Living in the Time of Corona

Good evening my Corona friends and hope everyone is happy and healthy on this beautiful evening. I just finished another dinner from the box and tonight was quesadillas so had a few coronas, with dinner. I am following all the directions and chopping all the veggies [another veggie dinner] and ask my roommate are poblano peppers very hot?  He said I don’t think so just try and it and see, so I take a big bite and my mouth was on fire, thanks, Techie. Well after a few big gulps of cold milk I was back on track and I have to say it was dammed good. Now I get why my son thinks these dinner boxes are so wasteful, but I happen to love that I don’t have to do anything, just have all my ingredients lined up and ready, no need to think of anything else. I remember how excited I was when they introduced the salads in a bag and I did love those Caesar bags, all about convenience baby. Before that techie, if he was home alone and had to make a salad he would just crack an iceberg lettuce head in half and pour some Italian dressing over the sink, no dishes needed.  The personal chef position is still open should anyone want to apply. Today was a good day, techie told his nurse I was upset that he didn’t get the restaurant lists, so she promptly went into her office and typed up a nice list. I do agree with some of her choices and will try some new ones that I was not familiar with, but will have to table it for now, till it is safe to dine out again.  We did take a nice walk over to the North End tonight and just wandered around the perimeter of all these beautiful cafes and restaurants with a longing to enter but we kept going because June Cleaver, was cooking Mexican tonight.

On our way tonight my sister Judy did a facetime, I told you I had five sisters and she is the one that has a never-ending story once she gets going. Anyway, she had to let us know that she was having one of our Mom’s moments. I will try and explain but may be lost in the translation. My Mom had eleven children and she had everyone’s name on the speed dial and as she got along in life and her vision was failing her often hit the wrong number and thought she was calling someone else. I can’t tell you how many times she called me by mistake, and when I answered instead of thinking she called the wrong number, she would say Peggy what are you doing at Patty’s house you didn’t tell me you were coming, my sister lived close by Mom. I would first try to explain that she called the wrong kid, but her hearing was also going, so we all learned to just go along with it because it was just too difficult to try and yell into the phone that no I wasn’t at Patty’s and just easier to say I stopped in for a moment but had to get back on the road so no visit. I wished I had recorded some of these conversations because they often were just too hysterical to be believed.  Tonight my sister Judy who can’t stop talking most of the time, and she is known as the town crier, as she sends a text to all in the family telling everyone’s business whether you want it shared or not. Rarely, she isn’t ahead of all news and whereabouts of all the family, in her own words “she needs the details”. Well imagine her surprise tonight when she was trying to face time my daughter tonight and my sister Anne picked up the call, she lives in New Jersey.  She was mortified that Annie had come to Medford and she didn’t know about it, as she lives close by.  Well in this case it was the opposite Erica had just driven down to Jersey for work and was going to spend the evening with her Auntie Annie, well Judy was thrown, and immediately the whole episode of Mom on speed dial brought all back to some good laughs. Apparently other than the same wall phone that hung in my Moms kitchen with all the names, we are destined for the same misdials and I say hallelujah, it can break up some of our long and boring days.  I might even get a wall phone, probably not but I think I would like one. We still have a landline, although we never answer it because usually only some kind of pest calling or during the Coronavirus, a message from the Mayor of Boston and now, it is all about the election. I am going to end here as I am very tired and I don’t want to go into a tirade about that, as it would be x rated.

Just sayin

Good evening my Corona Friends and lovers and hope everyone had a great Hump Day today. It sure was a beautiful day after a crazy storm last night, we only had some mad wind and rain but some areas outside the city had some serious damage and loss of power. I am sure that was a very unwelcome occurrence during these crazy times, someone is really putting us all to the test.  Remember when there was a time and a tragedy or disaster struck and everyone rallied behind each other to make it whole again?  Now we are 137 days and counting into one of the worst tragedies in our history, with so many people dying, and we are still debating the merits of wearing a mask. Wear the Goddam mask already, so we can start to live normally again. Just do it.  Don’t debate the merits and look for conspiracy theories just give it a shot, what have you got to lose, your life?  Ok enough of the preaching, but we were starting to get pretty comfortable here after months of lockdown and now it looks like we are spiking again. 

