Living in the Time of Corona

Hello my Corona friends. I hope everyone is happy and healthy enjoying their weekend. I actually woke up today and knew it was Saturday, even before I could turn on MSNBC and find no Morning Joe. I knew it was Saturday because was departure day for my beautiful granddaughter. Tilda was going to leave us and go back to Philadelphia, and yes her parents were going to be leaving as well. I wish I could have hijacked her for another week but this past week was an unexpected gift. I am taking advice from my roommate/lover and thinking of five things every day that I can be grateful for, and do some deep breathing. I am extremely grateful that my daughter who lives nearby was away in Maine with her family, which made her home available for her brother and his family. Trust me, I even have a crib in the corner next to my desk, and a sleep sofa, but five of is in this open space, we would never last a week, but for Tilda I would have tried very hard.  I know I have mentioned it a lot before, but I don’t know how these young families do it, working from home, schooling from home and just minding the kids. I and most of my friends are at a stage in our life, where they have retired and have their own routines and it doesn’t include the home schooling. Most of my friends have not gotten to spend time with their grandchildren, like I have, and just became part of the household. I tried really hard in the beginning to stay away but the need was just too strong and I am grateful for my incredible wonderful family, who let me break a few rules. It was a very rough week, and not going to lie, it was a bit scary, when the protests turned violent, but after many more days and nights of peaceful protests, I feel real change is going to happen and I hope we don’t lose this momentum. These protests are happening all over the country and all over the world. I have driven through small towns in our state and witnessed young people demonstrating for racial equality, and they were all white. Our hope for a better future is definitely going to lie with all these young people, and there is no way they are going to stand for all these old white men to decide their future. I hope we keep up the momentum and the teaching to make real change. I want that for my grandchildren and everyone’s children. I was stunned to see that guy that heads football, speaking from his basement or wherever, saying he made a big mistake when he didn’t understand taking the knee was a peaceful protest. No shit Sherlock. It wasn’t about the flag just because certain people wanted it to be about disrespecting the flag and never really trying to find out more about it. Well now they want to know, and I may be sarcastic enough to think they are trying to save football from total disaster and miss out on all the fat paychecks, but willing to give them a benefit of a doubt to effect change. I am sure tonight a certain person in the White house must be very happy as he finally has bigger crowds than Obama on the Washington mall, except the big brand new fence is really not that eye catching for photo ops. No matter, shoot it from a different angle. I am pleased to see so many of the protesters are mask compliant and most of the police are allowing peaceful protests to continue. One of my intentions I recite at night is that they remain peaceful, but persistent, for everyone’s sake.

Well it is all quiet in the loft tonight, back to just the two of us and we ordered take out. Techie insisted that his job is still to do the dishes, so I let him have his pleasure.  Tomorrow we get our dinner box delivered with our three meals, so back to being chef on duty. My kids really like the food and recipes out of the box, so they are trying it out in Philadelphia next week. Makes perfect sense for two working parents, more so than us. There is that convenience factor, and basically I am lazy and would rather dine out several times a week. Does anyone else feel like their life is about eating, and when you are having a meal, you are already thinking about what is going to be next?  I wish it wasn’t’ the case but it is totally true for me, and helps me get through the day. My friend Rozzie almost never thinks about food, and when I visit her I feel like a little piggy.  I practiced last time not to be the one to mention it when last visiting. We got up had coffee and went on with our day. 10 or 11 maybe little nosh a bagel, muffin a piece of fruit, nothing, zippo, nada. I was not going to cave. Finally at almost 2pm I said what about lunch, and she said I could eat, I was ready to gnaw her arm. Lets’ not forget she is married to Ed an incredibly talented chef with the best restaurant in the Myrtle Beach area and she could eat whenever she wants. Well maybe that is the key. If techie was a world renowned chef and he was at my beck and call it would be different with my salivating, but I don’t think so. But he is welcome to try.  I haven’t checked it out yet but I heard Ben and Jerry’s was reopening in our neighborhood this weekend and then my needs will be complete. I can kiss those little nutty buddy cones from Trader Joes good bye and get right to the Cherries Garcia. Oh happy days. Monday is opening day for retail in this state and it has been a long three months, so please everyone go out and spread some money around your local businesses and stop with all this online shopping. Save that for diapers and paper goods that take up too much space in the cart. Of course if you went to some place like Target you already had the run of the store available to you. I took my granddaughter there the other day to stock up on supplies and snacks for the long car ride. Of course we had to stash it out of sight form Momma. Tilda knows I have been delivering the goods all along to Maisie and Charlie, she can’t be left out.

