Pandemic Photo Journal May 10-16, 2020

I am trying a weekly photo journal of my life during this stay-at-home pandemic. The idea is to post on Sundays and include one photo for each day of the week with some text. I may not limit myself to one photo because I have a hard time with rules like that. It seems a perfectly logical thing to do on a family history blog. This is certainly an historic time.

My journal entries primarily come from my Facebook posts and notes I have jotted in my bullet journal.

Sunday 5/10

* Zoom church. I find myself taking notes as I attend online church.
* A decided not to come over for Mothers’ Day. She said her gift to me is to stay home and not “murder” me. She would rather wait a couple of weeks to see how opening up goes.
* M called. He said he would have sent me flowers, but he didn’t feel comfortable doing so.
* Picked up Chinese for dinner and watched The Sound of Music.
* Martin tolerates us! C collected snail shells and I’m drying used tea bags. She is leaving tomorrow so it will just be me carrying on the weirdness.
* This evening’s walk was more to help me deal with sadness that C is leaving than for exercise.

Monday 5/11

* C left this morning. She made it home okay – just before heavy rain hit.
* ESL Book Club – Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
* Cut 200 face mask filters from paper shop towels.

Tuesday 5/12

* Rainy, stormy day so no outside walk today.
* Church book group started reading Loaded about the 2nd Amendment. Zoom discussion.
* Backgrounds of those participating in the Senate hearing about Covid-19 are interesting and telling. Lamar Alexander has a wonderful backdrop with beautiful dog sleeping on its bed as well as his lovely room. He obviously wants all of this in view as he has positioned himself to the very edge of the screen.

Wednesday 5/13

* Thunderbirds flew over Austin today to honor health care workers. Expected to see them from our neighborhood, but it was a bust.
* Grocery delivery
* Neighbor gave me masks to take to TX Oncology.
* Nice evening walk.

Thursday 5/14

* I told our ESL students today that meeting on zoom is like attending Hogwarts. We all gather in the Great Hall. Once everyone is there, the sorting begins. The sorting hat (zoom algorithm) sorts us into houses (breakout rooms). Sometimes I do a spell that makes someone disappear from one room and reappear in a different room. It’s magic!
* Matthew McConaughey has made some PSAs to encourage everyone to wear a mask as a badge of honor. All right, all right, all right!
* Flamingos on my walk

Friday 5/15

* Assortment of weird fungi growing in the olive tree pot.
* Made Peasant Stew – good!
* Stormy night

Saturday 5/16

* Doing some family history research.
* I’m trying to keep my head up and be hopeful, but I guess we are “OPEN” now, so all bets are off:
-Two days ago neighbors two doors down had a pool party for for their daughter.
– Husband has been to Sam’s a couple of times the past few weeks. He went today and the carts were no longer being wiped down, the hand sanitizer station by the door was gone, and masks not required for entry. He told an employee before he left that he would not be back. Then he tried to go to both Home Depot and Lowe’s to get a couple of plants – you don’t have to go inside the store. Nope! Lots of people not distanced and unmasked. He didn’t even get out of the car.
– Saw a couple of gatherings on my walk this evening. The most troubling one was 15-20 teenagers. Mostly in chairs in a circle, but not distanced, no masks, someone sitting on the ice chest – and that’s just what I could see from the other side of the street between the many vehicles parked on the street.
I am not hopeful. We have met the enemy and it is us.
* Zoom meeting about R, an asylum seeker some members of the church have agreed to help.

Wear a mask and stay safe!

Pandemic Photo Journal: May 3-9, 2020

I am trying a weekly photo journal of my life during this stay-at-home pandemic. The idea is to post on Sundays and include one photo for each day of the week with some text. I may not limit myself to one photo because I have a hard time with rules like that. It seems a perfectly logical thing to do on a family history blog. This is certainly an historic time.

Sunday, 5/3/2020

* Zoom church
* First person I have known personally to die of Covid-19. Dr. White was my kids’ dentist until they aged out. His office was so accommodating to children and parents, they did everything to make the experience a good one. A prize to choose a the end. A report card to go over with parents. He was just a really nice man and skilled dentist who was good with his pediatric patients. I had a “mishap” with my first born that required a trip to the dentist. He smiled and said, “I always like to hear the story behind the visit.” I was embarrassed by my story, as I think he assumed I would be. He had to leave this life without his family by his side.
* Matty got a bath today. He likes to try to eat the water.