Today I was slipping a bit and may have lost my June Cleaver status, but I did manage to feed techie all of his meals, just did take out for lunch. I skipped the dinner box tonight and went to my daughters to use their outside grill, because I will be dammed if I was going to grille in our courtyard/parking lot, on charcoal that I have to light myself.  Instead, I opted for the fifteen-minute drive to use my old grille that now resides in their backyard and it still works. Today was a good day as my roommate chose to isolate and sit on his boat for a while this afternoon, but may not have been the best choice as a major construction project is occurring right next door.  Like I said just can’t catch a break, not sure if I mentioned it, but we sit on the very last slip next to a bridge project that involves tearing one down and building another. Turns out this will go on for three years, so a little bit of dust will follow us for a while, like Pig Pen from Peanuts, did I mention we were there during the big dig?  Again First World Problem I know but a little bit of whining is good for the soul, says me.  I was reading an article earlier about Americans living abroad and the foods they really miss, it’s funny because I can’t think of anything except for my Cape Cod chips, but I am sure the minute you are away and start thinking about something your desires shoots right up. One person missed Annie’s Mac and cheese Europeans don’t go for that powdered cheese packets, some missed their chewable vitamins, peanut butter of course, and weirdly ranch dressing, go figure.  I remember traveling with my kids to different countries and seeing some families going through customs with all kinds of food in the carry-on, peanut butter, and a whole host of things. The first time I was thinking did I miss something should I have brought food with me?   I just assumed if they were hungry enough they would just eat what was offered. Once we went away with a family we didn’t know that well they took the place of some last-minute dropouts and they had kids that wouldn’t eat anything, so they subsisted on pringles and any available American junk food they could find. When they got home they all had intestinal issues and wondered why we didn’t and said they would never travel outside the country again with their kids. Well, I am sure if you lived on Pringles and candy for 10 days, you may get a little backed up.  They sure missed out on some of the best seafood and dishes we ever had, for quite the modest sum, I might add.

So techie comes home today and tells me his nurse is a real foodie and wants to write a food blog. He says she has been to every restaurant in the city, but do you think he asked her what her favorite is?  No, and you know I pride myself on eating everywhere and anywhere, so I am sending him tomorrow with a shared list. He could only remember a few places she talked about and yes I knew them but always looking for something new and building my list for when the world becomes safe again.  We have dined out since outdoor seating has become available but we won’t be doing it for a while, so have to perfect my craft and “think outside the box” Get it?  I want to thank a lot of my corona friends for supporting me in my PMC and donating to my ride.  Coincidentally this came up on my FB memory today from 3 years ago and it was a time like I do every year, I say I am not doing this again, I am too old and tired. Now you all know how I love my Ketel Vodka, but I have to say somedays, I can swing in another direction. I was riding at the end of the first day may 80 miles and a few miles to go a woman comes up next to me and says we are almost there and we can start on the vodka. Well dam my ears perked right up and I said they don’t serve vodka at the tent, and she said Titos is a new sponsor, well hot dam I had a spring in my pedaling.  We all have some kind of carrot that gets us over the finish line…….

