An Easter to Remember

I put on a nice dress this morning to watch church on YouTube, but I stopped short of putting on makeup. Instead of our usual seats for watching television, me in one of the "thrones" and Bruce on the couch, we sat side by side as if we were in church. Bruce chuckled as I sang along and recited the Lord's prayer, however, I wanted as authentic of an experience as I could have. Previously they've been doing a live stream which worked some of the time leading me to mostly skip it. This time, however, it went off mostly without a hitch. Not the same as being there, but definitely better than nothing, as so many people worldwide are discovering. Interestingly enough, our pastor mentioned that there have been more views online than people who actually attend in person. Hard to know where all this will lead us in the future, that is for sure.

Another otherworldly experience is happening as I type. Our son Matthew spent time while at FSU, more than twenty years ago, as a disc jockey on the college radio station. As I recall it was a number of years, beginning with the very, very, late night shift. In a sign of the times, there was a need to keep the radio station going so V.89 alumni are filling in. Well, Matt pre-recorded his three hour segment, Legacies, last week in London, and I'm listening to it now. Here. Surreal, as is most of what is happening in March/April 2020.

What better way to celebrate and acknowledge the message of Easter than new life?

Yesterday morning Bruce went fishing on the big lake while I took a long walk at Lake Davis where the sight of a large swan family brought me joy. Perhaps you remember the drama of last summer when there was a big fight between the male swans from Lake Davis and Lake Cherokee? Then, in the Fall, a swan was hit by a car leaving only one in Lake Davis. Well, I'm unclear where the new one came from, but they found each other and there are five cygnets that will be fun to watch grow up.

Amazingly, there were no ducklings in spite of loads and loads of ducks. What is so shocking about that is that we have not one, not two, but three sets on our lake! Naturally I cannot stop myself from photographing them every single day.

Rest assured, the other six were resting nearby. You can stand right next to them and they are oblivious, or maybe just realize we are not threat.

Do you see them on the shore? While all of the news is Covid-19 related, another big story here is the drought we are experiencing. Normally the water goes all the way to the grass line. So way down.
However, the low water level is even more dramatic at Lake Davis....oh my!

All of this is normally underwater! So, I saw no ducklings, but I did see an Ibis without a foot!

Poor thing, it was hopping around. This is not the first time I've seen a large bird missing a foot, once it was a Sand Hill crane. You have to wonder what happens to them to lose a foot, don't you? Ah, the mysteries of life, one of which is this virus that has done so much damage to so many. In Florida, so far, we have not experienced the large number of deaths as has occurred in some of the other states. Currently we are ranked 9th with 446 deaths, although that number may go up, for now it is not nearly as dire as predicted in our area. Time will tell, as it always does.

A few weeks ago I promised Fallon I would make a Lemon Blueberry cake for her, so after finally getting enough blueberries, I set to work, making a somewhat complicated version rather than my normal recipe. All ready to put into the greased springform pan. So far, so good, except, wait a minute.....this is not a 9" pan, it is 12"! In fact, I don't even own that pan size, so now what? A square pan was the solution. What a mess I'd made!

Nevertheless, these are times for improvising; all was well, that ended well.

I've also spent time this past week working on a jigsaw puzzle, finally finishing, and realizing one of the pieces was missing. Drat!

I circled the area on the paper that comes with it, mentioning the piece was missing so the next person doesn't go crazy looking for it!

Several weeks ago I received my quarterly check from my publisher and it has been sitting on my desk, so we finally took it to the bank, using the ATM. Located on Orange Avenue, we went about 10 in the morning and as might be expected, the road was very empty.

There is a mobile sign on the left side of the image with quarantine information on it in flashing lights. The sign reminded folks that there is to be no one out after 11PM. From there we made our way over to Cypress Grove Park for a walk, and there were loads of folks, social distancing of course, doing the same, although the park is so large we were never close to anyone. In another sign of the times,

placed in front of the playground which was all wrapped up.