Just sayin..

Good evening my Corona friends. I hope you all had a very good day today. I am sorry if I was a Debby Downer yesterday but considering what we are living through every day I consider myself one of the upbeat. Some days you wake up and you can’t believe it could get any worse but we soldier on and just make mine a double and we will get through it. Before the protests I was actually thinking we were kind of back to normal. Of course that means always wearing a mask and never asking to use a public restroom.  I know I can be obsessed about the bathroom issues but honestly when you get to a certain age you always want to know where all the rest stops are located and you may plan your night around them. A few months ago it was nothing for techie and I to walk to the North End for dinner and I had my pit stops all mapped out on the way home. Now they are closed and so are the dining spots. The past few summers what I thought was a really great thing were these beer gardens that had sprung up along the Greenway, city Hall plaza and down in the Seaport.  They made the city a fun place to hang out after work and sometimes a bit longer. I believe they won’t even be opening this year, but we will have to wait and see. I am positive it will be a really fun and exciting place again real soon. I hear the rumor of the North End of Boston may close a road and allow people to serve on the sidewalk and I will be the first to reserve a table. I realize it may be a bit weird to enjoy the time out as we have to be mask compliant.  Today I was taking a walk to with my granddaughter and fifteen minutes in I realized I wasn’t wearing my mask and it was a bit strange. I mean we have become programmed to do a mental checklist when you leave the house, keys, and phone and mask all checked. It must have been because I was in Medford or the fact that I hadn’t seen anyone on my walk till we got to crossing at the light.  The thing that upset me the most about my missing mask was now I wouldn’t be allowed into the ice cream shop. Thank goodness my daughter in law had hers because how was I going to explain that to Tilda?  Grandma screwed up and there will be no ice cream. I don’t think so. Anyway we were able to get our ice cream and even find a spot where we could enjoy it. No hanging out in the shop. I am grateful for these little forms of entertainment and I hear there may be even more fun on the horizon.  There may be a few more drive in movie theaters opening soon and as long as there is a car hop service, I am game. I am sure they will have to be G rated movies and I hope they can find more than a few that will satisfy the masses. There are after all only so many times we can watch Ferris Bueler’s day off. Who am I kidding anyway if I put a movie on at home I am asleep in the first fifteen minutes, but it is always the idea of the adventure that brings you out in the first place.

Techie and I have has a truly great week having our granddaughter visit this past week, and the parents were an added benefit. Kind of a bummer that they are going back to their home tomorrow, but again                    once again grateful for the extra week of Tilda time, thank you Coronavirus.  We will go back to our routine of just the two of us in this one room apartment and will have to find our groove again. Depending on how it goes next week we may be opening up a bit and that will mean a bit more venturing out into the world.  We have been preparing for months and I think we are ready. We wash our hands more than ever and sometimes just for practice. We have accumulated a wide assortment of masks, paper and fabric, some you can breathe out of and some will slowly suck out all your oxygen. We have taken many walks with our friends and kept six feet apart, at least most of the time.  I believe we are ready for the next step a little retail therapy and I don’t mean Costco or Target because recently I have been enjoying those outings. In the beginning it was just for the food sources but the distraction can happen very quickly. In fact tonight I am wearing my favorite designer Kirkland, and a pair of seersucker stretch type pants for 10 bucks. Seriously a few wears and you got your monies worth. Today we went into target for diapers but quickly became distracted and filled our cart very easily.  Just want you all to know I didn’t see anyone following me and was sure to wipe down all surfaces that we may have touched but that is apparently in the new regulations for retail opening next week. I am not sure what retail opening will be like next week but I hope people will want to visit live and in person. I know it has been three months and I could have made an appointment for my hair last week but I was just too lazy and kind of like being able to tie it up in a ponytail, it has been a long time since I could that and super slobby the way I like it. I can tell you one thing what I am most looking forward to is getting a pedicure. I have a really hard time reaching my toes and quite frankly they have become kind of Frankenstein looking. I caught my son the other day taking a picture of one of my renegade toes and sending it out to the universe.   How gross is that?  What is the first thing you all want to do when the opportunity comes up?

