Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Three

It has been another long week with new recommendations and many, many deaths. We keep hearing that it is going to get worse before it gets better, although there does seem to be a hint of positive news that social distancing is making an impact. I feel hopeful.

We moved to Colorado in November and I have to admit that I know nothing about our Governor, Jared Polis or Denver mayor, Michael Hancock. I don’t know their party affiliations or if I agree with most of their politics, however, just judging them from how they are handling the pandemic, I feel confident in their bold and decisive leadership. Both of these men are sending out a strong message to our state and they are taking necessary action to protect Coloradans. As with the rest of the world, Colorado is in a crisis, but I feel relatively safe here or at least, less panicked because of our leaders.

I wish I could say the same for the federal government. Trump’s lack of leadership is terrifying and maddening. In my mind, the biggest mistake will be allowing states to make their own decisions regarding social distancing. State’s rights are a huge part of our American identity, but in these very usual times, I wish the president would take control and do what is needed to protect lives. We should have a clear and consistent message about what we can and cannot do to contain this.

I understand that some places have a much lower infection rate, but those places can easily turn into the next hot spot. I understand that closures are not only an economic hardship, but actually devastating to some, but still, if we all act together in a coordinated effort, perhaps we can get to our “new normal” faster with less lives lost.

I’m angry at the people who still refuse to take this seriously. Two days ago, our governor issued a new recommendation that face coverings be worn whenever you leave your house. We got the green-light from our neighbors who are doctors and huge Survivor fans, to use Survivor buff’s as our make-shift face-coverings. Yes, they are buff’s from the China season. It’s what we have. Thank you to my friend Ernest, who gave these to me many years ago. Prior to repurposing them as masks, I wore them nearly every day as a headband!

We’ve been wearing them for our walks in the adjacent fields near our housing estate. It has been just us and the cows.

Many of our neighbors are making masks for the community, so this is hopeful. However, many people are not wearing them while walking around our neighborhood. Many people still stand too close to their neighbors for chats or allow kids from different families to play together. I know it’s hard, but this is so frustrating.

We’ve had some craziness on our community Facebook page. One incident involved parents removing caution tape from our community playground and letting their kids on the equipment. When confronted, they went on the defensive. I know this situation is extra difficult on kids, but that isn’t an excuse to blatantly disregard safety measures.

A new recommendation was released to try to limit grocery store visits to every two weeks. We went on Monday night and tried to stock-up for two weeks. I think we will be good, but we might run out of fresh produce towards the end. We use Royal Crest for weekly dairy delivery, so that has been helpful. The grocery store was mostly stocked (no toilet paper/cleaning supplies/pasta). The only items we couldn’t get that we wanted were fresh spinach and avocados. No big deal. Only half of the shoppers wore masks and a few were not great about keeping their distance. None of the workers had masks.

I worry for the workers in high risk jobs. I feel like doing our part, helps them stay safe. I don’t want to wear a mask, limit my shopping trips, or take forever in the store, but I also don’t want to spread Covid 19 if I'm infected and asymptomatic. There is no reasonable excuse for not following guidelines to protect your fellow citizens. None.

Speaking of which, I’m really tired of misinformation and conspiracy theories. Several of my students have brought up the idea that covid 19 was bioengineered by China. One guy in Brazil told me that he dumped his two cats on the street, so that they couldn’t infect him. As a animal lover, my heart broke to hear this. Most of my social media connections are united in staying home, but one former coworker has been loudly spreading the news that raw veganism makes him immune. He won’t wear masks or practice social distancing. It’s ridiculous.

We are still healthy and employed. As far as I am aware, we still don’t know anyone who is infected. We have settled into a bit of a routine at home and we are trying to make the best of the situation.

We’ve been using our kitchen, a lot. The food highlights from this week include: An English style breakfast with sautéed mushrooms, English roast dinner ( with the “yummiest beef ever” that Dan spiced up with hot sauce), Dan’s homemade bread, and I made lemon-raspberry muffins. We are eating well and should exercise more!

