TIOLI Challengers' Corona Virus Support Thread

These are not normal times. I and so many others are being made increasingly anxious by pervasive news about the Coronavirus pandemic. I find that talking to people I "know", even in the cyber-sense, helps me deal with my anxieties over this.

TIOLI challengers, feel free to either read or avoid this thread, depending what your needs are.

If you decide to join this conversation, you may use it to share your concerns or to offer support to one another.

Should you be actively avoiding news about Coronavirus, feel free to "red x" this thread.

In this way, I hope to bring back a little levity to the main thread which recently has been spiraling downward with expressions of real anxieties and concerns. This will be the place to express that.

Hugs to all.

Be safe.

To READ more about the impact Coronavirus is on having on LTERs in general, you might want to refer to this thread on Club Read.

COVID-19 dISCUSSION

Thanks for setting up this other thread, Madeline. Today’s a day I’ll focus on reading and maybe do a bit of spring cleaning.

In Switzerland we have 56 deaths because of covid-19. The library is closed, I should be doing home office since yesterday, but the internet connection doesn't work properly. There is only an emergency group of 2-3 people at the library sending out requested books.
I still work three afternoons in the caritas shop, selling food stuff to refugees and welfare recipients. Yesterday we only let three people at any time into the shop in order to have enough space between each other. But there is no special protection for the cashier ... I have disinfectant for my hands. We don't wear masks because these should be used by medical personnel only in order to keep them safe(r). But some people don't treat the distance aspect seriously, which is very annoying.
My son works in a home for elderly people. So we both have still to go to work.

I am getting more concerned every day as I see the numbers rising. Yesterday my province of British Columbia had 271 cases confirmed, today the number has jumped to 348. What I don't know is why - are more people being tested or is the virus progressing that quickly.

My grandson had two jobs a few days ago, but he was laid off from one on Thursday and today is his last day at the other one. I hope our Government Employment Insurance can cover everyone's needs through this time.

It is a beautiful sunny day here so I am going to try and avoid the news and concentrate on simple things like reading and sitting in the sunshine.

Wishing heath and safety to everyone!

>5 DeltaQueen50: It’s scary, both in terms of health issues and all these people losing their jobs which, in the U.S., could well mean losing health insurance, too. Now, as I understand it, the government relief has an upper limit cap and a lower level too. Just because someone made $75K in 2018 doesn’t mean that they’re still working now and not in dire need. More infuriating is that lower income people may not get much, if anything.

So far so good on avoiding the news. Watched some cooking shows on PBS and will read a bit before the daily press conference from the governor. I see that the 1954 movie, Dial M for Murder, is on TCM tonight. I’ve never seen it so I may watch that tonight.

>4 paulstalder: I’m curious about passing along books at this time. Because it is said that Coronavirus can stay viable on cardboard for 24 hours, I closed my Little Free Library. Others stewards did not. What is your opinion of books as carriers of the virus?

>5 DeltaQueen50: My husband said he heard on the news that the numbers are rising so quickly because more people are being tested.

Is anyone else having panic attacks? I’ve never had one before, but I was reading on Facebook some frightening information about COVID-19 in Italy. All of a sudden, my heart started pounding. I logged off and went to work on my jigsaw puzzle.

By the way, I found the kind of books I’ll be reading through this pandemic. They will all be books about nature. I started reading The Soul of an Octopus. Maybe books like this one will calm me down and allow me to read again.

The people next door to me had a giant party last night. I live in a state where the governor has been very vigilant about social distancing, first closing bars and restaurants and now closing all non essential businesses. My neighbors are wonderful people and also very social, but I can’t believe they have such little regard for the situation. Maybe they’ve been listening to too many presidential briefings.

>7 SqueakyChu: books as carriers: what I have heard here, is that the virus doesn't survive long enough for an infection on dry surfaces. It could happen if a virus carrier coughs on the book and droplets are sticking on the surface and the next person comes pretty soon and touches it with his hands ... so better clean your new book with a (paper) towel and dry it. don't take on things straight out of the hands from others without washing your hands afterwards before you touch your head. Washing your hands is the best you can do. Everytime my nose or eyes or ... itches I go and wash my hands before I scratch my head (especially when handling money).

... and don't wet your finger when turning pages !!

>9 paulstalder: Thanks for your answer, Paul. That makes sense. I’m holding off on resuming my Little Free Library both because I’m high risk and because I’m not in the frame of mind to deal with my books until I can freely associate with others again.

That “wet your finger “ habit is really hard to break!

>8 Citizenjoyce: As a senior, their actions terrify me. Such individuals are putting my life in jeopardy.

I was okay until a couple days ago when I read that NY (or NYC?) had 7k cases and 18% were hospitalized. That's HUGE. Hospitals can't handle numbers like that and they are going to get worse.

It is said that the food supply is fine and we shouldn't hoard but what happens when the manufacturers and distributors don't have enough healthy employees to keep the supply chain going at its current levels? What happens when it's cut by a quarter? A third? A half?

What happens when there aren't enough plumbers because so many are sick? Employees at electric or gas companies? Appliance repair people? Water and sewage plant employees? What happens when it takes a week or more for them to get electricity back on when it used to take hours? Or no one can come out to fix your freezer for weeks?

Maybe it won't get that bad. We can always hope. But what if it does and we aren't prepared? We're not going to go all out. But we are slowly building an emergency survival kit.

First, we've got two 7 gallon buckets and we're going to buy two 10 gallon jugs, clean them, and fill them all with water. That will give us over two weeks worth of water.

Then, as we can, we're going to fill up plastic bins with non-perishable foods - dried beans, peanut butter, flour, yeast, tuna, etc.

We don't have a lot of money and you know how empty the shelves are of exactly those things, plus we don't want to take more than our fair share, so we'll do it over 7 to 10 days and spread it out over several stores/cities and both local and online.

We'll start with two weeks worth, then a month, then re-evaluate. How much room do we have? How are things going in the world/supply chain? How much money have we spent, etc.

Thankfully, MrMorphy has done a lot of "prepper" research for writing!

Anyone have a good, easy recipe for bread that they use regularly? Preferably something that could be put in a loaf pan and sliced for sandwiches. MrMorphy has tons of recipes but this really isn't the time for experimentation.

>11 Morphidae: interesting thoughts. We don't know where it all leads to.
But one thing I would not do: do not travel to different places and shops. That's how the virus spreads: different people meat at different places. You may not yourself get infected but you run the risk of distributing the virus. If you work with gloves, you would have to change these everytime you are in different places. Better stick to your daily routine at home and try out delivery services.

>12 paulstalder: MrMorphy was just going to go to our one grocery store. The rest will be through Instacart. He wipes off the cart handle and washes his hands before unpacking the groceries. Then he disinfects all surfaces, door knobs, and doorways.

I'm 1) highly susceptible to viruses. Mostly likely because I'm homebound and have lost a lot of my immunities. 2) I have mild/medium kidney damage due to a diuretic. Kidney damage is one of the risk factors for severe cases of Coronavirus. And, 3), because of my health issues, if I did get severe Coronavirus and they started having to make the "difficult decisions" because of low resources, I'd get black tagged. I MUST NOT get this virus. So believe me, we are being especially careful.

>11 Morphidae: Funny you mentioned baking bread. I made my first loaf this past Friday because I was afraid to go to the bakery. I made a mini-challah (8 slices) for the Jewish Sabbath. It came out pretty good. I’d share my recipe if anyone us interested. I’d also be interested in having recipes others have used successfully.

One thing good about breadbaking is that it momentarily diverted my attention away from my fears and into doing something constructive. Any diversion helps, but this diversion feeds us.

>14 SqueakyChu: We made a big breakfast today--eggs, sausage links, toast, and OJ--and then cleaned the house top to bottom. Felt like a productive morning. This afternoon, before the snow (ugh!!) hits, we are going for a bit of a drive to a neighboring town to go through the Portillo's drive through.

One odd thing about all of this is that, after sports, weather is my favorite news broadcast segment. Now, I really don't care all that much about either of them right now.

>13 Morphidae: what is instacart? kind of delivery service? sorry, I apparently took your 'spread it out over several stores/cities' too literally.

I can't bake my own bread :( my wife was more on rice, so that's enough in the house, as well as potatoes.

>15 lindapanzo: I enjoy cooking usually, if I can do it at my leisure and not be stressed. Now I find that it occupies my mind so it's a good thing. Today I want to try to make rye bread.

I had a productive day yesterday. I started going through old receipts (I mean from years ago) and started shredding them. It was something I would probably never had gotten to in a regular world. It was a win-win situation because I could stay at home and make more space.

I'd love to hear what others are doing to lift their spirits. Also, if you hear any good news pertaining to COVID-19, be sure to post that here. Here's an article I like for today:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-not-good-but-the...

Yeah. I cannot get interested in reading much of anything. I have to curb my addition to reading the news. It scares the hell out of me. It's hard to stay informed without being frightened. We canceled our print edition of The Washington Post but still have the digital edition. We were afraid to handle the plastic bag in which the paper came and the paper itself which we laid on the kitchen table to read. My husband was delighted today to discover that the digital version also has an option to be read where the layout looks exactly like the print newspaper version.

I'm all gloom and doom. How do others stay so optimistic? I have friends (my high risk age) who are anxious, but they seem to be in good spirits and optimistic. I wish I could be that way, but that's not what I feel in my soul. I hope that changes after this pandemic begins to subside. Life will not be the same. How I long for a hug from my kids and grandchildren. That is not to be. *sigh* I only get sad when I see pictures of them, plus I HATE to FaceTime or be video recorded.

I'll let you know how the rye bread comes out! D

>16 paulstalder: Paul, you have plenty of time to learn how to bake bread now. No excuses!

>18 SqueakyChu: yes, mam

I'm still going to work but will have eff all to do there so I've scrounged up all my old, wooly socks with holes in them and am planning to do some darning. Once that's done I'm moving on to cardigan elbow patching. Also bringing some reading material, of course - both physical books and audio, and I can also read ebooks on the computer should I want to.

I'm not feeling very doom-and-gloom. I think that's largely to do with my making the choice to not pay so much attention to the news. I learnt during the terrorist attacks in Oslo/Utøya and Stockholm that the constant news makes me feel physically unwell and it really does no good. A couple of news reports a day is plenty. And even before this happened, I'd curated my social media feeds to almost only include things that made me feel better about the world. There's enough crap surrounding us as it is, so having "escapes" is good for you. And now my twitter feed is full of people helping others, singing songs, reciting poetry, etc. And that makes me feel better.
Of course, another MAJOR reason I'm feeling quite optimistic is that there are still no confirmed cases in my region. And there's no confirmed societal spreading in the neighbouring regions. That could of course change at any moment, but I'm hopeful that the measures that have been taken and people being vigilant and careful will mean the possible spreading will not be overwhelming.
My heart breaks for the people (some on this thread) who are living in places where the virus seems unstoppable and especially where the government aren't doing enough. I can't imagine what it's like to be where you are and I hope it changes soon.
One thing that I've really taken to heart is a quote a lot of people have been sharing online lately. It's a quote from Mr. Rogers, who - since I'm not an American - I wasn't familiar with until a few years ago.

"Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."

I've been doing that a lot. It really does help to focus on the good things.

I just got back from a walk in the sunshine. It feels like a zombie apocalypse to me. I changed the side of the street on which I was walking whenever I saw someone on my same sidewalk heading my way!

>19 paulstalder: LOL

>20 PawsforThought: Thanks for sharing Mr. Rogers' quote. Others feel free to share inspiring quotes here as well.

Bread is rising now- I baked a lot when my son was home- less recently when two old folks are trying to lose weight. if you can get yeast, it is pretty easy. Sourdough with no added yeast takes a bit more work and technique, but you can catch wild yeast and start a sourdough pot most places.

I am tele-workling weekdays and remotely running the board of the small private school where I chair the board. The Pennsylvania Emergency Agency is asking for state employees in other departments to step up, but I will not drive trucks or deliver supplies or go into other offices. I will telework for them if there is appropriate work ot be done. my husband and I are too old and medically fragile- I'd rather not risk it.

Very little recreational reading or needlework getting done. Working on garden plans I can plant peas and parsnips outdoors now - but we expect sloppy snow tonight so I will hod off a bit. Lettuce can start inside- its on my to do list.

Who knew staying home all the time would be so much work? and we are just two adults. Folks with small children have all my sympathy and respect.

So...no rye bread got made. I made bread pudding instead, more of a comfort food.

I don’t have any flour. Maybe I’ll try to get some, and yeast. I used to make bread frequently but haven’t done so for a long time.
My major concern is for my animals. When last I was at Costco they were out of dog food. Besides my 6 dogs I feed feral cats in the front yard and lots of birds in the back. I’m going to need birdseed again pretty soon too. Costco has senior hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I hope there will be something for my critters. I could order online, but that’s so expensive.

>24 Citizenjoyce: I am actually scared of senior hours. I freaked out when my husband told me he went to the grocery store during senior hour for only four items! I hope to find and use a food delivery service, but not soon as we have lots of food in our house.

Illinois passed 1,000 cases today. I used to be horrified every day by the ever-increasing numbers but now, I feel sort of numb to them. 9 deaths, the same. 80 cases in the county, up from 1 on March 11.

It has now hit a bit closer to home as the brother of my cousin's wife has the virus. I know his name and where he lives but I've met him only once or twice, I think. No doubt, it'll get closer. Nothing to do but stay home and try to stay safe.

>27 Citizenjoyce: I love that! Thanks for the laugh.

>25 SqueakyChu: I am quite leery of the senior hours as well, Madeline. I live in an area where there are a lot of senior citizens so the senior hours have a good chance of being more crowded than the regular hours. I'm going to start ordering my groceries and have them leave them at the door.

>28 DeltaQueen50: I can't speak for the all grocery stores ordering systems but we tried that last week for the first time, with the leading Chicago area grocer and got just a handful of the items we ordered. Totally disappointed with it.

Someone was telling me that, if you want items like olives or frozen pizza, they're fine. If you want bread, eggs, milk, bananas, tomatoes, rice, soup, butter, canned vegetables, peanut butter etc, they can't fill the order, which we learned, even though they promised it. Out of 20 items we ordered, I think we got a 4-pack of Dial bar soap, one can of soup, and a package of frozen bagels.

The recommendation is, I think, to shop once a week. With all the shortages, it's just not possible. Some local grocers have bare shelves in many areas and the only way to get needed items is to make numerous stops. We're still well stocked but if the hoarding goes on, people will suffer. It's like wartime. I wonder if they'll issue ration books.

>26 lindapanzo: Every day frightens me more. I’m not numb yet. However I’m spiraling into a depression. I’ve lost five pounds and have no appetite. I have to force myself to eat. I know this is depressing my immune system so I forced myself to walk today. Everything makes me sad. Even seeing my redbud tree blooming.

>27 Citizenjoyce: You made me laugh! Thanks, Joyce!

>28 DeltaQueen50: I want to try food delivery but I have too much food in my house now. I’ll have to wait. I hope there will be no food shortage later.

>29 lindapanzo: Yikes!

>21 SqueakyChu: That is exactly how I described walking outside to my sister. I'm envying anyone living in a rural environment right now. Even a suburb would feel safer. (I'm in the middle of San Francisco.) So many people aren't distancing. Younger people are hanging out in groups in the park or having parties. People jogging together down the middle of the sidewalk, not watching for others.

>25 SqueakyChu: I guess it's easier to block out hours in the beginning of the day, but I'd think some of these early hours would be difficult for a lot of seniors to make. I know my mom (she's 82) needs quite a bit of time to get ready in the morning - just being slower to shower and dress, having to have some food to take with her pills, etc. She's not getting anywhere by 7 or even 8.