Adding insult to injury, as my late Mother would say, this is the time of the year when our weather is the best, so getting out now is ideal. In other parts of the world they are just beginning to see a glimmer of hope that warmer weather is coming. We, on the other hand, are dreading the same.

Visiting this park always brings back fond memories of Baxter who loved coming here, fairly jumping out of the car when I opened the door. If you remember how small he was, that was not a good thing!

After two times walking around Lake Davis, I headed to Lake Cherokee, wondering about the bird population there. One swan and one Great Blue Heron is all I saw, but on my way back to Lake Davis I did notice that one of the most beautiful homes in Orlando is for sale in case you are feeling very flush.

In spite of walking by this very same tree countless times, it was the first time I noticed how unusual it is. Imagine two trunks from the same tree, joining about ten feet above ground. The wonder and beauty of nature is what keeps me sane.

I did not know what to make of this when I came across these folks, although they are respecting the distance rule, hmmm.....lots more down the sidewalk taking a class.

That said, it is hard to know how to interpret all of the new rules. That said, if you completely stay home there is nothing to confuse a person, right?

The fragrance queen of flowers, Gardenias are in bloom in many parts of the landscape here, including this bunch that I picked beside our building. It's a shame to think that they will just fall to the ground with no one even seeing them.

Seeing the sky during a recent dusk made me think of being bruised. From there I thought we all feel a little beat up right now, don't we? Or is that too far of a stretch? Probably. I'm far better at documenting than I am philosophizing. Agreed?

People have said, Happy Easter, and I'm guilty of the same, but has this been a Happy Easter? I'd say yes, different, but just like the Ibis pictured above, we adapt and make the best of the situation.

So that is my wish for you....

your friend,

Gail

What Day is This?

Hard to keep track of what day it is when most of them are the same, wouldn't you agree?

This morning I braved a trip to Publix and now we are get to go, at least for the time being.

According to my blog, it has been three weeks since last I shopped at Publix. When you are making 27 meals a week, you go through a bunch of groceries, something most folks are now learning. Dare I say, the hard way?

In the meantime, Nancy got some things while she was here, and Bruce went just two mornings ago, armed with cut outs from the weekly Publix ad. Most of what he purchased was for my stash as I've been using up things, either in meals or baking.

Bruce is one to never get sick so best he's been the designated shopper, but every now again, the cook needs to shop the aisles. I'd gone through, I don't know how many of them, before I noticed this on the ground.

As is the case many places are limiting the traffic to a one way flow in order to maintain social distancing. I typed that term as if I've been using it my whole life, didn't I?

Truth be told, there were probably folks looking at me funny because I was not adhering to the new way of shopping and I'm sorry folks. I just didn't even see it! Don't be fooled by the cases behind the Krispy Kreme display because, while they had lots of things, other cases were crazy empty, such as this one with frozen chicken.

For once, after Nancy sorted out my freezer, I had a place for a bag of tater tots, yet there were none to be purchased.

Lunch meats are cleared out,

perhaps because people are eating more lunches at home, although bread is still in short supply.

Honestly, when I look back at this post in a couple of years, presuming I stay healthy, images like the one below will hopefully seem unimaginable.

Some folks are getting home delivery, however, to date, we are still handling it ourselves. What you might be wondering is, did I wear a mask, and the answer is yes, as did most other shoppers. We are totally on the "better to be safe, than sorry" bandwagon these days!

How about that mask production I mentioned in my last post? Over the course of a few days, Bruce and I made sixty to give to anyone who needed one, including ten we delivered to our friend Ann because she had run out of elastic. Yippee....we drove over to hand them off and traded, ten masks for two jigsaw puzzles. Seriously, she had some in stock and was happy to share. Not that I am very skilled at putting them together but they are totally absorbing, just what we need right now to keep our minds off the horrible news. Currently this one is under construction on our dining table replacing the sewing machine.

Nancy sent me this fascinating article that demonstrates how they make puzzles and how the demand has soared in recent weeks. 

When Bruce gets involved with a project, he studies the situation, wondering how it can be made more efficient. As such, he put blue tape on the ruler in order to not have to search the numbers each time for cutting,

Meanwhile, I was digging through all of my fabric for what I deemed manly fabrics.