Just sayin

Captains Log on the Corona Enterprise and Captain Kirk we so need you and Spock right now to right this ship. We are in a free fall so beam me up Scottie. Oh I wish we could beam up to maybe like December 2020 and the ship has been righted, but alas we are stuck here on this scorched earth for a while and no end in sight so gear up for the long haul. Day 2 here in our new lock-down while my roommate/lover/techie gets his concierge service courtesy of his amazing roommate and a little help from Dana Farber.  I just want to put it to rest that he will be 100% fine once this is over, and I am a regular June Cleaver taking care of this one large room household. Today I made all three meals, and yes dinner came from the box and that was very tiresome recipe, it was very good but required too many bowls and pans, just too much clean up. Take out would be so much easier just toss out the package, but it is not the same as having your loving wife slave over a hot stove for you, drama queen that I am.  My daughter informed me today that for two weeks as a gift she has hired someone to cook meals for us, daughters are the absolute best, sorry Max I am sure you have some really good attributes, just not coming to me so quickly, just kidding you did contribute with beautiful granddaughter Tilda. I will give you a life pass and my daughter in law, Alana, is pretty awesome {sucking up} you have to do that with the outlaws.  Anyway I got off track but seriously, I used to wish I could be like Oprah, and have a personal chef and then maybe I wouldn’t eat a big bag of Cape Cod chips at one seating when feeling a bit stressed and the whole box of nutty buddies. My dream would be to be a friend of Ina Garten and be invited to one of her dinners or lunch at her home with Jeffrey, I am trying to get to that level cooking for Techie, please Ina, and we can rearrange our schedule anytime and be there on short notice.

We got the remnants of a storm tonight and I have to say it was the weirdest thing, it went from intense wind and rain for less than five minutes to a beautiful rainbow, so I guess there is hope of what is to come. Considering that just a few months ago we couldn’t get toilet paper, chicken or Clorox, and now it is in the stores in abundance, one my think better days are coming, but just keep stocked up because there is a lot of bullshit coming down the pike, between now and November and get your waders out, to get through it.  I mentioned yesterday that my roommate likes to engage with people who have different viewpoints and he is not trying to change their mind but maybe see another point of view, he is hoping they come to that on their own accord. He is always reading his weird blogs and engaging with people on social media, whereas I just kind of give a look see once or twice a day and maybe give a like, but try not to comment too often, because I know something’s going to show up on my feed and I am going to have to buy it, because I am the easiest target.

But help me out here guys what is the proper thing to do when someone post a passing of a loved one, is a like appropriate?  Then there are these challenges, well hell I am challenged just trying to figure out how to do it, so I just ignore it. Then there are the posts about bypassing the feeds, I have no freaking idea what they are talking about, can someone just bypass my feed so I can have more friends? I can’t ask Techie to do everything, can I?  I guess it is a good thing I never figure out Tik Tok since our Supreme leader is going to ban it soon.

Just sayin

Good evening to all my Corona friends and hope everyone had a great Monday, happy and healthy. Look I even know it is Monday, without having to look at the calendar, maybe a sense of normalcy is coming back?  Although what the heck is normal nowadays, just when you think it can’t get any worse, lookout a hurricane or tropical storm is coming at you, just hold on tight because we have no idea where it will land. Of course these last few days they had to close the testing sites in Florida, so according to our supreme leader, we test too much anyway, so this will be one way of bringing the numbers down, hey whatever works?  Oh, less I forget there is a raging wildfire on the west coast, so yes, we are either drowning or burning, pick your poison because I am not jumping into something like Indiana, no offense to many of the good people who live there, but I think Satan may have been residing there at some point.  Well, I better stop myself from going down that rabbit hole no good can come from that.  Today is our first day in quarantine again and so far so good. I prepared dinner from the box and have enough homework for the rest of the week. Tonight was a delicious vegetarian dish. I should have snapped a picture for my son Max since he wants us to be more plant-based. He got the dinner box a few times but then decided it was very wasteful too much packaging with all the little packets of perfectly measured ingredients, that I find very helpful. They do also pack it in some kind of weird cooling packs that when you cut them open some weird lava pours out, best not to open them I have them in the freezer and found them helpful on the boat. See Max, momma does know how to do recycling and don’t forget kids I taught you everything you know about composting when we used to live in a house with a yard. Techie was feeling good today and wanted to walk over to see his boat and be sure it is secure for the upcoming storm. I didn’t want to do the walk it was so hot and takes about 30-40 minutes but because I am such an incredible wife and martyr, I did the walk with him to keep my eye on him. Well we moved to the city almost five years ago to this nice big room, and the upside was we had a summer home on the water in that shrinking boat, but now they have started a construction project where they are dismantling a bridge that is going to take three years and we will be living with the soot and noise.  We may have to find a new anchorage and if that motor gets fixed, sail away to a new country, but wait no country will take us, well I guess we will have to settle for Maine, just don’t send me to New Hampshire.

