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Gaudi inspired socks found in Barcelona. Peruvian handmade slippers from Cusco. Comforting apparel On a couch In a pandemic.
December 25, 2020
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Has the pandemic affected your ability to accomplish your life goals or plans in any way? If so, share some examples.
Just went to see this house in Coventry decorated for Christmas. The gentleman who owns the place lets people walk up his driveway to see the incredible display he sets up every year. People come from miles around, notified about it mostly via Facebook word of mouth. Its a crazy busy light display with different colored lights blinking and twinkling and circling everywhere you look. But it was joyous and it really lifted my spirits for awhile. This has been a hard holiday season. I see in the paper how businesses and families are struggling, and we can't get together like we normally would to celebrate the end of this awful year. I can't wait to get that vaccine so I can see my mother and father again in person.
December 25, 2020
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Christmas Eve 2019 was such fun! I’d traveled across center city Philadelphia and attended an aqua aerobics class @ the Logan Hotel on the Parkway. I met my friend Liz there and we traveled back through town together. I don’t ’t recall whether we ate lunch together as we often did on Tuesdays and Thursdays after class; probably not, as it was Christmas Eve & lots to accomplish. We parted @ city Hall and she took a subway south to get to her home. I walked back to check out a cloak for my daughter and purchase leggings from a Christmas Village vendor outside of city Hall. A young black woman tapped me in my shoulder & I turned to see her. We laughed: we were wearing the same furry coat. “You’re my sister from another mother,” I said. We laughed and parted. I rounded city hall and cut through the former John Wanamaker store & took this photo. The store was a fixture in Philadelphia. John Wanamaker started the department store. He was a devout Christian-I have a hymnal he wrote and a mug from its last days as Wanamakers. He installed a large organ and sometimes there are concerts. In the center of the first floor is a giant sculpture of a bronze eagle. “meet me @ the eagle” were directions for meeting up in the days before cellphones, days when you needed a fix point and some estimate of a timeto meet. The mayor, Ed Rendell had signed my shopping bag “ a day that will live in infamy” with the date as I was one of the last to exit it as Wanamakers. He had a special affection for Wanamakers -he and wife Midge got their first credit cards there when they were students @ Penn in the 60’s. It closed & became a Lord and Taylor, then a Macy’s. It was the store my mother would take us to on an annual visit to the city sometime close to Christmas. We’d make a pilgrimage into town from Bucks County, driving to Olney and riding on the subway, a real novelty for my brother and I. We’d see the store windows of Snellenbergs, Lits, Strawbridges and Gimbels department stores. We’d stuff nickels into the automat and retrieve a slice of lemon meringue pie from a little window of available pies. We’d meet my dad @ the eagle when he left work in town & visit the toy department and Santa @ Wanamakers, riding a little train around the ceiling of the 8 th floor before riding the subway and then driving home. This was an annual ritual. How is this different? The stores we visited are gone, Macy continues to operate Wanamakers building but there is no way that I was assembling indoors or meeting anyone. The Aqua classes resumed but were shut down. I never attempted to return. I knew @ some basic level that I would be crushed to resume and lose my freedom a gain. I’ve quarantined since 3/21/29 Would the black woman feel free to tap me on my shoulder this year after all the racial strife? I’m a 75 yo white-haired White woman The streets are full of unrest. When Congress finally hammered out a deal to provide some support for people Trump nixed it and played golf several times over the Christmas holiday. Christmas Eve was a joyous time to be out and about in the city, meeting and interacting with strangers, in and out of crowds and stores, casualty using public transportation. Most shopping was done online with packages delivered to your home. I don’t know if Macy’s will survive. Lord and Taylor is closing by year’s. end. Their store is on city avenue/@ the western suburban edge of the city. I’ve been in for 9 months. I’m trying to use the internet to shop. I sent my Philadelphia daughter’s gift to CA accidentally, Good Luck Macy’s -and me
December 28, 2020
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Aspirations ditched Lives, jobs and revenue lost Mankind in crisis
December 29, 2020
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
It has been good to laugh this week!!l
December 29, 2020
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When Queen Rlizabeth address Great Britain on Xmas day - the cameras panned through the royal cavalry. I marveled at the trooper/musician in his saddle sporting a full sized tuba! Attention must be paid for this valiant soldier has not an easy task! This mounted orchestra member indeed harbors immense determination. I am momentarily reminded of a cello playing Woody Allen in a marching band - complete with mobile chair he drags along with him! He also is determined to play his part as he sctively marches through the streets! I have served in a mounted guard and during a parade for Labor Day, Veterans Day , Thanksgiving Day J am most grateful Ionly needed to hold tight the reins!