Mostly I was at the sewing machine while he turned them inside out and ironed them. Next I topstitched to close the opening and it was back to him to do the folding on the ironing board.

Blue tape kept it in place for the final stitching, using my walking foot which allowed me to easily navigate the folds.

Had I been left to my own devices, they would have been not nearly as neat!


Every night, before going to bed I enter the deaths and cases in Florida on the calendar to better understand the situation, with last night's total, 14,504 and 283 total deaths. Apparently we are still a couple of weeks away from the peak before the numbers should scale back. To my mind, While this is horrible, I can't help but wonder how many people die in Florida every day of cancer. Would I write that down? I guess it is the suddenness of deaths from the Coronavirus and how it spreads so easily that makes this so tragic. Having lost a sister, just a year ago, a death in the family is hard although in her case, we knew it was inevitable whereas these deaths have seemingly come out of the blue. Both of my parents died, one in an instant, while the other was sick for six months and I can't definitively say which was worse. I think we can all agree that all deaths, while inevitable as part of the life cycle, are never at the right time.

Today's paper was filled with bad news....traffic at the airport is down 97%!!! Darden, Bruce's long time employer, has had to furlough a large number of staff as sales plunge at their 1,800 restaurants. While they are a huge company, how will the little ones survive this downturn? In that spirit, after shopping at Publix, I drove across the street to the plaza where five new restaurants have opened in the last few months and it just broke my heart, thinking of people's life savings being wiped out. In that spirit, Bruce has gone to get our first take out during this time. Even though I now have a fridge full of food, it just seemed like the right thing to do. What will our world look like in a few months time?

One thing I do know, the ducks are clueless that we are in the midst of a global pandemic, bringing new, in this case, Wood Ducklings into the world.

Between nature, puzzles, walking, that sort of thing, we are doing just fine and thanking God every day that our family is good. I suppose you've seen the saying that is going around...."you are not stuck at home, you are safe at home." Yet another thing we can all agree on.

your friend,

Gail

To Kiss, or Not to Kiss?

To kiss, or not to kiss, that is the question. Has anyone heard a definitive answer? Or, is it being asked? I've been thinking about all that we don't know about this deadly virus, which is plenty. In a family, kissing is the norm, or should be anyway, but should we be refraining until further notice? Just thinking out loud here....

Because I held a license as a radiologic technologist from the state of Florida for so many years, it seems as if I am still on their mailing list as I am getting email updates with information for healthcare providers. Here is one of the latest with information on if you get it, now what?  
Isn't it wonderful how people are recognizing doctors and nurses? Yet, having worked in a hospital for a long time, I know that there are far too many of the healthcare TEAM that have been ignored in this outpouring of love. Respiratory Therapists, chief amongst them! They are the ones that manage all of these intubations and respirators. Phlebotomists draw blood most days. EKGs are a constant need, as are x-rays of those infected lungs, taken bedside which requires a huge effort. Just putting the film behind a critically ill patient is a chore. Certified Nursing Assistants often bear the larger burden of caring for the ill and are paid little to do so. HOUSEKEEPING! It takes them all!

I remember during the AIDS crisis when I worked a 16 hour shift on Saturday at a small hospital in the worst part of town. Bruce would watch the boys, who were very young at the time, and I would man the x-ray department for many hours solo. Anyway, our hospital was the only one in town who would admit AIDS patients, something looking back on seems completely crazy, but it must be remembered that knowledge was slim and people were frightened. Nevertheless, one Saturday afternoon, I was called to a dying patient's bedside for a chest x-ray, something I'd done many times before. Bringing the machine, lifting the patient to put a super heavy cassette behind them and hoping I had all my settings correct so there would be no repeats. Downstairs, in the department, I waited by the processor to check my film. Dumbstruck by what I saw, I called the radiologist at home to describe what I was seeing. One lung looked about the size and shape of a kidney, obviously not a good thing. Trusting my judgement, he put in motion a chest tube placement to re-inflate the lung. Sadly, most of the time that was a stop gap measure because so many of our patients died, some alone.