I have to share that techie was engaging online with a friend of ours who has been posting things about the evils of vaccines and that Bill Gates and others are trying to poison people to decrease the population so they can have more money. I just don’t know who dreams this shit up and why he bothers, people glom onto something and they are not giving it up, but he tries. When I first knew him and we were living in a ski town in Colorado, some missionary sorts knocked on the door, and where I would have just shut the door he invites them in to discuss and to add to that he invited them back, and I believe they came every week for the month I was there. Techie would even go to the library during the week to prepare for the next meeting. He says he just can’t believe smart people can believe stupid things, and I say then there are supporters of you know who………….

I am missing but sailing adventure and the peacefulness of being out of touch with my cables news, I am so addicted. I have kept it off this evening and letting my roommate enjoy blasting some old tunes.  Oh did I mention we brought our entertainment on our sailing adventure, our very own balladeer who likes to serenade us?

Just sayin

Good evening my Corona friends. It has been a while but I hope you are happy, healthy, and safe. We are now into August and I wonder where the summer has gone, albeit it is different this year because most days, I don’t know what day it is, never mind the month.  Did anyone notice that we are experiencing some of the hottest temperatures in years, yes Dorothy we have landed in hell and resembles it more every day in more ways than the temperature?  So last I left you all I was embarking on a sailing adventure with my Lover, he has been elevated this week, and my friends Howie and Lisa, and happy to report that we were successful in having a relaxing and cable news free five days, aboard Charisma 3.  You know when you have truly really good friends when you have to change the plan on a dime, and no one gets upset about it. We fully provisioned the boat, both with Tuna and thanks to Lisa, both types of peanut butter crunchy and smooth, and we were off………… OK, the first day out no wind, no sail so we had to motor and a few hours in the newly repaired motor overheated, so that put a major cramp in our plans. We were only going to be in Scituate for the first night, and my friend Celia was going to host us on her deck for dinner, SDR, in place but had to bag it. The thing you have to love about sailboats is that we were going to a place that we could drive to in an hour but with a good wind maybe 6 hours, or motor 5 hours, but the day we lost power, the wind would have been 12 hours. I know first world problems, but we rerouted and found a nice place to hang out for the night, and the next day went north, instead of south, and went wherever the wind took us.  I am not going to bore you with details but we ended up in a fabulous anchorage and we are grateful for Steph and Michael for helping us out, I feel like a politician in it pays to know people.  Hence anyone thinks it was luxury we could tie our boat to a ball and sit in the water and only use that one head, somehow we managed. There were no spa treatments, but there was a lot of jumping in the crisp cool ocean to cool ourselves off, and it was a little bit of heaven. Except did I forget to mention it was 100 degrees and there is no AC, and no breeze but no worries, we pretended we were in one of those sweat lodges and we had revelations and breakthroughs.

We cut it short a day or two but it was awesome and grateful that we had the time to kick back and relax.  I may have mentioned that we participate in The Pan Mass Challenge every year and ride our bikes for almost 200 miles to raise money for cancer, but like everything else, it was not what we are used to, but we had a Reimaging of what it could be and thanks to our team leaders and volunteers we had a rewarding ride. The PMC is usually a ride of several thousand people with a sleepover one night, definitely 2 * at best accommodations, but all the $$$$$ goes directly to Dana Farber research, last year we raised over 60 million and 100% goes directly for research, 100% guaranteed so give some money honey. I bring this up because myself and friends have been posting pictures of us riding and asking for donations on social media and people are liking our pages, ya that is great but do you see the link about donate, click and donate just don’t like it, give us the money honey. Do you think I squeeze my fat ass into spandex for two days and humiliate myself for a like?  Just sayin,