Just sayin….

Good evening my Corona friends. I hope everyone is healthy and I won’t even mention anything about being sane, as by now I am sure it is eluding us all. Here we are 75 days in which in and of itself seems ridiculous as you think back to day one and we were thinking a few weeks, few months, now we have no freaking idea when and where it will end.  Imagine you were writing a novel about a killer pandemic and then when you are getting to the end of it, throw in national protests that led to wide spread looting. Seriously you can’t make this shit up. I walk around downtown of our beautiful city and we are all boarded up. Just when we were going to get the go ahead to reopen, not sure what that looks like now. Have to go through plywood and barbed wire.  No matter there won’t be any retail left, some won’t make it, some will give up, and it will just go to Amazon. We won’t be able to leave our homes, but for exercise and groceries, everything else will be delivered.  Work will be done online and endless zoom meetings. Uber eats will deliver all the take out, no more dining experiences, all social visits with friends will be on Zoom.  My walls are starting to cave in on me and I was getting better as the weather improved, it is hard not to fall down a dark hole. We were visiting our kids in Philadelphia last weekend and after a night of wilding  we convinced them to come here for a change of venue.  There was unfortunately no change. I don’t think there is any escaping it as it is happening all over the country. What I can I hope is that we all pay attention to why this is happening and try and understand and learn from it. Please people, study hard, or we are never going to get out of our houses and feel safe again. 

I have decided that the dinner in a box that you have to prepare is not for me, as I have grown bored with it. The food generally has been very good, and techie likes following the directions and doing some cooking, but it has almost become a chore. We get three meals delivered a week and honestly it feels like homework. Now I have those bags staring at me in the fridge and have to done in a timely manner. The pressure is getting to me.  Another thing about them is I brought them over to my kid’s house to cook a few times this week, and found that you could feed four, when my roommate and I have eaten it all at every meal. Granted they were small portions that we could make work, like the fishes and the loaves. The problem for me is a sign up for these things on the internet and I am not sure even what I committed to, and how I can shut it off. I am going to have to ask Techie to look into for me, but first I have to try and remember my password. I have already reset it twice. I know it really is a first world problem when the biggest issue I have today, is who is feeding me. I was getting in the groove for a bit in the first month or so, preparing every meal for me and my lover but that got old and I think my place in heaven has been secured as I have already cooked more meals for Techie in the past few months, as my forty plus years of marriage. It makes you wonder how many of us could have made it this long, had we had the Pandemic 30-40 years ago, or ended up in rehab. Well there would have been no Hello Fresh getting delivered that is for sure. The closest thing we had was the milkman. In our time out in the suburbs there was about five years that we had the Milkman do deliveries. One of the best things was the iced tea in the summer. I would get several half gallons, as those teenage boys loved it and cheaper than orange juice. I hear the dairy deliveries are making a comeback and if we have the coronavirus to thank for it. We will take that as a win. I guess we have to start keeping a list of what we are thankful for as a result of this virus, my son said he got to spend a lot more time with his baby daughter that would not have had. Thankfully she is a baby with no siblings because that could have been a different story. I am one of eleven children and I can’t imagine what it would have been like for us if we had to quarantine for so long together. Let me just say only the strong survive, joking but not really. I know there would have been a ration on the toilet paper and we may have had to build an outhouse. I remember an old outhouse behind my Grandmas house as part of the shed and it had a row of three seats, small, medium and large. My mom said they always kept a sears catalogue so they never ran out of toilet paper. Well we can ‘t count on the good old Sears catalogue but wait I think we can count on an upgrade of the toilet paper with all those RH catalogues that come in the mail, finally something useful to do with them.