That was long ago, with equipment that would not be recognized by today's technologists. Waiting for a film to process? Not happening anymore. Instantaneous in today's digital world and how great is that? Pretty darn great as is so much of today's medical equipment. Even thermometers? Those of us of a certain age, well remember waiting three minutes for the temperature to register. So, although this is a crisis of the first magnitude, at least the equipment being used is first rate. That is, if there is enough of it, right? That said, all of this state of the art equipment is expensive and it is no wonder most hospitals are ill equipped to handle the number of patients as the need has never been there before. Of course there are "experts" who speak loudly saying otherwise, but in my opinion, there are still no "experts" when it comes to this disease. Or is it a disease? I'm thinking infection is the more appropriate word, but let's check. Nope, I am wrong. Disease it is.

The truth is, it's a tsunami out there right now. A few weeks ago I was made aware of the homemade masks, asking Michelle if she'd like me to make her one when she visits her sister who is undergoing radiation and chemotherapy. She said she was good so I set the idea aside. But then, things have kept getting worse and it turns out the idea is that wearing a mask if you need to go out in public is better than nothing. So, after watching a few videos, enlisting Bruce as the fabric and elastic cutter, we made some masks on Friday. The video we followed suggested using non-woven interfacing in the construction, so scrounging through all of my supplies, our output was 13 masks.

After checking with Jonathan, Bruce immediately went to the post office to ship out two to them in Austin. Bill and Fallon wanted two. As did others in our community so we gave them all away.

Yesterday we began work again, making another 12 or so, giving them all away including one to our postman who was thrilled. If someone had told me a month ago that people would be overjoyed to receive a mask, thee is no doubt I would not have believed it.

According to some, elastic is the new toilet paper, nearly impossible to find. Fortunately I had some, not all of it the exact size but close enough. Elastic headbands have been suggested but checking two stores, wearing my mask, of course, I did not find any so am going with what I have. Carolyn found some we can use as did Sherry so until the interfacing runs out, we will make more today for anyone who wants them.

It's the least we can do during this time when we all feel so hopeless.

Gasoline, holy cow! Because I've rarely ventured from home for weeks now, seeing the sign for $1.79 was really something. In a few years, when all of this is behind us, and of course we pray that it will be, when I reread some of these posts, I'm sure I will be amazed.

All of this sewing has kept me from my camera but I did finally see our duck family last evening. Instead of them spending all of their time right outside our back door, they have been exploring so I'd not seen them for two days. Now that I have, it is my pleasure to announce that all ten ducklings are still swimming! They blend right in don't they?

Comfort food served last night: ham, onions, peppers and potatoes in one pan and fried cabbage in the other!

After dinner we've been watching the 3rd season of Ozark and I'm not enthused. Just something about it, is turning me off so I retreat to bed with a book.

You will be happy to learn that Nancy arrived safely although you might be surprised to learn that traffic was extremely heavy heading North. Lots of snowbirds heading back North or so it seemed.

Do you know anyone who has had Coronavirus? For me it has gone something like, a friend of a friend kind of thing. Old and young alike. Michelle, who is originally from New York has an extended family member die. :(

Darn it is scary.

 As I type, Florida has 11,545 confirmed cases and 195 deaths. The onslaught is yet to come, or so they tell us. In the meantime, we will make masks to share, walk, read, cook and stay home as much as possible. Aside from groceries, that won't be a hardship for us, but oh how my heart breaks for those who are either sick, or struggling from the financial fall out. It is kind of like waiting for a bomb to drop, don't you think?

your friend,

Gail

And So It Continues

As I sit down to type this blog, thoughts are racing through my head, both good and not so good. I will feel easier once I know that Nancy has arrived in Atlanta safe and sound, having left here early this morning. Although her store is nowhere near opening, there are things that she can be working on so she went back to get settled before returning to her empty store on Sunday. Bruce is reading on the front porch on an absolutely beautiful day, so that's one of the good things. In fact, it rained some on Tuesday night, and while technically it was in the overnight hours, we are counting it as March. The air was so fresh yesterday morning with a lovely sunrise following the rain and a COLD front!