>24 Citizenjoyce: Good luck with the pet food!
>27 Citizenjoyce: Accurate. :D I'm really wishing I owned more loungewear right now.

Thanks for starting this thread, Madeline. I'm not consistent with LT groups, but when I was hoping to find a thread like this, I guessed you might have started one. :)

>30 SqueakyChu: Physically, I’m fine but not in a great place mentally today. Feeling very blue about all of this. Likely no end in sight for a long time. Seems like every other day is like this.

Tomorrow, I’ll be at the kitchen table working and instant messaging with work friends. Won’t be able to think about things much and it’ll almost seem like a really long
Polar vortex again.

This past week, everyone seemed eager to keep in touch and talk. I suspect that reality has set in as to the long haul we have ahead. Nearly everyone has gotten quiet.

Hi all. I just wanted to update everyone that my son's test came back negative.

Today was my first day at work at one of the local high schools as a study coach. On my way home, NZ's prime minister announced a country-wide lockdown beginning midnight Wednesday, so that's going to be on hold.

A grocery store trip revealed an interesting variety of things no longer on shelves: cleaning wipes, bar soap, dishwashing powder, and flour, in addition to the 4 weeks now of no hand sanitizer. We bought a large jug of isopropyl alcohol a few weeks ago at a hardware store so I could make cleaning wipes.

My next order of business is going to be trying to convince my mother in Louisiana to put Facebook Messenger on her phone and get one of my brothers to show her how to answer a video call.

I also wanted to say that we all going through a grieving process about the changes in our lives, that these reactions are normal, and everyone is at a different stage. Be kind. Be strong.

>31 madhatter22: I see people not distancing as well. Don’t they realize that they are endangering lives of others?!

I could never do a senior shopping time because I am not an early morning person. Even if I wake up early due to nightmares (which I do), in no way am I going grocery shopping at 6, 7, or 8am. One store had senior hour at 8pm. I can no longer drive in the dark. This is so unfair even though the stores are trying to be helpful.

I actually like getting up and fully dressed, even though I do it late. I feel more productive...even if Inend up doing nothing!

You’re welcome. As people always said in the TIOLI challenges, this is self-serving. I deeply appreciate everyone’s willingness to listen to me and to share their stories, as painful as some are. It gives me the feeling that I’m not alone in this. I hope it does the same for you and others.

>32 lindapanzo: I am in the exact same mental state as you are. Some days I feel as if I am going to die. I wrote this to my daughter who said I’m not going to die. This is a conflict going around in my head. It’s not rational, but everything is so surreal. This is as scary as my having been diagnosed with breast cancer (fortunately 32 years ago). I want to believe we can pull through this. It’s going to be a long haul, I’m afraid. I watch the stats with anxiety. I know they’ll get worse before they get better. Elie Wiesel always said not to lose hope. I have to keep this in mind as he was one man whom I admired so much.

A group of friends (we used to be a babysitting coop thirty years ago!) and I are going to have lunch together on Tuesday via Zoom. I’ve never done this. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Linda, when your friends are too quiet, reach out to them. They are probably in a similar state to us.

>33 jeanned: Hallelujah!! I was so scared for you, and now I’m relieved for you.

You DO want a lock down. I want one here in Maryland, USA, to enforce social distancing because folks around here are not doing it well enough. I’m doing a self-imposed quarantine because my age makes me high risk. The best thing about it is that it keeps me the safest possible. Be thankful that your prime minister is doing this.

Your plans for your family sound great.

Thanks for your encouraging words.

>31 madhatter22: Hey! I just thought of another reason why this is a good thread. It was suggested by some people to do a diary during this pandemic. I have no desire to do so, but after this is all over, I can just print this thread, and the pandemic diary will have written itself! :D

>37 SqueakyChu: That is brilliant! I've been wanting to make a return to blogging, but this thread has more immediacy to it.

When reading the posts here about problems getting basic stuff in shops and delivery services, I am pretty shocked. Even Italy doesn't have such problems so far. One may not find her/his favoured brand or flavour but there is enough around, especially delivery services. Okay Switzerland is much smaller but our delivery services can deliver almost everything. We have a little problem with yeast at the moment :) sorry, Madeline, but I can't start making my own bread just today ...

I hope the IT services of the university can provide me today with the right software so I can actually do some home office work und not just be home office.

My son went working in the elderly people's home as usual. There are quite many people who live in Germany and France and work here. As long as the border is open for them, the homes and hospitals are running fine...

>39 paulstalder: Okay, Paul. You are excused from baking bread for now.

I have a challenge for everyone for later in better times. When times become safe again in the future, we’ll each bake a bread to celebrate. Your choice of bread. No excuses then for not having yeast. A picture of your bread will be required. May that day and that challenge come soon.

>40 SqueakyChu: don't forget my bread baking challenge some time ago ! so we actually all have some theoretical knowledge :)

Being busy at work has totally taken my mind off of things for several hours already.

Last night, I put on Me-TV, hoping that old 1950's/1960's comedies would take my mind off things. It didn't. Both the Flinstones and the Honeymooners had episodes dealing with illness. Not what I wanted to see at this particular time.

otoh, we had a beautiful late season snowstorm. Only 2 or 3 inches but it kindly confined itself to grassy surfaces and trees. Nothing on our road or drive. Beautiful to look at.

I also cannot take another minute of our national leader who is now saying that our stay-at-home measures are too extreme. Grrrr.

>41 paulstalder: That is right, Paul! Sadly, it was very prescient.

>42 lindapanzo: I find humor mostly not funny now. Somethings can make me laugh, but substantially fewer than before. Nature, in its various incarnations, I find comforting.

If we don’t stay at home as a nation, we are signing our own death certificates or at least those of the most vulnerable in our society. For 45, it’s just about business. People are expendable.

I no longer watch trump’s happy talk briefings which are mini rallies for him, but Governor Cuomo’s in New York’s are brilliant.
My city mayor is fighting with my governor trying to get him to reopen tourist areas because we’re losing money. People don’t realize that if you swamp the hospitals and have no place else to put people you really are on the road to disaster.
I have some good news to report. While my social neighbors on one side had parties two nights in a row, my equally social and party type neighbors on the other side are adhering to social distancing and staying at home. The son and mother came to my door last night and said they were going shopping today and asked if they could get anything for me. It’s makes me think that with people like this, we might just get through this. Well, of course we’ll get through it. The pandemic of 1918 killed thousands, but the world went on.
>39 paulstalder: I’m glad other countries aren’t having the supply problems we are. It’s such a stereotype that Americans are greedy, but it looks like it’s proving itself to be true.

>44 Citizenjoyce: That is great to hear about the neighbors. I've talked to co-workers who are cooking and making extra for an elderly neighbor, for instance, and then leaving in on her porch and ringing her doorbell. Others offering to shop etc.

I think our Illinois governor has done a fabulous job for Illinoisans during this crisis. However, unlike Cuomo and some of the other big state governors, Pritzker has complained about Trump who seems to be retaliating against us. I hear of other states getting more testing etc but, as far as I understand, not us. Sadly, another 3 deaths today and 200+ cases, now up to almost 1,300.

My mother is in hospiral. She suffers from bronchitis, so they tested her for coronavirus. Luckily the test is negative. She will be 90 in august

>45 lindapanzo: You know he’ll retaliate against the states he doesn’t like. That’s the way he is.
My daughter was able to get me birdseed at Costco. She said they allow only 25 people in at a time, everyone is lined up outside with just a cart length between them, that’s about 3 or 4 feet. Even though they have early morning senior hours on Tuesday and Thursday, she said if a senior comes they go right to the head of the line.

>46 paulstalder:, >33 jeanned: good news.

>46 paulstalder: Oh, Paul. How frightening! What a relief the test was negative. I hope and pray she makes a quick recovery and goes home soon.

>47 Citizenjoyce: My son offered to shop for me, but I don’t want him in a grocery store either. I might try ordering online from a local kosher supermarket. They are beginning to offer delivery. My son works at a water treatment plant so is considered essential and still goes to work every day. I want him to stay safe. The kosher market says it follows CDC guidelines and will drop off the groceries on my doorstep. I saw today on their website that they will deliver to my zip code. Fortunately for this week, I have enough groceries. Next week is supposed to be the worst week for us regarding COVID-19 stats. I’m very scared again, although I was calmer this morning.

>49 SqueakyChu: You're staying home with your husband. I think you should be fine. Great news about your grocery delivery.

I am so afraid for my mom. I just looked at Louisiana's numbers, and they are right where Italy's were 24 days ago.

I am so afraid for everyone, because we are all feeling that way now.

I'm going to go walk through the garden and breathe.

I thought some of you might want to hear some good news. And what is better than baby elephants?

There was a baby Asian elephant calf born at Kolmården Zoo/Animal Park yesterday. Asian elephants are endangered and the elephants at Kolmården (who, as far as I know take VERY good care of their animals) are part of a project to save them from extinction. The parents of the newcomer were gifts from the King of Thailand to the King of Sweden and the Queen of Denmark respectively, and so the little one has been appropriately named Carl Gustav (after the King of Sweden).



There also a video here, which I'm hoping works even for people outside of Sweden.

>32 lindapanzo:. Good news is so welcome! Thanks for sharing. I did not check out the video.

>52 PawsforThought: thanks for the good news

>52 PawsforThought: what a little cutie.

>46 paulstalder: Sending out healing thoughts for your Mother, Paul. I hope she is soon well and back home.

>52 PawsforThought: Thanks for the cute picture, Paws. We all need some happy thoughts these days.

>56 DeltaQueen50: thanks, Judy. She suffers from other issues as well, her artificial knee is infecting its surroundings, her lungs are not too well, digestion, and - loneliness. And at this time my sister nor I are able to visit her. My sister is teaching line dance but now she had to stop all courses and dance nights and such things ...

One of the good news is the much better air we can breathe :) no airplanes, less cars on the road. Those with bronchitis and other such illnesses do feel better

>57 paulstalder: I'm reaching for every bit of good news I can. Thanks for reminding us that this situation is actually good for our environment.

bad news for Switzerland: we have the highest number of corona infections per 10'000 inhabitants, so this number is higher than the equivalent in Italy - but, our delivery system for food works, there is no shortage of food or items of daily life like toilet paper or such.

Today had to go to the library for taking care of the infodesk (telephone, info mails, possible deliveries etc. On the way to work I took the tram and there I had enough space to sit on my own and read my book :) And I realised that I start to look at stories with the present situation in mind. I am reading a detective story about missing people by Dee Henderson and I caught myself thinking 'Hej man, keep your distance, there are far too many people in this place!' and I have to remind myself, that the present situation has no relevance for the book - weird

>59 paulstalder: I keep watching the number grow higher every day in my county. Hopefully your library will decide to close. I am actually scared to go out now. I know that’s irrational, but I feel scared and unprotected. When I was taking out the trash, someone I didn’t see, due to tall bushes in my front yard, walked by near me, and said, “Hi!״. I almost jumped out of my skin and ran into the street to get away from him. :D I have a feeling I am going to have a hard time later reintegrating into society!

>60 SqueakyChu: oh, the library is closed all right but we have a kind of emergency service and do send out requested books by mail, there are only 2-3 people there per day, all the others are working from home. I had to sit next to the phone and do some shelf reference corrections - very boring.

I feel protected in God's hands. Sure, I wash my hands as often as possible, use disinfectant and keep my distance, so I do what I can do to protect me but I still want to live my life and not be dictated by fear.

My mother is still in hospital. They checked her lungs today, I haven't heard of the results yet.

I did make my own kimchi for the first time ever :)

>60 SqueakyChu: I think many people are going to have some psychological damage from this crisis. In today's briefing, Governor Cuomo gave out a phone number for a psychological support service, but it's probably only for New York. It would be a good thing for all states to develop.

>62 Citizenjoyce: I think the same. A key for me is trying to stay busy but I think that's avoiding thinking about it all. It really does help me to talk about all of this.

My county has created a dashboard which, updated daily, shows by town where all of our 135 cases are. I do note that it provides ranges. My town of about 10,000 has

>61 paulstalder: I hope your mom does well.

Kimchi! I love kimchi! How did it come out?

My older son is bored out of his mind as well. He does IT (computers) for our school system, but now all schools are closed through April 24. He is working from home with barely anything to do.

My daughter is a lawyer working from home until the pandemic is over. She made me laugh when she told me that her cat meowed for one hour straight outside her closed office door at home while she had been on a client call!

>62 Citizenjoyce:. Joyce, you are absolutely correct. I checked my health care provider’s web site for information about anxiety. I am having feelings of doom, sudden pounding heartbeat and trembling at odd times. With this anxiety, I am depressing my own body’s immune system. Not a good thing. My husband and friends say I must calm down, but I don’t control this. It’s controlling me. I know measures to take. They work for a while. I felt this way in the morning and now, but I had a relatively calm and peaceful day assorting recipes (years’ worth of them) clipped from newspapers and magazines.

Anyway, my health care provider is reaching out to its patients to address this issue. It is so important. My friends all seen calm relative to me.

>63 lindapanzo: Sharing helps me, too. Thanks for listening.

Adrian and I are both well and we have plenty of food and supplies for now. I am mostly working from home. When I do need to go in, the library is closed so social distancing is not a problem. I sit in my office by myself. I don't feel any more exposed there than I do at home.

I've had groceries delivered the last couple of weeks. It's interesting to see what I end up with. I get a text every time that something on the list is unavailable. Walgreens has started selling things from the store at the drive-thru window. I took advantage of that yesterday morning when I picked up a prescription. I've been avoiding drug stores as much as possible because that's where sick people go.

I had a hard time concentrating enough to read for a while so I binge watched shows on Amazon Prime, Acorn, and the Roku Channel. I feel like I've started to adjust to the new normal and my reading is starting to pick up a bit.

It helps to be getting out with the dog. It was lovely out tonight, and I enjoyed being out in the fresh air.

Well, we just had our first case in my town. It's probably going to start spreading from now on so we'll see what happens. I wouldn't be surprised if the school I work in goes completely online (it's about 2/3 online now) and I have no idea where that would leave me as I can't do my work remotely. I hope I'll just be allowed to go home rather than get shuffled around to some other kind of job.

>65 cbl_tn: I just signed up for Instacart (grocery delivery), but I'm trying to ration our food so that I'll have to order as little as possible. One thing is that our home is well stocked with food as I have a standing freezer that ius always packed with meats and grains. Besides, if worst comes to worst (which I hope does not). I recently bought a five pound box of matzos for the Passover Seder we will not be able to host this year.

I'm reading only comforting books now, but I just read a few pages a day. At this rate I'll be lucky to read 25 books this year...not that it matters.

>66 PawsforThought: So sorry to hear that. For your sake, I hope your jurisdiction closes your schools. Anything to help stop the spread or flatten the curve is necessary. I hope all goes well for you under the circumstances. Keep us posted.

One thing that I find of solace now here in the United States is that no one seems to be paying much attention to our President's tweets. My country is adrift with competent leadership mostly (but not all) being demonstrated by our individual governors. Many in my country are looking for guidance from Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York (state) whose state has been hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic so far. He is a voice of truth, reason and compassion during these difficult days.

>67 SqueakyChu: Thanks. I have no reason to worry for my own sake since I'm young, have never been a smoker and don't have any health conditions that qualify me as a "risk group" - though I have wondered about the term "auto-immune disorder", since most of my family (myself included) have at least one autoimmune disorder but most of us don't take any immunosuppressing medications for it. I do worry a bit about my parrents, who are both around 70, and rather more worried about my older relatives, who are 75+ and who have at least one underlying condition that places them in a risk group.