Just sayin

Good evening my Corona friends and hope all is well with you all tonight. Hopefully all have been safe and sound these last few nights and have not suffered any damage. It has been really tough these last few days and we hope to find the good in all of us, as we wake up each morning and try to live a better life. I absolutely support the protesters and want a better and just world for all of us, and most importantly the    future of our kids and grandkids. I found tonight that yes the future is now and judging by the amount of the Corona Puppies, people feel strongly about the security of what is next in life. On our daily walks around the city my roommate and I run into people with a new puppy.  Often it is a young couple who probably live together and are thinking someday they may want to have children, so why not pretend with a puppy. Sadly what they don’t realize that all this togetherness may be coming to an end soon and who is going to take care of puppy when you are able to go to brunch once again? The love on a puppy can wear off pretty quickly when you are the one that has to take him out first thing in the morning. Unless you live in one of these fancy high rise buildings that has these special doggie floors, where they have a secret way they change the puppy turf. Or better yet the latest scam are these diaper pads that you lay around the house and the dog pees on them. I am telling you they are absolutely gross, and how really smart people can fall for this BS.  We have had guests that use these and this is not even after potty training, but of course I forget that a different generation doesn’t read a newspaper so how else would they know about paper training?  They fall into the diaper trap and then they just can’t find their way out of it, destined for a stinky house.

I have to confess that Techie and I have had a few dogs during out time and they were both the most awesome dogs and pets one could ever ask for. When we had Garp it was an urban neighborhood and   he should have definitely been on a leash always, but sometimes it just didn’t work out that way. We would get a call from a neighbor saying if we were looking for Garp, he was up at their house and he already had a dinner of roast beef and mashed potatoes. My roommate used to say he was going to go there on all fours so he could get a free meal. He lived a great life until he was sixteen years old and suffered an accident with Auntie Judy, and was laid to rest in my Mothers back yard.  A few years later at the insistence and pleading of my son we decided to get another dog. First thing we did was go the same animal shelter where we had adopted Garp, figuring we were good parents and he did live a charmed life for sixteen years. But sadly we were mistaken, rules had changed and didn’t want to give us a puppy because we had full time jobs.  I said I could bring her to work, but since didn’t mention on my application, they weren’t buying it.  If only they spent more time approving people to have children, we may be in a better place.  Sadly we had to take a very sad Max home that night without that little sheep dog mix puppy. The next day I looked in the local paper and found we could get a puppy that day just had to pay about $50 for the shots that had already been given to the brood born on the farm.  We went out there promptly and picked up our sweet mutt Lucy, she had another name first, but I can’t remember, as Max named her but his sister was very upset that she wasn’t involved in the getting of the puppy, she was away at school.  Being the incredible brother that he was he let her name the puppy, as he was just so happy to have one, he didn’t care what we called her as long as he got to keep her. Lucy was just about the best dog ever and she had a long and happy life living with us in the suburbs. One of the absolute great things about living in the burbs is having a yard that you could have an electric fence. Couple that with a dog door and you have the perfect set up for lazy parents. Lucy had the run of the house and the yard and we never worried about accidents as she was always able to get in and out on her own time, hence we never had to worry about getting home to let the dog out and only used that excuse for extreme excuses. Lucy enjoyed the run of her domain and really only took the hit of getting zapped when Max and his friends were making their way down to the pond for that adventure she would gladly take the hit. When we ended up as empty nesters , my husband just always love coming home to have her bound out of that door and jump and lick him as so happy to see him. He often asked why I couldn’t be as excited as Lucy.  Sadly it was after Lucy   passed that I finally got him to agree to a move into the city and we never got another pet. I know he misses a dog but he vowed he would never have a dog if he to pick up their poop on the street.  Now they make all kinds of leashes and wrist bands that keep the little poop bags handy for you to clean it up, no Thank You.  I wonder how many of these Corona puppies have the kids begged and pleaded for actually have the kids getting up in the early morning to take them out and clean up after them.  I think I am pretty safe in guessing that Mom or Dad are doing the heavy lifting and why not they are at home, not going to work every day like in days past. I can’t remember exactly where I read this but a story of David Sedaris when he was living in France. I believe he was getting a haircut at his barber and all these old dudes were talking about how much they loved Jodi Foster and were admiring a picture of her.  They couldn’t figure out what she was doing in the picture as she was seen with this little bag and what was she picking up, imagine their disappointment when he spilled the beans that she was picking up dog poop……………