Indeed, the daytime temperature stayed well below 80 degrees making for a pleasant day. However, seeing as it was Bill and David's birthday with no celebrations, it was not perfect. Months ago we'd purchased gift cards to Capital Grille for their present, so that did not turn out at all as we planned. Who knows when the restaurants will reopen? David had a rough day with the market, so he was not in the best of moods when I called him and nothing I could say made it any better. I did drive Bill's card over and because he is working from home, he popped outside for a bit before needing to make a business call. At least I saw him unlike David. That said, no one is sick so we all have that to be grateful for. With the world nearly falling apart, these issues are only mentioned for when we are wondering how life was in the time of Covid-19. Not great for anyone pretty much sums it up.

Fortunately for us, we have our birds, although we sure are going to miss these little ones.

In what seems like a miracle, all ten are still with us, however, Mama has taken them out for swimming lessons in water more than an inch deep. Gliding in after their inaugural run, they will no longer be spending all of their time at the shoreline.

We were so excited to see some new Wood Ducklings as well, although they stay out in the water, perhaps explaining why only a couple usually survive.

After the overnight rain, everything took on a new and improved look, although the water is so very low.

This same morning the otters were, once again, very active. How low is the water? This guy is enjoying his fish in very shallow water, ignoring me standing but feet away.

Watching a Great Blue Heron that landed on shore, from experience I could tell it was not there for long. Up,

and away!

Aside from ducklings, which, really who can resist(?), I rarely show more than one shot of a bird, but I thought it was so interesting watching the wings as it flew across the lake.

The wing span on a GBH is between 5.5 and 6.6 feet! Perhaps that is why they look so elegant while flying and wouldn't just about any swim or diving couch just die to have their student keep their legs and feet together so precisely?

Yet another blessing for us during this challenging time is the presence of Wood Ducks, one of the prettiest types of ducks to be found.

Mostly we have stayed inside the gates, at least I have. Several mornings Bruce and Nancy played Pickleball while I sat out, resting my arm. After doing some additional research we've decided it is best that we only play with family members, meaning as soon as my arm is up to speed, we will play together. Bruce doing the washing up of the balls.

One morning he and I walked around Lake Davis and how about this gigantic Bougainvillea?

You've probably seen it before, but every year it seems to get better!

What have you been cooking? One night we had some sloppy joes and one of Bruce's favorite dishes, potato salad. Getting together with a few pals from here, six feet apart should you be concerned, we discussed the merit of said salad with or without eggs. Around here, we are most definitely in the with eggs camp.

It must have been Sunday that Nancy scored a whole chicken for us and while it was delicious roasted, I was able to make it last for three meals. Last night we had the last of it in soup, served with some homemade savory muffins.

I am most definitely pulling out all the old favorites including the simple sliced cucumbers with onions and vinegar, made more special by serving in an out of the ordinary bowl.

Last evening our Governor, Ron DeSantis ordered a 30 day shut down to life as we know it in Florida. Adding to the long list of closed places, the beaches are off limits, as are public boat ramps. Shopping for food and other necessities are okay, but other than that we are meant to be home. Outdoor exercise is permitted and the residents here are doing just that--I have never seen so many people walking around before. Because our lakes are private, Bruce can still go fishing, so most of it will be no hardship to us, but oh my word, how hard it must be for others. Then again with so many jobless right now, and everything closed, there is little money and no place to go. 

Sadly, this is all happening in what is arguably, the perfect season in Florida, when everything is in bloom and before the dreaded heat of summer begins.

Somehow, someway, we have to hope that one day this will all be a memory, albeit a nightmare. As long as the sun rises every day, there is always hope. Right?

Keep the faith my dear readers!

your friend,

Gail

p.s. Checking last night for the number of Florida cases, it stood at 6,741 with 86 deaths and the prediction is that we will not hit our peak until the first week of May. Time will tell.