One positive-ish thing is that they believe it'll take about two weeks before cases really start to pop up here, and by then it'll be days left until Easter break, so kids will be out of school anyway (and hopefully stay at home).

Elderly mother suddenly "got religion" about this today. I've been nagging about handwashing and using antibacterial when grocery shopping etc. Today, she said, "we're not going anywhere, we can have it delivered." My elderly father, whose mind is, as Mom says, becoming gentle, is worrisome because we don't think he can fully comprehend the severity of this pandemic. He just asked why they can't go swimming at the YMCA anymore.

I went to place an order with Instacart yesterday *before* the governor gave the shutdown order for state. There were NO delivery dates/times available. I'm thinking I can forget about it now.

>69 lindapanzo: Linda, I have a elderly mother who is turning 99 in May and she lives with my brother. He is having difficulty keeping her at home as she forgets about the pandemic. He's afraid that sometimes she thinks he is just being mean when she gets dressed up and then he won't take her shopping. Between her forgetful periods she is aware and avidly watches the news, so at those times he tries to reenforce why she has to stay home. I am thankful that she still lives at home as it seems that here, the care homes for the elderly are one of the hot spots for this virus.

>71 DeltaQueen50: Dad certainly watches it but we think that maybe he thinks it's a TV show.

That is definitely true about the care homes. Our county reports numbers but generally not exactly where unless it's a school Now, sadly, they mentioned that one such home had 3 staffers who tested positive and another had 3 residents who tested positive.

I try to take things day by day but today is 14 days since I was last in the office on a workday, so that comes as a bit of a relief since I encountered more people there than anywhere. I did go in two days later but touched nothing except my own desk and talked to a friend at a distance. Then, in retrospect, I stupidly met my dearest friend for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. She had just returned home 3 days earlier from wintering in Arizona and I was eager to see her. Saturday will be 14 days since that so maybe we both got lucky.

Unfortunately, just heard that Chicago has just had to close all the beaches along Lake Michigan as well as the parks and trails. Some were maintaining the proper distance but those who went there to hang out have ruined it for everyone.

>71 DeltaQueen50: Dad certainly watches it but we think that maybe he thinks it's a TV show.

That is definitely true about the care homes. Our county reports numbers but generally not exactly where unless it's a school Now, sadly, they mentioned that one such home had 3 staffers who tested positive and another had 3 residents who tested positive.

I try to take things day by day but today is 14 days since I was last in the office on a workday, so that comes as a bit of a relief since I encountered more people there than anywhere. I did go in two days later to pick up some things but touched nothing except my own desk and talked to a friend at a distance. Then, in retrospect, I stupidly met my dearest friend for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. She had just returned home 3 days earlier from wintering in Arizona and I was eager to see her. Saturday will be 14 days since that so maybe we both got lucky.

Unfortunately, just heard that Chicago has just had to close all the beaches along Lake Michigan as well as the parks and trails. Some were maintaining the proper distance but those who went there to hang out have ruined it for everyone.

>72 lindapanzo: They had to close the Great Smoky Mountain National Park earlier this week because too many people weren't maintaining social distance. One of the park employees at Cades Cove has tested positive for Covid-19, but the person works in an area where they have little to no interaction with park visitors.

As of yesterday evening, Knoxville had 20 cases (6 of whom have already recovered), and the health department says that they were all very close contacts. Apparently no community spread detected yet, but testing is just now ramping up. Only 1 or 2 cases in my county so far.

I just read that some restaurants are starting to sell grocery items. The shift to delivery/take out only leaves them with extra supplies like toilet paper and other paper goods. If you can't find things in your local grocery store, try your local restaurants.

>46 paulstalder: Sending good wishes for your mother, and for you and your sister. It must be so hard to have her there and not be able to see her right now.

Feeling for everyone worried about their parents right now. I'm in the same boat.

>59 paulstalder: I'm doing the same thing as I'm watching movies and TV shows - seeing everything through the lens of this pandemic.

>64 SqueakyChu: I really hope you'll be able to continue to find ways to manage the anxiety. I know it's so difficult. It's good you're aware and have people to help.

>70 Morphidae: We were having the same problem with Instacart and Amazon but we were able to get what we needed - or reasonable substitutes - slowly but surely. It may take 5 days and 1/3 of your order may have become unavailable, but we kept placing orders and getting one here and one there until we felt comfortable.
.
This is really making me realize how seldom I actually cook! I knew we ordered in or had easy pre-made Trader Joe's dishes too often ... I've got 4 or 5 go-tos, my husband makes great brunches and might make hamburgers or grilled cheese and (TJs!) soup on a weekend ... but I'm looking at these groceries we've collected and thinking, "What am I supposed to do with this fish?", "How do you even cook Brussels sprouts?", "Have I really NEVER made rice before??"

At least I can bake. :)

There have been 10 deaths in my county, 460 cases state wide. I imagine that the hospital where I used to work is flooded since it’s the county hospital. I can’t imagine they’d want a ten years retired labor and delivery nurse with a long lapsed license to help out, and I don’t think I’m going to try. If I died, what would happen to my little animal menagerie? That sounds pretty stupid, but I can’t help thinking about them. My daughter works at an animal hospital and she goes to work every day. She imagines she’s already been exposed but feels fine so far.

I hope this works. This is Louise Penny giving a tour of her home and a live chat. I wouldn’t mind resting in place here:
https://www.facebook.com/louisepennyauthor/videos/743166762882635/

Here’s another bit of wonder for us shut ins
https://allarts.org/2020/03/the-met-expands-its-livestreams-to-offer-3-weeks-of-...

>64 SqueakyChu: >64 SqueakyChu: SqueakyChu: I really hope you'll be able to continue to find ways to manage the anxiety. I know it's so difficult. It's good you're aware and have people to help.

This is what happened to me today, and I did have a friend help. I had an sudden-onset bout of depression in which I had to stop what I was doing and go to bed. I texted a friend who suggested meditating for 10-15 minutes. I've never done that before, but I did so...and it helped. I might use that whenever I feel an attack of anxiety or depression coming on. I know this is not the real me, but all of us have to get through this very terrible period one way or another safely.

>77 Citizenjoyce: I saw parts of that live chat. I missed the house tour though., so I'll have to watch that part. Thanks.

>79 SqueakyChu: Oh no, Madeline. Just got an email from my company reminding me that the EAP is available to help us through this difficult time. Keeping up to date and avoiding infection is important but so is maintaining our mental health. I feel sorry for friends who live alone, especially.

Today's Illinois news was painful. Usually, the case number has been going up by 200 or 300 tops. Today, up by 650, plus 7 additional deaths.

I was really busy with work and, after I eat my supper, I want to finish my current mystery I try to take comfort in little things. Chatting with my old boss today, I suddenly remembered that she and her mother love the Susan Elia MacNeal WW2 mysteries. I'm reading the latest one and told her about it and she was thrilled. I worry about her as her city has the most cases, by far, in the county.

>80 lindapanzo: Fortunately, my husband is here with me. I tell him when I need a hug. I have two very close friends who live alone. One I text daily; the other texts me daily and she supports me!

The stats are horrifying to watch, but we need to know what’s going on.

>76 Citizenjoyce: It's not silly at ALL to be thinking about your menagerie! Animals give us so much.
I'm appreciative of the work your daughter's doing. Last week my sister needed to take her kitty to the animal hospital and wasn't sure they would be there. She ended up losing Bagheera, but the people there were so kind and helpful.

>77 Citizenjoyce: Perfect! I literally just now before I logged on finished reading Bury Your Dead.

>79 SqueakyChu: I'm glad the meditation helped! Have you ever tried deep breathing exercises? I find them helpful. I also heard about the 4-7-8 breathing technique last week when I was having severe anxiety - unable to eat or sleep. It helped calm and I think distract me.

>76 Citizenjoyce: My daughter-in-law is a labor and delivery nurse. I just checked in with her to see how she’s doing. She must be okay with work (three days a week/12 hour shifts) as she only texted me info about my grandson’s schoolwork. I think I worry enough for all 9 members of my immediate family! Everyone but me seems calm. I’m happy they are more grounded than me at this time. Be there for your animals, Joyce.

>82 madhatter22: What’s the 4-7-8 breathing technique? I need all the help I can get! Tell me about the deep breathing exercises.

>83 SqueakyChu: It's a variation on other techniques, and you can find complete instructions online. Basically, you exhale completely, then breathe in through your nose for a count of 4, hold the breath for a count of 7, and then exhale through your mouth for a count of 8.
Apparently some people may get dizzy doing this, so you should be sitting or lying down, and not doing anything like driving. The instructions also say to start with only four repetitions to see how you feel.
I tried it a few times as I was trying to sleep with my head & heart racing and found it helped.
I've also just done deep breathing in the past - long, slow breaths in through the nose and then out through the mouth until I've felt calmer.

Here is Dr. Weil explaining the 4-7-8 technique and a variation. I read on another site that controlling breathing can increase anxiety in some people, so just do as much as you can
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324417#how-to-do-it

>85 Citizenjoyce: Thanks! I think that would work better for me than meditation. I need something like a quick fix. The deep breathing might just do the trick. I’ll try the 4-7-8. Dizzy is better than panic-stricken.

I just looked up how deep breathing works to lower stress. Apparently it increases the supply of oxygen to the brain and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting a state of calmness. Makes sense. I’ll try using that as my quick fix.

On a lighter note, my son thinks he’s discovered a coyote den in the woods. He’s going to set up motion-detector camera to check it out. I’ll let you know what happens.

By the way, what’s everyone doing for exercise? I’m trying to walk (admittedly only on warm days) and climb the stairs in my house frequently throughout the day.

>86 SqueakyChu: During my work day, I do laps around the house every hour when my Fitbit signals it's time to walk. The weather has been fairly warm here, so I am able to get out and walk Adrian at least once a day when it's not raining. I'm at the bottom of the development, and it's about 1/4 mile to the entrance at the top of the hill. If I do that a couple of times a day, I've walked a mile.

Also, if you have Amazon Prime, Prime Music has relaxation stations and Prime Video has relaxing videos that you can stream. Since I've been working at home, I've been streaming Amazon's Smooth Jazz station as background music while I work and I've discovered it's a good stress reliever.

Well, I'm feeling a little less guilty. I just saw which retired medical personnel the army is requesting to volunteer to help during the Covid crisis. None of them are labor and delivery nurses.

My husband and I are hunkering down in the US heartland. Since we live in the country, we keep ourselves stocked up, anyway, since we don't get to town that often. Other than our semi-annual doctor appointments, (which, back a couple of weeks ago, still had to be kept in order to get our meds), we've not been out in a month. We want to keep it that way, as our age puts us at risk. Mentally and emotionally, we are well.

Of my five children, three are working from home, one still has to go in to work in "essential" employment, and one is an ER doc in the thick of it in the Tacoma area.

He sent us a pulse oximeter, so we'd have an idea if things start going south with our health. (From the web: '"Normal pulse oximeter levels should be 96% or higher. A reading below 90% indicates hypoxemia—a condition in which there is a deficiency of oxygen in the blood associated with severe pneumonia." As a reminder, Coronavirus can lead to pneumonia.')

>90 countrylife: After I had pneumonia, I picked up pulse oximeters for everyone in the family. We think of them as being as essential as a thermometer.

Yes, best to keep it at 90 or above. (Not sure about that 96, which is probably regularly obtainable by someone young and/or extremely physically fit but not necessarily by everyone.) When I was taken to the ER with pneumonia a couple of years ago, mine was 77, which is quite dangerous.

I have one of those pretend Apple watches that records pulse, bp, pulse ox, sleep pattern, steps. I don’t know how accurate it is, but it’s always 96 or above. My problem is with sleep. I can’t make myself get enough..

I am usually a pretty upbeat person and I am working hard at not letting any depression take hold so it was wonderful to see one of my daughters and my granddaughter come by to drop off some groceries for us. It was such a joy to see them. We didn't get close, they stayed outside and put the groceries down by the door, but it seeing them in person was fantastic.

As for exercise we usually go out at least once a day and walk up and down our street, avoiding any other people. I have some difficulty with walking but since my last cortisone shot there has been a lot of improvement. We live in an apartment building so we also walk up and down our empty halls in the evenings. So far everyone in our building are all healthy.

>92 Citizenjoyce: That's a good number. Mine is fine when I'm just sitting around but it drops at times. That's why I have to keep an oxygen concentrator on hand. Usually, a couple deep breaths are all I need.

Feeling sad again. Our county now has our first two deaths. They don't say where they're from or which hospital they died at but a man in his 50's and a woman in her 90's. County now up to 222 cases including, unfortunately, outbreaks at 5 nursing homes, which account for 20 of the cases.

My cousin in Vegas celebrated her 64th birthday today and we had a nice long chat, which was nice and brightened the day. Also managed to snag some Charmin at the Walgreen's this morning. Oh happy day!!

>93 DeltaQueen50: I was treated for it once, too, and many friends are aware and will ask if I don't seem right.

>27 Citizenjoyce: Haven't been on LT much so I just found this thread. My family and I have been staying in place for the past 2 weeks. My son is finishing is final semester of university at home on line. My mom in Long term care facility is scared and lonely. Our Governor in Ohio says go out for just necessities and gave some pretty sobering and frightening news this afternoon. He believes we'll (Ohio) be hit within the next 2 wks with 10,000 cases a day.

Though I'm not yet a Silver Sneaker, they do offer online sessions that anyone can view. Also, a local yoga studio has been streaming yoga classes throughout the day.

And I spend a lot of time trying to find an open spot for grocery pick up. I think I've broken the code.....they usually open a new day around 8pm

Stay well fellow readers!!

>95 Carmenere: I keep forgetting about Instacart. I’ll check them out and see if I get lucky.

>96 Citizenjoyce: Good Luck!

How are you all managing to keep your anxiety, depression, and even paranoia down? I've had a relatively good day until this evening when I felt anxious again. I did those 4-7-8 breaths and concentrated on other things. That seemed to help. I was going to watch Rachel Maddow interview Nancy Pelosi, but after watching part of it, I knew I had to stop watching it.

I find that I have to be selective of what I read about the coronavirus and where I read it. The stats are good because they give me information without starting me in on an anxiety attack. I check those every morning. My health department puts up the current day's stats at 10am. Today Maryland had 774 confirmed cases of which most were in my county (Montgomery County, a suburb of Washington, DC). The numbers jump drastically every day. I look forward to the day when those number start to drop instead of increase. Sadly, that will be a while.

>98 SqueakyChu: Most of the time, I've got it under control - but not always. Distraction helps - I've been reading up a storm. And on days I'm not working, I garden and pet the cats - or listen to audiobooks when I do housework.

Yes, I'm still working - and not from home. The company for which I work has kept it's doors open in every locality in which it can legally do so, which includes mine. The local emergency declaration has a huge loophole and our governor has decided that no statewide action is necessary. When I let myself think about it, I'm so angry I can barely stand it. Why do I keep going to work when I feel that ethically I am completely in the wrong and am a danger to other members of my household? Because I need my paycheck and I don't feel I can jeopardize my shot at unemployment when/if we ultimately shut down.

So I'm reading - and listening to goofy audiobooks - a lot. I take precautions most of my coworkers think are extreme. I've become a news junkie in a way I haven't been in years, partially, I think, because I feel that knowledge gives me some measure of control - that's an illusion, of course, but it works for me. I am NOT a panic buyer! However, I did make a point of getting to my local library the day they closed to max out our library cards, though. :)

One nice thing I heard today...while the vast majority of my company’s employees can work from home, I’m so glad to hear that the company is continuing to pay employees that are otherwise not working because they can’t work from home. This includes such people as couriers, cafeteria workers, facilities maintenance employees, etc.