We’ve also been socializing on zoom and FaceTime. Quite honestly, I’m socialize far more now, that I did before the virus. We had cocktails with our friend’s Valerie and Bryan in Big Bear. On Friday night, we were invited to take part in a customer appreciation event through Timothy Oulton, our favorite designer! We had drinks and celebrated our favorite brand with other Oulton enthusiasts. Timothy himself was on the call and they raffled off a gorgeous sofa. On Sunday afternoon, I had a two hour zoom call with my writing feedback group. It was the first time meeting everyone and I feel hopeful that this could be the start of a great writing relationship. I’ve connected with friends on the phone, through text, and with good old-fashioned snail mail letters! Feeling connected has not been a problem. It is exhausting!

We only took the car out once, to go to the grocery store, but when out, we filled up the tank. The prices were not even this low when I started driving in the mid-90’s!

We finally watched Star Wars: The Rise of Sky Walker and we are on season three of Schitt’s Creek. We also discovered a great Netflix documentary series based on the movie Chef. We loved the movie- you should watch it. The series takes a different format with Jon Favreau and Roy Choi exploring cooking techniques with different chefs. The first episodes in the series are filmed at various Las Vegas restaurants and they definitely made me ache for a foodie vacation.

My heart hurt to hear the news of John Prine’s passing. He was such a talented song writer and musician.

I’m going to end on a positive note with our kitten, Tom. He is such a cuddle monster and loves being held on his back for tummy rubs.

Ooh and check out my roots. I haven’t had my hair cut or colored since we moved and I was well over-due before everything closed. I think it might be a dicey idea to attempt a home fix, so we will see how bad the progression gets over the next weeks or months. When this is over, a full spa day is on the agenda!

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Two

It has been just over two weeks since we started strong social distancing measures in Denver. The restaurants shut-down the first week and by the second week, we were advised to limit our grocery runs to once a week, using extreme caution. Going to the grocery store is like playing a game of “don’t step on the cracks,” as we try to maintain that six feet of personal space. Today, we needed to go to the bank and the lobby was locked. We had to do our banking via a video chat and pneumatic tube. The pneumatic tube was surprisingly delightful and seemed old-fashioned.

We stay inside, except for our daily walks around the neighborhood. We wave to neighbors who maintain their distance and gripe about those who are still gathering in groups. It’s frustrating to see the lack of awareness or concern. I get pissed-off. But on the positive, I get to enjoy our beautiful, new neighborhood with my husband. I get to hold his hand, breath fresh air, and get exercise. Yesterday, we saw horses in a field and the sunsets are stunning. This is our new neighborhood and it is gorgeous.

Generally, I’m an upbeat, overly optimistic person. Truthfully, it’s probably pretty annoying to many, but it is my way of coping with difficult times. I’ve been trying to stay in my happy bubble amid the pandemic. I’ve been reading a lot, watching movies, reaching out to family/friends, cooking, going on long walks, cuddling my cats, cuddling my husband, et… I’ve been trying to hold it together.

I’ve been an ESL tutor on a website called Cambly for over a year and a half. I tutor people from around the world and the weird thing is how everyone is in a similar situation. My students come from Taiwan, Bahrain, Brazil, Denmark, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Guatemala, Russia, Singapore, India, China…so many places and mostly, we are all stuck at home, our grocery stores are low on supplies, and we are scared.

Coronavirus is the hot topic on Cambly. Students in Asia want to know why we don’t all wear masks? People wonder about Trump. Most really wonder what the hell is going on the United States, many not believing the dire situation that our health care workers face. It seems for as bad as it might be in their own countries, they cannot imagine a reality where it can be bad in America. It makes me feel helpless and I lack answers.

Last week, a student in Taiwan took me on a tour of a night market. It was thriving. This made me hopeful and wistful. It sounds silly, since less than a month ago, we were out shopping and eating in restaurants, but that time feels very much in the past. My heart hurt to see the night market, because I miss being in a crowded city. I’m a city girl to the core. Again, it has only been two weeks, but I already feel mournful for what has changed and for how long this might continue.