I was on my ride yesterday morning and I have to say it was a Saturday, I checked and was riding through some of the more affluent suburbs of Boston it could be pretty comical.  The first thing that stands out is old men in pajamas walking their dogs, and might I say I know I am going to sound sexist and politically incorrect, but have you no shame? You looked like you were walking a kitty or miniature dog, could you at least get a real dog.  I live in a small space in the city so I will cut some slack, as there is not a lot of room, but we are talking very big homes with very large manicured yards. Seriously Dudes have you no shame?   Just want to say I was keeping tabs in my head along the ride and it was just the old men walking the dogs and it is usually hands down, a lot of old white guys riding their bikes on this weekend, so not sure if they turned in their bikes for a little dog. I am pretty sure I know the answer, either kids came home, or were already there and during the Pandemic begged for a dog. I am sure they promised to take care of it till it came to walking it at 7 am, SUCKER!!! Corona Puppies!!!

So one last thing before I go, I thought we had lived through everything in the twilight zone, but then I came home to this, and I think reality is putting The Onion out of business, because for sure you can’t make this shit up about the Voodoo Doctor, being presented by our dear President as a cure for Corona Virus, doesn’t he have a vetting staff?  What can possibly happen next?

My roommate and Techie is going to have some treatment starting this week at Dana Farber, did I mention why we ride?  We may be in full lock down mode so look for some tales from the crypt and hit that donate button, Dammit.

Just sayin

Good evening my Corona friends and hope you are all doing well and let’s not get too comfortable, as this thing can spike right back up if we are not careful. I know we are all over the map on this virus thing and I do mean that literally, as it has fled to our brothers and sisters in the southern belt, many who thought it was just a plague sent to their liberal neighbors but now the reality is it knows no political boundaries, so just wear a mask asshole, and we may make it to the other side.  When I last posted I had returned from a trip to Maine and tomorrow I embark on another vacation with techie and my friends Howie and Lisa who got married on the July 4th weekend. Yes, my friends, it is official, even the “olds” do “buddymoons”. Now I know I am going to sound ungrateful but believe me, when I tell you setting sail with four people on a sailboat for a week is not Glamping if you will. Yes, there are wonderful pieces of it, but during the time of Covid, the boat can shrink and there is only one head, for those landlubbers it is what they consider a bathroom. Normally that is not a problem because we will get a mooring or a slip every night along the way and they have facilities that include indoor plumbing, but during this time of Corona they have warned us that the facilities are closed, you just get to tie up but no showers or bathrooms.  I just went to CVS and stocked up on my depends, and moist towelettes for my daily cleansing. did I mention that people do this for fun?  Seriously if we have wind and weather it will be fabulous and my roommate really needs to enjoy this trip. The things we do for love.  I have laid out all my provisions and even purchased a new coffee percolator because I don’t want a repeat of bad coffee from that trip in Maine. I was in line at Costco yesterday getting stocked up on the Vodka and the cashier and lady in front were going on about some kind of Popsicle stick of Vodka. Immediately honing in when I heard something about Iced Vodka sticks I asked what are they and immediately added to my purchase.  I have them in the freezer right now and hope they make it past the first night aboard Charisma 3. I know there is a reason I love Howie so much because when we were planning the provisioning of the boat for meals, he said he was more of the ilk of Dock and Dine. yes, score one for the team. Techie would be happy heating up some beans or a can of soup, so glad we have someone on board besides me who wouldn’t mind dining off the boat. Of course, that leads to a whole new circumstance as to what is available but between Lisa and me, we got the Tuna fish and peanut butter covered so none will go hungry.  I doubt I will be able to chronicle my trip so you will have to wait for my return to hear all about my spa treatments and adventures, we will be enjoying this coming week.

We did have fun last weekend when we had a friend come from Minnesota and Franklin and we were able to give them a night of sailing in the Boston Harbor before going to dinner. Kelly was even kind enough to bring me a box of Nutty Buddies, so happy to hear that someone is paying a mind to my ranting and raving.

When we return next week it will be what is rationally Pan Mass Challenge weekend and this was to be my tenth year and because of Covid like all major sporting events, it has been reimagined. Techie and I ride on the Flames and this year we will ride with our team to our pedal partner’s homes, young cancer patients that partner with our team for support. It is an amazing feat to be a part of and I am grateful for all the support my techie and son have received from the folks at Dana Farber. I am willing to humiliate myself by squeezing into spandex [sure isn’t pretty] but we have to kick this cancer thing.

