Darted out to my Wildchild garden box for some chives and fennel for my omelet early this morning.
life and coronavirus #111
The small omelet was a great treat. So was the fine raisin bread and avocado. Thank you Jeff Bezos and Whole Foods.
life and coronavirus #112
And I got my desk cleaned up. All 3 levels. Also the cubbies and 2 drawers.
I fear that Lockdown may turn into something much more serious. Got an email late this afternoon that said one of the residents is in hospital with Covid-19. Management didn’t tell us who the resident was – but – with enough friends – and Zoom – you can solve almost any problem. It was all sort of theoretical until someone you actually know gets it.
Taking it right up to the deadline this morning. Someday, I will cross that line. And not get slapped into total quarantine. And someday, if I am very lucky I will cross that line with my backpack, passport, and credit card and I will bravely head to the airport or train station.
life and coronavirus #109
This is a dead bat. I was sad to see a dead bat. But, strangely happy to find a dead bat at the foot of my building. It means we still have bats. It was wicked windy last night and the unfortunate bat could have been slammed in the building. Or it could have been some owl’s dinner. And the owl was unable to deal with the wind and the bat. Hope the bat didn’t have Covid-19.
Gratitude
Grateful that I have a memory bank chocked full of happy times that help see me through these strange days.
The Wildchild Garden box is off to a great start. And, this is a good thing since I am actually doing some cooking – there are some culinary herbs. Rosemary, lots of rosemary, chives, sage, oregano. Also, fennel, which reseeds every year.
life and coronavirus #108
My tri-top desk is a mess. All 3 tops. And Forbin’s desktop is also littered up. Carlton used to wax my desk much to my dismay. I don’t even have any wax. But, tomorrow, I plan on taking everything off and giving all three tops a good Swiffering. Already tidied up the computer desktop.
Gratitude
Grateful for my snug Old Bat Cave.
Have a very productive day: I got all of my 2020 travel reservations unrolled. Except for my 4 months in Kona starting on Halloween. But that one is easy. I am ever so grateful that I took my trip around the world last year. Unrolling that trip would have taken as long as the trip. It has been 2 months since I returned from Kona. And, I am starting to get really itchy to go somewhere. Not a great plan for an old woman.
And what exactly does this image have to do with “looking for the light”. Well, this is our Covid-19 isolation ward on our skilled nursing unit. It has one patient. Who is reported to be doing well.
life and coronavirus #107
Found these paper mache masks while wandering around today and was reminded of these lines from The Princess Bride:
Fezzik: Why do you wear a mask? Were you burned by acid, or something like that?
Westley: Oh no. It’s just they’re terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.
Went to an open AA meeting via Zoom today. It is a meeting that Carlton regularly attended. I used his picture has my background. Sort of my bona fides. I remembered a lot of the people’s names. People were nice. The guy who invited me to come to the meeting didn’t show up. He overslept. AA is the same as it always was. Just online. Keep Coming Back.
I don’t hold out any hope for these eggs hatching. And if they happen to hatch, the babies fledging. But, it was so sweet, so life-affirming to come upon this nest. Unfortunately, I scared the mother dove. Hopefully, this was brood #1 and the pair will smarten up about nesting locations as the season progresses.
life and coronavirus #103
life and coronavirus #104
It is what we do here in the DC area. We watch planes fly over. Today, Blue Angels and Thunderbirds. And yes, I got lots better pictures at my old digs. But, this where I live now.
life and coronavirus #105
Finally! A visible reason to wash my hands. Did a very little gardening today. Also did a little cooking. Meals have been very institutional around here of late. But, I am not going to complain. How can I complain. My shorts do not zip. So, the food can not be all that bad.
Gratitude
Grateful for an absolutely glorious spring day. It was almost possible to forget that we are locked in.
Daybreak was excellent this morning. Photo was taken with Pixel 2XL in night sight mode.
It is May. April wasn’t such a hotshot good month. But. I lived through it. And my primary purpose is to stay alive and not endanger anyone else with my irresponsible behavior.
Have mostly pictures today.
life and coronavirus #98
This is Goldie an elderly arthritic tomcat. So, he fits in around here really well. He isn’t mad, just “barking” howdy. He lets out one raspy MEOW.
life and coronavirus #99
Wandering the halls, and what should I discover but a porta-potty.
life and coronavirus #100
A food give away was set up this morning at the apartment building across the street.
life and coronavirus #102
And at about 4PM this afternoon – about 30 of the residents drove their cars around to plead for rent cancelation. (residents of the apartment building across the street)
The pictures were taken with my 600mm lens from my room. What I see out of my window is the only view I have of life outside of The Asylum.
life and coronavirus #101
And, a couple more bags of coffee arrived from Amazon. It had been on order for a while. Not complaining. It arrived – well before it was needed.
Gratitude
Grateful that I don’t have to go out and forage for food. Especially grateful that they still sell acceptable sandwiches in the geedunk.
