown” meeting of the Landowners’ Association last evening.  We were all in masks (which we had to pull down when we talked since we were outdoors and six feet plus apart). 

Main topic of discussion is one which has been under discussion (and causing problems) since I’ve lived here.  The original subdividers used a local agricultural reservoir as a selling point but didn’t include access to it for recreation as part of the purchase deeds.  Purchasers have just assumed they have that right to access ever since in spite of the fact that the area is private property.   In addition the area has been used by locals from all over the south county as a picnic spot and for fishing, swimming, and boating as well.  It’s a real pain in the tush.  Always has been, but it is getting worse.

Last evening the group who owns the land under the reservoir (the Siskiyou Land Trust) came to the Hammond Landowners’ Association asking help in controlling parking on their land for use by those “trespassing”.   A lot was said (which I have to pound into meeting minutes later today) including the allowed usage of the land by whom and responsibilities of the Land Trust for oversight and posting.  Final decision?  As soon as the Land Trust is clear on their position, the Landowners’ Association will consider our involvement.  

This is complicated by the fact that the original subdividers also failed to make a landowners’ association mandatory so the current association has limited powers.  As the number of residents grows, and the urban mindset takes hold wanting the amenities of city life, the call for more services is rising.  

So … does the current association step in and help solve the immediate problem, or is energy spent on forming a Community Services District?

I will be working on a position statement for myself which I hope to have ready to present to the others on the Landowners’ Association Board in a week or so.

Too bad there isn’t anything to fill my lonely days. 

~~~

Day  89 … 114 thousand dead in the US.  Masks and distancing being questioned, but still very important.

Two thoughts to close …

The saddest words in the English language are “If only …”

And …

There are paths we wish we never traveled; decisions we wish we never took; actions we wrestle to tear out of our memory, rip out of our hearts with agony and remorse.

But life has meaning; life is good – not a moment of it can exist without a spark of truth throbbing somewhere within… including that moment you so regret.

So … ‘til next week …

More thoughts in the time of COVID-19

The sun now blazes in my east facing window before 0600.  There are fewer than twenty days to Summer.  

Can anyone explain to me why the autumn equinox is the beginning of autumn, and the winter solstice is the beginning of winter, and the spring equinox is the beginning of spring, but the summer solstice is mid-summer?

~~~

Saturday I watched the Dragon launch with Mark.  It was a grabber.  I was back in the 60s watching the first space flight launches.  The tight throat.  The rapid heartbeat.  The urge to cry.  They were all there … again.

I still don’t know why NASA chose to stop space flights.  Money?  To me that’s a lame excuse.

Then sunday the Dragon capsule docked with the space station.  More memory reactions.  I wonder how long and how many launches it will take for this to become ho-hum again? 

Thank you, Mr. Musk, for spending your billions on this. The future calls.

~~~

Also on saturday we had thunder and rain.  I didn’t see any lightning, but the main part of the storm was southwest of us, on the other side of the Eddy Mountains.  

The rain was welcome.  It was gentle enough that it was mostly absorbed and the plants are doing well.  The Michael iris, the rugosa rose, and the true geranium are all putting on quite a show.  And the potatoes are displaying eagerness.

~~~

I am embarrassed to admit that I was pretty stupid about a computer situation last monday.  I’ve told you about “losing” 30 years worth of genealogy research when my old computer died.  Did I also tell you I was told about a local who is able to retrieve data off dead hard drives?  Well, his name is Jim and he lives not too far away in Edgewood.  I took my dead hard drive to him a week or so ago.  I went to collect it and the recovered data last monday.  He had asked me to bring a thumb drive with a lot of memory so I had one with 120GB in hand when I arrived.  He took it into his office, leaving me alone with his wife in their living room.

I have no idea what I was thinking, but whatever it was I was WRONG.  I was prepared to wait 30 minutes or so.  WRONG!

His wife and I chatted inanely until she offered to show me her yard and garden.  When we went back to the living room, Jim told me the download was about 20% done.  It had been an hour.

Are you laughing at me yet?

I had planned on going to the library, with my hard drive and thumb drive in hand (the local library had once been a bank and they had redone the drive through window to be the means of getting books).  So, I told Jim and wife I was going to the library and would be back in an hour or so.

My library appointment (yes, we now are required to make appointments to pick up our books) was at noon, so I pulled into the parking lot at the library and took a nap.  At noon I got my books (more about them later) and went back to Jim’s.  It was now three hours since I had first been there and the download was just around 50% done.  I said I’d go sit in the car and read. 

It took me about five minutes to realize what I was doing … being really dumb.  So I went back to the house and made arrangements to go back after my stuff today … which I will do after I get this blog posted.

I am still feeling embarrassed and very foolish.  At least I hadn’t taken a bedroll, toiletries, and a change of clothes with me.

I am so grateful to them.  They are two of the most kind and courteous people I have met lately.  I’m not sure I am brave enough to tell them this and try to make amends.  But I will be looking for ways to pay the kindness forward.

~~~

 Now an addition to last week’s long story …   

 I told you about sharing a grandmother story with the author of the PERN books.  Well, she did it again a bit later when she had an older woman admonish a younger one … “Beggars can’t be choosers” which was a favorite of my Nana’s.

And later when the maxim was “Trouble finds work for idle hands.”  My Grandma Tyler would have said “Idle hands are the devil’s playground.”

I’m sure Ms. McCaffrey and I could have enjoyed a tea together.  After all, we had grandmothers in common.

~~~

The affair in Minneapolis, which has caused events all over the world, came to Mt Shasta yesterday evening.  There was a gathering downtown at 6 o’clock.  I had thought to go, in spite of concern over masks and social distancing.  I had spoken to a neighbor about going and she too was concerned about masks etc. (we are both retired RNs).  Then, when it was time to leave, there was no vehicle available to me.  

I have believed that sometimes we are pushed in a direction we hadn’t anticipated, and so when there was no transportation, my head said “You are not supposed to be there.”

It turned out to be a big gathering for our small town.  Very few of those present were wearing masks and distancing was essentially non-existent.  It was peaceful, and meaningful to some I know who were there.  But I wasn’t supposed to be there. 

Maybe next time.

~~~

Weather has been warmer and dry for several days so there is more clean-up to be done in the courtyard.

I will bring home my USB with my data later this morning, so the rest of today will be exciting. 

I have three books waiting to be read (I’ve already read one of those I picked up monday).

Life remains good … and I’m still here.

