Dispatch from the weekend.

We set the alarm for Saturday morning. I formulated the plan to get the day started by walking before breakfast. So we did. It rained Friday night but the weather app said 0% chance of rain. 

They lied.

Two thirds of the way finished and the sprinkling started. It did not drench us like it had earlier in the week. We got in 4 miles before breakfast.

I had time to shower and wash my hair before my 10:00 Zoom meeting with my siblings. 

The meeting was typical. Some of us were a bit subdued with not much to say. No one is living the life of Riley right now, so there isn't much news to share. We are just glad to see each other's faces and know how the other is handling typical life changes during this time. 

After our allotted 40 minutes the Zoom abruptly shut us down. That is how it goes. One minute you are talking and laughing, and then you're not. 

I piddled around and found 'Wilson' the church bulletin online so he could read it. I gravitated to the kitchen and started to get some things lined up to cook for lunch when I heard him calling to me from the computer bedroom. When I walked back I saw that he was FaceTiming with Daughter...AND...she was calling from our front yard!!!

She and her family had driven over for a SDV (social distance visit). Without hugging or touching we greeted all her family. We walked around the yard and toured our small gardens then settled on the back porch.

It was so-so needed, this visit. 

SDS. Social distance selfie. 

Add more to the mix. 

They didn't stay long. I offered our bathroom but no one needed the facilities. Lunch time was approaching and they had plans to do a drive by pick up  on their way back home. So just like that they loaded up and headed back east. 

And the waving lasted until they were out of sight. And lingers in my memory. 

That. Just that. 

After lunch I whipped up three masks at the request of a brother-in-law. 

It took less time to make these three than it did the first one I made. 

I hope to mail them on Monday. 

I had told Sister Mimi our potatoes were blooming and had to send her this photo to show what a potato blossom looks like. Blooming means there are potatoes growing underground. 

Today we were in church all morning. We attended our local parish mass, then we went to the Methodist church that one of my brothers and our son attends (out of town), then we went to another Methodist church (out of town) where Wilson's cousin was giving his testimonial. 

We surely got the ghost.

***

This afternoon we ventured out to the Sonic for chocolate milkshakes and a driveway visit with an elderly parishioner. She was glad and so were we.

Back home and ready to take on the week.

We have some small goals set. 

I'll save that for another post.

Shalom.

Wet dispatch.

We left for a long walk in our recently reopened state park amid clouds this morning. We had checked our phones for weather updates. There was about a 40% chance of rain. I figured that meant there was a 60% chance it wouldn't 

I liked the odds.

My plan was to walk all the way to the dam - the end of the line, if you will - 4 miles round trip. As we approached the play ground, or 3 mile mark, the distant thunder started. I still hoped we could get to the dam. In the play ground loop the thunder got closer and we had to make the call to return home. 

The rain got heavier as we picked up our pace. By the time we got home we were both soaked. But happier for having gotten our walk in. 

Lunch was heated left overs. They were delicious. 

We are both full and resting/reading/writing right now.

Later we will tag team the back porch furniture and chase some of the pollen/dust/spider webs off. 

Tonight we are forsaking an online dance class to join my brother in his bible study zoom meeting.

So much to do! So many choices!

Today our church secretary put out the APB for mask makers to get busy and rustle up some masks so we can get back to worshipping together. 

Will it happen soon? Will we feel safe? 

Stay tuned. 

More adventures to come!

Shalom. 

Musical dispatch.

Hang On Little Tomato

Pink Martini

The sun has left and forgotten me

It's dark, I cannot see

Why does this rain pour down?

I'm gonna drown in a sea

Of deep confusion

Somebody told me, I don't know who

Whenever you are sad and blue

And you're feelin' all alone and left behind

Just take a look inside you you'll find

You gotta hold on

Hold on through the night

Hang on

Things will be all right

Even when it's dark and not a bit of sparkling

Sing-song sunshine from above

Spreading rays of sunny love

Just hang on

Hang on to the vine

Stay on

Soon you'll be divine

If you start to cry, look up to the sky

Something's coming up ahead

To turn your tears to dew instead

And so I hold on to this advice

When change is hard and not so nice

If you listen to your heart the whole night through

Your sunny someday will come one day soon to you

Grocery dispatch.