Just sayin

Good evening my Corona friends and I hope it is or was a better evening for everyone than it was last night. Once we all had time to process the nightmare that unfolded and realized it wasn’t a bad dream but really happened, we could look for the recovery. I know I went out before 5am this morning to view the damage and report to friends the outcome. Yes there was significant damage. Our city was suffering from a wild night, but also there were glimmers of hope, in the form of all the people that were out and about so early in the morning and getting right to the cleanup. There were crews out early on putting up the plywood on all the broken glass, Home Depot must have opened at midnight to accommodate the run on supplies. I went back out again around noontime and already the Pubic garden was tidied up and saw several women walking with their strollers. There was a lot of community support for the damaged businesses that I visited. People were scrubbing and cleaning away. I am only going to try and look for the positives tonight, as I don’t want to slide back down into that dark hole of rage, which I was in last night. I understand the hopelessness and rage but I can never agree or understand the destruction.

Today was an absolute beautiful day and the sun was shining and the air was crisp and clean. At least it wasn’t raining and you could easily set up your sawhorse to cut your plywood to cover the business windows up and down Newbury and Boylston streets. Have to be grateful for these little moments, better than being soggy in the pouring rain, running power tools. The important thing is where are we going to go from here? I hope we all work toward a positive change and not just file last night’s event as a onetime happening. I really don’t want to have to witness another night like last night, although I know there are some conflicts tonight. I am going to try and take some tips from my roommate and try and do some meditation, seems to work for him. I have to have my nightly cocktail and then yell and swear at the TV, and apologize for my bad language last night. I wish I could say that it is rare for me to use the F word, but I would be lying and don’t want to get called out by all my friends and foes. Anyone who knows me, will vouch for my full-fledged putty mouth and would be surprised if I tried to clean it up. Namaste, that is my new curse word and pretty sure that is not the use it is intended, but I am going with it, as a certain evil one puts me over the edge. I am sitting here and I can hear helicopters buzzing and I hope there isn’t going to be another night of wilding, Namaste.

Techie is over in the corner with his headphones on so he hasn’t responded to my yelling over asking if it was happening again tonight. Honestly I am just too darn beat tonight to even make complete sentences and I can attest tonight it is not from an overabundance of vodka. It is just sheer exhaustion from living through a pandemic, with a business shuttered and then a city being ravaged and burned and no one knows how to end it. We should be celebrating Space X and those really cool new space suits those guys were wearing, I haven’t heard much about that fashion statement, got lost in the wildings. I am celebrating as I managed to hijack my granddaughter Tilda yesterday and bring her back from Philadelphia, snuck her out when the parents weren’t looking and drove back to Boston. Well Ok they followed a bit later in their own car and we are carrying on a bit more family time this week. I hope I can keep her entertained so she won’t want to go back home anytime soon. We did discover a nice new installation today that gave us all a smile. A field of windsocks blowing in the breeze and they looked like sunflowers or daffodils when the wind filled them, not very good on the plant identification. I am dubbing it a field of hope, and the wind is blowing the coronavirus right out of here, if it was only that easy…..

