2020 Life Logs, Day 360: Quiet Day After Christmas
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny, Still Very Windy; High 40, Low 25 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
After three days of festivities, today was a quiet one. I got some cleaning done—a laundry, cleaning out the refrigerator, and cleaning the fish aquarium. I walked and played with Shadow and went to Heather and Jed’s to pick up the recumbent exercise bike I got for Christmas.
Sam came home with me to help me carry it in. I thought I might need to rearrange the livingroom furniture, but for now it fits just fine facing the television. Since I can’t have visitors other than Heather and family during Covid, it can stay right there and I can exercise while watching a movie or catching up on the news. I am so excited to have it. Thank you, thank you to Heather and Jed and Justin and Jo.
Last night when I got home from Heather and Jed’s, my sister Patsy called from Tennessee. I had not seen any news all day and had no idea there had been a bombing in downtown Nashville early on Christmas morning. Patsy lives in Mt. Juliet which is about 15 miles east of Nashville, but still she was affected by the bombing which targeted the AT&T building. It is the tallest building in Tennessee and is called the Batman Building as the top looks like Batman as you drive into the city. It is an office building that houses 2,000 workers, but it must also house the the technical inner workings of AT&T for that area as the explosion has interrupted all AT&T communications for miles. My sister’s house phone is not working and the med-alert bracelet she wears has been disabled as no one can call 911. Her cell service is through Verizon, so at least that is working for her. Nashville had a devastating tornado in March just prior to the Covid lockdown, then Covid, and now a bombing destroying more than 40 businesses in downtown. Recovery is going to be tough.
Tonight, I talked to Lynne Kirwin, my very good friend who is currently living in New Zealand. New Zealand must be the only place on earth that is still functioning like normal. When Covid first started spreading around the world, they did a complete shutdown and now they live normally. They do still have to wear masks on busses and trains, but otherwise things are like they were before Covid. They go to movies, gather in huge crowds, go out to restaurants . . . all those things we used to do. Lynne is Jewish and doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but her friends in New Zealand do and she had a fabulous couple of days despite the fact that Ed died on December 23 two years ago. The friends in New Zealand knew Ed and they incorporated celebrations of his life in their Christmas festivities. Lynne can still only talk about this through tears, but I am so glad she is in New Zealand with good friends rather than being here with Covid.
The Goldstones leave tomorrow morning for a few days at Sugarloaf in Maine where they will ski and snowboard for a couple of days before returning home. They have rented a condo at the base of the mountain, where they can ski or snowboard out the front door and take a lift up to the main lift. They will have to wait in lift lines, but otherwise they will not have to mix with other people. They will cook their down meals and ski down the mountain to their condo for lunch. The boys are extremely excited, so I hope they all have a wonderful time.
Today I got some great photos from Jo of Christmas Day at Finca Maravilla that I will share in my log tomorrow night. I love my exercise bike which will help keep me healthy, but my greatest gift of the holiday season is seeing my children and grandchildren happy, healthy, and enjoying life.
