2020 Life Logs, Day 80:  Reverting to What’s Comfortable
Date:  Friday, March 20, 2020
Weather:  Overcast; High 53 degrees, Low 41 degrees F
Location:  At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Some people are most comfortable curling up with a good book.  Others are most comfortable going for long walks.  I am most comfortable dealing with food, either planting seeds inside, preparing gardens for planting, or cooking.  So, in these unusual times, I am reverting to what is comfortable and spending my time as a ‘dirt digger’ and cooking comfort foods.  Earlier in the week I made Shepard’s Pie and today I made pies, both sweet and savory.  I made a pumpkin pie for Ollie for his birthday tomorrow and I made Leaf Pie for Shadow.  He continues to struggle with eating and digestive issues, and I continue to search for things he will eat.  Leaf Pie, which is a recipe I have been making for over 40 years is something he will eat.  It is basically eggs, milk, cheese, flour, and Swiss Chard.  The recipe has evolved over the years and I now use gluten-free flour, sheep’s cheese, and almond milk, but it still tastes the same.  I freeze it so I can have a lunch to go when there is not time to fix a salad.  And it is one thing Shadow will eat when his tummy is upset.

I also did something this afternoon that seemed like reverting to the past.  I hardly ever talk on the phone except to call my sister a couple of times a week.  But I spent a great deal of the afternoon talking to Jed’s mom Marti and my friend Leslie in New Hampshire.  I got an email update from Leslie this morning and decided to call her instead of returning the email.  It was great to hear her voice and we talked about how we are dealing with our self-imposed coronavirus solitude.  Then I called Marti to wish her a happy birthday.  Ollie will be 8 tomorrow and Marti had a birthday with the number 8 in it today.  Marti also lives alone in Washington, DC, and a birthday dinner party with neighbors was cancelled due to social distancing being our new norm.  It was great catch up with her and wish her a very happy birthday.

2020 Life Logs, Day 79: First Day of Spring
Date: Thursday, March 19, 2020
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High 47 degrees, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

For the first time since 1896, spring came a little early this year. Usually the vernal or spring equinox, the moment when we have more daylight than darkness, the moment when exactly half the earth is in darkness while the other half is in light, happens on March 20 or 21. This year March 19th was that day in every time zone in the USA. I normally celebrate that day, but somehow with the coronavirus threat, I don’t feel like we just emerged from the darkness. Nevertheless, the extra seconds/minutes of daylight will help me cope. My first day of spring was not particularly productive, but I made some progress. I did a load of laundry in the bathtub as I don’t have a washer or dryer. I made the decision not to buy one and to just continue using Heather and Jed’s. But since I am not going over there for now, I decided to do the essentials here at home. For the years that we sailed around the world, I did all of our laundry in a 5-gallon bucket, so the bathtub is a step up in the world. I actually put things in to soak overnight and then rinsed, wrung out by hand, and hung up on a rack in the bathtub this morning. Since it rained all day today, I couldn’t hang things outside, but everything is drying nicely, even a pair of jeans and a king-sized sheet. I then turned my attention to the shelves I brought up from the basement yesterday. I assembled them yesterday, but still needed to screw down the cross bars that stabilize the two sets of shelves. These are open shelves used for growing plants, so there is no backboard to stabilize them. Once that was done, I put the living room furniture back in place and brought up the seed starting kits and grow lights from the basement. I didn’t get anything planted, but I will work on that tomorrow. I truly feel like I am working in slow motion these days, but I’m giving myself permission to do this for now. I think it is taking all of us time to adjust to this new reality. Heather called on her lunch break and brought me up-to-date on what is happening over there. They are still struggling with striking a balance between working and schooling at home. Heather and Jed realize just how lucky they are to be paid to work at home, but that doesn’t make dealing with three boys at the same time any easier. I know they look forward to the weekend so they can take a break from work and spend more time trying to get the boys to buy into this new lifestyle. Ollie’s birthday is on Saturday and we talked about having an outside birthday party. Yay! I haven’t seen any of them for a week now, so I’ll look forward to our outdoor party with appropriate social distancing.

Heather and I talked about our worries about the impact all of this is having on local small businesses and about those people who are losing their jobs. She and many of her friends are trying to find ways to support them. Then on tonight’s news, I saw an interview with celebrity chef José Andrés who founded the World Central Kitchen whose slogan is, “Wherever there is a fight so that hungry people may eat, we will be there.” This is a non-governmental organization that is dedicated to providing meals for people in the wake of natural disasters. It was started in 2010 when the organization prepared food in Haiti following the devastating earthquake there. They were also in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria and Andrés is now working in New York City in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and helping other restaurateurs all over the country to find a way to help feed people in need at this time. Pandemic or not, people do have to eat and José Andrés intends to make sure he finds ways to support those in need. That gave me the incentive to find ways to support those small local restaurants who have had to close their doors but are still providing take-out. I seldom eat out, but for those that do, getting take-out from these small restaurants might help them survive this disaster.

