Category Archives: Quarantine

checking in

I feel like so much and yet so little are going on! So much, in that we drove 11 hours to Western New York to visit my sister and her family last week. So little, in that once we got there we tried to avoid other people as much as possible and the same once we got home. I feel guilty for having gone, I feel guilty for having wanted to go, and I feel like it was definitely worth the risk and nothing about any of this is fair.

Every decision we make about when to leave our houses, when to socialize or not, is wrong in somebody’s eyes and is being judged. I read people saying they don’t go anywhere and take every precaution and yet got COVID and then also, by the way, they visited with 10 other family members, unmasked, who mostly all also got COVID. And then I think, that could be us, except if it were to happen, I wouldn’t say I didn’t do anything. I would say, yes, I drove 11 hours to visit them, I wore a mask every time I went inside a truck stop or rest area to use the bathroom, I packed food except for one meal, and we ate every meal outside or in our car. We washed our hands excesssively, used wipes and hand sanitizer on every given opportunity, and once we arrived at my sister’s house we hugged those kids like it was the last time we would see them.

I know no matter what we all do there is a risk, but some things are more risky than others. I’m still limiting my outings, but I probably go inside stores 1 to 2 times a week now rather than 1 time every two weeks.

And then we are planning a two week camping trip…we are going soon, and frankly I can’t wait, but I also feel worried and guilty about it. I think, according to best practices, we will be as safe as we can be not actually just staying at home, but that’s the thing, we would be safer just staying at home. I think that mentally not going anywhere would be very challenging…I feel privileged to be able to take vacations and such, but being able to travel and take some time off is such an integral part of the life I’ve chosen, and we think it’s an okay risk to take. We can avoid crowds, we can wear masks when we go inside, we can eat all of our meals outside, we can hike, and we can sit by the fire and enjoy the night air. I think it’ll be okay, but I don’t know that. I figure that really, the most dangerous part is still probably the drive!

So there’s all my crazy “in head” thoughts about the pandemic. I get overcome when I read about other countries who are in better places than we are, and so I just choose to focus on what’s ahead. Our leadership has utterly failed us, but that doesn’t mean we give up and despair. It means we keep on keeping on, while doing what we can to enact change. We humans can adapt to almost anything, and we have all done a wonderful job adapting. If we all wore masks, last week they said we could kick this pandemic in 4 to 8 weeks. That would be 3 to 7 now.

Now for a bunch of pictures from the trip.

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Putting masks on her animals so they don’t get “the virus”, as she calls it.

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Swimming in Lake Erie.

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Taught this little guy to show his belly button on request. He also learned how to find other people’s belly buttons, or “bebos”. IMG_4858

We did not need this because hardly anyone was on the grounds. This is a popular summer festival called Chautauqua, which was canceled, but people still own homes on the grounds so some were there.

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We picked blueberries. Altogether we picked 20 pounds of blueberries, which was a lot. I have some in my freezer here.

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We made a recipe for a “Blueberry Buckle” from the New York Times. It was very good.

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We did a short hike on the Frank Cusamano Trail which had a stretch very near my sister’s house. I mistakenly assumed there weren’t bugs in New York.

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Aunt pile in the hammock!

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I had just taken an online seminar about teaching kids improvisation so I set her up with a track to play along with. She could hear it better with headphones and I think they also made it a bit more fun.

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On Chautauqua Lake.

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At Panama Rocks, which she called alternately, Panada Rocks or Panana Rocks.

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At Bemis Point, on Chautauqua Lake.

Thoughts about driving east: everywhere indoors and many outdoor places in New York State, everybody wore masks. In Ohio at truck stops, still quite a lot of masks. Indiana, not as many, and so on. I think that places should provide masks (well, I think the government should provide them) and require people to wear them. I suspect a certain percentage of non masked people have simply forgotten, and another percentage won’t do it unless required. Sure, some people get angry and shoot up the place when asked to wear a mask, but let’s not pretend they weren’t just looking for an excuse, after all, a certain percentage have always been happen to shoot up a place.

When I left my family visit, I hugged my niece and told her I’d at least see her next summer. They live in Phoenix during the year, and that’s a long drive. (I can’t imagine flying again any time soon.) She said she hoped the virus would be gone soon so we could see each other.