The order to work from home came on my day off and so I never got the chance to check with some of these people I’ve come to know during the past 30+ years.

Since about mid-February, my hypertension is no longer as controlled with medication as it was previously. I didn't make the connection until a few days ago when I was going back through my February diary and noted my first coronavirus tweet on the 19th, 2 days after my blood pressure went up and has stayed there -- despite deep breathing and dog snuggles and staying connected with family and friends using whichever medium they prefer.

Monday was my first day at a new job as a study coach at a local high school. That night the order came that New Zealand was going into lockdown, so I don't have that to look forward to for at 2-4 weeks, maybe longer.

My husband left the house yesterday to go to the pharmacy. He didn't make it there, just drove up to the corner and came home. He said the whole '28 Days' vibe was too freaky for him and from now on I would be the one to leave the house if we need anything.

We talked today about taking a news holiday. But we couldn't agree on a number of days. I don't want to be uninformed when I talk to our children or my mother. And would the horror of what had happened while we weren't looking undo whatever comfort we gained from those days?

I think I at least need to get back out into the garden. It rained for a few days and turned cool in the mornings, upsetting my normal routine. Even if it doesn't suitably distract, there is plenty to be done and I could use the exercise.

I heard something good today. On Facebook, someone had posted about how to clean the supplies you buy so that they are safe in the house. There was lots of unpackaging and repackaging and reheating and washing, washing, washing. Then I saw Trevor Noah interviewing Dr. Fauci who said the two main ways to get the virus are to be coughed or sneezed on or to shake hands with someone who has it. Noah asked him about the likelihood of getting it from packaged goods, and he pretty much poo-pooed the idea. I have the time to do all that cleaning, I just don't want to. I've been out only once since the order to stay in place, that was to get us food from the drive up at Olive Garden. When I got home, I was afraid to eat it. I'm feeling a little better after hearing Dr. Fauci.

Yesterday I had to stop working in the caritas shop (we sell food to poor people) because I got nauseated and felt like vomiting. I went home, prayed, drank a lot of tea and slept for an hour in late afternoon (never done that before). Today I still have a headache which feels like a inflammation of the frontal sinus. Okay I stay put.
Actually I am on holidays, I planned to travel to Tajikistan today, but well, as we all know, that's all cancelled, it's virussed off. Okay, so I make holidays in Housetralia, visiting such interesting places as Cook-Island, Toiletronto, Shower Man Hat On, make some excursions to Sofarest, Garden City, Balcony State. And I start some new fitness programs like upscreaming (possible challenge with neighbours), page turning, or screen sweeping or self shooting.

>78 Citizenjoyce: thanks for the opera link. I don't like Wagner very much, but that gives me an opportunity to watch Siegfried and get to know some German culture

OK, this is political, but it's more evidence that Dr. Fauci should be voted People magazine's sexiest man alive:
https://youtu.be/QmSasG_vRh8

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>103 paulstalder: Stay home and feel better. When I get up in the morning, I ask my husband which room
he plans to visit each day. It is what it is, albeit lonely, sad, and anxiety-producing. A friend of mine in prison gave me some good advice about isolation...as he should know. He said it’s important to have a project. I think he’s right. When I was depressed about a job loss seven years ago (already?!!!), my books projects kept me going. Those are on hiatus because of the pandemic. Now I’m going through old papers and sorting them. That for sure should keep me going no matter how long our shelter in place order is.

What is everyone else doing to keep their minds off of disturbing news and images?

>104 Citizenjoyce: I’m not laughing much these days, but that video sure cracked me up. Thanks for posting it.

>106 SqueakyChu: Unfortunately, today, my mind isn’t on the virus much because it’s worried about the strong severe weather alert for this evening. As the weatherman said, it happens in the Chicago area only 2-3 times a year, tops.

We’re only in the moderate chance zone but I am certainly worried about my sister and family who are in the highest zone for tornado and severe storm possibilities.

>106 SqueakyChu: Thinking of you and your family and hoping for the best. Even scarier than how we are doing is how our loved ones are doing. Not being in the same ohysical space compounds that fear. Keep us posted.

My friend said I could share his column which I found uplifting.

CAN WE PLEASE HAVE SOME FUN??? WE ALL NEED IT!

Ok, so the last couple of weeks have been a drag... and the next couple are not going to be any better. All of us are living in a pressure cooker. We are spending a LOT more time at home with the kids these days, and in turn learning just how underpaid and underappreciated our teachers are. We're starting to miss nights out at our favorite restaurant, missing March Madness and the Hornets... But we're also actually GETTING to spend more time at home with the kids and with our families. We're rediscovering the joy of planning and cooking more meals at home. We're enjoying simple things like a walk on the Greenway, a bike ride, and a quiet night at home streaming our favorite shows. Across the city, old boardgames are being pulled out of closets, and more kids are enjoying the magic of their own back yards. As this virus forces us to socially distance, it is also bringing us closer. Every single person I know has mentioned talking to their parents, siblings, and old friends more in the last two weeks than in the last few months combined. Yes we're all hurting, we're all a little sad, and we're all a little worried... but we're ALL a little hurting, ALL a little sad, and ALL a little worried TOGETHER. When we come out of this, and we WILL come out of this, it will be together. The bravery of our doctors, the genius of our scientists, and the collective care and love for our fellow man will be what saves us. We are TRULY all in this together.
So while we're in it, here are a few things that we've been doing that we thought you might like to try:
• Take a break from the news. Seriously. This is a tough one for us, especially now, but you HAVE to do it.
• Meditate. I have used the Headspace App for a few years now. Just 10 minutes a day, each morning, will have a massive positive impact. https://www.headspace.com/headspace-meditation-app You can try a free trial and see what you think!
• Read positive, self improvement books. Something positive and helpful. A couple of my favorites are The Go Giver, by Bob Burg https://thegogiver.com/ and The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olsen http://slightedge.org/ In fact, a lot of these tips come right from The Slight Edge!
• Daily Gratitudes. Ok so I'm not as great at this one, but I'm working on it. When you wake up, grab a journal and immediately write 3 positive things. I alternate between things that I did the day before that I am proud of, or simply things I did that made me happy. I also log people or things I am grateful for. On the days I stick to this plan, my entire morning seems to be improved by 50 percent at least. Your attitude is everything and this will get you started on a positive note, grounded and thinking about the things that are important.
• Exercise. It's Spring, all the gyms are closed, we can't eat out as much.... but the parks are open, and the sidewalks are waiting. Lace up some sneakers and start walking, then jog, then run. Or put some air in the tires of that old bike... You get the gist. Get outside and enjoy nature! Or, try yoga! Lots of Yogi's are pumping out content you can do at home through the internet! Try Khali Yoga Center

• Share your feelings. Right now, in times like these, it is more important than ever to NOT keep things bottled up. Talking about your fears, your concerns, and your feelings is paramount. Also, call your mom. She worries.
• Escape. We are in the golden age of television. It is a great time to stream a great show! I'm personally addicted to detective and crime dramas, in particular, British ones.. "Marcella" was excellent on Netflix, and on Amazon you can catch my favorite, "Line of Duty"! Just do me a favor if you watch stuff like "The Masked Singer".... just keep that to yourself, weirdo:)
• Finally, this was a GREAT idea that we recently did with a few friends: everyone handpicked 10 songs that make us happy. Any genre, new or old, widely known or totally underground... just songs that each of us really loves and make us happy. We then all sent to one person who compiled them quickly in an iTunes playlist, redistributed the list to everyone participating, and BOOM... Hit shuffle and enjoy. It makes for a truly great MIX of music, and good for sparking discussion. There were six of us, so a 60 song playlist on shuffle is a great addition to a weekend!
For what it is worth, I truly hope you give some of this a shot. It's not much, but it comes from the heart, and it has helped me and a few friends immensely. Lots of people say that now is a great time to tackle some chores around the house, but personally, I say.... forget that! We are all under enough stress right now. Let's take the next couple of weeks to work on US, not our houses, not our yards, etc... Unless that is what makes you happy...

I liked this article from the Harvard Business Review...
https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief

>109 nrmay: Excellent ideas! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks to recommendations I did my first Instacart order, and it went great. They said I shouldn't expect it until tomorrow night, but I got it within about 3 hours of placing the order and I got everything I wanted with only 1 substitution. Even chicken (the dogs are so happy, they haven't had any for 2 weeks). I think it went so well because I live in a mostly Hispanic neighborhood just outside the city limits and, even though there are Smiths and Albertsons stores nearby, I ordered from the Mexican supermarket. Now the real test will be my order from Costco which is supposed to arrive Thursday. Let's see if they can do as well.

I'm feeling a bit calmer today, but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I have not yet checked either Facebook or Twitter. So much of their information is frightening ...even if true. I did check the county, state, and national stats as I want to keep informed. Later today, I will also read some articles from The Washington Post to which We now subscribe digitally. I'll just pick and choose what I want to know. I really need to do this for me.

>111 Citizenjoyce: Good to hear that. Joyce. I'm still rationing some items at home and finding this an excellent opportunity to use those old items from my freezer that I've always intended on using up one day. I used some lentils I bought in 2017 to make some lentil soup today from a recipe in a recent Washington Post. It came out excellent!

>112 SqueakyChu: I've got some lentils I got for soup ages ago, too. Maybe it's time!

As of today, I am officially furloughed. It's a tremendous relief.

When I saw yesterday's Gov. Pritzker press conference, I was about as sad as I've been when I learned that an infant from Chicago died from the virus. I understand that this infant, less than a year old, is the first such infant to die of it in the U.S. Hoping for lower numbers from today's press conference.

I've actually been sitting at my kitchen table with my laptop working all day so I haven't thought of anything virus-related except how the recent legislation affects FMLA.

I'm a huge fan of Call the Midwife and am eager to see the season premiere tonight on PBS.

>114 lindapanzo: Thanks. I didn’t know CTM was on again. I’ll make sure to watch.

>103 paulstalder: >104 Citizenjoyce: You both cracked me up! Thank you and Paul I hope you feel better soon.
>111 Citizenjoyce: Glad your instacart order went well. I saw on either Politico or Cnn's online news that Instacart employees are threatening to strike because the conditions are not safe and they don't rec sick days should they become ill.

>116 Carmenere: I asked the lovely Instacart woman who brought my order what she thought of the job. She said it’s her second job, she has another one she works part time from home. She enjoys getting out and helping people while she’s getting another salary. But she also said she had just started. Maybe a week or so of surrounding herself with people will change her mind.

>113 Dejah_Thoris: This is the recipe. Let's have a cook-off. Everyone, go make some lentil soup. It freezes really well, too. I omitted the butternut squash because I didn't have any, but that's okay.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/greek-lentil-and-spinach-soup-lemon/17363...



Glad you don't have to go out to work until all of this nightmare is over. Phew!

>114 lindapanzo: The news gets me so down, I really needed to curtail what I read as well as what I pass on to others. There is lots of bad news I simply don't spread around for various reasons. I now unfriend anyone on Facebook who posts scary news about COVID-19. I need to put up a barrier to save myself from falling apart. I actually had a better day today,

>115 Citizenjoyce: That's pretty frightening about the instacart employees, both that they might strike and that they work in unsafe conditions and have no sick leave. I would not want a sick employee delivering COVID-19 to my front stoop along with my groceries! I still have not used a delivery service as I'm trying to go through whatever I have in my home first. I'm lucky to have quite an overstock of food.

This Thursday I have a pickup from a local CSA. I'm going to pick up a double box so that the farmer does not have to make a delivery again the following week. I'll deliver some of it to my younger son who lives not too far from us.

>118 SqueakyChu: The lentil soup recipe looks amazing! I don't have everything, but I'll pick the other items up when I venture out for essentials on Tuesday.

And it truly is wonderful to know that I don't have to go back to work for a while - the earliest would be early May. We'll see how things go.

I just got. 19 cases to interview starting April 1. I find the idea a little humerous. Of course, this is not going to happen.

I don’t know how I missed news about the strike. The requests seem reasonable. I guess I won’t be getting my order Thursday after all.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/29/tech/instacart-strike-hand-sanitizer-tips/index.h...

>121 Citizenjoyce: I hope they cut them a good deal! They're on the front lines now and their job is helping to keep the curve low.

a special froggy greeting to Madeline

I got most of my Costco order through Instacart. Alas only 2 50 pound bags of birdseed instead of the 6 ordered. The birds go through about 25 pounds a day. This is the first year I’ve wished they would all migrate home early. It just came out in the news this morning that 13 Costco workers tested positive for the virus. I asked my Instacart person what she thought about the strike, she doesn’t care a thing about it. She’s been driving for Instacart since 2016, and she has asthma. Wow, the woman is a lot braver than I.
1000 cases in my state now, 70% of them in my county and all 15 deaths.

>123 paulstalder: Aw, thanks, Paul. Just in time for Passover...the frog plague, you know! :D

>124 Citizenjoyce: Fortunately the coronavirus does not seem to be passed along in food. Just disinfect the cans and boxes and wash the fruit and veggies.

At least the birds can eat elsewhere.

When someone has to work for a paycheck to keep up with bills, that person might not have the luxury of arguing for a safer and more equitable workplace. Our country runs on the backs of these workers. They are the true heroes.

There are 1,413 cases in my sate, with the most (341) in my country. Our governor issues a stay at home order starting 8pm this evening for all non-essential employees. The age group most affected is 18-49. Too many of our citizen were not taking this situation seriously enough.

>125 SqueakyChu: I feel sort of numb to the numbers these days. Illinois is up to over 5K cases with 72 deaths. My county holds the dubious distinction of being in second place for cases in the state after Cook County (where Chicago is located). The county is up to 325 cases and 5 deaths in all. My town is hanging in there at 5-9 cases, still.

I saw a psychiatrist interviewed on TV this afternoon. She suggested building news-free, social media-free time into your day. That is my new goal.

>126 lindapanzo: Linda, that's a good goal and it does work to a certain extent. It's really hard to draw a line between what we need to know and what we should block out. It's also hard to know when to stop looking at frightening news. I try to spend most of my day on mindless activities that keep me from checking my desktop or my phone. I know I should be out walking, but I have no desire to do so.

My son and daughter-in-law sent me cute pictures of my grandkids today. My two-year-old granddaughter held her first snake (a garter snake). Now looking at those pictures makes me smile instead of cry. I just read where our neighboring state (Virginia) just instituted a stay at home mandate through June 10th. *sigh*

I also do some cooking and post a picture of what I make on Instagram. @kidzdoc does this as well. I have one friend who tries to cheer me up by sending me a riddle a day by text message. Tomorrow I'm going to try Zoom on my phone for a lunch get-together, but I'm not hopeful about that as I don't hear well. I'll let you know how it goes. Zoom seems to be the most popular video chat these days.

More entertainment to keep us at home, Andrew Lloyd Webber is posting his musicals free on Youtube:
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/andrew-lloyd-webber-will-stream-hi...

>113 Dejah_Thoris: Glad to hear you're furloughed now. It's such a stressful situation to be in when your company hasn't closed, and NOT working is a foreign concept/economic disaster, but staying at work feels unethical and terrifying.

I so feel for grocery workers and delivery people who want to stay home right now, but can't. It's especially disgusting when they're working for huge corporations that can afford to give them hazard pay and decent paid time off benefits, but won't.

>118 SqueakyChu: That soup looks amazing! I made some black bean soup tonight for the first time. The flavor was good, but it was horribly thin.