Just sayin

Good Evening my Corona Friends and wish I had some good news to report this evening, but my heart is heavy to see what is happening tonight in my city, and it makes me so sad.  I certainly can understand the anger and frustration that has brought us to this boiling point I surely don’t understand the destruction, and how does that solve anything?  I mean think about it. We have been living under a Pandemic for the past several weeks, where life as we know it has ended, you can’t leave how without a mask for fear of spreading or dying.  Where are we going along with all this, so we could come to a point where we would not be recognized as we took to terrorizing and vandalizing? I surely don’t believe this was what we thought was going to happen. Just a few years ago Colin Kaepernick started taking a knee at NFL games and do you think anyone took the time to understand why he was doing it, no they would rather rant and rave that he was disrespecting our flag.  I am not saying that is 100% the fault of having a “carnival barker’ as the leader of what some used to consider the greatest nation in the world, but he sure gave voice to a platform of hate, and still continues to do so every day, along with that evil brood of his that he spawned. Right now today we have looked evil in the eye and it is bright orange, we need to temper down that color and it cannot come quick enough, pantone might help with a new color of the year for 2020 is Classic blue, a color that anticipates what is going to happen next and it is a calming color. Please I hope it is true and we can all find some solace, and surely hope we can make it to November when we can vote the mother right out of here.  Namaste Mother Fucker!!! I am trying to calm myself as I know I can get into a rant and a rave that will just not lead to a good place and still wake up in the same nightmare. It is the end of the world as we know it and I DON”T feel fine. Looting and trashing places are not going to bring any justice and only makes it worse for any sympathy.

We drove back from Philadelphia today and we were as happy and excited as we hijacked our granddaughter, and came home with her.  Ok so her parents came a few hours behind us in a separate car but it was a great road trip, I had the salt and vinegar chips and Tilda ate that Styrofoam air pop fake popcorn. She was a treasure the long ride home sleeping, eating and singing. They decided that maybe taking a break from Philly was a good idea and I guess we aren’t going to run away from this so easily, because we find it is following us until we deal with what is wrong with the world.  As I am watching the events unfold on the news tonight I can’t help but notice all these people with their cell phones filming themselves vandalizing and vocalizing hate. I don’t think that is how we are going to change the world and I am truly sad for our city, our children, and our country and for all those worried about how we are ever going to return to normal. I wished I hitched a ride on Space X yesterday…….

Just sayin

Good evening my Corona friends and what a crazy day it is to be alive today. Today was one of the most exciting and promising days we have seen in a very long time.  SpaceX had a very successful launch and the two astronauts are on their way to the international space station. That is the good news. They got to blast off and leave this earth, as I would say they are the lucky ones.  I mean seriously after a weekend like we have been having all over this country who wouldn’t want to hitch a ride right out of this world? I have been getting warnings on my phone for the past hour about a curfew in Philadelphia and I can hear the sirens from my room.  This coming after we had a really nice day taking in the sounds and sights of South Philly for the day. The weather was perfect and I took Tilda on a stroll for an hour or two this morning, just cruising up and down the streets and looking for signs of vitality in the city. You have to dig deep but you can find it in the neighborhoods, with a lot of signs that people post in the windows, with messages of fighting the corona virus and some day we will all be back. What I am always very curious about when I walk these neighborhoods is the amount of wrought iron for people’s stoops or entry ways.  I swear there must have been a contract that people had to sign when they came to the neighborhood and they had to get their railings at one of just a few places. Some of these are pretty ornate, some simple. Occasionally they share between two houses but never anything but wrought iron. I did find one that appeared to be more of a chrome finish and I wonder how that one got through the committee that approves these railings. Although not as many but there are still a lot of these metal awnings and I am sure that supply is somehow related to the wrought iron dealer. It’s funny how it is really a street by street determination of what people can put on their sidewalk.  Some blocks have a lot of big pots full of leafy green plants to really give a garden feel.  They do take a lot of pride in planting some beautiful flowers. The next block can be barren and buttoned up and just begging for someone to pay them some attention. Something we have noticed from out last few visits on our walks is that there are a lot of independent or family owned businesses on every block. You really don’t see much in the way of a chain or national brand in South Philly. I am very worried about them making it through this crisis and I hope they have enough support in their community. What has grown tremendously in this neighborhood the past several years have been restaurants and they had become a dining destination. One of the best things I have loved about the dining scene is a lot of BYOB, which I don’t see a lot of in Boston, if any. Here in Philly it is much more common. I wouldn’t have to worry about those amateur pours when they reopen, as I would be pouring my own.  Tonight we were trying to order take out and we had been off our devices most of the day so unaware of what was happening in this fair city, and a lot were closing early as a concern for their safety.  Now it is just not covid but looting and rioting that can turn you inside out. I support the cause but please don’t take it out on innocent businesses.