~~~

Day  82 of lockdown … and some ending notes …

Some people thrive on their own company. It gives the freedom of not having to worry about other people in terms of their needs or judgements … Being alone need not mean being lonely … and   Bad times never last.

So … ‘til next week …

More thoughts in the time of COVID-19

It just kept raining … off and on … until monday.  Enough for me to keep picking the wrong time to do something and then forgetting I needed it done when time passed and weather changed.  I’ve seen desks with yellow post-it notes all over.  Maybe it’s time for me to get a pad of those.

Oh well … 

~~~

Mark is the new Chief of the local fire service unit and he is making some changes.  There had been no live-in student firemen at the station for a few months.  Then there were two.  Then three.  Then back to two when one had to be released for having alcohol on County property.  Now there are again three.  

Mark has been actively working at getting the equipment and the station house up to snuff (does anyone still say that?) including insulation, signage, better sleeping quarters and shower arrangements (so females can apply), and actively working with the local CalFire groups in the area.  He has also kept himself aware of and acknowledging achievements by the live-ins.  Last friday there was a congratulatory evening meal (mac and cheese, sausages, burgers, scones with lemon curd and whipped cream, brownies, and soft drinks) to honor Andy who had passed all his classes and exams and was awarded his black helmet and his own turn-out gear complete with presentation ceremony and pictures.  He has been hired by the CalFire station in McDoel for the coming fire season.  

I predict that, as the word concerning the management style at the Hammond Ranch station spreads, Mark will soon have enough applicants for live-in status that he will be able to pick and choose.

Makes me sound a bit like a proud Mom, right?

~~~

The new dog, Gypsy, is adjusting to being part of a family.  She had been a one-person dog and now is dealing with five of us.  In addition, she is the largest of the three dogs, but is the newcomer and so is the one making adjustments.  She has even come upstairs on her own once to visit me.  Maybe Siku or Rus told her I keep treats at my desk.

~~~

I’ve read my way through the first seven or eight of the PERN books so far.  I’m just starting Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern .  The center of this part of the saga is a pandemic caused by an unknown agent which transferred from an untamed animal to people.  

“Two have died of whatever it is that afflicts them.”

“Dead?  Two?  And you don’t know what ailed them?”

“No.  I don’t know precisely what ails them.  The symptoms — a fever, headache, lack of appetite, the dry hacking cough — are unusually severe and do not respond to any of the commonly effective treatments.”

From page 47 of the First Edition published in 1983 … 

Sound familiar? 

I’m now at the place in the story where travel and personal spacing is being instituted.      Interesting …

And a long story …  my children have heard me say (probably more often that they appreciated) “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”  I had heard it many, many times from my Nana while I was growing up.  

The books I am reading are about a planet where small, flying lizards have been hybridized into large, flying dragons capable of carrying people … hence the titles such as Dragonsong, Dragonflight, Dragon Drums, etc.  Then last evening, as I was reading the current book just before I fell asleep, all of a sudden this jumped out at me …  “If wishes were dragons, all Pern would ride.”

I wish life had been such that I could have had tea with Ms. McCaffrey one day at her home, DragonHold, outside Dublin.  We would have had more to say than just ‘Hello’.  I’m sure we heard other, identical sayings from our grandmothers.  And we probably would have found we had a lot in common.  

Oh well … 

If wishes were …

~~~

Last monday, weather turned warm.  I got some more work done in the courtyard.  Clearing the debris is coming along and the plants are in the ground.  Three of the five potatoes I planted are showing growth.  One of the transplanted blueberries didn’t make it, but the one in a pot in my room is leafing out beautifully.  There are buds on the wild roses, the rugosa, the fence climbers, and even the green.  The plums, apricot, sweet cherry, gooseberries, and crabapple all have set fruit.

Then monday afternoon, when it had reached the mid-70s, I opened the east window to get a cross breeze, and the scent of the lilac under that window inundated my room.  I remember George standing out next to lilac bushes just inhaling with a slight smile.  I teared up a bit, but I was smiling.

~~~

This week’s Amateur Radio Club involvement was doing Net Control for the COVID saturday morning net.  Sirius radio was doing the top 100 Beatles cuts, so I was monitoring 440.275 mHz and listening to the Sirius Beatles channel (good music mostly).  I’m a Beatles fan of long standing, but let’s face it – not even the Fab Four, all together or separately, can be 100% all the time – such as, I wish George had done the guitar riffs on While My Guitar instead of Clapton.

~~~

Day 75 … and here it is, the end of another week.

Another loss last week, and two birthday remembrances before the next blog.

It’s okay to cry and okay to be sad. It’s okay to miss them and okay to wish you had done somethings different. But never blame yourself for how things turned out. Never tell yourself that this is the end of the road. 

It’s okay to fall but never okay to stay down.

Summer approaches (the sun is up and creating crystal rainbows on my walls a few minutes before 0600) and I’m still here.

So … ‘til next week …

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.

~~~

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.

~~~

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 …

I am late … again.  Our internet access was cut off monday the 11th.  But, if you are reading this, our connection is back.  Wasn’t it Richard III who said “These are the times that try men’s souls.”?

Oh well …

Onward !

More thoughts in the time of COVID-19

So here you are, feeling unsure about the position you’re in.  With a slight change of attitude, you can embrace what’s happening rather than resent it.   … Anonymous

Wednesday, Day 55 …

 Sunny day.  Slight breeze.  More plants in the ground.  Working more slowly but still working.

I had so been looking forward to seeing the Fleming-Bartoli-Terfel Nozze de Figaro … then circumstances conspired and I saw only the first act.  That was so much fun … watching Terfel singing lustily while crawling around the floor measuring space for the marriage bed of Figaro and Susanna. I can only imagine what the Met did with the rest of the story.  It may be on disc and I’ll see it later.

Oh well …

~~~

Thursday, Day 56 …  

Rainbows from crystals all over my walls this morning.  Full Moon last night came shining in my window as I was getting into bed.  So big.  So beautiful.  

The Moon is now waning so it is time to put root plants into the ground.  I was able to get several potatoes planted.  They had been in a bowl on a kitchen counter and were already showing lusty growth.  That gives me hope they will grow, bloom, and produce this year.

Work in the courtyard is progressing … slowly.  Next on the list (until the next planting opportunity) is to separate woody and leafy debris as well as stones from the soil I am digging up and/or sweeping up so that it can be put back into growing areas.  Next will be rebuilding support walls between levels.

