Author Archives: Deborah Drucker

About Deborah Drucker

I am a native of California who lives in Southern California. I have a background in healthcare and Special Education. Writing is a new adventure for me.

Go Deep

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I need to reach deep into myself to gather my strength. Part of me wants to turn away, to hide. Is it a defense that automatically turns on to protect my heart from pain? But I feel I must bear witness, to see and hear what others are suffering, to honor their lives. I see you New York, New Jersey, Detroit, New Orleans, Georgia, Washington, my state of California, my country.

We must be in this together.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word for today is ‘deep.’

Featured image by Gerd Altmann on Pixabay.com

Creativity

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I have not been doing creative writing for a while. Not feeling inspired to do it and during these times of crisis it is hard to focus on it. Creativity can take many forms and there can be many expressions of it. I do feel moved to write about these times. I notice people coping creatively in a variety of ways. A lot of baking and gardening. My husband has been wanting to bake bread and there is not yeast to be found online or in stores. Nurseries are doing a good business. It is rewarding to go out and work in my backyard. Sleep has been a problem which affects my energy and functioning during the day. Last night I listened to opera before going to bed and it really helped. I kept the CD player at the bedside if case I woke during the night again. I remembered that listening to soothing music helped me after cancer surgery. It was healing for me. The sun is out and the sky is clear blue here today and that helps.

Feel that my reaction to this pandemic and the suffering is a grief process. Sadness beneath the surface like an underground river of tears. I do not practice a religion but do have spiritual needs for this time. I find it in music or nature and in love and caring. I do not practice Buddhism but find some of the prayers comforting. For all of us and those suffering and those caring for the sick:

“May you be held in compassion. May your pain and sorrow be eased. May you be at peace.”

What Day Is It Anyway? , #WDIIA, is a blogging community hosted by Linda G Hill.

Featured image ‘Barley at Sunrise’by Tsukioka Kogyo (Japan 1869-1927) shared by Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LACMA, #Museum Moment of Zen. Thank you LACMA for a lovely idea of sharing peaceful images.

Better Sleep-What Day Is It Anyway? April 2, 2020

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I am pretty sure I am not alone in having trouble sleeping well now. My husband and I are both waking up during the night and stay up for a couple of hours. My husband gets up and goes into the kitchen to be on the computer. He is considerate to close the bedroom door to keep from disturbing me. Last night I got up while he slept and went on the computer. I look at the latest news and browse my emails. This disrupted sleep pattern is not healthy I know. It makes me drag through the morning and the day. The sleep problems are due to the stress we are all under. I want to try something different to remedy this, listening to music when I wake up and see if that helps to get me back to sleep. I will allow myself to take a nap if I need it.

How are you sleeping?

Thinking about all those who are fighting Coronavirus. My heart goes out to all the people who are suffering with this illness and to all those who are valiantly caring for those who are sick.

What Day Is It Anyway?, #WDIIA, is a blogging community hosted by Linda G Hill.

Featured image ‘Sleeping Girl on a Wooden Bench’ by Albert Anker on Wikipedia.org

A is for Apex-What Day Is It Anyway? April 1, 2020

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The University of Washington projection for California to reach apex of cases is April 28. New York is predicted to peak earlier on April 10. So in California we will have a ways to go with ‘stay at home.’ It will probably go further into May or until June. Hard to get my head around how long this is but in the beginning I felt 15 days would be a long time. Now we have gotten through that time. So need to take this one day at a time and someday we will be looking back from the finish line.

When I see the suffering in New York and how hard it is hitting the Healthcare providers I think that the requirement for all of us to maintain the social distancing is a small price to pay. New York mayor, Andrew Cuomo, has a press conference every day. He was very inspiring to me today saying we can’t let this virus change us so that we will be afraid to be close to each other when this is over. He talked about his fears for his younger brother who now has the virus. His words are important to New Yorkers and to us all.

What Day Is It Anyway? #WDIIA, is a blogging community hosted by Linda G Hill.

Featured image ‘Mount Brewer in Kings Canyon by Albert Bierstadt

Corona Fatigue-What Day Is It Anyway? March 31, 2020

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It is hard to keep track of the days and I find myself looking at my cell phone calendar. News today that San Francisco and Bay Area counties are extending ‘stay at home’ until May 1. The whole State of California will probably follow this soon. My husband and I are having trouble sleeping so fatigue is getting to be a problem. Part of the fatigue is from the undercurrent of tension as well. We lose our tempers much more easily. So how will we all cope for 1 more month. Our little grandson visited in person from a distance yesterday with his parents. He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t come in the house or come close to us. I am not afraid of infection from him but afraid that we could be carrying it and give it to him. We are planning to get groceries delivered as much as possible. I do wash my hands after handling and putting away the groceries. Our city posted on their website that there is help for people who need it with pick up for grocery and pharmacy.