2020 Life Logs, Day 78: Talking About Traveling
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Weather: Sunny; High 50 degrees, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Last night I got an email introduction from Meghan Hannawalt, my friend with the goats that make my life happier without poison ivy. Meghan sent the email to introduce me to Carrie, a woman who works for one of the local newspapers. Carrie wanted to talk to me about my travels, so I emailed her this morning and this afternoon we spent time in my back yard, sitting a safe six feet apart, talking about living aboard boats and traveling. Carrie has also lived aboard, so she instantly understood my love of living aboard Windbird. I rambled on for two hours and have no idea how she will capture the essence of the conversation for a newspaper article. I wish her luck! I gave her a copy of my PowerPoint on a memory stick, so she has some photos. I will be anxious to see what she comes up with.

I spent my morning focused on gardening. The garlic is coming up in one of my raised beds and that encouraged me to get a move on. It is time to plant cool weather crops outside and seeds of warmer weather crops inside. So, I brought the shelving up from the basement and reassembled it. Tomorrow I hope to get the grow lights installs and plant the first trays. Yesterday I bought new bags of organic garden soil to add to the outside raised beds. I got that out of the back of the car this morning and will fill the beds on the first non-rainy day. Rain is forecast for tomorrow and maybe for Friday, so it might be Saturday before I get that job done and plant peas and arugula. I had top to get the peas planted on St. Patrick’s Day, but that just didn’t happen. Last night I signed up for my first Misfits delivery. That is the company I mentioned in an earlier log that delivers organic produce to your door once a week. I signed up for Friday deliveries, but I’m not sure if I will get the first delivery this Friday or next. When I do, I will report on that. I’m hoping these actions will minimize my trips to the grocery store this summer.

Monday and today roofers worked furiously to put new shingles on the roof of Shirley’s home across the driveway. There has been a lot of noise and action and that has kept Shadow very interested. It was after dark when they left tonight, so I’m not sure if they finished the job. But they are close. And if they didn’t finish, I’m sure they covered the unfinished areas to protect from tomorrow’s rain.

I didn’t hear from the Goldstones today, so I am going to assume that no news is good news. My friends Mike and Linda Stuart that arrived in Spain last week and over the weekend found themselves in a lockdown due to the coronavirus. They quickly found an Airbnb and will be there for at least the next two weeks. The supermarkets limit the number of people who can be inside, and if you are out walking, the police check to see where you are going. Their son Garrett and his wife Katie live in San Jose in California and they are experiencing the same thing. It doesn’t seem to matter where in the world you are, your life is being impacted drastically by this virus. Jane Woodin wrote an email today that asked, “Do you feel you are actors in a sci/fly movie? So weird….” Yes, I do. These truly are unprecedented times.

2020 Life Logs, Day 77: Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High 44 degrees, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It was a dreary, rainy day here on the Cape but still I encountered some moments of sunshine. One was when I went to water plants for friends who are out of town. What beautiful orchids they have, especially the bright yellow and red blossoms that look like bursts of sunshine. In the late afternoon I got a phone call from my friend Lynne who is in New Zealand . . . another bit of sunshine. And this evening when I took Shadow out for a walk, I saw that the daffodils just beside my front steps blossomed sometime during the day. The yellow blossoms were laden with droplets of water making their heads hang a little low, but they still conveyed rays of sunshine. Then while I was writing this, I got an email from my daughter-in-law Jo in Puerto Rico with a photo attached of Ziggy and Coco snuggling at bedtime. Another bright ray of sunshine. So, no big St. Patty’s Day celebration here today and no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but lots of moments of gratitude for those things that bring sunshine into my life even when the skies are gray.

2020 Life Logs, Day 76: Hunker Down
Date: Monday, March 16, 2020
Weather: Sunny and Colder; High 38 degrees, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

While our federal and state governments are struggling with how to deal with the rise of the coronavirus, I know that each of you, like myself, are trying to figure out just how best to ‘hunker down’ and ride this out. Those of us that are retired are at higher risk, but it is much easier for us to just stay at home. Still, it is a challenge. But for working people with children, it is much more complicated. In talking with Heather this evening, she reported that indeed trying to work from home with three children who think they are on a snow day vacation is challenging. I got the ‘snow day’ mentality from watching the Rachel Maddow Show tonight. She was acknowledging that this is way children are thinking and the Goldpebbles bear that out. I really feel like the schools here need to step up. In talking with Justin this morning, he reported that the Ziggy and Coco’s teachers were in Google Classroom training today and starting tomorrow their students will have three hours of online school each morning that will use Zoom for face to face contact and Google Classroom for making assignments. Heather and Jed have heard of nothing like that happening here. Sam is supposed to keep checking Google Classroom throughout the day as different teachers are posting assignments at different times. Hopefully that will get more organized and hopefully there will be something more for Jonah and Ollie as well. At first it was no school for two weeks, but then yesterday the Governor of Massachusetts made that three weeks for all schools. But each hour it looks like it could be a much longer time. Learning to do school from home looks like what is going to have to happen and we need to figure out how to make that transition quickly.

