2024 Life Logs, Day 03: Covid Rears Its Ugly Head Again

2024 Life Logs, Day 03: Covid Rears Its Ugly Head Again
Date: Wednesday, January 3, 2024
Weather: Still Sunny and Slightly Warmer; High Temp 42, Low 31 F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA

It was wonderful to have all family members healthy for our Christmas in Maine, but last night after I got home from Heather and Jed’s, they texted to tell me that Jonah tested positive for Covid. He came home from school yesterday feeling terrible, so we sat far away from each other at dinner. His symptoms got even worse after I left, thus the Covid test. Heather has also tested Positive, but just barely. She thinks she must have had a very light case of Covid and exposed Jonah and thinks she will probably test Negative in the next day or so. But I have been exposed and just hope that I don’t get Covid and have to delay my back surgery. I’ll keep downing the elderberry and zinc and hope for the best. And I also hope that Jonah feels better tomorrow. He has a fever, runny nose, and chills. Heather said he stays so bundled up they can’t tell if he really has a fever. I sure hope Ollie, Sam, and Jed don’t get this.

I hope I was not being irresponsible, but I went ahead and went to two meetings today thinking that I am probably not contagious this point. Starting tomorrow, however, I will isolate except for my Pre-Op appointment with Dr. Papavasiliou’s assistant, Shannon, tomorrow at 11:30 am. I might try to call in the morning and see if we can do that appointment via Zoom. Heather wants to be included as well, so a three-way Zoom call is probably the safest route. I’ll let Shannon decide that. And I certainly won’t go to my wine group gathering tomorrow night. Bummer. I would love to see everyone, but I don’t want to possibly expose them to Covid.

The meetings I attended today were both Newcomers/Encore related. In the late afternoon I went to my monthly meeting with the Health and Wellness Group. This was a new activity added this year and each meeting has been attended by only four or five people. Today there were four of us, one a newcomer to the group. We are going to continue and hope that in the spring we will get more people. Before my next meeting, I had time to come home to eat dinner and go outside to play with Shadow, but it was dark. So, I parked the car so the headlights would illuminate part of the front yard and used the porch light and the automatic outside spotlight. I walked down the path to the spot that first turns it on and then Shadow running through that same spot kept it on the whole time we played fetch. That new activity was a success. Then it was time for the second meeting which was a Newcomers group exploring how they can best express that the organization embraces diversity. I was there as an observer from Encore. It was a very positive and successful meeting with a group of incredibly caring people. We come up with a purpose statement that includes diversity and that statement will be presented to the Newcomers Board. They will take it from there.

2023 Life Logs, Day 365: Happy New Year

2023 Life Logs, Day 365: Happy New Year
Date: Sunday, December 31, 2023
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 39, Low 31 F
Location: At Home on Lakeview in Falmouth, MA

Happy New Year! I spent my day shopping and getting ready for New Year’s Day. Heather and gang will be home tomorrow evening and I offered to fix dinner. I had hoped we could have sushi, but our sushi source is closed tomorrow night. So I have artichokes or beef stew as the offering. The beef is marinating in wine and the artichokes are in the pantry. I’ll wait to see what the Goldpebbles vote for.

On New Years Eve I get a bottle of Pouilly-Fuisse to have with Mark. When I first met him, but was still deciding if I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him, I drove to Bloomington, Indiana to spend a weekend with him. I had only met him at a public television conference, so this would be our first meeting after that. He lived in a hard to find spot, so he met me at a designated place. He arrived in his little green sports car convertible and when we got to his house, he broke out a bottle of Pouilly-Fuisse wine. I was already in love, but this sealed the deal. So Pouilly-Fuisse became our signature wine and now that I don’t have Mark, I have a toast to him every New Year with this wine. Tonight, Shadow and I sat together while I made my toast. I made a toast with a hope for peace in the world. But more realistic hopes were that we can all stay grounded during coming year which could be quite challenging on the home front, as well as in the world aboard.

Tonight Heather, Jed, and the Goldpebbles are in Vermont celebrating with good friends after a day on the slopes. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco celebrated and then head down to Rincon for their New Year’s Silver Mouse concert. Shadow and I are here at home celebrating the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024. Here on the home front, and in the world abroad, 2024 looks to be a most challenging year. But we must all plunge into 2024 with an optimistic view, hoping for the best. Here we go.