~~~

Friday, Day 57 … 

 What a day.  Not only are we in lockdown, we are now without propane.  The big tank George and I used for lo those many years had developed a slow leak and couldn’t be checked and/or repaired until the tank was empty.  So we had not refilled it hoping we could handle that problem somehow.  As a result, we are without hot water and cooking ability here during lockdown.

Things have changed a lot since George and I first got the big tank (1,000 gallons).  We filled it completely at the onset and then yearly.  Now I am told it is cheaper and more expedient to do a monthly thing.  Mark contacted the propane company and it is arranged that they will come out, help find a better site for a new tank (with fire danger in mind), pressure check all connections, and make arrangements for the disposal of the old and the installation of the new tanks.  When that is done we will receive our first delivery and be back on line for cooking, cleaning, and bathing.  With the new plan we will be topped off every month and billed monthly based on our history of use, i.e. history of using ~600 gallons per year = 50 gallons per month so we will pay for 50 gallons per month regardless of how much we use (more in winter etc.) and any surplus or owing at the end of the year will just start the next year’s accounting.  It sounds complicated to me, but Mark assures me it is fair and avoids forgetting to order refills etc.

Another member of the HLA Board of Directors and I are trying to get our responsibilities in re the United Way grant arranged.  We are charged with distributing information about readiness for emergencies (such as fire etc. since no one seems to have seen the pandemic coming).  Because of the lockdown, it isn’t as easy as it appeared when we applied for the grant.  Current thought is either walkabouts to handout information (of course observing mask and distance protocols) or to set up a table etc. at the point where our private roads leave pavement to hand out information packets to residents.  So far the road “block” idea is winning.  Masks, gloves, and distancing. 

~~~

Saturday, Day 58 …

Bright, sunny day.  Fifty-eighth lockdown day, and second day without propane.  We are using paper plates since washing dishes is problematic.

Yesterday I got some bad news which resulted in reconnection with a cousin I haven’t seen in over twenty years.  As I have mentioned (probably too many times), when my computer died it took addresses, email lists, and phone numbers with it.  As a result of those losses I lost contact with another cousin with whom I had been in contact but who had moved from southern California to an Oregon beach community.  I thought about her often, but was never able to locate a source for the missing information, and she hadn’t called.  Then one day last week, out of the blue there was a phone number with a 541 prefix and, since 541 is Oregon, I took a chance and called and left a message on the voice mail site.  This cousin had been adopted and as a result seemed to feel she was “outside”.  I didn’t think she felt that way about me, but she didn’t call and I couldn’t call.  But it turned out that the 541 number was correct and her husband returned my call.  His news was the first of the bad news.  Becky had died just last month of metastatic cancer.  I was in tears.  I am so sorry she died probably thinking I was choosing to not call her.  But as a result, I decided to make another try at finding a pair of mutual cousins and was successful at finding one of them.  I called him, and was told of another death, but Ron and I were both excited about the reconnection and will stay in touch.  I guess I should tell him about this blog.

Sort of a hard day.  Rules about what you can/should plant where etc., all based on protecting your home from fire, are hitting me big time.  When George and I bought, there were no such laws and we loved living in a forest.  But now Mark is having to do some drastic clearing and moving of vegetation.  It is hitting me a bit hard in spite of knowing it is all necessary for safety.  I am seeing trees I watched grow be dropped, limbed, and cut into firewood lengths.  I am told the lilacs by the front door and under my bedroom window have to be cut back drastically.  I guess if anyone lives long enough they experience this one way or another.  This time next year the view will be a great deal different.  Mark grew up here, but it all changed a lot during the thirty years he lived in western New York so it isn’t the same for him.  I trust him.  He won’t do anything he thinks will upset me unless there is no way to avoid it.  I do feel sorry for him.

~~~

Sunday, Day 59…

Sunday’s are usually pretty laid back around here, and with the lockdown they are even more so.

I’m re-reading the PERN books (I’ve already told you that … oops) and am now into the tales of the girl who impresses nine dragon lizards.  These are good parts of the tales.  I’ve always liked them which is probably why there is a dragon lizard on my left ankle.

~~~

Monday, Day 60 …

Today I drove an automatic for the first time.  Up ‘til now every vehicle I’ve driven has been a stick shift beginning with Daddy’s Ford pick-up back in the mid-40s.  And to top it off, this is a Honda hybrid.  So not just an automatic, but an electric.  My only problem was learning how to brake. I wonder what George would have thought of this development.

The first trip out in over a week was memorable for more than just that.  Spring is trying very hard to arrive.  Both types of dogwood are in bloom as are the wisteria and the crabapple.  The oaks are looking strange … they are budding leaves above two seasons of dead leaves still on the trees.  It looks quite strange.  However, this may turn into a good jelly making year.  If the crabapple does well and Mikayla’s cherry has a crop, they will add to the plum, gooseberry, Oregon grape, and foraged elderberry crops.  There is even a possibility of choke cherries.

 ~~~

Tuesday, Day 61 …

The dandelion expectation has gone by the wayside.  Being sheltered-in-place, having the extracted juice be questionable, and then losing transportation until the rain came ended that for this year.  Oh well …  

Rain began today.  Soft and easy.  That’s the way we like it.  Of course, I don’t get much of the mucking-out and pruned limb gathering done when it is raining.  Nor does the dirt get sifted rid of the winter crop of stones.  But all in its own time.