I know that the government has taken a lot of things from a lot of people, but that’s what they’ve taken from me with their mishandling of the virus. I don’t know the next time I’ll see any of my family. I know many people, especially immigrants, have it much worse, but I just think of all the people who said, oh, you’re overreacting, it won’t be that bad. I can’t see my parents. We can’t leave the country, for the most part. And I may not see my niece and nephew again for another year. You know how fast kids grow, right? This is what the GOP has taken from us with their complete yet purposeful mishandling of the pandemic. They are intentionally letting it run rampant because they think it will help them in the next election, and making us all prisoners in our communities, in our homes. Everyday we live with stress, anxiety, fear, and have no idea what the future will bring, and we know exactly whose fault it is, and yet, what do we do? We pick blueberries. We hike. We feel guilty every time we step out of the house and we blame our friends for doing the same.

Rhubarb

I am officially obsessed with rhubarb, though I don’t have any more. I had been getting some from the CSA the past two times and from the grocery store twice, and chopping it up and freezing it, and now it’s all gone, and there wasn’t any at the grocery store today.

I’ve made a rhubarb dump cake, which was tasty (I didn’t feel like making pie crust, even though a pie sounded better) and I made two kinds of jam, one rhubarb vanilla and one much larger batch of strawberry rhubarb, which I consider a classic.

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I hadn’t worked with rhubarb or cooked with it in any way as an adult until this season, and now I just want more. I don’t know if now I’ll have to wait until next summer.

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I got confused and thought today was Tuesday for a brief period of time. I got a few groceries and when I got back I parked in the driveaway instead of on the street, because I thought it was Tuesday and we had street cleaning. Then I started wondering why the tornado sirens were on a Tuesday, and then I realized it was Monday. Mondays are tough!

I have been thinking about getting back into my cross stitching. I’ve been doing a lot of good reading, and making some jam obviously, but I haven’t been feeling like playing extra violin (some might call this practice, and it’s hard practicing for concerts in the fall that are probably just going to be canceled but haven’t been yet). I have a few cross stitching kits I bought, but then never did. Truthfully, I stopped stitching in January because I did something to my hand and it was hurting too much, but that has long not been an issue. The other issue is light…I don’t have a great place to stitch at home. I was doing a lot in my rooms where I taught, and it was a great thing to do to kill time when students didn’t show up for their lessons. Anyway, maybe I’ll start getting back into that, or maybe after my travels happen I will (if they happen, haha!).

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I really want us to go on our camping trip out west, but I worry it is the wrong thing to do. I am jealous that many people have been going places, but I also feel bad because many people aren’t, and I worry we are part of the problem. How can I rationalize going on a vacation when so many things are going on, and when this virus is rampant? Yet, if we can go and stay mostly apart from other people, make our own meals, and camp/hike mostly, shouldn’t that be okay? But then I feel like it’s an unnecessary risk, and the thing with risks is, once you take one, you feel like taking more. For instance, you visit a friend, and you go in their house without masks, and suddenly you think, well, this was fine, so you want to do more of that. And then you just let your guard down entirely, and then what, a cruise to Europe? But it is a slope, and you start feeling like various things are okay (which may or may not be) but then I start to worry I should be teaching in person in the fall if I can go on a trip. Even though the risks of teaching in the fall in person are totally different from a road trip…the gray areas here are so difficult! And does it make sense to skip a vacation out of principle? Even if you think you can take all reasonable precautions (and probably some unreasonable ones?)

I miss my pre-covid life. Don’t we all? Of course I’m grateful to have my health, and my employment, such as it is. So many are struggling and I’m not. Mentally and emotionally, yes, I am, but financially I’m not. I’m lucky in that I have a very low cost of living, for one main thing, and various other factors. But it doesn’t mean I don’t miss doing things, having friends, going to concerts, all of that. I don’t miss eating out enough to actually go and do it, but it would be so nice to have somebody else clean up the dishes after I eat a meal (and I don’t mean Louie)…I miss ordering things and sitting there and people watching, and eavesdropping on conversations. I miss meeting a friend for lunch between lessons and talking about work and life and all the things that used to matter in the pre-covid times. I miss going to a concert on a Saturday night with friends. I miss playing concerts and having the thrill of performance and the joy of making music with others. I miss feeling like each day is different because evenings were full of activities and we left the house more than once or twice a week.

