Simply Moments

I realized yesterday that in the past three weeks--give or take a day--I have only been out in public for a total of about an hour.  Gives new meaning to housebound, doesn't it?  Thankfully, my local grocery store has online ordering; pickup is super easy: they bring out the cart, you load it yourself and drive away.  I usually go on Sunday morning, very early and hardly interact with a soul. On one hand, it's really good as far as social distancing goes; on the other, cabin fever was settling in with a vengeance yesterday.  Amazing how cranky one can get over the dumbest thing.  Nick--apparently in fear for his life if I didn't get a change of scenery--suggested a drive in the car to get out of the house, which I welcomed wholeheartedly. About half an hour or so from the house there is a very small park along the river.  We agreed beforehand that if anyone was there, we would just keep driving.  Luckily enough, no one was there, woo hoo!! This park is truly small: th

Sunday was a beautiful, sunny 68* and after being housebound for days, we happily went outside to enjoy the third day of Spring.  Benny dropped into the grass and was instantly in doggy heaven. The flowers are blooming, trees are getting their tiny green shoots and it felt wonderful to breathe fresh, clean air.  I opened up all the doors and windows to let the gentle breeze waft throughout the house, too. But by late afternoon I was sneezing, blowing my nose, feeling stuffy and out of sorts, suddenly convinced I was done for.  The virus had found me after all.  I turned to Nick and said, "Oh my god, I think I'm sick!"  He sneezed.  We looked at each other in horror and dashed into the house to take our temperatures, the first real sign of the virus. No temps.  Still, only slight relief at that news because something was definitely wrong.  Then I had a thought and went to a weather channel online that has the most accurate forecasts and other info. Pollen.  Tree po

...news bites to make us smile, just a little, as this wretched virus continues to expand across America and the world. Some of these I posted from yesterday, many are new, and a few are just downright hilarious--mostly the ones where folks are doing any and everything whilst trying to keep sane in isolation. There are over 50 stories here, I think, so that should hopefully use up a portion of your afternoon and give you a moment of light in all the darkness... From People.com  Isolation sucks, man...

This morning, whilst reading more grim news about COVID-19 than I ever wanted to know, I stumbled across a site that had happier stuff to make us feel a bit more cheerful during this terrible global crisis we all find ourselves in.  Since I'm sort of at a loss for something to write about--other than being in isolation**--I'm passing along the article. Here is the link to the site at The Guardian . There are some hilarious videos:  Two that are  so cute of penguins let loose at the closed Chicago Aquarium; funny ones about being stuck with kids out of school; some with those wonderful Italians singing from their balconies; but the best is a Twitter thread from  Anbara Salam  where she recaps one of her most embarrassing  moments of all time.  I was laughing so hard, I had to wipe my eyes towards the end. Because being the cutest little Dachshund in the world is always worth a smile for us mere humans, here's a shot of wee Benny lounging on the back of the couch...

First:  What is up with Daylight Savings?  When can we get beyond this ridiculous manipulation of time?  Proven to impact our health, cognitive functions and sleep patterns, this is the most moronic thing to have to deal with twice a year. In the last election, abolishing this practice was on the ballot in Washington, Oregon and California.  But it had to be a unanimous vote, passed by all three states, I think to encompass the whole West Coast, though I'm not exactly sure why.  In any case, Washington and Oregon were all for it.  California said no.  It would be nice if majority ruled here, but alas, if all three didn't go for it, no one got to.  And buggers to that. Monday, the first morning of fogging my brain, I took this shot of Benny in his little sleeping bag.  It might have said 6:00 am on the clock, but for us it was barely 5:00 and we were feeling it.  Picture says it all... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The other day I was at the grocery store.  Walking

I've been writing since I was a kid.  My first "real" story--beginning, middle, end--was written when I was about ten, sitting on a tall kitchen stool with my school notebook paper and a bold red pen.  It was a mystery that took place in Hawaii, of all places; I had a bit of familiarity with Oahu as my mom's sister and family lived there and we'd gone to visit them when I was eight.  Still, looking back, it seems pretty ambitious to write a mystery in an exotic locale like that.  I don't remember the plot exactly, but I managed the whole story in under six pages. Time goes by.  I discover an old book of O. Henry stories, by chance one rainy day in Portland, at Powell's bookstore--back when you had to slip between the tall pillars of used books stacked on the floor at the ends of each aisle, the intoxicating smell of old paper and dusty attics and words , wafting everywhere.  It's different now, all modern and clean, but still one of the great booksto

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. Charles Dickens "Great Expectations" I was at the grocery store today, a beautiful sunny morning with pale blue skies and massive thunderheads climbing to the heavens behind the mountains.  My car was half in the sun and half shaded by a small tree.  As I loaded the groceries in my Blazer, the sun was warm on my back, a hint of Spring in the touch.  I closed the hatch and stepped around to the driver's side of the car and was hit by a blast of icy wind that might have just skimmed across a snow-capped ridge in the Himalayas.  It blew my jacket open, sending shivers down the front of my body while I could still feel the heat on my back. As I drove home, I couldn't help but smile at the serendipity:  Just last month I had written a quote in my journal about the very thing I'd just experienced.  On the first day of Marc