>86 SqueakyChu: (I've been trying to stay off my computer more, so I'm a little behind! :) I've been trying to take two good walks a day with hills and/or stairs included, but sometimes can't motivate myself for a long (or any!) morning solo walk and only make the evening one with my husband. The walking doesn't always have the intended effect and I often end up a little stressed/angry out there. I live in the center of San Francisco and even though the city as a whole seems to be doing pretty well for as dense as we are, there are still just too many people not distancing properly, or not paying any attention to their surroundings. People jogging down the middle of the sidewalk, 2 or 3 people together taking up the whole sidewalk, people standing on corners looking at their phones.
On Tuesday we tightened our restrictions, and one change was that dog parks are now closed. Tonight we were coming up on our neighborhood dog park and wondering if it was still ok to just use the paths to get from one side to the other. When we got there it looked exactly like it always does! Dog owners talking in groups, people talking on benches, people hanging out on the grass - too many people to even safely use the paths at all. It's so frustrating.

>129 madhatter22: I've been thinking about the dog parks and wondering if I could go and keep myself away from everyone. I could, but I have 6 dogs. They would be interracting with everyone and picking up balls and toys, smelling everything. It doesn't seem like a good idea.

I had a couple of bad days this week where I'd just burst into uncontrollable tears. I suspect it was due, in part, to my having trouble sleeping. Now, after having two consecutive good nights' of sleep, I have a better outlook. (Sunny and mild weather, rather than cloudy and chilly, also boosts my spirits.) The Illinois numbers are becoming horrifying but all I can do is keep myself and the elderly parents in my household safe and offer moral support to family and friends.

One thing I've started doing is, every day, either calling, emailing or texting a relative or friend I haven't "talked" to directly. This makes me feel good and probably them too.

Also, this morning, the 83 year old mother had a taste for a Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwich so we went to their drive-thru. When it came time to pay, the cashier said that the car in front of us paid for ours. Mom burst into tears and said that no stranger had ever done that for her before. People are trying to be kind, but only if they can do so at a distance.

>131 lindapanzo: I’m glad you’re sleeping. I have tears of joy for your anonymous Good Samaritan.

>131 lindapanzo: every day, either calling, emailing or texting a relative or friend yes, I am doing the same thing. Just call friends, listen a bit and speak a bit, that's very encouraging.

the car in front of us paid for ours relatives of us did that also years when we visited them in California, when we passed a toll station they often paid for the car behind them. Great fun

>131 lindapanzo: So nice to hear stories like that right now.

It’s just my dogs and I at home, but
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0CD-wGbxFT56lGyE8pffTCAsg

>135 Citizenjoyce: Hmmm...I didn't see any dog photos. I'm impressed that you have six!

No, no dog photos, just a funny picture of The Shining.

LOL - it was funny. I just thought the photos were of you and the dogs at home.

>138 Dejah_Thoris: Getting a picture of all 6 of them is hard. I'll keep trying.

Kyla and Tyson out for a drive

The three little ones, Amelia, Tiger and Yoda

The queen, Lovely Lucy

>140 Citizenjoyce: >141 Citizenjoyce: >142 Citizenjoyce: Lovely! Pets are such a comfort, especially in these times. And my little guy is wondering if Tyson is available to give driving lessons?

I've just come through a difficult week but I will hopefully do better this coming week. I live in an apartment but this week our elevator was not working while they updated it. I have never missed having my own house more - I would love to be able to step outside and putter around in the garden. Hopefully I will be able to get outside this week for some walks, I am afraid if I stay in much longer, I will be too nervous to venture outside!

I’m getting more and more nervous about walking outside. I’m not sure if this is rational or not. It’s hard to tell these days. I haven’t decided wherher or not to use a mask or what kind. My husband pulled out an old sewing machine and is trying to construct some masks for our family now. His dad was a tailor, and he knows how to sew.

I have been able to fend off further anxiety attacks and bouts of depression using decreased social media time, alternative activities, and meditation. I’m still scared, but I know that allowing anxiety to overpower me is not good for my mental or physical health (i.e. my immune system). I’ve now lost nine pounds, although I try to keep what I eat nutritious. I simply don’t have much of an appetite. Messages and photos from friends and family on Facebook and my phone have been of great help to me. What resources have all of you found most helpful?

I have been walking while listening to my current recorded book
That would be Past imperfect by Fellowes.
Lots of people out in my neighborhood. I like to go out around the dinner hour, 5 or 6p, when folks are cooking and eating and it's not so busy on the sidewalks. Most people are good about keeping a safe distance.

My sister in D.C. got up at 6a the other day to walk before it got crowded.

>145 SqueakyChu: I am completely comfortable in my house with my dogs, no anxiety at all, but when I think of going out, I get scared. I have to go out Monday to get meds for one of my dogs. That should be OK, I can stay in my car. I also have to get money from an ATM and water. I know what I should do, I have sanitary wipes, gloves and a mask I made from a kerchief (though glasses fog up terribly when you wear a mask). I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do it.

>143 cbl_tn: Alas, Tyson is not available for any interactions with small dogs. He thinks they're squirrels and tries to kill them. It's been a chore teaching him that my little ones are not rodents. Bring on the big dogs though, and he's fine.

>147 Citizenjoyce: I will pass the news on to Adrian. He will be disappointed, while I'm relieved since I prefer that he not drive! ;-)

I tried this easy bandana mask today.
I used long thin rubber bands.
I like it.

scroll down in the post a wee bit to March 27 entry -

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007964100586&__tn__=%2CdCH-R-R&am...

>148 cbl_tn: You should be glad, the insurance rates are outrageous.

>140 Citizenjoyce: >141 Citizenjoyce: >142 Citizenjoyce: What an adorable group! I imagine they keep you busy. I hope all of you are coping well with the current restrictions - I think I remember reading you were limited in choices for walking them because of interactions?

>144 DeltaQueen50: >145 SqueakyChu: Being able to work in the yard has been important to me - I think it's made a big difference in how I'm coping. I'm sorry, Judy, that it's not an option for you.

>149 nrmay: A bandana mask sounds great to me! Bandanas I have in quantity.

We had a pair of sunny, mild days but, today, it's back to winter-ish weather now for awhile. This morning, I watched westerns on Me-TV, Have Gun Will Travel, Maverick, and Wagon Train. I'd planned to watch Big Valley, Gunsmoke, and Bonanza but then an old 193-'s Philo Vance movie on TCM caught my eye and I watched then. Then a nap on the Lazy Boy and reading my current cozy. I haven't watched a bit of news today and even missed the IL governor's daily 2:30 press conference for the first time.

Joyce, I love the doggie pics!! We FaceTimed with my sister this afternoon. Today, their Yellow Lab was sound asleep and barely batted an eye when my sister came by with her i-Pad, but even so, I loved seeing the dog for a bit. (She was born on my 50th birthday so I do feel an extra sense of attachment to her.)

>151 Dejah_Thoris: Yup, no dog parks for us now. They're becoming as lazy as I. I do have a fair-sized back yard, but they don't run around much unless I'm with them.
I worked from home for about 1 1/2 hours then passed time by watching the daily opera, Macbeth today. Yesterday's Bizet was the best so far. I'm also listening to my latest fun magic book, Ninth House in which we find that magic really does work. Anderson Cooper is 5'2", weighs 200 pounds and speaks with a strong Long Island accent. Magic makes him appear the way we see him. The book is worth it just for that tidbit, but for so much more.

>153 Citizenjoyce: At least you have a yard for them to run around in. I have a friend here in Georgia with six dogs, but only one of them (due to age, personality, etc.) goes on walks with her, so she's been able to keep the habit up.

One of my grabs that last day at the library was Ninth House, so I'll be joining you. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it so far!

>154 Dejah_Thoris: I'm much too lazy to have dogs without a yard and a doggie door.
How exciting. An unexpected shared read. I finished the book. I wasn't quite as in love with it by the end as I was at the Anderson Cooper part, but still, it's pretty good.

>155 Citizenjoyce: Without library access, shared reads are going to be hard to come by this month, I suspect. I'm looking forward to the Anderson Cooper bit, lol.

The reason I'm not having any problems with staying at home but probably will reintegrating with society is that I'm 100% Gray Owl.

>157 Citizenjoyce: That's a good, one! I think I'm a sort of mix between Grey owl, Belted Kingfisher and Clark's Nutcracker.

>157 Citizenjoyce: I seem to be a mixture of owl and kingfisher.

I feel safe going out for a walk, I always take my camera with me. I keep my distance to other people, even when meeting friends we have this coronated behavior: stop where you are (2 meters away from the other), wave hand and say aloud 'hello'. pass on a book by disinfecting my hands first and then by putting the book on some fence or stone or whatever and step back to let the other pick it up. I make phone calls to friends etc. I really enjoy the good air outside.

I was in my jammies late Saturday night when I got a text from an old school HS friend from the city who has been sheltering from the start at her family's cottage in our neighboring town. Said she was coming over in a few minutes with a gift. I pointed out the obvious problems but she said she'd just ring the doorbell and leave. When it rang, I went outside and picked up a warm loaf of freshly made bread and she stood about 10 feet away and chatted for a few minutes. It was so nice to have a visitor.

Sadly, though, Sunday afternoon wasn't good. An old college friend contacted me to tell me that the husband of my college roommate died on Thursday. Naturally, I assumed that it was the virus but it turned out to be a suicide. I can't imagine. They owned a small business and so I wonder if that prompted it.

>160 lindapanzo: Linda, I am so sorry for your loss. Our local media has reported an uptick in suicides since the local government issued the safer at home order. I think we've had one death from the virus so far and 8 or 9 suicides. It makes you wonder if they're related.

>160 lindapanzo: I'm so sorry, Linda.

>160 lindapanzo: What terrible news to get at this time, Linda. We are all so anxious anyway. Tragedy draws closer and closer every day. We have to hang on to those things which pick us up. What a lovely gesture from your friend. Hold that close to your heart in moments of despair.

Yesterday, my husband and I (with me wearing a dinner napkin as a mask) walked about a quarter mile to my older son’s house to drop off a box of matzo. He came outside so we got to see each other from afar. It did my heart good to see him in person instead of just getting a text message.

My husband has been using his days to repair some sewing machines and to make some soft masks. I’m sure they’ll be more comfortable to wear than my dinner napkin!

>160 lindapanzo: How nice about the loaf of bread, and what a sad shock about the suicide. I bet the suicide rate is up. This is such a stressful and uncertain time and money issues compound the worry.
>163 SqueakyChu: I bet you're just cute as a button wearing a dinner napkin.

I took a walk today with a cotton mask my husband sewed for me. I came home and repotted a plant, filled a suet feeder with cat hair (nesting material). I did this all wearing a mask. Maybe it’s something psychological. I know that the mask does not protect me from the Coronavirus, but I did feel better.

Pretty soon it will be Passover and Easter. What will all of you be doing on these holidays? I was just thinking. When the youngest child asks the four questions (on Zoom), how will we answer “Why is this night different from all other nights?” The answer might be more complicated this year.

>164 Citizenjoyce: Hahaha! I’m just adorable! I call myself the Mysterious Masked Woman.

Well I did it, I went out and did errands wearing a new mask I made from a t-shirt. This one didn't fog up my glasses, maybe because it's much thicker. Almost everyone I saw was wearing a mask too, so that was good.

>166 Citizenjoyce:. Just two days ago, I thought that I’d never go out in a mask. Now I think it is important to wear one, even if it is to shame others into wearing them. We all want to be protected as much as we can.

>165 SqueakyChu: My church usually has a sunrise service on Easter, but not this year. We've been having Sunday School via Zoom for the last 3 Sundays. I'm not sure if they'll try to do something extra or not. My brother's church in Texas regularly has online services so I've been watching their service with them. Easter dinner won't be much different for me since I usually cook and eat alone anyway. If I can get lamb I will have that for lunch. I'm not a fan of ham (which is traditional for many on Easter), so if I can't get lamb I may fix corned beef.

I live on a street of apartment buildings and every night at 7:00 pm we all go out on our balconies and bang a pot or rattle some dishes, it's in honor of those people who are on the front lines (nurses, doctors, care givers, clerks & delivery people etc.) and it's also a great way to connect with all the other shut-ins on the street. Imagine my surprise when this evening I heard someone shout "Hi Nana" and when I looked down at the street both my grandchildren where there waving up at us. It really does the heart good to see your loved ones in person - even if you can't get close enough to touch. My grandkids are 15 and 20 so it was really nice that they took some time to walk over and surprise us.

>169 DeltaQueen50: that makes my heart happy.


My new face diaper

>170 Citizenjoyce: Thanks, Joyce, you look well protected. I made a sock mask this evening. Roni posted this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7J1jlL_pVw to an instructional video and it's all done with scissors so easy for someone who is all thumbs when it comes to stitching. It's not perfect but will do in a pinch. My daughter is very crafty and she is planning on stitching up some masks for us and I am sure she will do a much better job than I could ever do!

>171 DeltaQueen50: easy Peasy

>160 lindapanzo: I'm sorry for your loss - your poor friend. It's such a strange time. You hear the most devastating stories, but then so many stories of people trying to help each other and little kindnesses that mean a lot right now - your friend stopping by with bread for a visit, or >169 DeltaQueen50: a visit from some sweet grandchildren.

Is anyone else reading Humans of New York regularly? Very recommended if you need a lift. Brandon's only doing stories with happy endings right now.

>165 SqueakyChu: Except for once when I was sick, this will be the first year I've spent Easter without family other than my husband. It didn't even occur to me until right now that I should've tried to get some kind of Easter dinner. I've never cooked it myself since I'm always at someone else's home. :/

>170 Citizenjoyce: Love it! And that looks doable. I have a still-in-the-box sewing machine that was a Christmas surprise (my husband remembered an offhand comment I made that it'd be nice to know how to sew) and I have time now, but I'm not sure how much frustration I can handle at the moment. I'm kinda crafty, but not particularly handy.

Yahoo! Aida is the opera today.

>174 Citizenjoyce: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is presenting classical music they've performed every Tuesday night at 8 pm, starting tonight. I'm normally glued to the Rachel Maddow show at 8 pm but not tonight.

>175 lindapanzo: Rachel will just have to do without you for a night.

>176 Citizenjoyce: That she will. It's called Maestro's Choice. CSO's musical director, Maestro Ricardo Muti, has picked out 4 numbers for the hour-long concert. The current one features Yo-Yo Ma.

I've never seen Hamilton but last night I watched it on You Tube. Fabulous!!

Also on You Tube check out SGN with John Krazinski from The Office. Truely an uplifting experience when all you hear is
Not So Good News.

I've never seen Hamilton but last night I watched it on You Tube. Fabulous!!

Also on You Tube check out SGN with John Krazinski from The Office. Truely an uplifting experience when all you hear is
Not So Good News.

>178 Carmenere: Wow, Hamilton is on Youtube? Amazing.

>180 Citizenjoyce: Unfortunately, I see they've removed it. Something about trademark infringement. :(

>181 Carmenere: well, shoot.
Sunday morning 10am LA time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI6nH5-_J3c&fbclid=IwAR2JuXfkmjjghMN0IAcvmSB...

>182 Citizenjoyce: Yes! I've put it on my calendar. 1pm Eastern - I'm looking forward to it.

These are scary days. I’m now using a cloth mask whenever I go outside. That’s not to safeguard me as the mask does not stop me inhaling COVID-19 virus, but it’s to protect others from my droplets. I try to walk outside once a day, but I’m really unhappy and scared about being outside.

Our extended family and one other extended family had a virtual Seder on Zoom on the first and second nights of Passover. I followed it on my iPhone which is the only device I have with a camera. It is weird celebrating this holiday while we’re not free at all and having our own plague.

I stopped having the anxiety attacks and sudden bouts of depression by meditating, deep breathing, and reducing my intake of social media. I still can’t read much, but I’ve been cooking, baking, and shredding old documents. I am also going to try to write down my family history for my family.