We are adjusting our internet and phone connection to meet the needs of four of us using it … the computers = one for business, two for school, and me.  So I am without a connection.  It is making me realize how much the internet has modified my life.  

~~~

Wednesday, Day 62 …

 It is late, but I’m back on line with a better connection so streaming will be smoother.  However, I had to give up my old style phone and in the process I lost the recording of George answering the phone.  I will miss hearing him.  I should have recorded his message onto something just to be sure I kept it … but …

Oh well …

Two days ago, before the rain started, I did a load of laundry and hung it out in the solar drying yard.  I got part of it in before the rain.  The rest is having extra rinses.

And here’s something to remember …

To care for someone is to learn the song in their heart and sing it to them when they have forgotten it.

So … ‘til next week …

More thoughts in the time of COVID-19

Wednesday, Day 48 …

Well … I began the day (after the blog) with a red sky and two packages of “live plants” delivered yesterday afternoon.  I was able to unpack the plants to give them room and air, but that was all.  

It was a full and rather exhausting day.  I find that at this advanced age I don’t feel my age until I try to do a full day of whatever just like I used to do.  I started the day by picking up three boxes of garbage scraps for the chickens from the local food  bank.  Then on for some groceries.  Our pantry is doing well although the 7-11 has been eliminated by the new kitchen boss.  Next stop was the home of a friend whose yards are full of dandelions.  Forty-five minutes gathering yielded some conversation, a really sore knee, and two ice cream buckets of blossoms.  Next stop a hardware store looking for sulfur (a soil acidifier) without luck.  Another grocery stop (one store is a surplus supplier so doesn’t always have what I want).  By then (1430) I was a bit shaky and walking stooped (which makes me angry) and realized I hadn’t eaten since early morning so I took my free sandwich coupon across the street to Burger King (any port in a storm) and had a high energy (and fat) lunch.  I was pooped when I got home but was able to get the groceries unpacked and the dandelion blossoms under boiling water.

Spent the evening participating in the weekly radio net and trying to join the meeting of the watermaster district by phone.  They were due to start at 1900, but by 2000 the meeting still hadn’t begun and I was fading fast.  With their past behaviour in mind, I wonder if they are using the current unusual circumstances to pull shenanigans.  Oh well …

No more, or at least fewer, seventy-year-old days for me.

~~~

Thursday, Day 49 …  

Day started overcast with a long list of things to do.  Discovered that our chickens don’t like kale but do like dill.  Dill flavored eggs?

We have an overload of zucchini so will serve some baked with cheese tonight.  Pimento cheese spread for grilled cheese sandwiches and stuffed celery and on crackers mixed and ready.  Dandelion water strained for jelly (it’s very dark this year).  Rhubarb harvested ready for a crisp.  Sage dry and ready to crumble.  Dill spread to dry.  

Day ended warm, mostly sunny with a few clouds.  Full day … but not as wearing as yesterday.

~~~

Friday, Day 50 … 

I got carried away and did some planting in spite of the Moon phase (it isn’t right until tomorrow).  I also spent time redoing (repairing) a section of the courtyard which had been decimated (I have to rebuild some retaining wall) to get it ready for the butterfly/hummer garden.  I have lavender and salvia and thyme and mints and Northern Dragonhead (really) and others just waiting to start.  If I take it a small area at a time, watching how long I keep at it, I can do this.  Already, with even the little I’ve gotten done, I like how it is beginning to look.  It will be ready for outdoor dinners soon … weather permitting. 

The Met opera stream for today was the 1985 version of Aida which was Leontine Price’s farewell to her on-stage career.  What a voice!  The production was a bit funky (after all it was more than thirty years ago), the costumes were weirdly Adrian-style (think of Joan Crawford’s shoulders), and the tenor was not my idea of a love interest … but Price was amazing (and amazingly celestial) so Netrebko can go … find another role to sing someplace else.

Next week I can look forward to Marriage of Figaro with Fleming, Bartoli, and Bryn Terfel !!!

~~~

Saturday, Day 51 …

Well … the Mitsu is dead.  She had been having radiator trouble for several months but, since I am money-shy (this would seem to be my year for financial trials and learning), we had been teasing her along.  I had been carrying a jug of water mixed with coolant, but this morning Mark told me that is no longer an option.  The radiator is leaking as fast as he pours in the water and she is so old there is no longer a ready source of parts for her.  A month or so ago a neighbor here on the Ranch asked if I wanted to sell her, so we’ll call him next week and ask if he still wants her.  

This automobile crisis brought a gift with it.  The family was talking about how to get me another vehicle and Paul went upstairs to bring down his allowance stash and piggy bank.  I guess we will be shared owners.

Last evening we finished the Dragon Hatcher book.  It was good enough that I’m ready for a follow-up, YA rating aside.  Dragons seem to be the current thing around here.  Paul is opting for something in the Dragon Master series.  And of course, there is always Pern.

This morning I was again Net Control for the new radio club saturday net.  Still not too many participants.  Guess most folks are busy filling time at home with busy work.  I did hear from a new person down in Vallejo.  The big announcement was that the City of Mt Shasta has cancelled the 4th of July events for this year.  No street fair.  No run/walk.  No parade.  No fireworks.  First time in more than 35 years without hoopla.  But it has always been big with folks from too many places to risk it under today’s circumstances. That leaves only two events on the radio club calendar, both in September, and they may not survive either since some sources are predicting a second wave of this virus at the end of summer.

This afternoon’s task was getting more plants into the ground … thyme, prunella, blueberries, lavender, and transplanting some ground cover.  As I was finishing it started to rain.  That is good for the new plants and it washed most of the yellow pollen off the front slanted windows.  Nice …

~~~

Sunday, Day 52…

Today started with a bright, crisp, sunny morning and went on to be a laidback day.  The plants I put out a few days ago seem to be liking where they are.  I have one more lavender but haven’t decided where it will do best.  It is one of the tall ones … Vicar’s lavender someone called it.  And I really need to thin out the new growth under the lilacs.  

Isn’t it strange that perception changes so drastically, depending on requirements.  When the truck was usable, I didn’t feel any restrictions knowing I was mobile if I needed to be.  Now, even though there is no place I need or really want to go, somehow it feels different.  Not worse … but definitely different.

~~~

Monday, Day 53 …

The sun topped the Mountain and was shining in my window a few minutes after 0630 this morning.  It still rises south of the peak with five weeks to go ‘til Summer Solstice.  

The word for today was jedi, a word no one knew in 1976 …  but after all it is Star Wars Day.  Ahhhh, English.  A little of this and a little of that.

And that makes me think of another word that just came into (back into?) my life.  Chelm.  Years ago there was a very funny movie starring a collection of actors not necessarily known for being funny (Beat the Devil with Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre).  It was a favorite of George’s and mine.  In it, Jones plays a former housemaid who married into what she claimed was a noble British family … the Chelms.  Her claims and demeanor were over-the-top and, in point of fact, I never forgot.  Then this morning I was reading a post about a town in Poland named Chelm and it all fell into place. 

Do you need a laugh?  Read about Chelm … https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-sages-of-chelm/?utm_source=mjl_maropost&utm_campaign=MJL&utm_medium=email&mpweb=1161-18952-103505

After reading Dragon Hatcher (actually listening to since Kamille was reading aloud) and the first two chapters of Dragon Masters, I thought about the McCaffrey PERN books and decided it was time to reread the lot of them on my own time, by myself.  I sorted the collection by publishing date (which is the order in which the author suggested they be read) and started with Dragonflight.  It is well-written and so easy to read.  I remember the original joy.  And I have a double stack waiting. So I’m set for the rest of the lockdown. 