Sure, we are still doing stuff. I had a little live stream with my band, but it wasn’t the same as playing with my quartet. I’ve had a few socially distance gatherings with friends, but I haven’t been super comfortable with them, because I worry too much. We get takeout and you can just eat out of those containers and then throw the away. It’s nice having free weekends to relax, and I have lots of time to cook delicious food and work out and all of that makes me feel good. And weird things, like my family has a weekly zoom meeting with one of my aunts as well, and it’s fun to feel so connected to them…but I feel so disconnected from everybody else! I feel like I only know how to talk to Louie and my cats.

Sigh. I know that I’m not alone in all of this, and that as many people that are out living their lives, many more are staying at home for the most part, stressed, feeling isolated, all of that. But I miss people! I think it doesn’t help that even in normal times I would love to have a few more friends that I see regularly, but my work schedule is tough, and then I love my work colleagues and have fun with them, but then…I don’t see any of them anymore, of course.

Life isn’t so bad though. We’ll get through it, and we humans are so adaptable…to a fault, likely!

4th of July

It doesn’t feel like a holiday, and that’s okay. There isn’t a barbecue or cookout to attend. There isn’t an official fireworks show. There isn’t a functioning federal government with an appropriate response to the pandemic we are living in. Yet, life goes on.

I’m playing a short concert with my friend Michael and our band this afternoon. It’ll be hot and I’m sort of regretting it, but I agreed because it’s good to get out of the house. It’ll be livestreamed at 3 pm CDT.

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It’s been over a week of cooking at home. This isn’t so bad: I’ve gotten much better at cooking and improvising pretty decent meals. Last night we made pasta with mushrooms and kale from the CSA, a teeny amount of chard from the garden, and preserved lemons I’d made a few months ago. I’ve made a few jars of fridge pickles lately with some things from the CSA too: dilly green beans and dill pickles. Those will be ready to eat when we get back from our trip to Chautauqua. If we can take it…so far Missouri isn’t on the quarantine list for NY.

It’s hard to know what to do: we’ve been pretty cautious, and we think this is an okay risk to take. We also still want to do our camping trip later in the month. Camping isn’t a hugely risky thing, we’ll stay apart from people as much as we can while hiking, cook or pack our own meals, wear masks, I have loads of wipes and such…the other option is just sit at home and wait, and part of me says, if Louie is supposed to be back in the classroom in September we might as well take these risks now because that is certainly risky…not that that’s a good way to look at things, but as I’ve said before, I start to feel like a crazy person trying to avoid this virus that so many have just given up on.

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(And then I remember that I am teaching online from home and haven’t played a real concert or a show since March and it is unlikely that will happen again in the next 6 months, because without a strong federal response to this pandemic, we are on our own and thousands and thousands will suffer and die, needlessly, as other countries have shown us.)

I started blogging feeling pretty good so I’ll try to return there. Are you doing anything fun for the holiday? I asked one student that earlier this week and she said “setting off fireworks in our backyard!”

Another Week Begins

Last week had a lot of ups and downs. I finally feel like I’m over the burnout I was feeling earlier, and at that point in the summer where I can really accomplish a few things that felt impossible earlier. I had a wonderful time attending a teaching seminar online (even though I don’t consider myself a bona fide Suzuki teacher, I take full advantage of their teacher training opportunities as the ideas and teachers are top-notch) and am working my way through a few other webinars on video. I signed up for two more seminars in July on teaching, so I look forward to learning more and being inspired.

But the virus surprisingly hasn’t simply gone away when we ignored it, and as you know numbers are rising everywhere. And it’s shown to be because people aren’t wearing masks in public, but yet this is a political issue, because why not, why not make whether or not to die from a virus a political issue, everything else about life is. I sometimes feel like I must be going insane when people say things like, well, how could anyone have predicted this? And then they will go on to espouse all manner of conspiracy theories and propaganda about not being able to breathe properly and all kinds of bull, while I’m sitting there thinking, but he disbanded the pandemic task force! I sometimes think people really just don’t understand how much other people really DO know…they don’t know things so they assume no one does. I assume the opposite, that somebody probably knows the things I don’t.

So it’s hard to focus on anything positive. I worry I won’t be able to go visit my sister again in July or do anything else. I worry that I will be teaching online for the whole next year but half of my students will quit because they don’t want to deal with online anymore. I worry that people I know will get sick and die…I am still thankful I don’t personally know anybody who has died of this illness and I hope it continues (I, unlike so many, don’t actually need a loved one to die to take it seriously, even though I know I haven’t been taking it as seriously lately as before and have done a few riskier activities lately, which would be LESS risky if everybody around me wore masks).

