Life in the Age of Corona
A Daily Diary
Monday, June 8th, 2020
Dentist
Today was a beautiful summer day, clear skies, lovely temperature, slight breeze so I have moved my office to the garden for the morning and the late afternoon. The birds are chirping away, even people on calls can hear them. I have at least three pairs nesting in the various trees and shrubs in my garden, despite the cat. In the early evening they come out and enjoy a bath in the bowl I have set up for them. It is so peaceful to watch, even if I am little envious of their ability to swim when I cannot.
Saturday we had gotten food from Supra, a Georgian restaurant downtown who sell an 8 course meal to cook at home following directions they provide with the items sold. It took us about an hour to make quiet a feast. One traditional Georgian food is Khachapuri, a yeast dough filled with cheese. It is about as soft as can be. Bitting into the soft cheese filled dough there was somethign hard in my mouth, Turned out to be an inlay. This mishap did not make our feast less enjoyable and EM, her best friend, her mum and I had a most enjoyable evening dining in the garden which ended only just before midnight given it was such a pleasant and warm night too. Nonetheless, I was scrambling today to find someone locally who can at least fix it provisionally as of course my dentist is in Germany. This wreck of a tooth is annoying albeit not painful. Glad to say the first recommendation is not only open, but will see me tomorrow. This will be my first US dental experience and I hope it is a good one, that is to say they can salvage the remnants and I can retain the tooth with a new crown. I am not having high expectations though.
The Listserv shared email addresses of two furloughed hairstylists coming to ones home to cut and color. While I do not need the color (I do the purple strand myself eveyr two or so weeks), I liked the idea of having my hair cut in my garden, so I emailed her. Turns out she charges USD 175,-!, which is more than twice what my indepndent hairdresser charges and she has to pay for her premisses. So that is not happening, especially since I need a cut every four weeks and it is a 20 minute affair for the most part. However, my friend Hanh Nam mentioned that her Vietnamese stylist is back at work and she cuts for USD 16, so as I have a half day off tomorrow to deal with the tooth I will check if I can go see her. Mai seems a good idea as she has specialized on fine, thin hair. If the salon offered pedicures at the same time, that would be absolute luxury. The only nuisance is that the technician coming to yet again repair that lemon of GE oven I bought, is scheduled to arrive between 8:00 and 17:00 and needs an adult in the house, so I need to make sure jennifer is here while I am out as EM is not yet 18, though she could easily pass for 20.
Also, I have put in the order for yard signs for the neighborhood today. My artist in residence really liked the design. 65 (!) neighbors have signed up for one. Very excited that they will be ready for pick up either Thursday or Friday, what a challenge for the "FLoh", though the sales guy seemed confident that he can fit them in the car. It will be fun to walk through the neighborhood and spot the signs.
While protests continue across the country change is beginning to happen. Not only in individual cities, but with the Democrats now proposing sweeping reforms of the police system, proof that protests can lead to change. Of course some of the changes proposed are normal in many other countries in the world, but for here it is progress. Let’s see if the GoP led Senate will pass the proposed bill or if partisanship wins yet again, given the chief moron has already decried this bill as democrats defunding the police is the USA and is calling for LAW&ORDER, which of course is already being ridiculed on Twitter.
On Twitter George Conway (and absolutely not a Trump supporter), husband to Kelly Ann Conway, senior advisor to the current resident in the WH, has started a campaign to come up wiht a #trumpslogan for the reelection campaign and the over 5k suggestions people have posted are hillariously funny. George Conway is also initiator of the Lincoln Project who post some very direct ads on the Orange Cheeto in battleground states.
While known infections today are reported at over 7 million with a death rate of 5.5% globally lock downs have prevent many more infections. Scientists estimate about 60 million infections were prevented by measures taken in the USA while the equivalent number for China is stated at 285 million. Nonetheless, over 2 million people are infected by the Virus in the USA and over 110k have now died. A list of countries with worrying Corona outbreak trends shows the USA is still seeing increases; now in the South and the Midwest. I am very sad to see South Africa on this list as initially they seemed to be in control of the situation.
Related to neither the virus nor the protests, I came across a recipe for pickling Rhubarb. I shall try this if I manage to find Rhubarb on the farmers market.