Weather went from rain to a relative humidity today of 17% with wind.  It may turn out to be a scary summer and fall.

While sorting stuff a few days ago I went through a box of pictures and set aside the ones of my sister’s family to mail to her granddaughter (both my sister and her daughter are already gone).  And yes to all you genealogists, I made sure each was identified with names and dates although her granddaughter might recognize most of them.  That got me thinking about the family pictures etc. that I have collected due to my genealogy bug.  What if we do have a fire?  I’ve been considering getting a fairly large fire safe … large enough to hold pictures, certificates, computer hard drives and USBs, old letters and cards, jewelry hand-me-downs, and ???  I wonder what a mid-sized to large safe costs? 

~~~

Tuesday, Day 54 …

Well, Mark may have found my next wheels for me.  It’s a ‘90, as was the Mitsu, but has less than 100,00 on the odometer and had only one owner.  More importantly, it is within my means.  Hold good thoughts because I will need my own transportation soon.  Great Northern has arranged to supply summer lunches for the local children this coming summer like it did last year, and today I got a call asking if I was available to work packing lunches again.  Of course I said yes.  So from the second week in June through the first week in August I’ll be working every tuesday and thursday morning.  Last year we had always been gloved, so adding masks won’t be that much different.

Re-reading the Pern books has turned into an adventure and a challenge.  I’m finding I remember bits and pieces of the stories from my first read which don’t seem to jibe with the book I’m reading now.  I’m sure it will all sort itself out, and maybe my memory is a bit off kilter.  However, I’m enjoying …

Tomorrow will be a garden day as soon as the blog is posted.  I have several plants to go into the ground, and I have a planter box ready to start a salad garden.  This family is green shy and I miss salads.  Besides, I’m beginning to gain back some of the weight I trimmed off after George died.  Resolution … salad for lunch every day possible.

And potatoes go into the ground thursday.

Tyler, the older grandson, likes to bake.  This evening he made a cheesecake … a big one to share with the family and the folks at work.  I like that he likes to bake.  I just wish he’d learn to like cleaning up afterwards.

~~~

Wednesday, Day 55 …

Another week and we’re all still here. 

May Mother Earth heal at this time and may we all bow our heads and pray for better days.  Prayers for you all.  Better days are coming.  ~ WALK IN BEAUTY~            

 … KayCee White Eagle 

… and …

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

… Audrey Hepburn

So … ‘til next week …

More thoughts in the time of COVID-19

Wednesday, Day 41 …

Well, it’s a good thing I went in to have the tires rotated and wheels balanced.  I had to buy a new tire.  One of the ones I had on there had developed a bubble, the size of my thumb, which was explained to me as a separation.  Luckily it was under warranty, so the new one cost less than half of new.  

~~~

Thursday, Day 42 …  

As I was listening to Symphony Hall in Sirius, I began to wonder (more about “wondering” when I get back to Lewis Thomas) … I began to wonder what happens to all the talent which is never really recognized, and what is the trigger to recognize it wherever it is.  I knew an amazing pianist when I lived in Mill Valley (an aside … maybe I thought he was amazing because he called me Tondelayo).  He was so smooth at both pop and classics (as well as at flattery … at least I took it as flattery).  But he never made it in either music venue.  His choice?  Or just lack of recognition?  And how much talent is out there right now that, unless it is right near us and has training opportunities, we will never hear or see?  What are we missing?

Seeing photos of wild animals in cities made me think of where I live.  Round here, seeing “wild” animals isn’t that much of a shock.  But pumas and turkeys and goats and coyotes and deer and bears and who knows what else in the middle of cities and on empty beaches… wow.  Just another reminder that when we as a species are decimated (or gone) Gaia will survive, revive, and prosper. 

As part of the Met free downloads during these unusual circumstances, today I got to again see Lehar’s Merry Widow which Fleming did, along with Broadway stars, a couple of years ago (bet you’ve never seen opera with a Broadway gypsy chorus dancing a cancan as well as an assortment of Balkan folk dances).  Now I look forward to Rigoletto set in the Rat Pack Vegas.  I missed it the first time round.

~~~

Friday, Day 43 … 

My cousin Gretchen in Alaska is hooked on poetry and has a scary book collection (scary because it is so big and inclusive and I’m a bit envious).  She has been stacking some of them up in towers which write poems of their own if you read titles top to bottom. One example was … A quick brush of wings where the forest meets the stars, parallel worlds beyond civilization.  

Now back to Lewis Thomas starting with thoughts about poetry.  In one of his essay collections he quotes experts (?) who say poetry is not realistic enough (I forget the highfalutin’ word they used).  The idea was that a poem should say exactly what the poet means without metaphor or parable or involvement of readers.  I disagree.  To me the point of poetry is connection.  As a poet I write what I sense and feel and think.  It is an invitation to you, the hoped for reader, to meet me there with what you sense and feel and think.  We are not alone and poetry is connection, not observation.  End of opinion !!!

