Category Archives: My Life

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

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

Distancing From My Grandchild

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Grandparents have new challenges, distancing.

Is Anyone Disposable?

The New Normal

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My husband and I have made some trips to the market this week. I thought I had a good system in place with grocery delivery but our local stores have been overwhelmed with orders and sent an email notice they were unable to fill my order. So we decided to head out to a local market earlier this week. I was a bit anxious of possible exposure to coronavirus but it turned out the store was almost empty of people and stock. The bagger told me there had been a long line when the store opened that morning. It was disorienting to see empty shelves. We picked up what we could. No meat or chicken available but I found a few packages of fish. We had a couple of markets offer new ‘senior hours’ this week (7-8 AM) so we headed out for a second time. The first market had a long line filing in so we decided to try another that was not crowded. I was able to find a few more items I needed. I like the accommodation by markets for seniors and those with special needs. I am working on making do with what is available like non-fat milk.

I wrote this post prior to the news of the order from Governor Gavin Newsom that all the citizens in my beautiful state of California are ordered to shelter in place. From the LA Times:

“Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered all Californians to stay at home….He also asked Congress for $1 billion to support the state’s medical response to the coronavirus, saying he expects more than half of all Californians — roughly 25.5 million — will be infected over an eight-week period [without mitigation efforts].”

God, what is happening to us?

The U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy is anchored off the coast of Manila, the Philippines. (U.S. Navy photo/Photographers Mate 2nd Class Troy Latham)

“Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked President Trump to immediately deploy a United States Navy hospital ship Mercy to the Port of Los Angeles to help beef up the health care delivery system in the region amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.” (Los Angeles Daily News)

We can still go out to buy food. Our kids are nearby for which we are grateful. The prompt word today is ‘welcome’ but hard to write about that. The latest here is ‘unwelcome’ news.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for this Saturday is ‘welcome.’

Happy New Year

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This year has flown by so fast. Makes me want to pledge to be more mindful of each new day no matter what distractions may come. Wishing all a bright New Year filled with hope, health, and happiness!

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

Featured image of beautiful ‘California Coast’ via Pixabay.com

Little Bits Of Joy

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The news of the world has been so bleak and then there are the personal stresses of my life. Finding myself saying ‘Oh, no!!’ and feeling down. I need to focus on all the little bits of joy, gather them up, and hold them close like a soft cozy blanket. Even though I feel my grief for world as well.

Looking out my kitchen window to see a hummingbird flitting around the sage

Photos of my grandson

Clear blue California sky

Green leaves sparkling in sunlight

Cry of a yellow tail hawk flying above me

There is still good in the world.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word for today is ‘oh.’ Use it as a word for find a word that starts with ‘oh.’

Featured image of ‘Hummingbird’ via JLG on Pixabay.com

Good Taste

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I find that in this time of my life I appreciate even more my sense of taste when it comes to food. My daughter and I are picky about the quality of the coffee we drink at our house. Seems we are both into the robust flavor of dark roast coffee. I like mine with a little milk added. Coffee is part of my daily morning ritual. The coffee is made as soon as I get into the kitchen. Must have two cups to start my day. My husband purchased a new coffee grinder but I find it is only as good as the coffee you put in it. And we can find really good already ground fresh coffee at local stores. When I have my morning cup of coffee started, along with some toast, I am ready to peruse the morning papers online. The news has been very engaging lately, but can leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS , is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today is “-tast-.” Find a word that contains “tast” and use it in your post.

Featured image of ‘Cup of coffee’ is by Opentheme via Pixabay.com