Just sayin,

Good evening my Corona friends and guess what! She’s back…………………… Yes it has been fifteen days since my final post and I did take the opportunity to take a vacation with my incredible, beautiful, and wonderful, children and grandkids, and yes I am including my daughter-in-law and son-in-law in this equation.  Let me just say for the record after spending time with them isolated on a small island in Maine, you learn things at the dinner table because there are no distractions and we had a lot of meaningful conversations.  One is that the younger generation really hates when the old people use ….. at the end of a sentence, really bugs them and I use it all the time. Which led to more conversations about my emails, techie brought up the point that he doesn’t believe I read what I am sending and case in point he shared one I had just sent to my team back at work, that I agreed the average layperson would probably not know what I am saying but thankfully I have the incredible Stephanie who replied no worries I speak Peganese.  They especially got a kick out of soibought , but like I said I got my Stephanie, and my techie, it takes a village and in my case maybe a large metropolitan area.  I put our dinners in a box on hold and yes we had to wing it, but we made it and had a few dinners out. I am telling you not digging the Vodka pours in the restaurants, I really didn’t think my hand was that heavy but I guess it is and will have to get out my flask. It was kind of a last-minute opportunity that it all came together and we got to be on an almost deserted island together in Maine. We had planned to join my daughter and crew and lo and behold Alana freed up the family to work from home in Maine. I speak for all mothers of sons who enter a different universe when they get married, we can no longer have any control of what is happening it is I the power of the woman so you best get on or you are screwed. Luckily in my case, my daughter-in-law is so very awesome, sucking up big time here, but I can’t disagree with the premise. Women should rule and it is something how quickly men acquiesce to their wives, Oh I must check with my wife before making any plans, you know the drill. Let’s face it women just know how to get shit done, so why aren’t we running the country?   I don’t want to get on any rants because it was ten days without my beloved cable news programs, and yes they are all bullshit the lefties love theirs, and the other crazies love theirs, but they are just wrong.

Life on an Island in Maine with no cars, no stores, and weak Wi-Fi can be wonderful and challenging at the same time.  First I don’t mean this in a bad way and I am sure I am insulting someone, so may lose my return privilege, but it can be kind of inbred. Not a lot of people on the island so when you run into someone they say we are at the Smith cottage or we are staying at the McCrery house.  You really are in tune with nature, picking blueberries, finding crabs, and digging for clams, even sometimes dipping into the frigid water for a swim.  Most of these things I thoroughly enjoy in my time there and even can suffer without air conditioning, and mosquitoes, but Dam IT why can’t these people invest in a decent coffee machine. I swear to God this thing was straight out of the eighties with a thermos coffee pot with not barely enough for four cups and an antique grinder that was working overtime. Well there you go the only suffering  I had to do on my vacation was suffer weak coffee and maybe some night sweats, but we were not near people, and most time we could be mask free to give kisses and hugs to my beautiful grandkids.  The plan is to go back at the end of the summer and I hope I am invited back, I know Techie is because they all like him way better than me, so fingers crossed.  Back to work and back to preparing meals for my roommate so he will keep me a while longer, I made dinner tonight and not even out of a box, and last night as well. I am listening now to a mix of best songs of the eighties that Techie made for a party, not sure of the occasion but right now it is Tina Turner and I need a dance partner.

Oh, one last thing before I sign off on July 3^rd, we were lucky enough to be a part of a small intimate wedding of friends that felt the need to tie the knot and it was very special. Our friend Howie lost his wife to cancer several years ago and we had met them both through sailing. I have a special place in my heart for this man because he just loved his wife so much, even in death she was so loved and he was lucky enough to find a partner who understood that love and could be the next love, Lisa is pretty awesome.  Techie and I plan to take them on a buddymoon in a few weeks sailing, so beautiful things are happening during these crazy times we can always find love and humanity.