But still with Thomas … he was a word freak and enjoyed knowing the origins of words.  One word to which he gave attention was wonder.  It comes from an ancient Indo-European root meaning  simply to smile or laugh.  Seems he loved that word … loved its mixture of message, marvel, surprise, questioning.  And from his Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler’s Ninth Symphony (published in 1983) … “Anything wonderful is something [at which] to smile in the presence of admiration (which, by the way, comes from the same root along with, of all telling words, mirror.)”  Thomas then goes on to say he enjoys making lists of things about which he wonders.  Although Thomas died in 1997, we are compatriots.  As I’ve been reading his essays, I keep coming across phrases, thoughts, ideas which resonate making me think I need to share only to find I don’t have the time or space or ability to teach you.  Some of his work is obsolete due to the passage of time but his philosophical thoughts are timeless.   As a result I will stop trying to explain him.  Go read him for yourself !!!

~~~

Saturday, Day 44 …

Watching my 8-year-old grandson play outdoors with only the dog for a companion can be wrenching.  My own children grew up fairly solitary, but they had school time with peers.  The only contact Paul has had, other than with adults, has been through chromebook school time.  I just watched him go out and walk/march through an interesting routine.  I can’t imagine what was in his head.  Maybe a ritual from one of the books he is reading.  

The current family evening read is Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher.  The dragon’s name is Tiamat.  That makes me wonder since a dragon is fire and Tiamat was a Goddess of water.  Oh well …

I spent three hours this morning running an informal from-home-during-lockdown radio net while listening to the MET Gala from all over the world.  We had radio check-ins from locals and some other places in California and Washington state.  

As for the Gala … singers participated from their homes in the US, Germany, France, Italy, Latvia, Canada, Wales, Russia, Malta, Switzerland, Spain, and Poland.  Seeing inside the homes was a blast (one married couple sang in their kitchen ending with their two kids mugging and waving) … what variety … lots of books and pianos, some bold colour schemes and a lot of neutrals all with assorted kitsch (one house in Switzerland had a mask on Wagner’s statue and a model of the Met on the piano), several fireplaces (some which are obviously used and some merely decorative), one home even sported a very large aquarium, and there were lots of flowers and plants.  But talk about miracles … there were several times we heard the Met Orchestra and chorus en toto (including the magic chorus from Nabucco) all playing and singing from their own homes.   Okay, are you bored by my interest in opera yet? I regret it if you are, but no apologies.

 Listening sparked a couple of follow-up thoughts … wouldn’t it be great if someone like Keith Richards and some guitar playing friends would do something like this, or Ringo and his drummer mates?

~~~

Sunday, Day 45…

For a few days I have been noticing that the days of yellow pollen are here.  The evergreens are doing their mating thing with May Day almost here.  Regeneration is a nice thought, but a bit messy.

The sweet cherry tree George and I planted when Mikayla was born nealy 26 years ago, and which has bloomed every year but never had a crop worth anything, is in FULL bloom.  With climate change, maybe this will be the year.  I wonder what that might portend in life for both Mikayla and her tree.  

The small, red flowers are nearly gone from the maple, replaced by small light green leaves.  Even the birch and apple trees are leafing out.  Of course, everywhere is alight with daffodils in all colour combinations.

~~~

Monday, Day 46 …

Well … opera on saturday followed by Broadway on sunday.  I missed the bashup yesterday, but am spending time today (in spurts) with those folks honoring Sondheim.  Music and more music.  Quite a contrast between opera and Broadway.  I grok them both.  And to think Sondheim lived next door to Katharine Hepburn.  I guess that’s how he knew about the calla lilies.  Wow …

Weather since friday afternoon had been overcast and chilly, but not cold.  Then today things warmed up.  This is the kind of weather that fools you into thinking you can begin gardening outdoors.

~~~

Tuesday, Day 47 …

Today was my day to pay for the enjoyment of yesterday.  I volunteered to take part in a United Way program to coalesce communities in preparation for emergencies like floods, fires, earthquakes, and plagues.  The training was to start in person the first of April.  It has been switched to the internet.  They are using the person who oversaw the creation of the learning modules as on-line leader who, it turns out, is not a good on-camera speaker.  She waves things around a lot (including her arms), says ah and uh and you know way too often.  Consequently, listening to (and watching) her is payment for yesterday’s good times.  I’ll tell you more about the project later.  

While spinning this morning I found myself philosophizing … weirdly.  I have had some mixed fiber, sitting in my stash, in gorgeous browns and yellows and oranges for quite some time.  I think it is a combination of merino and alpaca with a wee touch of glitz.  I had thought to spin it cobweb for a shawl but had given up and set it aside because spinning it was a constant battle.  Then, due to lockdown and the need to find something different to do, I got it out to try once more and it still wouldn’t spin cobweb!  I’ve been reading Illusions again and got to thinking about the freedom to do what pleases you.  Maybe that fiber wasn’t pleased with what I was trying to make it do.  Maybe it wants to be socks or a mid-weight scarf instead of a shawl.  So I tried spinning a bit heavier and kaloo kalay … so possibly inanimate things aren’t really lifeless.

I took advantage of a waxing moon in Cancer later this morning and did some planting and transplanting.  The green rose I had growing in the courtyard (because it was a favorite of my Daddy’s) had been badly damaged during the year following George’s death.  I had tried to move it last year and the ground squirrels got to it so I had given up on it.  But miracle of miracles, a fresh shoot is showing at the new site (but with a lot of dead wood as well) and an off-shoot made itself known at the old site.  With care and luck, I’ll have two green roses.  In addition, I put the new elderberry into the ground and moved a lot of prunella (all heal) into a partial sun area for a medicinal patch.  This year there will be a lot of Oregon grape, as well as gooseberries, for jelly … and of course the oregano is on its way to trying to take over.

Recipes for dandelion rosemary shortbread, dandelion lemon bars, dandelion rhubarb pie, and dandelion jelly showed up on my computer yesterday.  I have fresh rhubarb ready to pull and plenty of dry rosemary from last year and can get a lemon tomorrow and have been offered free use of a yard full of unsprayed dandelions plus what I was able to pick around our own yard … so guess what I’ll be doing thursday.

~~~

Wednesday, Day 48 …

One day last week, when I heard the lockdown had given a friend a really bad few days, I saw this and decided to share …

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

… Wendell Berry

May you find such a place wherever you are as we weather this challenge. 

And so … ‘til next week …

More thoughts in the time of COVID-19

Wednesday, Day 34 …

 I spent quite a bit of time this afternoon trying to learn how to put photos in the blog.  I know (loud sigh here) … to some folks it’s a snap.  But I found myself wading through jargon which had not a bit of meaning to me.  I refuse to give up.  I’ll keep trying and someday I will once again be able to share pictures with my words.

~~~

Thursday, Day 35 …  

Every morning I read the online Dictionary “Word of the Day”, and one day last week the word was daffydowndilly.  Did anyone else recognize it? I did from an old, old song.  So I followed the link to learn its meaning and found out it is a Brit term (of course) for a spring-time daffodil, used in fun, and most likely with at least some roots in Londontown’s East End Cockney rhyming slang.  Go ahead, do your own rhymes … pass some time with hurdy gurdy wordy fun.

