Last left off after a trip west to reunite with my siblings in Los Angeles. Shortly after arriving home the SARS-Covid-2 epidemic took off, spreading far, fast and wide. Karen and I began isolating in place. Mask making became Karen's new hobby and even a money making endeavor.
Being over a certain age with some health conditions, we became very cautious about being out of the house. Anything that came into the house, mail, groceries, packages, newspapers were considered a possible infection carrier. So since February we have been home, barring doctor visits for wellness care, food and supplies. I did start getting back out on the DG course when a trusted neighbor, masked up joined me on some once a week trips to local courses. Social distancing, only coming in contact with our own discs and equipment.
We quickly became proficient with Zoom and Duo and other video conferencing platforms as a way to mitigate the loneliness and isolation. Allowing us to connect with family and friends from all over the country. We have a Monday call with Anna that graduated, reluctantly, into a video call, after quite some time of being just a phone call.
We connect with the grandkids in Waxhaw less now that they are back in school, but Ethan was a regular on zoom as he wanted to play cards, bingo and solitaire with his Grandma, sometimes just being silly as 8 year olds can be. Kaylah was less interested in the video calls, opting for quality cameo appearances. Lauren and Joe also had full plates with working from home, part time teachers and full time Parents with 2 pre teens at home, bored, contentious with proximity to each other and none of the usual stuff they were accustomed to doing. Fun times. Anna, whose shop was closed for quite some time, was allowed to reopen under strict conditions as Massachusetts began to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Having a mask mandate and doing what they could to stop the spread and flatten the curve. Seems to be going in the wrong direction now, as most of the country is getting the Winter wave. Perhaps with a new administration we will see positive changes and a vaccine that will eventually give us herd immunity.
Largely an uneventful spring and summer leaves us little to report. I have been able to take advantage of the online library shelves and have been reading 2 books a week, sometimes more. I have a library card from Mansfield that allows me access to the Sails Network, All of Greater Bostons Libraries, as well as the local County, Wake, that has a much more limited selections. Tho, I do get surprised at some of the availability that the smaller library has. Maybe its just the smaller clientele. I take full advantage of the Libby, Hoopla as well as the online libraries, but have also discovered Archive.Org a free site for books, music, movies and tv shows.
I do miss the gym, both of us do, as it was a 5 day a week visit, just down the road from us at Planet Fitness. Karen still gets in her steps and I was able to borrow a bike, mine is in Waxhaw, to get in some cardio to augment my 4 and 5 mile DG days. I have found a Pilates instructor online, John Garey, who can really get my heart rate up and wear me out.
We had one of our neighbors move out from across the street. A very nice older couple, by 5 years, or so that had befriended us ever since we moved in. Karen was tight with Ruth, a southern belle who shared many common interests and her husband Carl, was also a bit geeky, like me and joined me at the Senior Center for the local oldster club of technology users. They were a constant source of knowledge, as they were NC natives so they knew all the best eateries, car repair sites, contractors, sites of interest and parks to kayak in and beaches to visit.
Now instead, we have a young couple of recent NC State grads who moved in and seem quite nice, tho we have had limited contact, mostly speaking across the street for short periods of time as they do the yard work at the same time we do.
The leaves are mostly down now, have had a few cold spells, and are back to our normal mild fall weather, preparing for Winter soon. Speaking of weather, we had a very long and mild spring, unlike some years where we went right into the 80's in April. It gradually got warm in June and we did not see the triple digits that make a dew point in the mid 70's seem like the middle east! Fall came slowly, nice 65-75 range, low dew points, colors subtly changing every so slowly. Did not have any severe weather, hurricanes stayed east of us, tho we did get some rain that was heavy, one storm dropped over 5 inches of rain in 24 hours. There was an earthquake here, nothing really to mention, tho it was the first one I have ever felt. Sitting in my car, idling as I set my podcast and warmed up the engine, I first thought the car was idling rough, as it was shaking, something the Fit never has done before. I shut down the audio and it seemed to go away, at least I could not feel it anymore. I turned off the engine and after a few seconds, restarted it, listening, hoping to feel the smooth thrum of the 4 cylinder power plant, which is hardly noticeable. Only later on did I learn it was the ground shaking, not my vehicle. It was the first time since DC had the one that damaged the Washington Monument years ago, that NC had felt. We did have some tornado watches and maybe even a warning, but were lucky and it did not visit us. Even the Thunderstorms that usually make up our spring weather were less that previous years. Always a good idea to check the weather before going to bed in spring as those storms can quickly escalate into a scary scenario. Enough about the weather, as Mark Twain used to say, Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it!
We did have some excitement around here recently, I got my first CAT Scan! Turned out to be nothing really, I love being able to pass tests that I do not even study for. Tho, Karen, not to be out done, decided to have her appendix out. Took the local hospital awhile to diagnose, as hot bellies can be tricky, I hear. But once they zoomed in on the cause of here discomfort, they scheduled her for surgery, laparoscopic luckily, and had her home that night in time for bed. No extra meds for pain, some antibiotics and she was on her way to recovery! Took her no time at all to get back on her feet the next day, to begin walking as per her usual routine and all the after effects have slowly disappeared. Was cooking the Thanksgiving Dinner and celebrating Chuck's birthday too! She was very lucky that the hospital has not been super busy with corona virus cases, and the doctors and nurses were all very attentive and informative. All in all, a good experience, if you can call emergency surgery good. The only dicey spot was upon opening her up whether on not the useless appendage had burst or not. Requiring more intense measures. Luckily that little trouble maker was just infected and had not leaked out any poison.
I had experience with that happening to me, on our honeymoon in Washington State, spending 11 days in the hospital fighting off the infection. Not fun. But it did lead to a wonderful adventure in the Northwest that turned into 3 years of life in a lovely part of our country, as well as meeting Rich and Janie, who we still stay in touch with, making periodic visits back and forth over the years. Looking forward to the next trip, as we have extended family and In-laws lucky enough to live out there.
I do miss traveling. Karen had tickets to visit Anna in June but had to postpone. We also had tickets to visit Atlanta as the Red Sox were there for a couple of games that never happened.
We usually take a trip around our anniversary in September, so many amazing spots in the south we have yet to visit. Including getting to see the farm our dear friend Ronica moved to in Ocala, Florida, complete with goats and lots of assorted 4 footed creatures. Trips to the beach are especially missed as both Karen and I had childhood homes right on the water in Quincy, Ma.
We did get out in public, masked up, to do our voting in Nov. Waited 4 hours in line to make sure our vote was counted, love the early voting option we have here in NC.
Its just about 10 days before Christmas and there is a nip in the air, something we do not always get this time of year. We will be staying home for the Holidays this year, certainly not by choice.
Will be meeting up with Joey at his Morrisville office, as he now has this neck of the woods in his job description, so we can drop off some gifts for the Paquette's. Most of the leaves are down now and we are settling in for winter, temps dropping to around freezing over the next few days.
Our thoughts go out to all of you during this different type of holiday season, please stay safe, warm and well. We have a new administration, a new year and new hope for a way past this pandemic. It might well be a new normal as the world has been changed yet again by forces beyond our control. I have hope for the new year, we can be a resilient bunch and solution oriented as well.
Keep on keeping on!
Chuck