2020 Life Logs, Day 349: Not Quite So Wacky
Date: Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Colder: High 37, Low 20 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Today was not quite so wacky. The heat in Shirley’s house is still not quite right, but it was good enough that Heather could work over there today. Jonah works remotely from the room Ollie claims as his bedroom and he is really very independent now. So, I left to take Ollie to school and then did a little shopping. I needed to go the LL Bean to get a couple of Yankee swap gifts for Jonah to take to an outdoor Scout exchange tonight. And while I was out, I walked across the street from LL Bean to William Sonoma to get Christmas crackers, and then on to Talbot’s to get myself a new sweater. I got home in time for Jonah’s 10:30 am recess and we played outside with Shadow. Then he went back to his online Zoom classes and I started preparing for a presentation I will be making on Sunday at the Cape Cod Maritime Museum. I will go there, but only the technician will be there to make sure everything works right for the Zoom presentation. Mid-afternoon I went to pick Ollie up at the end of the school day. I left early so I could stop at the post office to pick up a package. But the line was so long that I finally had to leave and will return when I have more time to wait. All of the post offices here have been reduced to one person at the counter and it has resulted in long lines no matter what time of day you go. Waiting in line in a small lobby is not what you want to do during a pandemic, but since many people are not getting together with family, they are sending more presents than ever. I feel really sorry for the postal workers. They always try to give quick and efficient service, but now with only one person and more people sending packages, it is difficult for everyone.
Heather had her first annual review via Zoom at the end of the workday, so she was later than usual coming home from Shirley’s. Ollie got himself set up on Skype for his violin lesson and Jonah helped me get dinner ready. We were supposed to have a repeat of the first night of Hanukkah—latkes and Matzo ball soup. But with Jonah having to leave to go to Scouts an hour earlier than I planned for, he ate leftover mac and cheese and latkes in the car on the way. I took him while Heather fried the rest of the latkes. By the time I got home, she and Ollie had eaten so many latkes that they didn’t want anything else. So, I ate leftover Matzo ball soup, boiled the Matzo balls from the mix Jonah had made while I was grating potatoes, and put them in the fridge for tomorrow. Remote work, remote schooling, playing outside with Shadow, enjoying the eight days of Hanukkah . . . that is basically a typical day around here during this quarantine.
Sam is hoping to get his Covid test results tomorrow and Heather and Jed have decided that all three boys will go remote from now until Christmas starting tomorrow. So, if Sam’s results are negative, the whole family can move back in together. We will all try to limit our contact with the outside world even more than we are doing now, so we can stay healthy and be together for Christmas. Besides, no one wants to have to quarantine again. We have all tried to make the best of it, but families want to be together.