Each morning, when the sky is clear, looking out my south facing window I can watch the sunlight come down the side of Mt Eddy as the sun rises.  Where I live may not be unique, but it sure is interesting.  Sunrise is tracked in a downward direction looking south.  A creek across the west side of the meadow runs uphill.  Sunset colours are best seen looking east.  The houses situated lower in altitude than mine have colder temperatures.  Unique?  Interesting?

~~~

Friday, Day 36 … 

Made a short trip to town this morning … chickens needed straw and scratch, and chicken breasts were on sale.  Wore my mask.  Stopped by a neighbor’s and said “Hi” from a distance.  Got the Landowners’ Association stuff done.  Got in some knitting time.  Spent time on courtyard planning and checking dates for planting.  Next wednesday and thursday look good for that.

Full day.

~~~

Saturday, Day 37 …

The (so far) standoff with the Watermaster District has resurfaced.  We have contacted an attorney who gave us an hour and a half of free consultation, but wants $6,000-$7,000 as a retainer.  We have $2,000 in hand. I’ll put in another $1,000 when my government booster comes in.  That leaves us ~$4,000 short.  Now if I can only convince forty people to send me $100 each, I’d have it made.  Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh … dream on.  But we’re not giving up.  Somehow we’ll find the way to get our water and our hydro-electric power back.  I have hope and faith.

~~~

Sunday, Day 38 …

Music hit me a bit hard last evening.  I had the radio on and was listening to classical music while I read.  As I read, I was enjoying the Bolero.  It had been one of George’s favorites (he had a DVD of Maya Plisetskaya dancing it, with a full male chorus line, which he enjoyed watching).  As I said , I was enjoying.  Bolero was followed by the tenor-baritone duet from Act I of The Pearl Fishers.  Another of George’s favorites.  I thought that was an interesting juxtaposition, but nice.  Next came Brahms’ 3rd Symphony followed by the Chopin Dirge Sonata.  More favorites.  By then I was no longer concentrating on reading and was wondering who had put together that play list.  Forty-five minutes later it was time for me to turn out the light and go to sleep and I was still listening to George’s music.  First thing this morning ???  Rusalka !!!  The Met’s translation of  her song to the Moon goes … Moon in the heavens, your light shines on everyone, near and far.  Moon, tell me where is my beloved? Tell him, silver Moon, that I am holding him in my arms.  Wherever he is, he should dream of me.  Tell him to wait for me.

Somehow I think that even in isolation I am not alone.

Two more 6+ earthquakes on the Ring (these both off Japan) and a small one in the LA area..  Plates are slip slidin’ …

~~~

Monday, Day 39 …

Found this on Facebook and thought it was worth repeating.

“My grandmother once gave me a tip:  In difficult times, you move forward in small steps.  Do what you have to do, but little by little.  Don’t think about the future, or what may happen tomorrow.  Wash the dishes.  Remove the dust.  Write a letter.  Make a pot of soup.  You see?  You are advancing step by step.  Take a step and stop.  Rest a little.  Praise yourself.  Take another step.  Then another.  You won’t notice, but your steps will grow more and more.  And the time will come when you can think about the future without crying.” ~ Elena Mikhalkova 

I went out for a walk around the property and made a series of discoveries.  Blooms on manzanita, lots of bulbs, and a second bloom on the plum tree.  It had already bloomed once and that bloom was knocked off by snow and ice.  With this second bloom a good crop of plums may be a miracle in the making.

In my room, the cutting from the fig tree has sent out a leaf.  I was about to give up and toss the stick.  Now a friend says she’d like to give raising it a try.  She wants some of the pussy willow starts as well.  

Last week I heard about a couple of innovative challenges to being housebound.  A bit south of us on Old Stage, neighbors in a set of four houses set up chairs and six-packs at the end of each driveway and stationed themselves with signs saying “You honk.  We drink.”  And over in Shastina an extended family celebrated a birthday by forming a group of family cars decorated with signs and flowers and parading around the  appropriate circle drive singing the Happy Birthday song out the car windows.

~~~

Tuesday, Day 40 …

The early morning trip out to the chicken house has been a pleasure this week.  The sounds of the morning (geese, sand cranes, an owl, breezes) has been accompanied by train whistles.  I treasure the sound of train whistles. 

This morning another interesting word for the day  …  Taradiddle (lots of diddling lately) … by definition a petty lie, a little falsehood or trifling told often to amuse or embellish a story.   Worth filing away for use later.

~~~

Wednesday (early), Day 41 …

This is being posted early today because I have to leave the house early.  The truck’s wheels need rebalancing and although the shop is open (“we’re essential” one repairman told me) they aren’t making appointments … first come first served.  Since I don’t like to drive in and out, and have to be in town at noon, I will stay out until everything is done.  I am not anticipating a good day.  I had thought to plant some potatoes this morning.  Maybe there will be time when I get home.

~~~

However, no sense brooding and so … Ending the week with some sage advice …

The Icelandic forestry service is encouraging people to hug trees while social distancing measures prevent them from hugging other people.

So … ‘til next week …

More thoughts in the time of COVID-19

Wednesday, Day 27 …

To start the previous post this morning I wrote “(Paul) is writing a journal.  He is actually printing … they no longer teach cursive in 2nd grade.” and within minutes of posting, I received a call from a reader (actually a cousin) in Florida challenging my use of “printing” to indicate “not cursive”.  His background is in architecture and civil engineering, and according to architects and civil engineers “printing” is what printing presses do. He tells me writing by drawing individual letters is properly called “lettering” and is done in architectural drawings and plat maps in UPRIGHT CAPS.  

It made sense when I was listening to him but now I’m having trouble distinguishing between what we do when we are writing in individual letters, both upper and lower case, rather than connected ones and what printing presses (or computer printers) do.

How’s that for a confusing way to start a blog?

~~~

Thursday, Day 28 …  

I think I’ve already told you about the mini white rose for my desk (and for dried rose petals) I bought a bit ago.  Well, I thought it had died. In the past I had not had good luck with mini roses, but hope springs eternal so I had tried again.  And as in the past, it showed every sign of dying … leaves and buds turning brown and dropping.

My older grandson had worked with a landscaper back in New York (am I repeating myself? Oh well …) and he told me it might just be stress at all the changes between the commercial nursery and here.  He was right. She is now showing oodles of bright green new leaves. Kaloo Kalay! Maybe I’ll start calling her Eleanor after the Queen who kept coming back.

Thinking of Eleanor, the book I’m reading (The Queen’s Man) has turned out to be a fun read.  I’ll have to search out more by Penman as soon as I get back to the library.