December 30, 2020
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Celebrating my birthday in the midst of a pandemic was a weird reminder that this hermit status is not voluntary.
December 30, 2020
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Let's talk about exercise. Has the pandemic affected whether or how you exercise? If so, how?
This is a multi acre park in my town. Great place to walk. Nice path around Lake Kiwanis of 1.2 miles. It has been a solace this year for me.
December 30, 2020
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Merry Christmas 2020. Posted outside Catholic Church in Westerly, RI.
December 30, 2020
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Much of Sunday afternoon was spent outside viewing the wonders of the natural world. Hover flies were visiting the witch hazel blossoms in the bright sun. Birds were singing and flying about and then the sunset was stunning. Even though we are bombarded with sad and tragic news, we need to remember there is much beauty and peace when we take the time to see and feel it.
December 31, 2020
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
This week was Mom’s birthday. Though she’s no longer here I often feel her presence. I decided to celebrate with a quick round of “Happy Birthday to you...” and made a wish and blew out the candle as her proxy on the special day. I took this picture to share with my sister and to see how she might have marked the occasion. When I looked at the picture I was struck by the impermanence of our presence here on earth, and how many spirits may be with us, or not... the candle reflection is there, but not the shadow of the flame. Isn’t a shadow supposed to be one of life’s given? The constant threat of Covid, and the unknown seemed particularly poignant in that flame and missing shadow. It left me questioning all kinds of things like what’s real? Can you trust your eyes? Can you trust pictures? What else do we think should be a certain way and isn’t? How long will Covid last? When will I feel safe again! Will I ever feel safe again? And yet there’s an element of comfort here as well. That is that I can stand alone and burn brightly knowing she’s there, even though I can no longer “see” her. Maybe it’s the “shadow of doubt” that’s missing? Maybe it’s a sign she’s still with me? I hope all those who have lost loved ones may also see themselves burn bright without a shadow of doubt, and find comfort in the possibility they are still here and watching over us.
December 31, 2020
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Coming home from errands around town yesterday (hardware store, grocery) : I say to myself "We are never going to get this pandemic under control because of ignorance or malice. We are a failed state--with repercussions of that failure killing us." Scenes: at the hardware store --an obviously ill sales clerk--underweight perhaps from chronic malnutrition, feverish, coughing, mask failing off his nose gives me directions to aisle 10. He is probably part-time (to save store from sick leave), making a low wage, and at work because he cant afford not to be. A friend refers to "Plantation America." I think of Dickens, Bleak House, death of Jo, the lowly crossing sweeper, by smallpox that also infects his "betters". Then there are always one or two enraged customers barreling into the store mask-less, daring anyone to cross them, and the sales clerks making too little money to enforce store policy or state ruling. So I head home, masked, slathered in hand sanitizer and wonder will I now end up intubated in 14 days because I needed a carton of milk and a bag of potting soil?
January 1, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
It’s the last day of the last month of 2020. While I am extremely thankful to have emerged from the pandemic unscathed (thus far!), I will be equally appreciative when I can social distance alongside family members, neighbors, friends and fellow citizens to receive a dose of the vaccine. How wonderful to bid farewell to this horrific year with its uncertainty, sadness, high mortality rate, social isolation, financial stress and decision fatigue!! How amazing to anticipate a future where we can once again warmly welcome hugs, handshakes, mental and physical freedom, family gatherings, in-person schooling and JOY!! Hello, 2021! I’m SO glad you’re here!!