Just got an email from the front desk. The 2TB SSD USB 3.1 Samsung drive that I ordered at 10am this morning arrived from Amazon. Coffee 2 weeks. Disk drive 8 hours. Go figure.
It rained all day and I was feeling pretty lazy. So, I didn’t go looking for any light. But, I used some of yesterday’s leftover goodness.
I was remiss. I failed to note the 19th anniversary of the blog. I first posted something on April 28, 2001. The links are flakey. But yesterday and tomorrow will work.
And why was it so “lame”. One word DIALUP.
life and coronavirus #98
Fun with post-processing photo the post-processed dinner bags. (That is about 2,000 of them)
Thinking about the next video. Maybe it is 2050 and The Asylum is still on lockdown. The Asylum’s oldest resident dies – and they find these old photos on her 30-year-old MacBook Pro of a pre-lockdown Asylum. Or maybe in 2050, they find a mummified resident under a ton of plastic bags.
That’s the problem with video. You need a story.
Gratitude
To spend 45 minutes on Zoom with my Asylum Sisters. We can not hug. But we can laugh.
Damn! I just checked the old blog. A few days in, there I am – wearing a bathrobe that I still have. Hanging on my bathroom door. And I realize that that bathrobe pre-dates Carlton. Which makes it more than 40 years old. I need to think. Is this good or bad?
Finding the light was easy this afternoon. It was gloriously warm and sunny outside.
Today I cut the Dining Services video down to a little over 3 minutes. It is better than the 5-minute version.
life and coronavirus #96
One of my current “lockdown duties” is that of bag lady. Every day I collect our huge meal bags from floors 11 and 12. I pile them up into Mount Bagmore in my gracious entry hall. And I neatly fold and package them for re-use by assorted local food pantries.
life and coronavirus #97
Then I put them in my grocery cart – which isn’t going to the grocery any more – and take them down to the dungeon for distribution. That is a load of 125 bags. About one day’s worth. Audiobooks make this doable. I think that smoking dope would work too. But, this is a smoke-free facility!
Gratitude
Grateful for spring. Be it every so strange in 2020.
Sunrise was pretty special this morning. Actually, every sunrise should be special.
Finished up my “commissioned” video. I made the video for the head of Dining Services here at The Asylum. He selected the music. And vetoed showing one of his cooks getting Sysco frozen lasagna out of the freezer. The customer is always right.
I am going to re-edit tomorrow down to 3 minutes. And, I think it will be better.
I hate using copyrighted music. But this seems to be ok as long as nothing is monetized. I sure don’t make any money from this blog!
life and coronavirus #95
This is how we get fed. We fill out these order forms the day before. At 400 residents 300 of which order their own meals – that is a lot of orders. It is always a little interesting to see what you get.
Mentally done. Fried. Braindead. 6+ hours working on my Dining Services Infomercial.
Note to self: Order much larger external drive. Final Cut Pro is a disc pig. (Gee, maybe I can even upgrade my computer. And get a real external monitor, not my iPad Pro. No. You are not Steven Spielberg.)
life and coronavirus #94
Some things are still important here in Old Lady Lockup Land. Things like free wine night. But we don’t get as much. Just one little plastic bottle per customer.
Gratitude
Really happy that I have a great view out of my three windows. It is the same view. But it fills up my whole room.
Well another week comes to an end. But, hey, I am still alive. And so are all my besties. I can still leave my apartment. I can still leave my building. I can not leave the grounds. I wish I could get work release! Or time off for good behavior.
life and coronavirus #93
Working my little on brain cells to death trying to make an amusing video showing how hard everyone is working in Dining Services. So, what do they deliver me for Sunday Dinner? (And Sunday Dinner is special here at the Episcopalian Asylum.) At best, it looks like some sort of failed artwork. It did taste better than it looked.
life and coronavirus #92
Please Can you open this? Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! – being old isn’t easy. Even without coronavirus.
Gratitude
Grateful to have Carlton looking out for me. Helping me through these strange days. I do believe that I depend on Carlton more now than I did while he was still alive.
The WildChild garden box is looking very happy. Which is a good thing. Because I can not go anywhere to get it anything. I did order some plants for my 2 “public” boxes. Hopefully, we will be able to dine al fresco sometime this summer. If not, they are perennials, and we can enjoy them next year. Remembering, of course, nobody is promised tomorrow.
Finished up the Bag Lady PSA this afternoon. It could be better. But, I want to get a video that I am making for the “Director of Dining Services” to showcase what his staff is trying to do to keep us fed and fat. And, since I am one of the bag ladies, I hope my friends and neighbors will fold their bags.
My own Dining Service victory this morning was to make a perfect omelet. It even rolled over and out of the pan as a good omelet should. Just perfect.
Gratitude
Grateful we are still free to move about the building and grounds. And also that it was “free” wine night.