The states in the USA are really untethered from the federal government which is less than useless (and has been for the past three and a half years). Fortunately, unlike some other governors, Larry Hogan of Maryland has been a competent and helpful leader at this time of crisis.

It is dangerous for seniors to grocery shop so I ordered food from Giant Food online via Instacart. The contactless delivery (left on my doorstep by a private person/my “shopper”) was missing about 25% of the items which were out of stock and about 25% of the order was substituted items. I was simply grateful for the delivery and not having to ask anyone in my family to shop.

Four relatives of two friends were diagnosed with COVID-19. I believe all of them will survive. However a family member of mine has a friend whose dad is now in ICU on a ventilator. My prayers are going out for his survival.

I hope we see better days soon.

>184 SqueakyChu: I'm so sorry about your friends. I hope they all recover well. I'm so thankful for the governors who are taking the lead since we have no federal leadership. I read this today, it's from the Washington Post so I'm not sure everyone can open it. Maybe they're doing free reads during the crisis. I trust our governors to come up with a plan to help us open up the country, not just to throw open the doors and say, "go for it."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/10/contact-tracing-coronavirus-str...

>185 Citizenjoyce: I subscribe to The Washington Post, but our paper is making COVID-19 related articles free for everyone to see and read.

Since I left my last message, the husband of my good friend’s friend just died of COVID-19, leaving his handicapped wife. This misery seems endless.

>187 SqueakyChu: How horrible. I'm so sorry to hear that.
>186 SqueakyChu: That's good to know.

>187 SqueakyChu: I'm so very sorry.

>189 susanna.fraser: I fear that many of us will have a personal connection to a victim of this virus. I'm so sorry.

>187 SqueakyChu: Oh no, sorry to hear that.

Listening to the governor's daily press conference. I've gotten almost numb to the case and death totals these days, though it seems to me that the daily death numbers have come down slightly. My county case numbers are the second highest in the state but we're "only" 5th in deaths, which is something.

The other day, I was in a panic when the 3 hospitals closest to me announced that they were the first 3 hospitals in the state to run out of ICU beds. After a bit, I was reassured that there was a plan in place due to the regional hospital network and the fact that these 3, including both of the ones I've gone to, were opening up makeshift ICU rooms elsewhere in the hospital.

We remain healthy and, this morning, Mom and I made a run into Chicago (about 90 minutes away) to deliver a cooler of meat and frozen items, plus 4 big boxes to food to my 90-something uncle and my 70-something cousin. Neither drives and it's hard for them to get out. I know my cousin well (we've traveled all over the world together) and so know exactly what things she'd like. After I dropped all the packages into their front vestibule, they came outside and we chatted at a distance. We are aiming to bring items every other week or so and a closer-in cousin will go over, as needed, between times.

I find I still burst into tears at odd times but, overall, doing ok mentally.

A co-worker, a full-time telecommuter in another state and in another department, suddenly had to take leave. We don't know why. I'm filling in for some of her duties and hope that, whatever it is, she is ok.

>191 lindapanzo: Like you, Linda, I watch the daily counts in my state of Maryland, We were number one (Montgomery County) overall in my state in diagnosed cases until a few days ago when Prince George's County surpassed us in number. This is really sad because it has a higher African-American population, and I'm thinking this is why their counts jumped. This world is so unfair., Not that anyone should contract this virus at all, but illness seems to always affect more of those who can least afford, in more ways than one, to be stricken.

My husband has been making masks. I wear them but question if they do anything at all. Since they are cloth and not tight fitting I always think I'm breathing around the mask rather than through it. Then, when I go walking, I seem to be the only one outside wearing a mask. I guess some protection for others and myself i better than nothing. I hate to go out walking because I feel so vulnerable, but I force myself to because of the need for at least some exercise in the sunshine. I'm happy when it rains because then I have an excuse to not go walking.

We've been doing jigsaw puzzles, but I saw an article on Facebook today where puzzles are selling out so people are charging exorbitant prices for each puzzle...like $50 per puzzle with shipping charges of $13. We have enough puzzle here at home to keep us busy for a long time even though we've already completed five puzzles (500-1,000 pieces).

What are all of you doing to keep distracted for a while from current events?

>191 lindapanzo: I find myself crying over so many things these days. I don't know if it's my age or the virus.

>190 Dejah_Thoris: So far I’ve been lucky not to lose anyone I know personally, but a good friend from my book club here in Seattle lost her grandfather, we lost the owner of a beloved local restaurant where I’ve eaten many times, and a friend of mine in San Francisco just lost her father this week. She herself had just recovered and come out of home quarantine from a very mild case, which meant that she alone of all the family was allowed to spend an hour with him the night before he died, to hold his hand, tell him his family loved him, and give him a card her daughter had made for him. She’s heavily on my heart this Easter.

>194 susanna.fraser: They were so lucky someone in the family could be with him, though saying that situation is lucky sounds absurd.

Is it crazy for me to want to avoid being outside completely? I am so confused as to what to do.

.195 So heartbreaking. Have a safe Easter.

>194 susanna.fraser: >195 Citizenjoyce: It is a blessing that someone visit him - what a crazy, mixed up time we're living in. It's a day for me to count my blessings.

>196 SqueakyChu: Not at all! You've got to do what makes you feel safe. Even now there is differing information about distancing in the open air - stick with your gut reaction and don't stress about it. My house is surrounded by woods on two sides and in the backyard I can't even see the neighbors. Being able to be in the yard has been wonderful.

I had to take two cats to the vet on Friday (one needed a very necessary steroid injection and the other had a wound that needed checking) - it was the first time I'd been anywhere in two weeks. The vet techs, in gloves and masks, came out to the car, got the carriers, took them in, and then returned them to me. I wore a mask (ok, a bandana), too, although I never got out of the car. I phoned my credit card number into the office and declined my receipt.

I felt that they were doing the best they could in difficult circumstances, but I was shocked that NO ONE else bringing a pet wore any kind of mask. I was appalled.

My vet is in the next county over, which is more rural than mine (which for the most part isn't rural at all) - they have far fewer cases. The reality is that there just isn't enough testing. It encourages people to be careless.

Be safe, everyone.

>197 Dejah_Thoris: I think your vet did a good job under the circumstances. I see very few people in masks in my walk around the neighborhood. I think that shows disregard for others. The slogan in Maryland is “I protect you. You protect me.” Starting tomorrow, no one in my county is allowed into a big box store, pharmacy or grocery store without a mask. My state is now releasing COVID-19 stats of individual zip codes. My Baltimore-Washington corridor is the next hot spot. This is terrifying.

>198 SqueakyChu: My state releases numbers twice a day, at noon and 7pm. It lists by county - can you believe that there are still two counties that have no cases? Yeah, right - no testing would probably be more accurate.

All we can do is take the best precautions we can and do our best to keep our spirits up. You know you're doing what you need to do - and you know that you're doing more to keep yourself well than many, probably most.

It's good to know that you're in a state that making reasonable efforts to control things. I wish mine (Georgia, home of the egregious Gov. Kemp who didn't know (or claimed not to know) the virus could be spread by asymptomatic individuals and admitted it in a televised speech) were doing a better job.

>199 Dejah_Thoris: I have to compare to the numbers of recent days but I think Illinois deaths are way, way down today. Also hard to believe but only 86 of 102 counties in IL have cases. Mine is the second hardest hit of them. Though we have many more cases than the other "collar counties" of Chicago, we have far fewer deaths. As of yesterday, my town is holding steady at 20 to 24 cases.

Looked it up, the fewest number of deaths in almost a week.

Watching a lot of cultural stuff today. At noon, watched that mini Andea Bochelli concert from the empty cathedral in Italy. The music made my heart soar but seeing the empty cathedral on Easter Sunday was heartbreaking. Now watching/listening to the premiere of a video of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance of Beethoven's Ninth (Ode to Joy). Tonight at 6 pm, the Auditorium Theater in Chicago is streaming a collection of Spanish Dances.

For Shakespeare lovers, you can see Hamlet until the 19th
https://www.timeout.com/london/news/shakespeares-globe-is-streaming-hamlet-for-f...

And even better The National Theatre from the UK is streaming amazing productions on their youtube page, National Theatre Live. The production this week is Jane Eyre.

>201 Citizenjoyce: Also just saw that the Vienna Philharmonic is streaming past concerts for no charge.

Very thankful that so many cultural institutions are doing this.

>202 lindapanzo: They're doing their best to keep us sane. Is that on Youtube?

I just hear of the Getty Museum challenge
https://www.buzzfeed.com/louisekhong/getty-museum-challenge-recreate-artwork

Quiet here. Hope everyone is ok. I'm getting the gradual realization that this won't be just months and, instead, maybe a year or two. Also feeling sad about never again attending big group events like ballgames and operas. We will cope but I am feeling an extreme sadness for what we had and have now lost.

Also sad that our national unity, our "we're all in this together" attitude seems to be dissolving. Protests and pushbacks against safety measures. A co-worker in another (rural) state told me yesterday that she thinks this is all overblown and she doesn't think twice about it. What she hates, according to her, is that "they're taking all her liberties away."

On a cheerier note, my apparently very bored college niece and HS nephew are coming for a visit today, bringing masks and nephew-made banana bread. Of course, it'll be at a distance, but still, it'll be nice to see them. I haven't seen her since Christmas and haven't seen him since my birthday lunch last month.

>204 Citizenjoyce: I'd heard about that - what a hoot!

>205 lindapanzo: How nice that you'll have company today!

As for how long the social distancing aspect of this will last, it's hard to say. I'm bizarrely torn between being afraid my state will end the mandated closures and I'll be called back to work and being afraid it'll go on so long I'll be out of a job.

It won't go on forever.

>206 Dejah_Thoris: I hope it doesn't go on forever. My office is on a suburban campus and people are pretty spread out. I don't think I'll be nervous about going back into the office as long as I make sure not to touch door knobs/panels and maybe wear a mask in common areas. I'd probably want to divide my time between in-office and working from home. My routine of stopping for a morning coffee and a bagel at Einstein, Panera, or SBUX and then reading would likely have to change.

My little department of ten misses each other. I check in with my friends all the time but, tomorrow, one of the managers, a friend I've known for 25+ years, set up a call so that we can all chat.

It's all the other "opening up" stuff that worries me.

It finally happened that someone I know has COVID-19. Not a close friend, but an elderly woman who was the dearest friend of another close friend of mine.

All the days seem to meld together. I often don’t know what day it is even though I keep track on the calendar. I hope everyone had a good spring holiday. A friend of mine set up a Zoom Seder for the first two days of Passover. The preparations kept me busy and distracted. It was good to see the faces and hear the voices of my beloved family and friends who were always at my house for seders in years past. I did my best at keeping the holiday even though my heart wasn't in it this year. In Jewish tradition, to save a life supersedes everything else. That had real meaning for me this year. In addition, I did not take our “Feast of Freedom” so lightly this year.

I “attended” a Zoom afternoon synagogue service this week. I could not understand the conversations or follow the service in the prayer book I had at home, but it was comforting to hear familiar Jewish prayers being chanted and to hear and see my cantor sing.

>205 lindapanzo: >207 lindapanzo: I too am grieving over the loss of our freedoms to enjoy each other in a loving, hands-on way. Life will not be the same later. I feel I will always be scared as I will not be getting any younger.

I think and hope that the protestors are in the minority although we know they are active. I think most people are aware the stay at home orders are for our own safety.

Over the past couple weeks, my own synagogue was the target of vandalism with swastikas and other unmentionables being spray-painted on its walls during the night. I cannot fathom what it must be like to have no regard for others.

I am so happy you had visitors.

I, too, worry about the “opening up” but it’s not that I have things I must do in the open world as I’m retired. However, I have three working kids and two working kids-in-law to worry about.

>206 Dejah_Thoris: I am glad our Maryland Governor Larry Hogan is being cautious. He is coordinating with the mayor of DC and the governor of Virginia as he formulates his ideas of how to proceed. He coordinates with Vice President Pence which he must do, but he thinks for himself. In the case of liberal Maryland, I think it has helped us to have this moderate Republican in place at this time.

I am finding myself having good days and bad days. Back at the end of February I ordered some puzzles and they finally arrived on Tuesday so I have been working on one of them which does help take my mind off things. My 98 year old mom had a fall and dislocated her shoulder so was taken to the hospital which meant she was all alone for the three days they kept her. No visitors and she is pretty much stone deaf so I fretted that she wouldn't understand what was happening. I live in a different city and it took all my self control not to jump on the ferry and head over to Vancouver Island where she lives. But I knew I couldn't do anything even if I was there so I stayed put. My brother was able to bring her home on Monday, and she is doing fine. Today we are putting on our masks and gloves and going to the accountants office to finalize our taxes, we have to drive up outside and phone them. They will then place our documents in a separate room. We then enter and either sign all the paperwork then and there or take it home with us, look it over and then make arrangements to return the signed copies to the accountant's office. I also get very nervous when I leave the apartment and at times I am afraid that this will turn me into someone who never wants to go out again.

I was texting two former co-workers the other day and I was asked what I miss the most about lock-down. Freedom!, I said, the inability to drive to wherever I want with no concern about being attacked by germs or unknowingly attack others.

My son graduates from college on May 3rd. It will be a virtual graduation, streamed from the stadium with only the Pres of university and a few dignitaries present. Also invited to a wedding at the end of May. The couple is waiting til May 1st to make a decision as to how to celebrate. Who would have ever thought!? It seems like we're living a sci-fi book.

>208 SqueakyChu: "Over the past couple weeks, my own synagogue was the target of vandalism with swastikas and other unmentionables being spray-painted on its walls during the night. I cannot fathom what it must be like to have no regard for others." I hear you! To be holding in so much hatred for other humans must be wearisome for them. To bring more sadness into the world is their legacy. Huh!
I keep hearing that what's going on now will change people for the better, sadly, I don't see that happening, it's unfortunate and I hope I'm wrong.

I have enjoyed living in books the past month or so but our Ohio Governor says we will slowly open up Ohio for business beginning May 1st but w/changes just like taking your shoes off at airports. I'm looking forward to the day our libraries are open and bookstores open their door albeit a few customers at a time & w/facemasks.

Be well fellow TIOLIers!

>209 DeltaQueen50: What a scare, but what a blessing that your mom is back home again!

Every day I like going out less and less. Yesterday I was complaining about bicycle riders. They have a much longer breath stream than 6 feet, yet all the ones that ride past me when I’m out walking seem to come from nowhere, and none of them are wearing a mask!

>210 Carmenere: I hear you. My extended family was supposed to fly out west for a wedding in June. Who knows what will happen now. Another friend’s wife just had a baby. How sad not to celebrate this joyous occasion with those who would love that baby the most. Even happy occasions now are so bittersweet. However, that’s all we have to grab on to for now.

I don’t see anyone changing for the better. People are digging their heels in deeper as to who they truly are.

I feel sorry for the HS and college seniors. No proms. No regular graduations. Fall college classes might not be held on campus. My friend's son had a good shot at being a state track champion this year but that's all cancelled, as of course, is his HS graduation. He starts at the Naval Academy in June. We wonder if that's still on.