Today I want to give a shout out to my second favorite nephew Mike JR.  Yes I have a lot of nephews but Michael is celebrating his Birthday and he is in the fifty something zone. I just want you all to know that I think I was just a wee one when he was born. I did do a lot of babysitting for him or he might say it was the opposite. He might imply that there were many times that he had to babysit Auntie Peggy but from the mouths of babes they can exaggerate. He is very lucky as he has two pretty cool kids in Delaney and Jackson, and his wife Jill, who apparently are able to go shopping today in North Carolina as they reopen with a lot of pent up demand. This guy travels a lot for his work and is often gone 25 days out of every month. I asked him today how he was handling it and if he was disturbing the routine of his family, and typical guy answer he said no not all. I am sure he is wonderful husband and Dad but like most men totally clueless. Happy Birthday…………..

Just sayin

Well good evening my Corona friends and foes. I hope everyone is having a great evening and thank goodness for the weekend. Friday just kind of sneaks up on you now a days, and it is definitely not the same heartfelt meaning as it used to have. Back in the time when you picked up the kids from school; or day care and threw those backpacks to the corner till Sunday night. Now every day is groundhogs day and you just have to figure out how to get through it. I am pretty sure I have established that I will get through it with Kettel One, on the rocks, with a splash of soda and a little lime. Works like a charm. So techie and I find ourselves in South Philly for the next few days and after fits and starts, we find ourselves getting in to the groove of the city culture, a bit different than Boston but hey we are among the Eagles fans. Their idea of steak and cheese is with Cheez whiz, seriously I challenge most any sub shop in Boston to put out a steak and cheese that would put these all to shame. What I did find in Philly today to my great surprise was an Urban Refuge right in the city. John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge is right in the city and a few million people live within 10 miles of the refuge. It has become the go to place for my granddaughter Tilda. She loves chasing all the birds and looking after the turtles. I guess it is more about this Pandemic, and the fact that we really can’t stop anywhere on our walks, but this city is so much more congested than the city where I live. Granted it could be the neighborhood. It is a bit gritty and worn. It kind of colors it, when you have to stroll with a mask on all the time. But at the same time the neighborhood has more flavor than most. A lot of small family owned businesses and I hope they will survive. My ride down here yesterday from Boston was remarkable in some ways as we saw so many tractor trailer trucks with the big amazon smile on the side.  I can tell you they are not on their way to fill up the empty stores on Passyunk Ave and if people don’t start giving a shit about it, the most popular small business on a busy commercial avenue is going to be all going to FOR RENT. We are all waiting for a reopening of so many businesses. Lets just all hope that someday we can return to life as we knew it, before Corona.  Sitting in my son’s backyard patio this evening, patio might be generous, we could hear the neighbors laughing and talking but we were separated by a high wall.  I was reminded that my own neighborhood has gone eerily silent, without any of the loud drunks late on weekend nights, in the alley behind out building. Just the same old lady sitting out there smoking every day clearly ignoring the no smoking signs. At least she doesn’t have to fear for her life for breaking a few rules. What is noticeably different is we don’t hear any airplanes, and that is something we got used to after moving to the city. We loved to travel and I always loved that I lived 7 minutes to Logan and now I could skirt the timing of getting to the airport, even more dangerously close than usual. Now we sail by the airport in the harbor and see or hear almost nothing. Well glad to see and hear that there is life still happening in South Philly, even if it is a stir from a neighbor about the trash, or you parked a bit too close to my car. I will take it as a sign that life can go on , just with a mask. We also went to another park later in the day, again right near the stadium, where the Philly teams play, and we found a lone swing. Now I know parks are closed and before anyone gets a bit crazy about putting Tilda in the swing, just know this grandma travels with her own Clorox wipes and we cleaned it pretty darned good. Of course maybe it was because she has been cooped up in the house with no one but her Mom and dad for the past 9 weeks but she would not get out of that swing. We pushed her for over an hour and then we had to pry her little hands lose to get her out of there. I mean seriously it was after cocktail hour.  We had planned to go back for a dinner picnic but didn’t make it so looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure.  The world has changed and I know we have been living it for some time now, but you really even notice it more when you visit a place you have become so familiar with and you have to learn to love it all over again. Max has been here a long time and it did take some getting used to, and I finally learned to embrace what I perceived as flaws and absorb the culture. It is just that today I want to just stuff Alana, Max and Tilda in the car and take them away. They really never became Philly fans anyway.

