Friday, April 10th, 2020
Some of my plant bulbs have arrived just in time for the weekend, though if it remains windy like most of the day today, it will not be much fun in the garden.
There is no progress on the voles, at least I did not catch any yet. However, they seem to be less active; maybe I have managed to drown them with the repellent I have mixed out of dish soap, castor oil, and water. Or their hole was flooded by the rain yesterday and a few nights back.
Other than that, it seems to be just another normal COVID Day: Home Office busy with calls, which was a very nice change because of the unusual human interaction across the globe.
EM is on spring break today and on Monday, so is a little bored given the days are spend at home. I'm still sore that we are not spending it diving reef walls in Puerto Rico. Today we would have been on the south side of the island. Spring break also means it is also Easter weekend, this year partially coinciding with Passover. I have located some dyes in the basement from days gone by, so tomorrow we will engage in dying and decorating hard-boiled eggs.
Seeing there are only so many eggs a person can eat, but decorating eggs is a ton of fun, we will hide some 20 or so in our front yard. I will send a message to the awesome Listserv and invite our "little" neighbors to see if they can find any when they go out for their daily (exercise) walk. I hope the kids will find it a nice diversion.
EM and I have agreed with her two closest friends to have a Zoom egg decorating party. I have a sense the mums will concurrently have their own Zoom champagne get together. This combined with a grocery run tomorrow to stock up on milk and other fresh produce, while also doing the shopping for our two adopted elderly families, holds the promise of a far more active day than usual. In light of this, it may be a good thing that the Herring I made today was again more than we could eat. Given I have as yet not found an additional family to feed, we will feast on it a second time tomorrow.
I finished reading “News from the World” which was truly wonderful and took me into a different time. Looking forward to the discussion next week; our first virtual book club. In the meantime, I have returned to an old favorite of mine: Isabel Allende and her latest novel: "A Long Petal of the Sea" is such a great read that I am 40% done with the book after two days. I will need to find the next good book soon. Fortunately, my virtual Expat book club on FB always features great recommendations.
In the news today: #stayhome sees people stockpiling alcohol amid lockdown. I am sure it sanitizes from inside. This correlates with what mum has told me on the phone yesterday, seems we are long on wine now, albeit on a different continent.
There was also an interesting piece on the discovery of a 60.000 (!) year old forest. Amazing find: 60.000 (!) year old forest. Scientists believe the preserved DNA may help in developing new medicines, which would be quiet amazing.
There is also positive news on the economic front from the EU, where heads of state have agreed on a comprehensive COVID rescue package. It is good to see the EU stand together. While it may take a little while to align interests of 27 sovereign nations, it does happen, and I am hoping this crisis will make the EU stronger rather than weaker. Pity only that this is not tied to shared values for instance over support to refugees, allotting more funding to countries supporting refugees (such as Greece, Italy, and Spain).
News on the corona front is still bleak, with numbers steadily rising; over 1.67 million reported cases today. While after weeks of strict lockdown, Italy is on the verge of turning the corner - as is Spain- and the rate of deaths beginning to decrease in those countries, the US is still in the acceleration phase accounting for roughly one-third of all deaths worldwide and reported infections nearing half a million. On the positive side, acceleration seems to have slowed. It is however unclear if this is due to limited testing or fewer infections actually happening.
In the midst of #stayhome some people are exhibiting very strange behavior though and I am wondering what the hell is wrong with these people? Coughing on food in supermarkets? Really? Maybe that is why people in the USA need guns.
Looking beyond the USA it seems like my other home is the place to be. I want to go home! Either one of the two will do.