And during all of this, we have a mayor who is threatening protestors, we have people waving guns around threatening demonstrators who dare walk down their streets, we have a government trying to take health care away from freelancers and small business owners and unemployed people IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC.

So it’s nice to sit for a few hours and listen to a more experienced teacher than myself talk about how listening to music helps a child learn. And I try to read books instead of the news and twitter…and I am still doing a lot of physical activity and trying to get outside.

I think what hurts the most is feeling like all the drastic life changes we made in March were for nothing. And I’m tired of the people who say, oh, my life is about the same. If that’s true, they are likely part of the problem. My life is completely different and I don’t see how or when it will ever change back…do we really think that there will be musicals and concerts in the fall?

So I forge ahead. I can read. I can cook and bake and jam. I can exercise. I can keep an eye on my garden.

Errands

Running errands is so full of strife, isn’t it? This morning I had a dentist appointment and then I needed to get a few things at the grocery store. The dentist went well, there were very few people (1) in the waiting room, the receptionist was behind plexiglass, and the dentist and assistants were all wearing quite a lot of protective gear. The grocery store was fine…a few more people without masks than usual (WHY can’t the store just require them and make everybody safer? Oh, it’s because our stupid government has managed to politicize a public health pandemic and wants to kill tens or hundreds of thousands in the name of “freedom” and “personal responsibility” which means they don’t take any personal responsibility and as a result, we are mostly stuck at home unless we believe the virus is fake. But I digress.)

The one things at the store was I couldn’t get everything on my list because the produce section was in bad shape. Normally I would go to a different store afterwards and finish up, but instead I chose to improvise. It was not a problem, but for everybody who thinks our problems are behind us…everyday we do so many things differently because of the pandemic. It’s childish to think it’s behind us, which is what our governor here in Missouri is making us believe.

It’s hard NOT to digress, because the information from the government is so dangerous. And seeing other people is such a tricky thing, and I’ve found that many people we thought were being careful really aren’t, and that’s a tough thing too…when you think you’ve been clear on what you are comfortable doing and someone else agrees but then in the moment you have to keep being “the bad guy.” It’s tiring, and I know at this point we just have to make our own choices about what is safe, but it’s just tiring not having the government giving correct information and not having basic health precautions required.

SO! The good news.

I told you we planted a garden in the late spring, right? I planted a variety of seeds, and some seem to be growing well and others have not grown at all. We knew our “garden beans” (seem to be green beans but the seed packet said garden beans), beets, and swiss chard were doing well in our first plot. The second plot was planted a few weeks later with lima beans, basil, zucchini, and carrots. In that one there is no sign of the limas or basil, but the zucchini are growing like crazy and the carrots are there as well. (I’m concerned we will have an overabundance of zucchini—we have about 5 plants and I read online later than 1 is good enough and will produce 7 to 10 pounds of zucchini…). We also have raspberry bushes which produce each year but usually mostly get eaten by the birds.

We had gotten a few berries though, and I went out yesterday morning to check…all gone. But I noticed, hmm, the green bean plants are drooping quite a lot, why is that? And lo and behold, beans were ready!

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This may not be that exciting to some of you, but I always pooh-poohed the idea of a garden in the past because it seemed too time consuming. This year I knew I had more time, and so far so good! I really haven’t put much effort into it after the initial planting which took a couple hours total. (That was also my plan: low maintenance, keep track of what works and doesn’t, so that looking to the future we can maintain the garden with low effort as I’ll likely be busier in future summers).

I went back later and also got a few swiss chard and beet leaves to eat, so we made a lovely dinner with some salmon from Imperfect Foods.

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I’m hoping we will get more beans. The internet tells me more grow after you pick them. They were very tasty! And I’ll have to check into the beets soon, it’s hard to know how something is growing when it’s underground, any tips?

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Tomorrow we are getting some lovely produce in our CSA box, so that will make up for the dearth of produce at the grocery store tomorrow. I’m trying to eat down a few things in our pantry with added fresh vegetables. We stocked up a few months ago (like most of you!) and now we want to cycle through some things so we don’t have too many things just sitting around forever.