 Just sayin

Hello my Corona friends and I hope everyone is sane and healthy. Tonight I am coming to you from a remote location. As you all may have surmised from my previous rants, technology is not my thing and every night techie has been setting up my computer so I can sit down and rant for an hour, or so then he comes in and does whatever he does to link me and also post my pictures, so let’s be perfectly clear he is the brains behind it all, so if you don’t agree or like something it is all on techie. If you like something it is all me. Today we took a big leap and drove to Philadelphia to see my son Max, Alana and our beautiful almost two year old granddaughter Tilda. You can only last so long without being able to see or hug you kids in person. I have to say both my kids were a bit concerned about the travel. That is why I put it off so long, they were worried about their Dad and that was mentioned a lot. I guess I am chopped liver, but we made it and so happy to be here. First this was a very big day as my roommate allowed me to drive, which is rare, but he wanted to be on calls and Zooms, so he reluctantly surrendered. Well I don’t know if anyone has been doing any serious driving but it was very easy to drive at 80 most of the way and I was just trying to keep up with the cars in front of me. Max called once to see where we were and I mentioned how hard it was to keep the speed low and he suggested speed control, as if I know how to turn that on while driving. I was a bit concerned because as you may have remembered I can’t find my driver’s license since yesterday and fingers were crossed that I wouldn’t get pulled over. I am not that worried as I learned a long time ago turn on the waterworks, and they usually let you go, local cops more than staties. But I will give it a try. Well we were making excellent time and only one gas stop and restroom. Everyone was mask compliant.  Big problem at the first stop they didn’t have the salt and vinegar chips! I asked and sold out. They did have all the required ring dings and Twinkies, but like peanut butter and jelly, it wasn’t going to work. Back on the road I was surprised that Techie still wanted to let me drive because I am pretty sure I was scaring him, but we were making such good time he was willing to close his eyes and keep on working. Well we arrived in South Philly more than three hours earlier than planned and I really had to pee. Only one rest stop all day. You have to really understand and appreciate the culture of South Philly.  It takes a lot of getting used to.  I have been doing fairly well but now I haven’t been here in five months so need to reorient myself.  No problem I get out of the car double parked in front of my son’s house and run in to relieve myself.  I toss a coffee cup and some napkins in the recycling box in front of this house. All the trash is lined up down the street for pick up later today. I come back out to empty the car, that techy has parked a few doors down and his the neighbor comes out and asks me what I threw in his trash?  Seriously dude I literally threw trash in your trash can and yes it was recyclable, is that a problem? Well apparently he is very particular what goes in his recycling bin and has had words about it in the past. He doesn’t even like you to place your bins over a line in the sidewalk which he considers his turf. Ok I promptly removed my trash and placed it in the next box, don’t want to start a turf war on my first day of the visit. You have to be able to roll with the local rules here and try not to stir the pot, like when people double park in the street for a half hour just be patient or back down the street, just don’t lean on the horn. The end of the street is a restaurant and even though they are only open for takeout during coronavirus, they still feel it is ok to block the street with their big ass SUV like they were in the secret service, or something. I am sure it is a secret something. I am a visitor here for a few days so I will try and play by their rules and I certainly don’t want to cause any problems in the neighborhood or do I?

Just sayin..