January 1, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Feeling a bit deflated! The holiday is coming, and I’m woefully unprepared. I actually am not planning on doing anything...just another day as in the past it was always a table full of family and friends. My husband considers Christmas a commercial holiday and so planning pizza for two is not real festive. Yet the kindness of new found friends, and old ones popping up may stir some Christmas cheer after all. For most of 40 years I’d head back home and we’d bake hundreds of cookies to share with all those that stopped by. Taking trips to the garage to refill the plate (Wisconsin is good for cold storage) was not a chore but an honor, and a creative challenge. That memory flooded in on one of my few trips to the store and I found myself buying sugar, flour and butter. Let the merriment begin! I’m ready for eggnog spice balls! 12/15 entry
January 2, 2021
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This red is supposed to be happy this time of year. Red bows, red Santa suits, red candy canes, red Holly berries. Not something you want to see in your toilet bowl....my husband says he feels fine and yet we can’t deny this unexpected holiday hue. It will be weeks of test before we know anything...so sure let’s pile this on on top of Covid, and missed time with family, and economic struggles...I wonder if anyone has thought to ask God if he’d consider a ban on illness and death and strife for say two weeks in December? After all he knew to rest on the seventh day, surely some more time at year end is well deserved. Holidays are often tough enough, without additional tests of our mortality and one’s faith. Do we really need to tinker with free will as a test of humanness everyday? Would be nice if we all could just enjoy the calm, joy and peace of the season the carols hark unto us without having to prove anything for a few days....
January 3, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Last week a foot of snow, this week was rain. Standing by this stream reminds me of how powerful nature is, and yet how foolishly we often try and tame it. It’s the holidays and yet instead of addressing Christmas cards, I stand by the side of the road in awe of the roaring water and think how the power can be both friend and foe. As friend, there are opportunities to be harnessed to provide power to factories and schools or heat to our homes, or for drinking water in times of drought. And yet that same stream we think we can tame can become a damaging overflow ripping out foundations of houses, or loosening tree roots and unleashing mudslides. We must remember any, and every, partnership requires respect...just as each drop of water has little power by itself, together flowing in the same direction that dynamic can change. The one thing this pandemic has done has slowed things down and removed a lot of the day to day distractions many of us were caught in that kept us too busy to notice many things. And yet, the days continue to march on and we cannot stop time any more than I could march into this stream and stop it.
January 4, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Only a few Christmas holidays have passed over the many years without our daughter in it. She's 28 and working in Hawaii - too far to come home, quarantine, spend the holiday, and return to her own house and work life. Her father and I have been so cautious about distancing that we did not feel comfortable with her coming either. So, I made a stocking, filled it, packed boxes with gifts and spent time on the phone, face time and zoom with her daily. That has become usual for us during this time, because she is living solo in an apartment and in a new community. I've been missing her a lot - but not nearly as much as when she left home for travels after last Christmas. In 2019, we spent nearly 6 weeks together - the longest stretch since she was in high school. I got used to her being part of our daily life. I've come to realize that missing my daughter is an ordinary part of life - not just during COVID times. But it seems a bit more pronounced these days because we don't have a "choice" to visit. I better understand as a middle aged adult what my mother felt when I moved away from home many years ago. We grew up in Alaska and I was the only child to "leave to the lower 48." While we visited often, Mom knew we'd never live close again. That must have meant a special kind of loss for her - a quiet form of grieving the passing of our regular time together. Zoom, texting, and cell phones have made the distance much smaller. But I cannot be there for Mom or my daughter to help when they do not feel well. Mom got COVID-19 five weeks ago - and while we were all afraid she may get pneumonia, she fared okay at home. Her main symptoms post-COVID are dizziness, shortness of breath, and tiredness. We are grateful it wasn't worse. And, we hope that there are not invisible effects that will appear later. This photo - to close - is of a patchwork stocking I made in the weeks before Christmas. Our daughter "zoomed" with us as she opened her gifts -- 2020 Christmas was one of a handful I'll never forget. One passed in Northwest China when she was a toddler and we had a paper tree with paper ornaments on the wall. Another where my father was very sick from cancer and yet he rode the snow machine out to get the tree. And another when I did not go home and my father would pass days later. Among those years which stand out were many beautiful holidays spent either in Alaska or our home in the Lower 48 with family and friends. This year's was sad and sweet and beautiful.