It is good that we have access to the internet and streaming media so we can read articles, books, watch movies, TV series, documentaries and blog. We can visit virtually with family. I can go out for walks or work in back yard. Have to focus on what we can do.

What Day Is it Anyway?, #WDIIA, a blogging community hosted by Linda G Hill

Featured image of ‘Fatiigue’ by sculptor Cecil Howard on Wikimedia.org

Homebody-What Day Is It Anyway? March 30, 2020

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We have the new directive from our government that we must extend ‘stay at home’ status to the end of April. Being an introvert I already spend more time at home than others and I am usually happy with doing so. But what makes this much less comfortable is the threat hanging over us and the sense that we do not know when it will end. In the near future, I feel dread about the predicted surge of cases and hospitalizations in California. Even if I am not infected myself I feel for other people’s suffering. And I am afraid for myself, my husband, children, grandson, and family getting infected. I don’t dwell on this fear but it is lurking below the surface. I feel tired and I think it is from the stress. Another thing is this constant message that older people are more vulnerable and will not do well if infected. I feel this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It does not bolster our immune systems to have this message of doom repeated over and over even though we should know we can’t take foolish risks either. I did survive cancer even though I was told the prognosis was not good. So I choose hope. I choose life. I choose that for all of us.

What Day Is It Anyway? #WDIIA, is a blogging community hosted by Linda G Hill.

Featured image ‘Texture’ by cocoparisienne on Pixabay.com

Cooler and Partly Cloudy-What Day Is It Anyway? Sunday March 29

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It’s in the low 60s (Fahrenheit) today. Cloudy but the sun peeks in and out. Sunshine does make things seem brighter. Trying to maintain good hygiene and wash my hands and keep my hands away from my face. Periodically wipe off faucets and other handles like doorknobs with my handy disinfecting wipes. I don’t have a huge stock of them and right now pretty impossible to find more at stores or online. But I do have some disinfectant spray cleaners I could use as well.

I am not a big fan of housework and cooking but now am doing more of both. Not that I was going out to restaurants that much anymore before the ‘Corona times.’ What will we call this when it is over? I do a lot of dishes lately. We do have a dishwasher. So it’s a lot of loading and unloading.

Keeping in touch with family with calls and Skype. It is a good idea to use Skype especially for your family that may be more isolated. My younger brother is in a Nursing home and I am able to visit him with Skype.

How are you all doing?

What Day Is It Anyway? #WDIIA, is a blogging community hosted by Linda G Hill.

Ageism In The Time Of Coronavirus

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Love my featured image posted on Facebook by The Radical Age Movement. An appropriate response to the suggestion that older people should be the first to willingly die for the economy and not expect any life saving interventions. It seems that these times of crisis can truly bring out the worst in some people who would suggest such things.

What Day Is It Anyway? blog community hosted by Linda G Hill.

Small Positives

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My morning routine is to open my computer and review the news with toast and coffee on the side. I spend more time with the news in the past week because of what we are enduring here. There is still a sense of unreality, what day is this, how long has thing been going on? Recent sunshine encouraged me to get out and do some work in the back yard. something I can do while maintaining social distancing. I pulled up several dandelions and other assorted weeds, pulled out patches of dead woolly thyme, and trimmed back the low hanging branches of the Pyracantha. We discovered some unexpected residents near one of our front gates, a nest of bumblebees. I was a little wary until I read that they are not especially aggressive and will move out after a few months. I was excited to see bumblebees because I haven’t seen them in the yard for a long time and read that they are endangered. Some news this morning reminiscent of a dystopian movie, Coyotes are walking the streets in San Francisco

I can hear a chickadee calling outside. The other day, my daughter and I had noticed some chickadees taking a bath in one of our planter pot saucers. She put some fresh water in it and left a few sunflower seeds too. One of the squirrels discovered the sunflower seeds and made quick work of them.

We had a Zoom virtual visit with our 3 year old grandson yesterday evening. That’s always a positive.

The hospital ship Mercy, with 1,000 beds, arrived in Los Angeles Friday and is ready to go.

Below some photos from the yard. You can’t see the bumblebees flying out from their nest because if I try to get close enough they chase me away.

Pyracantha after lower branches removed

Empty patch with a few woolly thyme

Bumblebee nest behind brick at top of gate

Blue Sage coming back

Jade succulent

Succulents

Woolly thyme healthy patch

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “beside you.” Write about whatever is beside you when you read this prompt.

Featured image of bumblebee by dennisflarsen on Pixabay.com