Here’s a clue it is hiding under that giant bottle Ketel One.

Happy to be alive ……………………………………………………

Just sayin………………………………………………………………………………………..

Good Evening my Corona Friends and a very Happy Monday to you all. Today will be my last nightly chronicle of Living in the Time of Corona, and I wish I could say it is over and that is why I am signing off, but sadly it is not the case. We here have of course flattened the curve but because so many refuse to subscribe to wearamaskasshole, it won’t be ending anytime soon. Now we have a fresh crop of Karen’s popping up all over the retail world and having some serious hissy fits about having to wear a mask. I thought the one in Trader Joes was especially hilarious as she was screaming rather loudly for a good long time that she had trouble breathing and could not wear a mask, yet did not appear winded while blowing all that hot air. Then there are the gun toting Karen and Ken just trying to protect their property form the great unwashed, by pointing an automatic weapon at peaceful protestors, as it turns out they are both lawyers, probably have some reason to be frightened. May have given some bad representation. These last few weeks have almost seemed normal, going back to our old routines, just wearing a mask and have the cleanest hands possible. I think back to the beginning of this Pandemic and it was easy to poke fun about the severe shortages of toilet paper, Clorox and for all the newly inspired bakers’ flour. It was much more fun back then when you could share sightings of toilet paper on Facebook or with your posse and really make a game of it. I can’t believe how many people are in the mask business now and certainly no shortage of supply or creativity. Remember when there was thought to be a meat shortage and people couldn’t find chicken?  Or better yet in the beginning people were buying chickens so they would have their own egg supply but not really thinking it all the way through. I wonder what happened to all those chicks.  I would say one of the great upsides of this is how many gardens have sprung up that would have never happened before. I heard today that some former restaurant workers have started a new business teaching people how to start a garden. I can assure you if my lover and I were back in our old house in the burbs, I would definitely give it a shot, except I would just pay someone to do my garden for me. Remember I pay the dry cleaners to sew a button. I am sure I would be posting pictures of my tomatoes and squash and maybe even share a recipe, love the food network.

A month ago all those small inconveniences of living through this pandemic changed with the death of George Floyd and have awakened a movement that was a long time coming, and the frustration of living under lock down gave it the perfect launching pad. People are angry and aren’t going to take it anymore, so we all need to figure this out. I am going to be more patient and tolerant, which will be very hard for me, as there are so many assholes, but I have my techie to support me.  

I know there are a lot of great new things on the horizon and tonight at dinner with my roommate, I asked if we will ever go back to a world without masks, obsessive hand washing, and keeping a distance from friends.  He assures me that yes that time will come and he is never wrong so I am going with it.   Since I won’t be doing my nightly journal, he will be able to go to bed earlier, as he does my publishing and it is often just before midnight, so I know he will be happy.  I am hoping to go to a weekly post and I have enjoyed unloading my often incoherent ramblings as my stress reliever of the day.  Hoping there is a vaccine soon so we can all get out of the Twilight Zone. If you want to know my next adventure with techie just click here.

Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer. Take one down and pass it around 98 bottles of beer on the wall. I don’t know what it is but I had it in my head that if I made it to 99 I was going to do the beers on the wall. Now that I am here it seems so anticlimactic. Sure we use to sing this song on the bus on the way home from sports events and we thought it was hilarious but also we didn’t need to worry about the words, we just had to be able to count backward. Well, I wish it was that easy today and we could just count backward and erase what we have all been through but can’t do it. Hello, my Corona Friends and hope you all had a very nice Sunday, have to say after weeks of sunshine we had some rain today and a bit of thunder. We did manage to get our walks in and a little bike ride before the thunder hit, but everyone who might have a lawn or garden said we needed the rain, so let it rain. Techie and I on the other hand have no yard or garden, so the rain only impedes our walks. I have no problem giving up for the greater good of our lawns and gardens. I am perfectly willing to park my ass any day to watch Law and Order, food channel, or HGTV. Although after my experience the other night at al fresco dining, with a major asshole bragging about growing up with Josh Altman from A Million Dollar listing that I loved to watch, but now has forever lost its luster. I mean come on, I know it is all full of shit but when a major A Hole is bragging in public about being his friend it just ranks right up there with Fox News, you know the Lamestream media channel. I am still trying to navigate all the channels I can watch. I only found out a few days ago that if you have HBO there are all these outlets available to you if you dig deeper. I can assure you that Techie has not provided me with all that intel and I am going to have to start figuring it out on my own. If its something I cared about I would have. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself like the beer bottles and passing them all around with this Coronavirus. I think I would rather keep it all up on the wall rather than pass it all around, so going to need some help here. I may be tempted to take one down and pass it along to someone I feel worthy of, you know one of those people who feel it’s against the right to wear a mask, but I won’t do it. I don’t want to pass it on to anyone and that is why I hope we can continue in the great state of Massachusetts to keep wearing a mask and preventing the spread as we violate the rights of all those who feel my body my choice, except when it refers to Abortion….
Just sayin