It finally hit me today that my refrigerator is not ready for this, so I made a trip to the grocery store for some basics. Many shelves were empty and there weren’t even any carrots! Tomorrow I am going to try and place an order for veggies through Misfits. This is a company that delivers organic veggies to your door each week. Heather uses the service, so I am familiar with it. If it is not too late, I’m going to give it a try. It is called Misfits because the vegetables are not good looking enough to be sent to supermarkets. Subscribers get a decent rate for buying perfectly fine, but not so beautiful fruits and vegetables. I’ll let you know how that works out.

2020 Life Logs, Day 75: The Ides of March
Date: Sunday, March 15, 2020
Weather: Blue Skies, Sunshine, and Cooler; High 44 degrees, Low 28 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

William Shakespeare wrote twice in his play “Julius Caesar” the words “Beware the ides of March.” Forewarned or not, Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 B.C. and once Shakespeare penned those words it gave this date the negative connotation. In 1493, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain after his first trip to the New World on this date and in 1941 a blizzard killed more than 140 people in Minnesota and North Dakota. There are long lists of things like this that happened on this date, but none have stuck with us like the assassination of Caesar. But a modern day Ides of March became a reality for me today when my friend Karen Baranowski knocked on my door but backed down the steps when I opened the door. We talked using ‘proper’ social distancing to carry on our conversation outside. Certainly not a normal situation, but one that is necessary in these times. As of tonight, the CDC has issued a statement saying that in-person events of 50 people or more be should be cancelled for the next eight weeks all across the country. This doesn’t apply to schools or businesses, but it is a major change in guidance. I talked to Heather this evening and got an update on how she and Jed hope to move forward this week with home schooling while working at home. I didn’t make a lot of progress on anything today. I think, probably like many of you, I spent a lot of time just thinking about how to organize my life for the next few weeks of the unknown. One day at a time.

2020 Life Logs, Day 74: A Virus Changing the Way We Think
Date: Saturday, March 14, 2020
Weather: Sunny and Windy; High 51 degrees, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

This evening I was talking to Heather on the phone about our new lives living with the threat of the coronavirus. We are having to change the way we live very quickly, but on the phone call, I realized that I also have to change the way I think. There is no set roadmap to follow. Each of us has to make decisions about what we will and will not do to protect ourselves and to protect others in the next couple of weeks. And this requires that we change the way we think. I thought I had things under control and then I said to Heather that I would be going to play Mah Jongg on Wednesday evening. She quickly replied that I needed to rethink that decision. Basically she was saying that if we are going to be successful in flattening the rise in COVID-19 cases, we all need to stay home for the next couple of weeks—no indoor social gatherings no matter how small. Somehow I thought getting together with just four other people would be fine. Not so. Living with the threat of this virus demands that we change what we do AND we change how we think. This is a huge challenge and one that I have not faced in my lifetime.

Justin called this afternoon and I was hoping to hear that Puerto Rico was being spared. But that is not the case. The virus arrived in San Juan on a cruise ship and it is spreading across the island. As it was here, the announcement that public schools will be closed for the next two weeks was made yesterday. Justin and Jo have not heard from the private school the kids attend, but they are thinking that they will keep them home even if school is not called off. Jo thinks she might have been exposed to family members of someone with the virus at the supermarket yesterday. For the sake of others, they feel it is prudent to self-quarantine themselves for two weeks so as not to spread the virus in case she was exposed. The real change of thinking here is that we have change our own actions, not just to protect ourselves, but to protect others.

I continued my writing project today but got caught up fixing issues with the way one year of my logs were saved. I had to make changes in the names of one whole year of logs, day by day. Getting that tedious job done today should allow me to spend time writing tomorrow. I am bouncing back and forth between writing about the Voyage of Windbird and writing about growing up in West Virginia in the 1950’s. This has required that I call my sister a few times to do some fact checking. She has been told by her daughters that she is not to leave the house for now due to her age and underlying medical conditions. She is feeling the effects of being housebound and seems to enjoy the phone calls. And I enjoy getting her perspective on my memories. Shadow is enjoying the extra walks each day and not being left alone as I run here and there. So there is an upside to this new stay-at-home lifestyle.