Yes. Two days less than a month since I have been inside a grocery store and I braved the local Piggly Wiggly grocery early this morning. I even went to the Dollar General store. Only one item got left on my list. They didn't have my brand of deodorant. My fridge is full of fresh fruit, fresh veggies, some fresh meat. I also bought toilet paper, Lysol, and kleenex among other items. I feel ready to see this quarantine through now. I did wear a mask. I did sanitize everything I brought home. I may even venture out to the liquor store tomorrow. For more supplies.

Garden update photos...

Small herb box has basil and dill. Potatoes are at front of firs raised bed.

Let to right potatoes, onions, tomatoes in first raised bed. Second raised bed is okra and bush beans. Tomatoes are in grow boxes in forefront and pots by fence. 

Other side of the yard are tomatoes in pots, cucumbers in dirt in the back, small pots have new figs. 

Figs have tiny little leaves sprouting from the base of stem. 

Blueberries!

Yellow squash in front flower bed.

How does your garden grow?

Shalom. 

Patch my dis. Please.

May I get off this ride. 

Please?

Feeling dispatched.

Learning new tricks in the epidemic. For the first time ever I ordered groceries from the Kroger this morning to be delivered. They should be here Wednesday afternoon. I forgot coffee and salsa. I'll have to place another order on another day. Last week I ordered some bulk items from Sam's and some small items from Amazon. Amazon has some real price gouging going on. Not cool, Amazon. Not cool.

This morning"Wilson" (new name for Macho...Castaway movie reference) wanted to go somewhere and buy a new weed eater. His old one didn't need a new spark plug, after all. I made a trip to the P.O. complete with mask that I sewed last week. (Most everybody there had on a mask. Most were of the store bought paper variety. The man directly ahead of me in line had fashioned his out of, what looked like, a kitchen towel with some kind of rubber band that wrapped around his ears.) I had thought Wilson wanted to go to the locally owned store for the weed eater. It is closer to us. When I got back in the car after sanitizing my hands Wilson said he had talked himself out of going to Lowe's. I said "Lowe's"?!! He said he wanted to buy the same model he has because he wants to use the attachments he already has. Then he realized that Lowe's closed last week because an employee tested positive. Argh. I said we can order it...so after lunch we did. The money we are saving on gas right now is being spent on shipping and delivery charges.

Time seems unimportant right now. We wake up late. We stay up late. Some moments I feel pretty starved for conversation.

Now I'll go find something productive to do.
Shalom.

Birthday wishes dispatched from afar.

Our sweet Alice celebrated her second birthday yesterday. We sang happy birthday to her on facebook from our very own kitchen. She had a marvelous day from all indications. And now she is two. And she will grow up in a world where she won't know the "before" the corona virus. Many of our grandchildren will not remember the before. How will it be? What will it look like? Will we be better? Nicer? More spiritual?

After lunch today I needed to be outside. I walked around before grabbing the brush we use to get the dirt off our shoes. I used it to brush down the statue of Mary I brought back from Mom's last year. She was full of cobwebs and oak squiggles. And spiders. After she was free of the debris I sat on the corner of our raised bed and enjoyed a few quiet moments of thought and prayers and simply enjoying the green of my back yard. I looked up and saw the first hummingbird of the season on my feeder. I took that as a sign. A sign that things will right themselves at some point. We will have to recover, but we will come through.

Allergies have hit with a vengeance. Paying my dues for being outside so much. My over the counter allergy med is only 1.5 years past the expiration date. Should have some good left in it right?

Yesterday marked two weeks since we've been to the grocery. I'll probably go next week, alone. Only one person should go to the store these days. Some stores are regulating how many customers can enter.

Need to run blow my nose.
Shalom.

Dispatch from a fool.

That is what I will title the Governor's news conference today. Bless his heart, he just waited until the 11th hour to do the right thing. He seemed so unprepared, as did his chief medical advisor. This is just so huge.

So tomorrow starts the "shelter in place" for our entire state. It doesn't mean anything different than what we have been doing. Only now, in the next few weeks, things will get scarier and harder. Going to the grocery will feel even more dangerous.

The father of someone I know has died. Not in my state. Not 100% sure it is the virus. Yet I highly suspect it is.

God be with all the people I love. And even with those that I don't. Please.
Shalom.