I have a graphic novel Becoming RBG that is overdue. I've been thinking maybe I should just go and put it in the library's drop box return, but I went to the site and saw that they don't want any books to be returned at this time. my Lovely Lucy, the Queen of the house must have read that information and decided the book was fair game so she chewed off a big corner of it. Some day in the future when we have libraries again, they're not going to be really happy with me.
>209 DeltaQueen50: Thank heavens things worked out for your mother. What a scare.
>208 SqueakyChu: For people of faith this social distancing is an extra burden. I'm glad you're able to participate with Zoom. One of my sisters is an evangelical Christian. She loves her church and devotes lots of time to it, but, fortunately, she is reasonable enough not to try to attend at this time.
Antisemitism seems to be the default response of some people to any form of stress or disruption. That's one of the things in life that continually amazes me.
I caught up on all 6 episodes of The Plot Against America yesterday. I'd read the book a few years ago and think the series does a good job of getting the point across.

>213 Citizenjoyce: I checked out a couple of books in late Feb. That one Friday, my day off, I had them in the car to return them but I got sidetracked and didn't. They closed at COB that day. I think I put them in my trunk. I'm glad that they have Kindle books available, though.

>214 lindapanzo: I hate to think what my state of mind would be like if there weren't books available on Overdrive or Libby.

I love my public library. I can still download ebooks and audio books even with the library closed.
And if my libray doesn't have it - I have a non-resident card from D.C. Public Library and can get their ebooks, recorded books and online resources too.
Then there are my 700+ TBR books on my own shelves...
I'll never run out of books.

>215 Citizenjoyce: I think we use Overdrive.

>212 lindapanzo: I also feel sorry for the total disruption of life for students of all ages. Who knows what school
life is going to look like in the future? Only time will tell.

>213 Citizenjoyce:. Haha! I also have that book out of the library since it closed. I only read half and now only want to read books about animals. Sorry, RBG. However, *my* book is still in one piece.

I am not a person of “great” faith. I consider myself pretty middle of the road. I just thought it would feel good to hear familiar prayers at this difficult time. Indeed it was.

They caught the perpetrator of the vandalism who was just one young man. I’m glad it wasn’t perpetrated by a band of neo-Nazis. That would have made me be both sad and scared.

>216 nrmay: About books in my house, not only do I have my 400+ To Be Read books, but I also have probably 1,000 for my Little Free Library which I closed and those which I saved to give away at two book festivals, both of which were canceled. I will not run out of reading material no matter how long this pandemic lasts, although I hope it’s over sooner rather than later.

>218 SqueakyChu: When my niece and nephew were over, they seemed more resilient/upbeat about it all than we are. Also, a lot more informed about what's going on than I would've expected.

We have co-workers all over the place and, this afternoon, I was chatting with a co-worker in Maryland who says she lives in the Maryland zip code that has the highest number of cases (after Baltimore). Anyway, it's good to get insights from various regions.

Whew, a long day of work, 7 am to 6 pm, admittedly with breaks for visitors etc but still. Time to curl up with my current cozy. I'm just not into reading much nonfiction right now.

>219 lindapanzo: Yeah. I’m in one of those highest zip codes myself. I’m just watching the numbers climb every day and waiting for the peak, which every week moves another week farther into the future.

I’m giving up fiction until reality stops looking like a parallel universe of a deeply disturbing dystopian novel.

>219 lindapanzo: >220 SqueakyChu: I'm with Linda on this one - fiction is proving easier for me right now than nonfiction. And I'm reading mostly (although not entirely) brain candy fiction. And listening to light stuff while I garden, clean, and work on non-demanding projects. My number of books completed is going to be quite high by the end of the month, I suspect. So much for reading less in 2020, lol.

>221 Dejah_Thoris: Wow! I was lucky to finish one book so far this month. I'm not sure I'll even finish two by month's end.

>220 SqueakyChu: For one of the few times, I missed the Gov’s daily press conference bc the kids were visiting. We had our highest state death total but the number of new cases is way down. I had mixed feelings but I think the number of new cases being way down is a good thing.

Our Gov Pritzker will be on Rachel Maddow tomorrow night. Could be interesting. He has not been shy about criticizing the feds. Ahem.

>222 SqueakyChu: The more stressed I am, the more I real. It has, after all, been pretty stressful of late....

>223 lindapanzo: Good for your Governor! I wish I could say anything nearly as positive about ours.

On March 26 I posted " there have been 10 deaths in my county, 460 cases state wide." As of today there are 3,321 cases reported in the state and 142 deaths. My county alone has 2625 of those cases and 121 deaths. And that's with an economically disastrous shutdown. Amazing.

For those interested in documentary films: the Visions du Réel, a filmfestival with documentary films in Nyon VD (Switzerland) should take place at the moment, but, well, not in a theatre but online. Most movies can be viewed worldwide, some are restricted to Switzerland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visions_du_R%C3%A9el

https://www.visionsdureel.ch/

76 films in the online edition 17.4.-2.5.2020
70 films during 25.4.-2.5.2020

Our library system has been closed but they recently have been trying a curb-side service. There is no transfer of books between libraries, so you have to reserve the book at the library where it's in circulation, but it's better than nothing.

Minnesota's governor has been great. He also led the push (I think) for the Mid-west governors to get together like the east and west coast ones to coordinate reopening things.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this - The stage production of The Phantom of the Opera is showing on You Tube today.

>228 Carmenere: Only on my thread. It runs for 48 hours in the US, 24 hours in the UK, starting at 7pm UK time.

>229 Morphidae: Yes, I'm watching it while I'm eating dinner - Eggplant parmigiana. It's like I've got front row seats at the dinner show. hahaha

I'm finding it hard to get anything done. I had a mouse or two in the big pantry. It's taking me forever to get it clean.

A close family friend is ill. His test came back negative. Do we know what the number of false negatives are?

I got my flu shot this week. The nurse met me in the parking lot with the syringe. After that, I went into the small local grocery store. They were monitoring the number of people in and out so people could maintain some distance in the store, but I found myself cowering in various nooks and crannies as people got way too close, although in a polite and apologetic way.

We have an announcement on in two days as to whether or not New Zealand will exit Level 4 and proceed to Level 3, and when. At which point I might be able to start my job as this would include schools opening for parents who want/need to send their children so they can work, up to 14 years old.

The news out of the US is so frightening to me. It seems that in some places, 20% or more of the tests come back positive. How widespread is it really? And I feel anticipatory dread about how things will go in the India and Brazil.

I still read every day, but some of what was my reading time is now spent listening to BBC World News. It isn't comforting, but it makes me feel like I have a better sense of what's happening that reading whatever catches my eye or watching MSNBC or CNN right now.

But mostly I'm having a hard time getting things done. I can manage the dishes and taking care of the dogs, doing maybe 30 minutes in the garden and 30 minutes in that pantry. The rest of the day I pace.

I just finished watching and Honestly, if you really feel the need to step away from reality, watch The Phantom of the Opera on You Tube while you can. It will transport you to a different time and place. The expressions of the actors are extraordinary, something you can not see at the theatre and of course the music is phenomenal. Truly, a delight!

>231 jeanned: What is it with these mice?! Two days ago, my husband and I were afraid of an imminent tornado so we cleaned out our closet which has a trap door to a crawl space. We tossed down two long chairs cushions in the event we would have to take emergency shelter there. We did not have a tornado, but we did find a MOUSE! My husband trapped it in a humane trap using peanut butter and released it a mile or two from our house, I hope it does not return!

Do you have any option for ordering food online and home delivery of groceries or curbside pickup? I tried a home delivery service, and it went pretty well except for items that were out of stock.

I know that people do not maintain their distance. Two weeks ago I went to pick up my CSA delivery (farm produce) which was supposed to be contactless. We waited in in line in our car, but when we got to the front of the line, the farmer, not in a mask, made me roll down the window so she could tell me that my box was not on the truck and would I like to pick out what I want. I was terrified. I said no, just put whatever you want in a box and put that the trunk of our car.

The news terrified me today learning that Trump is supporting those who want to party at the beach...and the state of Florida reopened one of their beaches today. Those people care not a whit if they cause others to get sick and die. I can't imagine being like that. For what? A day at the beach?!

I am doing exactly what you are doing. I have business taxes to take care of, but don't want to do them. I don't want to learn anything or watch theater. Cooking is comforting. I'm also working on a project that my younger son wants me to do...write an autobiography of my and my husband. I'm doing a page a day, starting with our grandparents. I hope to be alive at the end of this autobiography project! I hope my son wasn't thinking that my time was running out. I know he wasn't as he has asked me for this before. What I have now is time to do it.

I spend my days scrolling on my phone, texting friends with short messages just to be sure they're okay, and forcing myself to go out for a walk. We are heading into week number six of stay at home, and I really haven't accomplished anything. I have managed to calm myself down, but the news always scares me so much. tRump frightens me as much as the coronavirus. *sigh*

>228 Carmenere: Thanks for mentioning it. I just finished watching. It's so beautiful, and the reunion at the end had me in tears (which everything does these days).

>234 Citizenjoyce: Yes, the reunion was unexpected and very sweet.

>233 SqueakyChu: Generally our cat brings mice in from the field and releases them in the house so she can watch the dogs play with them. (That's our working theory). I think these found their own way in, and possibly out since all I can find are signs of their visit. That'll teach me not to wait to put things like pumpkin seeds in plastic containers or jars.

We do get most of our groceries via contactless delivery. Typically those large deliveries are made into our garage, but for some reason the last one was left by our gate, in the rain, without a phone call to let us know.... But we are rural and so nothing fresh is delivered and we have to go the store for milk, eggs, cheese, fruit, sandwich meats, butter, and the like.

Tomorrow at 1pm we New Zealanders will learn what the near future holds, additional time at Level 4 lockdown (4 weeks next Wednesday) or a date for moving to Level 3.

Oh, and you reminded me of the taxes. We've got a filing due in 10 days. I do do need to work on that.

My husband is still busy trying to make different kinds of masks. I've been trying them out when I go walking. I've had him cut up bed sheets, pillow cases, extra fabric, and beautiful tea towels. I can use any old ratty towel to dry my dishes. For elastic ear bands, he cut up his thermal underwear to take the elastic bands out of the waist. He used straightened paper clips for the nose clips. They work pretty good as they are sewn into a strip pocket at the top of the mask. We took and mailed some extra masks to my daughter, older son and son-in-law. Our younger son and his family are using masks they bought online. Starting today. our state of Maryland requires everyone who goes into a big box store, grocery store, pharmacy, etc. (both employees and customers) to wear a cloth mask.

>236 jeanned: Sorry to remind you about taxes. Our business property tax was due April 15th, but I didn't feel like doing it (or anything else). I went online on the 15th to check and found out they postponed the due date until June. So...another month will go by without me doing them probably.

We are going into week #6 on Sunday of shelter in place/stay at home). Is this getting any easier for anyone as it becomes the new normal?

>237 SqueakyChu: I tie everything back to "last day in the office" and not to "day Pritzker shut down the state" which was exactly one week later. So exactly 5 weeks since we started staying home from work and 4 weeks since we were officially ordered to do so by the governor. At any rate, I initially thought it would be a few weeks, one month tops. So at the beginning, once the novelty wore off, it was harder. At some point, I realized we are in this for the long haul and it doesn't seem as hard anymore.

>238 lindapanzo: I find that I’m able to handle it better now because I know what to expect and how best to protect myself. My anxiety is not gone, but I know how to control it and when I must work harder to control it. I’ve learned to communicate with others in different ways to decrease my sense of isolation. I text message two friends daily. I receive darling pictures of my grandkids. I mail things like letters and masks to family members. I even use Zoom on occasion.

However, I fail to be productive with most things because I don’t have the desire to in our current situation. I really miss days of meaningful activity in addition to missing visits from family and friends. I recall feeling that same sense of uselessness I felt when I was unexpectedly laid off from my job after working at the same agency for almost forty years. At least then the rest of my life was unchanged.

It seems quieter here so I hope that means that everyone is doing OK. A co-worker mentioned that she is thinking of this as a marathon, not a sprint, and that really resonated with me. Cases in Illinois are way up, though possibly due to much more widespread testing now, but it seems like we may not peak til mid-May and the mayor of Chicago said she suspects that the stay at home order might last until June. At work, our best guess right now is maybe being back at the office after the 4th of July.

Anyway, I bring up this survey possibility for you to consider., if interested An online, ongoing survey from the National Institutes of Health into the effect of COVID-19 on mental health. I think it'll be very interesting and certainly, it will be extremely important. There are some demographic type questions to start but the bulk of it involves many of the kinds of things we've been talking about here. How we're sleeping, eating, where we get our news and how much time we spend each day following it. Whether we ourselves, our family member(s) or friends have tested positive, have died etc. Also, importantly, if you sign up and don't want to continue, you can quit it.

https://nimhcovidstudy.ctss.nih.gov/howItWorks.html?fbclid=IwAR36ZebJyeosFdnc5q1...

>240 lindapanzo: Thanks for sharing the link, Linda. I agree that it's very important work.

I wish that the marathon message would get through to my state governor, but will see what happens with the limited reopening. Of course, even if there is a spike in cases, I don't know if he'd care.

>240 lindapanzo: Fortunately the governor of my state understands the marathon situation even if the mayor cannot seem to grasp it. I'll check out that survey. I sometimes think surveys don't apply to me since introverts don't react the way "normal" people do.

>240 lindapanzo: I think that the quiet here now might possibly be that people are starting to think of each day as the new normal. We are now doing things differently that we did pre-virus. but our days are starting to look the same. At least mine are.

I get up in the morning and read the Washington Post headlines so as not to be surprised later on. I eat breakfast at lunchtime. If it's not raining I go for a walk. I try to do at least one productive thing such as the laundry or baking or working on my autobiography (requested by my younger son). We sit down to dinner each night. When my husband goes to watch TV, I go around disinfecting the house. Do others do this as well? I try to listen to either my governor or New York's Governor Cuomo at least once per day. Both of them give talks which are fact-based and comforting.

As a former NIH employee, I'll go check out the survey.

Are others adapting to the new normal?

>243 SqueakyChu: I had Neapolitan ice cream with bananas and chocolate topping for lunch today. Just because.

Illinois stay at home order continues through May 30 but some things will start opening. Elective surgeries. Boating and golfing. Dog grooming. Non essential businesses can accept online or phone orders and offer curbside pick ups.

It’s baby steps. Wonder if libraries will do this.

Oh and state wide mask order inside businesses.

>244 lindapanzo: Dog grooming is needed now? Crazy!!

Curbside pickup is a good thing. In Maryland, masks are needed inside businesses.

I need to stop checking the numbers in my state. They are going up, straight as an arrow. Very upsetting.

P. S. I’m inviting myself to your house for lunch tomorrow. I like your menu!!

I inherited a whitish miniature poodle when my ex-husband died. He is quite the 15 pound handful. I don't know why, he eats the same thing all the other dogs do, but he manages to get it smeared and caked around his mouth so his mouth is always an ugly brown mess. I was so glad when our Petsmart offered curbside pickup for dog grooming. Alas, the 6 foot separation, of course, continues inside the store and this little twerp is impossible for 1 person to groom. They told me either to take him to a vet and get him sedated to groom him (I don't think so) or to wait until social distancing is no longer the law. He likes to express affection by licking like all dogs do, but ick, that doesn't work for me.

ETA Ok I just needed to whine a little. He let me take the scissors to his face and we only had two big yelps.

It’s a start. Maybe he’ll let me do more tomorrow.

Grooming has health benefits for dogs. My dog has chronic anal gland problems.If they're not expressed often enough they can get infected. Anal gland expression is part of grooming service. Ear cleaning is also part of the service, and ear infections are also something I have to watch out for with my dog. My dog's groomer reopened last week on a limited basis, with additional protocols for social distancing. Yesterday I was finally able to make an appointment for my dog for May 21. I may have to take him back to the vet before then to get his anal glands expressed and his face trimmed so he can see. The vet was able to do that much for him a couple of weeks ago. I am afraid I would hurt my dog if I tried to do it myself. He doesn't like being groomed and I have to medicate him when he goes to the groomer.