2020 Life Logs, Day 73: A New Normal
Date: Friday, March 13, 2020
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High 54 degrees, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Friday the 13th ushered in a new normal here in Falmouth. Basically for now, we are all home-bound or when we are out and about, we must be very mindful of social distancing. This is hard for adults, but almost impossible for kids. Hopefully, this new normal will be short-lived, but that is yet to be determined. The decision to close public schools in Falmouth was made today. Starting on Monday the Goldpebbles will be home schooled while Heather and Jed are trying to work at home at the same time. They are going to have to do a lot of juggling over the next couple of weeks. This is certainly not a normal situation and hopefully parents all over the country that are living through this will find ways to keep their sanity! The public library is closed for the next two weeks along with the community center and senior center. There will be no after-school activities until it is determined that it is once again safe. We are all going to have to be creative in figuring out how to spend our time in the absence of organized social activities. Biking and hiking sound like good outdoor activities and there should be lots of time for reading and writing while indoors. Most of us have never experienced anything like this in our lifetimes, so this is going to be most interesting.

2020 Life Logs, Day 72: Cancellations, Cancellations
Date: Thursday, March 12, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 48 degrees, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

This was a big day of cancellations due to the threat of the coronavirus, but the Shamrock Luncheon sponsored by Encore and Newcomers did go forward. I made the decision to attend, but there were many empty places from others who cancelled at the last minute. The luncheon was at Liam Maguire’s Irish Pub on Main Street. I love that Falmouth has a family owned and operated Irish pub and that Liam provides the entertainment. This early gathering to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day will probably be my last pubic event for a while. As we are all aware, today was a day of many cancellations . . . public schools, colleges, basketball, baseball, Broadway theaters, even Disneyland. Those cancellations plus the stock market dive are a little scary. We are all moving into untested territory . . . and I didn’t mean that as a pun on the lack of coronavirus tests. It is just that we as Americans have no idea what the next days will look like. Things seem to change minute by minute. My Memoir Writing class was cancelled this afternoon as the instructor just got off an airplane three days ago and has cold-like symptoms. He thinks it is just his asthma acting up but didn’t want to take the chance of exposing others if it should be cold, flu, or virus related. That cancellation gave me the opportunity to attend a Technology class from home via Zoom. What a great way to get together with others online.

Heather called this evening to tell me that she and Jed will be working from home for the time being. Both Woods Hole Oceanographic and the Woods Hole Research Center have asked people to work at home for the time being. Public schools are still in session here for now. I did a little more food shopping this afternoon and am preparing for the possibility of a couple of weeks at home . . . just in case.

2020 Life Logs, Day 71: COVID-19 Affecting Our Lives
Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 53 degrees, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Hopefully you nor anyone you know and love will get the coronavirus, but today it became clearly evident to me that is going to affect all of our lives whether or not we get the virus. The Governor of Massachusetts declared a state of emergency this morning to further support the state’s response to the virus and that prompted a number of decisions to cancel things. Also, early this morning I found out that the grandchild of a friend woke up with a 102-degree temperature. The grandchild lives near Boston, but the grandparents travel back and forth weekly. Hopefully the temperature has nothing to do with the coronavirus, but for now, anyone with a temperature will give us pause. By the time I took Ollie to his violin lesson this afternoon, I learned from his violin teacher that some colleges in the state that are on spring vacation issued a statement today that students are not to return to campus at the end of vacation. This affects two of her children, and possibly a third. Students will be allowed on campus to pick up any belongings they need, but for now, they will continue their college education at home through online classes. Then when I took Ollie home, I found out from Jed that Falmouth’s All Band Concert set for tonight had been cancelled. I didn’t see Jonah or Sam, but I know they must have been terribly disappointed. As we move forward, there will be many more cancellations and closings. Hopefully these measures will help flatten the spread of this virus, so all of us must follow recommendations and think seriously about socializing in large groups for now. To my knowledge, we have had no active cases here on the Cape, so I am planning to go to a Newcomer’s Shamrock Luncheon at a local Irish pub tomorrow. But if we start to have active cases on the Cape, I’ll seriously assess whether to attend future social gatherings. I heard from Mike and Linda Stuart this morning. These are my good friends that are biking around the world. They were traveling from Florida to Spain on a cruise ship, planning to disembark in Barcelona and then head across northern Italy. In her email, Linda explained that since the borders of Italy are closed, they hopped off the ship a day or so early in Malaga and will spend time biking the southern coast of Spain for now. It is evident that each and every one us, no matter where we are in the world, need to be diligent in making decisions of how to live as safely as possible as the coronavirus continues to spread.

Other than becoming painfully aware of just how deeply the spread of the coronavirus is going to affect all of our lives, I spent my day writing in preparation for my Memoir Writing class tomorrow. And since the All Bands Night was cancelled, I went to play Mah Jongg with my Wednesday night group. And Shadow and I enjoyed our time outside today in the sunshine.