January 5, 2021
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What do you think was the biggest news event this past week -- either in your community, nationally, or globally? Talk about why it’s a big deal.
Hard to pick a single event when so much stays the same. Yet some problems and solutions are crystal clear and we still can’t work our way through them. Covid has just added a complicating layer to many peoples’ struggles from poverty, natural disasters, greed and denial. I think the biggest challenge for the US right now is the continued question for some as to who won the election. How is it this is even taking up any time or energy when the election is over, and over 60 court cases dismissed? We would be shaking our heads at any dictator trying to pull this in another country and yet here it continues - lead by the shouts of a very vocal, very angry few! This sets a dangerous precedent for America and the world when you turn a blind eye to rules and accepted social norms, especially when it’s just to curry favor from one. It allows political leaders, bosses and anyone else to justify their feelings of entitlement and turn a blind eye to those needing help. I hope the new year can shed some badly needed clarity!
January 5, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Around March 15, Brooklyn and New York City went into PAUSE - meaning we were told to stay home and quarantine - (those of us who could afford to.) My partner has prostate cancer and a compromised immune system, so I'm a caregiver and have to be very careful of any interactions I have outside our home, for fear of bringing the virus home to him, and for fear that I might carry it in an asymptomatic way. In order to keep myself calm, and to prevent myself shutting down emotionally, I began to do a sketch in my sketchbook as frequently as possible to record and remember what these days are like. It helped me slow down my own racing thoughts -- and to focus on at least one thing that day that I noticed. I found lots of beauty in the simple things. And gratitude for things I wouldn't have noticed during "normal times." At first, time seemed to stretch out slowly as we were quarantining. When I was kid, I used to to draw to calm myself down from stormy family situations. Now I'm 63, and sketching still brings enjoyment and meaning, and helps me to relax and slow down. These are like sketch meditations. The first sketch is of D. sitting outside in the back garden. We tried to get out back whenever the days were warmer, because we were protected from outsiders there. This is dated March 15, 2020. This is one of my fast pencil sketches. The second sketch is dated March 24, 2020. My son and his girlfriend live upstairs. She is 31 and undergoing post breast cancer treatments so they quarantine deeply. They don't go to the laundromat, so I do their laundry. My dryer was broken at the time, so I had to drape their wet laundry all over the dining room.Every article of clothing seemed a bit stressed and restless, so I tried to capture that -- in this sketch.
January 5, 2021
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Do you feel like your life is going well right now? Has the pandemic changed this? If so, tell us about it.
“How you doin?” Is something I ask myself every day, and every day I’m grateful. I’m retired and own my house. My health is good, and so far my family is healthy. We are not without challenges but they are minor compared to all those fighting the disease either personally or professionally. We have a roof over our head and food to eat, and can move around under our own power. What’s changed the most is how we socialize. Thank goodness for technology! Zoom and texting are a lifeline as I can see faces and interact. I miss smiles and hugs...and I don’t understand selfishness, entitlement and stupidity... well yes, I do...people are afraid, and fear often makes people stupid and angry and we see examples every day of that dangerous combination. Here’s hoping hate, like a bear, will hibernate, and perhaps dissipate and begone by spring...yah, I know...but you got to have a dream.... 12/15
January 6, 2021