>246 Citizenjoyce: >247 Citizenjoyce: Poor baby and poor you, Joyce! The scissors seem to have gotten the job done, though.

>248 cbl_tn: My vet has been great during these difficult days. It sounds as though yours is, too.

>249 Dejah_Thoris: Yes, my vet has been wonderful! But then, that's normal for them! They have modified their procedures so that you call when you arrive and one of the techs comes to your car to get the animal. While they're being treated, the desk calls and takes your payment over the phone. They bring the receipt out when they return your pet to you.

>247 Citizenjoyce: Aww! So cute! My son-in-law cuts the fur off of his gorgeous long hair cat in the summer, making him look horrible, but I get to save the fur and use it as nesting
material for birds by hanging it up in a suet feeder.

Speaking of haircuts (or fur cuts), my six-year-old grandson wanted a buzz cut so his mom did it because no one but their family were going to see it anyway (until she sent pictures). However, she did a great job! He looks like a totally different kid!

On a sadder note, someone in my close family received word of the death due to Covid-19 of a person she knew. I'd rather not go into any further details other than saying that this person had been intubated twice and still lost the fight.

>251 SqueakyChu: Fur lined nesting boxes. Nothing but the Ritz for your feathered friends. I just hate buzz cuts but boys love them. I bet it does make him look different.
So sorry about the death of your friend.

Success

>253 Citizenjoyce: Sweet!

>253 Citizenjoyce: Beautiful!

>253 Citizenjoyce: Lovely! Nice job! :-)

>253 Citizenjoyce: Nice! I don't know if I would have been brave enough.

👍

>257 Morphidae: Poor Tiger was the one who had to be brave. He shivered throughout my whole first attempt, but by last night he accepted the torment and just tried to bite a couple of times. I found if I kept my finger in his mouth he wouldn't bite.

How about a look at some bookmobiles?
https://www.boredpanda.com/bookmobile-library-on-wheels/?utm_source=google&u...

© Light Art by Gerry Hofstetter / Foto Michael Portmann

a huge thankyou for all those who keep their distance and those who their work for others

I'm a little more disturbed today than other days. The director of my mom's nursing facility called last night, first to say "Mom's ok" second "The county just confirmed our first case of Covid-19" I haven't seen her in over a month and I'd just love to see her in person and reassure her, everything's going to be alright. A phone call will have to suffice.

>261 Carmenere: Not news you want to hear. I'll be praying for your mom and the residents and staff in her facility.

>262 cbl_tn: Thanks so much, Carrie! I have come to know many of the hardworking staff and long term residents. They feel like extended family.

>261 Carmenere: I'm hoping all is well with your mom. I can only imagine how difficult this situation is.

>261 Carmenere: You must be going through so much anguish over this news. I’m hoping and praying that the steps taken by your mom’s facility will contain the spread to just that one case.

>261 Carmenere: Many facilities have handled the virus quite well - we tend to hear only about the bad stories, although I doubt that's much consolation at the moment. I'm sorry that both of you are in this situation - but you've got my positive thoughts for the best.

>261 Carmenere: I'm sorry for what you're going through. I know nothing can replace actually being with her, but I hope it helps a little that you know and trust the people caring for her, and that they've had this much time to prepare and learn what they need to do to stay safe.

>260 paulstalder: Amen, Paul!

>264 Citizenjoyce: Thank you, Joyce! I'm thinking the facility hasn't told my mom. She was so chipper this morning - so I didn't tell her either. Why make her more anxious than she already is?

>265 SqueakyChu: That's so nice, Madeline, thank you! Her facility has been above par and transparent thus far so I'm fairly confident, they'll handle this well.

>266 Dejah_Thoris: Thanks, Dejah! You are so right! Bad news always gets more viewers. Positive thoughts are much appreciated!

>267 madhatter22: Thanks, Shauna! It helps tremendously! Mom has had no contact with this individual so I will remain positive!

My mother's husband's brother came home from the hospital a few days ago after being in ICU off and on a ventilator, unable to breathe. He came home to die and is in hospice. Also, he was told he didn't have COVID-19. He's in Georgia. He has all the symptoms and hospice is treating it as COVID, so the family response is basically, uh huh.

I got a call a little while ago that his wife of 50+ years wasn't feeling well this morning, lay down to rest, and died. After this blow, they don't expect him to live through the night.

I don't know the couple, but I know my mother's husband, and I love him. In my mom's 70+ years, I've NEVER known her to be this happy. They were high school sweethearts, met up a few years ago, and got married in December 2018. He lost his SIL and is going to lose his brother.

I talked to him on the phone for a couple minutes. This is the man who always says when I ask how he is doing, "I'm living the dream." And you can tell he had a huge grin on his face. Not today - he was devastated and broken.

They can't do anything for the brother. They live in Florida and supposedly they wouldn't be able to cross the state line (or back?) The brother's kids and grandkids who live in the state can't be with him. He's lost his wife and will soon lose his life.

I'm so damned angry. I'm so sad. For them, but honestly, I don't know them. For mom and Robert. This is so hard for them. But mostly... because the repercussions of the pandemic really hit me hard today.

People, hold your loved ones close in your heart every day. Be aware of your blessings. Love is rare and life is precious. Let them know that you love them, appreciate them, and that they are an important part of your life - frequently. You never know what will happen tomorrow.

>270 Morphidae: What a sad, sad situation. My sympathies go to everyone involved.

>270 Morphidae: Oh my goodness! That is so tragic and so frightening. You are correct, everyday is a blessing and every day that family and friends are well is a day for which to be thankful. My sympathies to all affected.

>270 Morphidae: That is so sad and frightening. Yes, valuing the wonderful people in our lives is important as is letting them know how much they are valued.

>270 Morphidae: Oh no! So heartbreaking and tragic.

>270 Morphidae: That is so sad. My sympathies to all affected.

Morphy, I am so devastated for you and your extended family's loss. It hits so hard and so quickly. When it gets this close, there are no words to express the horror and sadness of it. My heart goes out to your mom's brother. I hope he feels supported by your mom's and your love at this terrible time.

>270 Morphidae: I'm thinking of you and yours, Morphy. I'm so very sorry.

>261 Carmenere: Oh what a terrible scare you are living with right now, Lynda. This is a tough time and not being able to be with our elderly is really difficult. Healthy thoughts being sent out to your Mom.

>270 Morphidae: My thoughts go out to you, Morphy. So sorry to read of this. You are so right, we need to hold those we love close to our hearts right now.

Morphy, so sorry to hear this. This is heartbreaking.

The appraisers for the re-financing want to come into the house. That's a no. I have too many risk factors for this virus. We have a tiny loan in comparison to the market value of our house, but weren't able to re-finance for over a decade because Mike's contracts never lasted more than 8mo., so now he's been pulling a pay check for well over a year, we're taking advantage. Because, who knows when a 63 year old will get another job when his contract expires in August.

Benedict Cumberbatch as Frankenstein's monster in the National Theater play this week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl8jxNrtceQ

>281 Citizenjoyce: Thanks for the reminder!

>282 Carmenere: He does a great job.

Now I'm having a kidney stone attack. I refuse to go to the hospital. This is going to be interesting...

>284 Morphidae: Morphy, can you at least do a televisit with your medical provider? I understand your fear of going to the hospital at this time.

>284 Morphidae: I'm glad to see you back posting, but I'm so sorry about the kidney stones! I hope you can get some help from home.

>284 Morphidae: Yee! Ouch! May it soon be gone!

>285 SqueakyChu: I was waiting on her call when I posted that. She prescribed Flomax and I have an appointment on Monday for a CT scan. I just need to hope that I can pass it before then and that it doesn't get too painful. This is my second one this year. Ugh.

>284 Morphidae: I've never had a kidney stone, but I've heard the horrors of them. May it pass quickly.

On Youtube The Shows Must Go On musical this week is Andrew Lloyd Webber's Royal Hall Celebration. I'm just listening to "There's A Light at the End of the Tunnel" from Starlight Express. That's just what we need to hear right now.

>288 Morphidae: Yeah. I remember the previous episode. Glad you talked to your doctor. Hope you pass the stone before you need that scan. The scan can be done safely if needed. I recently talked a friend of mine into going for a needed sonogram. All went well during the procedure. All of us are scared to have anything medical done now anywhere.

A nice thing happened today. My younger son brought my grandkids by the house and we got to see them in person, all of us maskless, although staying 6 feet apart, for the first time in seven weeks. What a joy!

No hugs or kisses, but I was able to flash them the I Love You sign language sign. My son threw me a kiss, but I had to tell him not to touch his face! What a world we have to live in now!

Another person I know here in Maryland and her husband today revealed that they have covid-19. They are both recovering fairly well, thankfully.

My husband is sewing scrub caps for my daughter-in-law and colleagues at the hospital where she works. We sent the first three to her house so she can try them on and give us some feedback.

>292 SqueakyChu: That certainly is a nice thing, Madeline! I'm sure all of you needed to connect even if it was 6 ft apart.
I nice thing happened for me too. An employee of the activities dept where my mom lives brought her iphone into my mom's room and arranged it so me, my husband and our son could FaceTime. We were relieved that mom looked good, and she was overjoyed to see us again. The first time since mid-March.
It's these little things that help us all get through these tough days.

>293 Carmenere: So glad you had a family reunion, even if it was only virtual. How kind of that employee!

>292 SqueakyChu:, >293 Carmenere: very good news.

I'm angry again at how mean some people can be. My husband ordered an old Singer sewing machine so that he could more easily make masks and scrub caps for my daughter-in-law and the other nurses with whom she works. The sewing machines we have here at home are not working properly. Apparently the sewing machine was delivered yesterday morning...and promptly stolen from in front of our house. We verified with USPS tracking and with our local post office that the delivery had actually been made. We also filed a police report, but that will not bring back the sewing machine (which the thief is probably reselling now at a premium during these days of sewing masks).

In this catastrophic pandemic, I am really seeing the extremes of good and evil in people. I'm glad to be on the good side. I don't know how the evil ones can excuse their behavior.

>296 SqueakyChu: - Hi Madeline. Delurking here to comment. This is terrible. The delivery people - USPS or whoever - need to take responsibility. If they can physically walk up to the door to deliver it, it doesn't take any extra effort or time out of their day to raise their hand and ring the doorbell to alert you that there is something there. I know my mailman rings my bell for anything that doesn't fit into the mailbox. For something as large as a sewing machine, surely he has to know you were waiting for it! And surely he has to know you were home, for crying out loud! Where the heck else would you be these days? The way I see it, it is their responsibility to make sure the package is delivered. Into your hands. I would pursue that.

I am so sorry that this happened. At the very least, put in a formal complaint at the post office. Who knows, maybe someone will actually learn something from this. And post it to your local social media so others are alerted, too.

>296 SqueakyChu: Oh Madeline, I'm so sorry! What a miserable and rotten thing for someone to have done. I hope it's possible for you to get another sewing machine - I know your husband's efforts are appreciated.

>296 SqueakyChu: I'm sorry about your loss, Madeline. I try to be optimistic about humanity, but I do have 6 dogs.

>297 jessibud2: It was not our regular postman who delivered this package. We saw our regular postman yesterday and my husband even talked to him today. It probably came in a truck with other heavy packages. I am hard of hearing so I would not have heard someone knock anyway. Someone would have had to have trespassed onto our property to pick up the package which, if placed on our door step, would also have been in front of our car parked in the driveway.

>298 Dejah_Thoris: We have two minimally functioning sewing machines which my husband will use. Our daughter even offered to lend us hers, but that would mean a two hour trip for her, and we could not even comfortably visit together so we declined.

>299 Citizenjoyce: I understand about the dogs!

>296 SqueakyChu: That's terrible!! I wonder if this kind of thing will increase as the economy heads south. An old friend had her package stolen from her townhouse and she filed a claim with the post office and it was denied.

I was just reading that hospitals are losing money because elective procedures have been cancelled but then, I just heard that my 53 year old cousin was rushed to the ER in a lot of pain last night. Her husband couldn't stay with her but I understand it was appendix-related and they operated on her last night. She was hoping to minimize her time in the hospital but her white blood count was high and so she has to stay in the hospital at least til tomorrow.

>300 SqueakyChu: I was thinking the same thing! There are all kinds of scams, and I was even wondering if the seller notified the thief where and when the package would be delivered so he or she could steal it to resell it. I also wonder if thieves are now scouring neighborhoods to watch where packages are delivered and then quickly swoop in for the theft? I emailed my kids to warn them about what happened to us and just to beware if ordering anything online.

I am not going to pursue anything with the post office. Without a signature delivery, their responsibility is to deliver a package to the address. We don’t have a doorbell, but we could even miss that if we were not in the house. The police suggested following up with PayPal, but even they are not responsible for theft after delivery of a package. It was a GPS-confirmed delivery.

I think your cousin should be okay. At least the hospital was there for her in her time of extreme need. The hospitals these days will not keep anyone as an inpatient longer than they need to be. You do want her white count to come down before her release. You certainly don’t want her to have to return to the hospital!!

Madeline, do pursue it with the post office and social media. The more people who know, the better.

There have been incidents of sheep rustling in the area of rural New Zealand where we live. Not being stolen to keep, but field dressed with the remains left on roadsides or in paddocks.

>303 jessibud2: I don’t wish to pursue it any farther with the post office nor on social media. It is a police matter, no longer a post office issue. I don’t want to put it on social media because it gives ideas to those who would think this is the perfect money-making opportunity. We will warn those around us who need to know.

Next week will be week #9 of the stay at home order. Maryland's governor will start opening more things such as boating, golfing, and beaches next week with the requirement that people pracrice distancing and mask-wearing, which quite a few people, of course, will not do. He says the hospitalization rate is leveling off, but I see frightening rises in the diagnosis rates, especially for one of our countries with a high percentage of black and Hispanic residents.

What’s everyone doing to pass time? As I recently told @humouress in a message...

I am barely reading at all. I started two books over a four week period, am thinking of bailing on both, and started a third book last night. I should start a group called Five Books in 2020!

I’ve been jigsaw puzzling which requires no concentration at all. Today I used a tutorial to teach myself how to crochet an I rope. I haven’t crocheted for years. This was kind of fun. I hope to do more crocheting soon.

They say it is wise to take this time to learn a new skill. I was doing this to help my husband who is making scrub caps for nurses. He needed a thin rope to tie a pony tail pouch on each bag. I decided I’d make the rope out of yarn. He quickly decided to order some thin cord online, probably so he wouldn’t have to use the misshapen, huge yarn cords I’m making. Hey! It passes the time!

Of the four people I know who have contracted covid, only one is still having an especially hard a time. This is an elderly woman who was hospitalized with pneumonia, did not require intubation, but left the hospital with cognitive deficits which have not cleared up. It’s very frightening and sad.

>306 SqueakyChu: I am so sorry to hear about your friend's cognitive impairment. That is one of the many scary effects of this virus. It seems like it affects so many different parts of the body.

I have been trying new recipes. I have a little more time to cook while I'm working from home, and I'm taking advantage of it. Although I was born in Tennessee, both of my parents were from the Midwest so home cooking for me reflects that cuisine. I have several Farm Journal cookbooks, and my favorite is a vegetable cookbook. I've picked out a couple of recipes to try this weekend - buttermilk potatoes and open-faced asparagus & egg sandwiches.

>307 cbl_tn: I’ve found cooking and baking to be most comforting to me in these trying times. I’ve been skimping on eggs, but this week I have enough of them to make egg salad. Hooray! In addition, a suburban neighbor of mine has a few chickens, and she gave me four eggs! I thought eggs only come by the dozen. LOL!