And thinking about plants … one of the Peace lily plants (from when I divided and repotted a couple of months ago) is coming into bloom!

~~~

Friday, Day 29 … 

Good Friday … a day for sorrow.  Isn’t it interesting how in spite of hope, good intentions, and effort life can occasionally whopp you?  

Interesting is turning into one of my favorite, most used, words.  Maybe because I now have time to see and listen and there are a lot of things which catch my interest.  One of the latest has been wind patterns. Looking out my east facing window I can see several tall evergreens and watching them move in the wind is a trip.  Sometimes they all seem to move together. Other times the wind will be whipping the tops around and lower branches will be moving gently, if at all … and sometimes the other way around.  And of course there are the times when big birds land on a branch or a squirrel runs along a branch and only that branch is moving. This morning, nothing is moving.

~~~

Saturday, Day 30 …

Mornings are warmer … in the mid-40s rather than the 20s and 30s.  And opening the chicken house gets earlier and earlier. Sun in my east window before 0715 with hens out talking loudly earlier and earlier.  It used to be that the brown hen with the malformed beak was the only talker. Now one of the pure blacks has joined her. I watched them a day or so ago and found that they don’t open their beaks when they talk and so wondered how we “hear” them.  I asked Mark if he knew and his answer was that they probably have resonating sinuses in their heads like dinosaurs did. Interesting …

Another wonder (as in “I wonder …”, not as in “a miracle”), during this time of enforced input diminishment, was “laughs”.  Why and at what do people laugh? I’ve known people who just laugh most of the time, especially when they are talking … even when speaking of non-funny things.  

Self-depreciation?  See, I’m laughing at me so your laughter can’t hurt me.  

With joy?  This is a really good day.  

With relief?  Wow … glad that happened to someone else instead of me. 

In disbelief?  I can’t believe that happened.  Can you believe they did/said that?  

When sharing fun?  Now that was really funny.  

And, of course, I then wonder at times when people don’t laugh.

Another earthquake … 5.8 a bit south near Bodie … with aftershocks … more activity on our section of the Ring of Fire,  this time further away from the Yellowstone caldera.

The red maple and the plum are leafing out, the apricot has bloomed, but nothing so far on the birches, apples, or the catalpa. 

~~~

Sunday, Day 31 …

Easter … Passover …  Ramadan … Celebrations this year will be long remembered.  More than one family with whom I am acquainted included a laptop or iPad at the table in order to share with friends and family.  The sun came over the Mountain here at 0700 … bright and clear. Tyler had to go to work (animals don’t differentiate holiday sundays from any other day and want to eat).  The family went to the church to do the Easter morning service and discovered parishioners had seated stuffed toys in the pews, so they weren’t doing the service in an empty house.   

 A good day.

The last two nights, as I was out to close in the hens, I heard a pair of sand cranes overhead on their way between the nesting area in the meadow and the reservoir.  I’m hearing more and more Canada geese as well.

~~~

Monday, Day 32 …

Were you aware that during WW II Britain had a “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”?  Intriguing.  I wonder if that meant all Geneva bets were off.  I didn’t know about that group until I saw a brief bio of Christopher Lee on the net.  Seems Dracula had some training.

My mother was born on this date one hundred twelve years ago.  To most of those alive today, 1908 was ancient history, but I remember Mama …  short, hazel eyed, soft, industrious, good shot with a hunting rifle, adaptive, rattlesnake killer, Charleston dancer, and in love with my father to the day she died.

It was reported that black bears have come down out of the mountains around Ashland, just across the border in Oregon, and are wandering the streets without challenge.  Here in the High Meadow, we live in close proximity to our indigeneous wildlife all the time, so not much change here.

Late last evening, as I was getting ready for bed (I now can’t close in the hens until 2000 … but that’s another subject), I noticed the witch hazel is budding.  There is even about an inch of new growth on the end of one branch. The elderberry has a bit of brown-off on a leaf or two so I’ll transplant it to a bigger pot.  And the first of the tomato seeds has sprouted.  

It is still too early to plant outdoors, but the time is getting closer.  

And another earthquake on the Ring … this time in the far south Pacific near New Zealand.  Most of these have been 6s or more.

~~~

Tuesday, Day 33 …

Are you still with me?  This blog is getting quite extended.  Must be the isolation. I don’t think I’m observing or thinking more than usual.  But I am talking less, with such a limited number of folks available to listen, and so you are being required to read more.  Oh well …

I have always been pretty good at writing.  I used to be proud of my cursive … maybe too proud.  Now, with the “essential” tremor, if and when my hand is steady enough to handwrite my pride is no longer so full of hubris.  Besides, I find I compose my best letters etc. in bed as I am falling asleep. Too bad that technology isn’t yet to the place where thoughts can be automatically written (printed) someplace and so be available in the morning.

On the subject of morning, the morning sun has gotten so far north that I now live in a room full of rainbows (from the window crystals) every sunny day.  Nice …

Yesterday evening I watched the Met’s streaming of Renee Fleming’s “Rusalka” from a production in 2014.  The “Song to the Moon” from the first act (about 23 minutes into the Met recording) is one of George’s favorite arias.  “Rusalka” is a Czech telling of the same fairy tale as Anderson’s “Little Mermaid”, but with a very different ending. Listening to the opera, I tried to tune my ear to the sound of the Czech language.  George’s paternal grandparents spoke “Bohemian” at home and his grandfather introduced teaching Czech in Chicago public school curriculums back at the turn of the 20th century.  It didn’t stick, George’s father didn’t use the language, and George knew very little of it. It has a different sound … not Russian nor German.  And listening to it made me wish I weren’t language limited. The best time to learn language(s) is early childhood and our schools are failing … to our disadvantage.  In my next life, I hope to be multi-lingual.  

All these thoughts because George enjoyed listening to the “Song to the Moon”.

~~~

Wednesday , Day 34 …

I spent several hours today trying to get some pictures into the blog.  There is still much to learn.

And finally a thought from an interesting Passover essay …

Like the Israelites who mimicked Miriam’s vitality to gain their footing in a desolate place, so should we be inspired to replenish ourselves — drained by the emotional toll of what feels like an apocalypse — and quench our thirst with music, art, and dance.

I’m bingeing on Doc Martin, watching operas, reading a mystery set in 1193, learning about musicians of whom I’d not heard (Kenny G), enjoying sunrises, watching Paul learn, researching the family of Moses and the lesson carried by his parents, contacting family and friends (to keep tabs on who will be where when the lockdown is over), traveling virtually, watching plants grow and leaf out and flower, keeping the clock wound …

So … ‘til next week …