Thursday, May 14th, 2020
There seems to be weather pattern – overcast and dull in the mornings then warmer and sunnier as the day progresses, with each evening little warmer than the one before, making for a nice walk through the Hood this afternoon.
Beyond that I had a very productive day. I find there are days when it is easier to focus and those when it is harder. The days I enjoy most are those when either in conversations with clients or potential clients or when I get to think and write. Today was one of the latter. Being busy with work definitely helps to keep cabin fever at bay; as does exercise of course. Also finding writing is a weird thing. There are times, when the words just flow and whatever I attempt seems to just write itself (like today) and there are others when I am completely uninspired – like Day 61.
I did find time to get my exercise routine in today, in fact even adding stretches (not doing Aikido every other day I notice how flexibility goes, must be an age thing. Have resolved not to let that happen!) into the mix as I was up at 6:00, which is happening increasingly frequently. This is largely due to the early nights we have these days courtesy of #stay home.
We mix up the evening routine. Some nights each of us just do their own thing, some nights we will play games, though we seem to not be getting anywhere with chess, and others we have a movie night. EM has written the titles of all the movies we want to watch on pieces of paper, thrown them into a bag and when we do a movie night either her or I draw a piece and that is the movie we watch (okay, we do cheat occasionally throwing a paper with a title we do not feel like back into the bag). We are about half way through, so can probably sustain another 64 days; though hoping we will not have too.
Picking up some milk yesterday I could not resist and bought the most beautiful mauve Clematis and a Knock-out rose (to replace one of my dead roses in the back garden). No idea where the Clematis will go.
Also am glad to say my herbs have finally shipped, though still no sign of the flowers I ordered on March 16th. Maybe a scam business? If the herbs arrive in time, I will finish my kitchen garden this weekend. And if the flowers will arrive in the next eight days I can plant them next weekend, after all they did write to say they would ship in spring which is only another three weeks.
Time is a strange thing is it not? It does not seem to pass and then it is just gone. Two weeks until Memorial Day weekend, when EM was to take up her life guarding job again. Since we have no idea if and when pools will open that is up in the air.
Memorial Day also is the start of summer. What kind of a summer are we going into? Am beginning – reluctantly – to accept the fact that we may not be going anywhere. But even if we stay here, will it be more of the same? Or can we go and spend time at some of the lakes or beaches?
How I miss my daily swim! How I wish the Bethesda Pool would open for lap swimmers only as of Memorial Day weekend. Given that Montgomery County has just extended #stayhome until June 30th this is rather unlikely; but the Maryland is slowly opening up. As of Friday (tomorrow) some businesses are allowed to reopen. I do understand the extended restrictions in Montgomery and Prince Georges County. MoCo has 7.958 and Prince Georges 10.448 of Maryland’s 35.903 reported infections. Throughout Maryland numbers are still increasing, about 1k per day, so not really a signal for reopening. Should we not be able to go to Europe this summer, maybe Iceland is a nice option, plus it comes with a COVID-19 test, something impossible to get here.
The world today has 4.4 million known cases and the global death toll has surpassed 300k, with the US leading on both counts – America First. Some people seem to be in quarantine with ghosts. I find that an intriguing idea. Sadly, no such diversions at our house. Here it is just EM, Max, Jennifer and me.
Increasingly there are reports of quarantine rule breaking, with one I found extremely funny. It seems some 200 goats decided to descend on a Californian neighborhood in the absence of humans blocking their way. They left devasted gardens behind, but I am sure they (the goats!) had a lot of fun in the process.
There is a lot on the positive news front today (I am choosing to ignore the political disasters surrounding me, not my country not my problem even if very disconcerting). In the midst of the pandemic people are stepping up to help each other. Mutual aid in communities have increased during the pandemic. This restores faith in humanity. As does this very nice story of a woman helping communities to grow food locally, in line with yesterday’s musings.
And for those bored to death I found a way to keep entertained. I had fun reading this piece about keeping your pets entertained during quarantine. I have my doubts if Maxi would enjoy any of this, seeing he ventures outside, mainly hunting squirrels (unsuccessfully I might add). Nonetheless, if things get dire, we may just lock him up and try some of these.
As States and Nations reopen there are all sorts of ideas floating around what simple experiences such as dinning might look like in Corona times. Not sure I would enjoy any of these.
And there are more views to the future, specifically related to workplaces. Twitter has just announced all employees can work from home for all eternity. Likewise, many other employers are rethinking their office space and expenses related to it. Workplaces are changing fast and maybe for the better. This however does not bode well for commercial real estate. I hope no one is invested in closed commercial property funds.
Similarly, I am not sure I like the prospect of total surveillance. Brave new world, we’ll beyond Orwell’s 1984 dreams. I do find this scary.
Lastly, I found the voices of these 15 women inspiring. I particularly liked what Kate Raworth said:
“Rather than simply reacting to disasters, we can use the science to design economies that will mitigate the threats of climate change, biodiversity loss and pandemics. We must start investing in what matters, by laying the foundation for a green, circular economy that is anchored in nature-based solutions and geared toward the public good. The Covid -19 crisis shows us that it is possible to make transformational changes overnight. We have suddenly entered a different world with a different economy. Governments are rushing to protect their citizens medically and economically in the short term. But there is also a strong business case for using this crisis to usher in global systemic change.”
Good night world!