Monday, 5/4/2020

* ESL Book club – The Gardener. Good discussionI keep finding that these books take on new meaning during a pandemic and sheltering at home.
* I’ve been making new friends on my walks. A couple of days ago I met two women who live across the street from each other. They are both named Barbara. They know a friend of mine who has recently moved back to her roots in Alabama. One of the Barbaras was sitting in her yard so we chatted a minute.
Last week a young man ran past me and said, “Hello Ma’m!” We passed each other again and he asked my name and said, “Nice to meet you!” as he ran on. This evening I saw him lying in a yard looking up at the sky – right beside a yard sign congratulating a high school senior. I called to him and told him he had learned my name, but I had not learned his. His name is Slater. Such a nice young man with a beautiful attitude and presence. This is a completely new experience for me. Maybe people are being more social during social distancing? Maybe I am more open to engaging with others?

Tuesday, 5/5/2020

* Day 70 of 100 day challenge. 🎹 10 minutes a day.
* Tomato harvest. We don’t know what kind they are. A little bigger than cherry tomatoes with a brownish hue. …probably heirloom. Friends suggested black cherry or black krim.
* Tried new recipe – Hominy Corn Soup. It was good.

Wednesday, 5/6/2020

* C trimmed my hair in the back, so I thanked her with some vegan pumpkin bread (just substituted applesauce for eggs – I think my mom would approve of the change to her recipe.) As you can see, we don’t like this at all, given that it wasn’t out of the oven until 9:30 tonight and we could barely wait for it to cool enough to get out of the pan.
* Learned that C has been called back to her job in Kansas City. She will leave Monday. I am so, so, so sad. Dreamboat is going to miss her too.
* C has been accumulating plants while she is here.
* I was thinking the crochet trellis might need a bird up top. I’ll have to wait until morning to see if it is the right size. Colbert multi task.

Thursday, 5/7/2020

* The red bird is now on the trellis.
* I realized this morning what I should be researching for my family history – the 1918 flu pandemic. Wonder what stories family have heard and what I can find? My g-g-grandfather was an Old Settler in Lincoln County, KS when the county health officials decided they must cancel the big celebration to flatten the curve. Newspaper article could have been written today.
* Going around Facebook today: “Just to see how simple infection-chains can be, this is a real story from Chicago. The name is fake. Bob was infected but didn’t know. Bob shared a takeout meal, served from common serving dishes, with 2 family members. The dinner lasted 3 hours. The next day, Bob attends a funeral, hugging family members and others in attendance to express condolences. Within 4 days, both family members who shared the meal are sick. A third family member, who hugged Bob at the funeral becomes sick. But Bob wasn’t done. Bob attended a birthday party with 9 other people. They hugged and shared food at the 3 hour party. Seven of those people became ill. Bob became sick, was hospitalized, ventilated and died.

But Bob’s legacy lived on. Three of the people Bob infected at the birthday went to church, where they sang, passed the tithing dish etc. Members of that church became sick. In all, Bob was directly responsible for infecting 16 people between the ages of 5 and 86. Three of those 16 died.

The spread of the virus within the household and back out into the community through funerals, birthdays, and church gatherings is believed to be responsible for the broader transmission of COVID-19 in Chicago. (ref)”

* Tonight’s flower from a different texture of yarn scraps. Not sure if the color pallet will work.

Friday, 5/8/2020

* As Texas opens up more and more, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Thursday said that the state’s first case of community spread in the coronavirus pandemic happened in a nail salon.
* Finished crochet flower and hung on fence.

* Late morning walk.
* C is trying to sell stuff for us on Facebook Marketplace.
* I’m printing this Facebook post I read as a lament and a call to do more than lament:

Black people are so tired. 😓
We can’t go jogging (#AmaudArbery).
We can’t relax in the comfort of our own homes (#BothemJean and #AtatianaJefferson).
We can’t ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #Renisha McBride).
We can’t have a cellphone (#StephonClark).
We can’t leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards).
We can’t play loud music (#JordanDavis).
We can’t sell CD’s (#AltonSterling).
We can’t sleep (#AiyanaJones)
We can’t walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown).
We can’t play cops and robbers (#TamirRice).
We can’t go to church (#Charleston9).
We can’t walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin).
We can’t hold a hair brush while leaving our own bachelor party (#SeanBell).
We can’t party on New Years (#OscarGrant).
We can’t get a normal traffic ticket (#SandraBland).
We can’t lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile).
We can’t break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones).
We can’t shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford) .
We can’t have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher).
We can’t read a book in our own car (#Keith Scott).
We can’t be a 10yr old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover).
We can’t decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese).
We can’t ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans).
We can’t cash our check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood).
We can’t take out our wallet (#AmadouDiallo).
We can’t run (#WalterScott).
We can’t breathe (#EricGarner).
We can’t live (#FreddieGray).

We’re tired.
Tired of making hashtags.
Tired of trying to convince you that our #BlackLivesMatter too.
Tired of dying.
Tired.
Tired.
Tired.
So very tired.

Saturday, 5/9/2020

* “Walked with” a friend by phone.
* CSA veggie box. Martin also brought home two little apple pies from farmers’ market and 2 dozen roses for me for Mothers’ Day.
* C is getting lots of plants planted in pots to take back with her.
* Families don’t seem to know much about 1918 flu pandemic.
* Chalk art on walk. Some kids are missing swim team. Go Sharks! And an Amazon guy left his message.

Wear a mask!

Pandemic Photo Journal, April 26-May 2, 2020

I am trying a weekly photo journal of my life during this stay-at-home pandemic. The idea is to post on Sundays and include one photo for each day of the week with some text. I may not limit myself to one photo because I have a hard time with rules like that. It seems a perfectly logical thing to do on a family history blog. This is certainly an historic time.

Sunday, 4/26/2020

I forgot to write in my paper and pen journal, so basically all I remember is zoom church and I’m sure I went for a walk. The lovely battery operated candle in all of my church photos belongs to the pastor pictured. I borrowed it right before shelter in place – so now I use it for all of the church things until I am able to return it one day. She says it makes her happy to see it in my pictures.

Monday, 4/27/2020

* Read Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears in ESL book club. My friend and fellow teacher wasn’t a big fan and at least one student was very perplexed that the mosquito should feel guilty and be held accountable for the events that followed his exageration to the iguana.
* Called my dad in Louisiana. He’s doing ok
* Worked on crochet project
* Took an evening walk

Tuesday, 4/28/2020

* Picked out recipes to use the CSA veggies and get my grocery order in on time for delivery
* Took a morning walk because the temperature is above average and hot.
* Finished reading The Water Dancer. 
* Zoom book discussion of the book with fellow church members.
* My husband bought a TV for his new “office” in our son’s old bedroom. Looks like he’ll be working at home for a good long time.

Wednesday, 4/29/2020

Did a lot of crocheting today. And just the usual stuff. It is nice having my daughter here!

Thursday, 4/30/2020

* ESL class
* Worked on crochet trellis – getting it planned out
* Oldest daughter came over to hang out with her sister. They played video games and we physically distanced all day.
* Picked up Italian at Mandola’s and ate on the patio, well-spaced.

Friday, 5/1/2020

* Laundry day created a traffic jam on the way to husband’s office.
* Glued vine, leaves and flowers onto trellis.
* Stapled to fence and bruised my hand using a little desk stapler.
* No cooking – HEB pizza for dinner. Plus good salad stuff from veggie box.
* No walk today. I got tired hanging the crochet in the heat.

Saturday, 5/2/2020

* Ordered curbside Half-Price Books for ESL. Since libraries are closed, I’ve been limited to books I own.
* We drove around a little to look at some murals. Several are temporary ones on the boarded up windows of bars on 6th St. Didn’t get pics of all of them.
* Beautiful day and lots of people out. Our governor says no one has to follow rules set local governments, so there is no longer a wear-your-mask-in-public rule. It’s just a suggestion. We didn’t see many masks being worn as we drove around town.
* Chopped lots of veggies for Cauliflower Dressing
* After dinner walk – saw a friend I haven’t seen for a while and met two Barbaras that I think I could be friends with. We seem to share the same political views.

I felt a little guilty that I crocheted this week instead of working on masks. But it is good for me to do a little creative silliness. And I hope people enjoy it on their walks.

Our governor opened up a lot of things beginning Friday. I’m really concerned that it is too early.

Stay safe and have a good week!