Another really cool thing going on this week is I’m taking an online Suzuki Teacher Seminar (for violin teachers). We had one class yesterday morning and it was wonderful: inspiring and educational. Tomorrow is the next class and I am looking forward to it. I love that this is an opportunity we haven’t had in the past that has only happened because of the pandemic…I don’t like to be that person finding good things about the pandemic, because no matter what it would be better if it never happened or was properly dealt with, but it’s good to focus on the positive. I love learning more about teaching (I always have more to learn) and I already tried to apply a few of the things we talked about. I’m not a real Suzuki teacher, but I take a lot of the principles into my teaching.

I’m feeling finally like I’m relaxed again. I have been burned out for a long time and just pushing through. I don’t want to feel more relaxed now than in normal times, but yet I do. I worry that my students are growing less happy with online lessons and will want to have in person lessons before I’m comfortable with them: one of my schools in the fall is definitely online due to the small spaces, but I’m feeling a bit pressured (perhaps only in my head, as we were told it was a choice, but for reasons I am feeling pressured) to teach in person at the other school in the fall. I know ultimately it’s up to me, but as you know, sometimes the decisions we make lead to much less income, so that’s always part of the decision making process. So I’m relaxed, but I’m also still worrying Smile

How are you doing? What’s your area doing as far as “getting back to normal” and “pretending the pandemic isn’t real?”

Farewell Tour

I read a tweet that called Trump’s rally in Tulsa the beginning of his Farewell Tour. Oh let it be so.

I was thinking about my last post, and I did want to add: I am fine with all the plans changing…I recognize the privilege that Louie and I have, to be able to work quite successfully from home (if you ignore the fact that I am also a performer, and miss that). But yet, I can be understanding and still be sad for what might have been, and what might be or might not be. I can wish the pandemic wasn’t going on while being grateful that no one in my close circle has gotten sick.

It’s hard to know what to do. And that’s okay, I’m okay with the worries. I don’t need to be one of those white people who has all the answers who is on facebook lecturing others (while perhaps, not wanting to live in a diverse neighborhood “because of the schools”)—in fact I definitely don’t want to be that person. I also don’t want to be jumping down other people’s throats for being late to the party, yet I’m also not going to rallies or protests because I am still trying to stay away from large groups of people. So I’m thinking, I’m assigning my students pieces written by Black composers (but it’s been ragtime and jazz stuff, which I worry isn’t enough), I’m reading a variety of books (but are they the right ones?), and I’m donating a bit of money here and there (but is it enough and since I mention it here is that patting myself on the back?), and I’m continuing to nag my Senators and other elected officials as I have been for a few years now. But I’m writing this silly blog, and who does that help besides me?

I had a short teaching week this past week and my students were all pretty delightful. I think being out of school has been great for them mentally…most of them seemed to really hate online learning. I don’t know what the fall will bring though, and I think that anybody who claims to is lying. Remember February, when all of this would have been incomprehensible? And then March happened, and then on March 11 everything changed (at least that was the date everything started getting canceled for us in St Louis). So to think that in JUNE we know what August will look like is absolutely ridiculous to me. I understand trying to prepare and plan of course, and there’s nothing I love more than preparing and planning.

Anyway, just a lot of random thoughts, as you might expect if you are a long time reader of the blog! Let me leave you during this crazy time with some cat pictures. Throughout all the worries and troubles, isn’t it great to have pets?

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The cat trees are in a sort of “extra” or “Junk” room. My house has a kind of weird setup (I’m sure I’ve mentioned the kitchen is in the basement, for instance) and this room is a room I walk through all the time en route somewhere else but it’s really not good for much because it’s sort of small, and well, has a lot of junk in it. I’ve thought about different ideas for it, but honestly, cat trees, bookshelves, file cabinets and such are pretty good ones. I would still love to have slightly less junk but some of the stuff I wished I’d gotten rid of has come in handy over the past few months, whether actually or mentally.

Anyway, I’d better go. Time to go outside for awhile and enjoy that whole fresh air thing…later tonight we are doing a socially distanced gathering with another couple. It’s always funny: we tend to eat quite late, usually between 8 and 9 pm but hardly anybody else does, so “normal” dinner times always really seem to cut into the day! Even in the pandemic times Louie and I are trying to pack too much into the day. (We also just see dinner often as the last thing of the day, dinner, maybe a little TV or a walk, and then bedtime. I think other people have dinner, more activities, snack, etc.)