Holy Shit my Corona friends we are into this 98 days and counting and almost time to say goodbye. I thought this journal would be 30-60 days and now I think 100 might be a good ending point, but we will see how it goes. Techie and I had a busy day running around doing errands and a little shopping, well I did some shopping. I must say it was kind of stimulating to walk into a store that wasn’t a grocer, CVS, or take out and make a purchase. Please remember all of you, support your local businesses, and get off the internet. You can carry home your purchases and some of these stores have some very nice bags that you can reuse. How many of you are reusing those Amazon boxes? Not many I believe as I see so many of them flattened near the dumpster every week. I think Amazon should send their cardboard recycling team to pick up all those boxes. I would sure feel better about it. My roommate and I just came back from a very long walk around the city and I can report life is different than a month ago during the height of the Pandemic. We had planned to take my nephew Matt and his girlfriend Eleece, who just moved here out to dinner but looked like rain was coming so no al fresco dining. We are just not ready for inside yet, but then no rain came so techie said we should do some walking, no dinner plans, and no box tonight. Update on the box dinner deliveries, my son and family enjoyed them for a few weeks but tonight told me they have to cancel because there is just too much waste in the box with all the little packets of measured spices and sour cream, way to guilt Mom, just as Dad was getting the hang of it, and now we will have to cancel. Anyway back to my evening walk, the rain never came and we were out a lot longer than expected and I wasn’t prepared, no depends, but things are certainly different. We used to do our daily walks and seldom see anyone but things are opening up here and every restaurant has moved their tables to the sidewalk or street but now they can also have a few tables inside as well. I Didn’t feel comfortable asking to use their bathroom nor did I want to, have to work your way up to that. I read something weird today about toilet plumes when flushing the toilet. This shit is so weird. Please tell me in a time not too far in the future we will be laughing about all of this, please!!! It is a Saturday night so the streets are not as alive as they would be but certainly more so than a few months ago and nice to see. People seem to be enjoying dining in their new barricaded dining room on the street. It seems to be the new normal. I am just happy to see and hear some level of normalcy, so we can all adapt and not go off the deep end. It has been a struggle for so many people, and unlike me, Vodka doesn’t work for everyone. We got hit with a pandemic and then a few short weeks later we all have to face a far bigger problem of systemic racism in our country and how are we going to clean it up. I believe we have some momentum here and we have to find the solutions now and not let it go back to sleep to resurface another day. Wearing a mask will help stop the spread but not what no one wants to talk about, is uncomfortable, so let’s all get on board and work together. First let’s all pledge to say hello, good morning, or whatever but just greet your fellow human beings when you pass them in the street or help you in the store. I am sick of hearing that southerners have all the hospitality when they say “bless your heart” and that means F U, and we get all the bad press about being cold. Hell, I will give you cold, but mostly I like to be nice unless you are an asshole than you get whatever I am handing out that day. So listen to all you Bostonians take the challenge and everyone you pass in the next few days say hello, they can’t see behind the mask so the smirk will wear off, a good time to practice. I want to hear how it all worked out for you all, Bless your heart.

Just sayin