Dan and I are very fortunate to have stable jobs and the ability to work from home. If anything, we are busier than normal due to the virus. Our housing situation is also very stable. We are very blessed. Although, so far, I do not know anyone who has contracted Covid 19 (as far as I’m aware), I do know many people who have been hit financially, some in a desperate way. Many lay-offs and furloughs. Businesses shuttered, hopefully a temporary situation. Even though our situation is okay, the collective stress is weighing on me. It’s hard to go on social media and see the impact on people I know.

Mostly, I’ve been okay, staying in my little bubble, but a few times I’ve had extreme anxiety. The first time it hit me was just before we began social distancing. The stock market had tanked (along with everyone else, we lost a ton of money) and the reality that this was getting bad finally sunk-in. It was the last time we were able to visit our local gym and we went around 7pm on a Thursday, when it is usually crowded. Dan nearly hit a coyote on the drive there, slammed on the brakes and jangled my nerves. When we walked into Snap Fitness, we were completely alone. I started crying and couldn’t stop. All of the televisions had different news stations, my eyes bounced between CNN and Fox as I rode the stationary bike. Normally, we would be thrilled to have an empty gym, but on this night it was creepy. We left early.

I felt the same emotions that I felt when I learned that my mom had terminal cancer. The same pressure on my chest and a wave of feeling physically weak passed through my body. It’s hard to explain, but it was a very specific physical sensation that I’ve only had on a few occasions.

We went to Safeway after and there were only a couple people shopping. The store was fully stocked and the other shoppers were piling up their carts. One person had a cart full of bottled water. Did we need to get bottled water? We didn’t, but it made us question our preparedness. We felt panicked and although we certainly didn’t hoard, we did buy some funny, “just in case” shelf-stable items that we normally would never have touched. The panic is contagious. We went to the store a few days later and the shelves were bare.

Shopping hasn’t been all terrible. We are eating well and we have plenty of everything we need or want. My mom always taught me to keep extra toilet paper/cleaning supplies/et…so it was normal that we had a small surplus. I was most worried about getting fresh fruits and veggies, but those are plentiful. We have a milk delivery service, which is running as normal. The main thing that is different is the anxiety of going to the store. We go once a week, we plan ahead, and we are nervous of other people. There are many heroes in our society right now, of course medical professionals, but also people who work to keep our groceries stores open, including farmers and truckers. I’m so grateful. We have one elderly lady who is a checker at our store. I worry for her.

I think we are also really fortunate to live on the outskirts of town, which also means that our grocery store isn’t slammed. We’ve never had to wait in a line to enter or truly worry about access to food. Many restaurants are offering delivery. Neighbors are quick to offer help. Things are mostly okay so far.

I’ve had strange dreams and restless sleep. Prior to the virus, I would occasionally get “bug dreams.” Dreams, where I would wake-up in the middle of the night, certain that there was a spider in the bed or even that someone was in the room. In the last week, I’ve had two with a different tone. In one dream, I had to wipe down our bed because of the virus and when I woke up, the bed was full of Kleenex and the tissue box was on my nightstand. I vaguely remember walking into the bathroom and going through the motions, half aware that it was a dream and half certain that it was real.

Two nights ago, we watched the movie Vivarium. Normally movies don’t affect me, but this one absolutely got to me. It’s not even a great movie. Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg play a couple who get trapped in a supernatural model home community and must raise a very creepy baby. That night, I had a dream that I was being tied-up with some supernatural, laser rope and being tortured. I was half asleep and woke Dan up to tell him that someone was in the house and that I was being tied-up by a “supernatural rope.” Imagine your wife saying that- I freaked him out!

No more creepy movies. My imagination is too wild right now.

John Oliver and Stephen Colbert have been making us laugh. I appreciate that they are back, even if it is a little awkward without the audience. They are owning the awkward and just moving forward.

I’m nervous to see what the next few weeks will hold, but if I directly look at my life at this moment, I have more than I need. We are healthy and together. Our family and friends around the world are currently healthy. I’m trying to stay optimistic that social distancing will start to show a positive impact. I also feel optimistic that as this is a problem affecting the whole world, that the best minds from every country, scientists and doctors, are all working to find treatments, hopefully a cure. I’m optimistic that the economy will recover, but not without altering many lives and causing trauma first.

I’ll end with a recent picture from an afternoon walk around our neighborhood. Colorado has amazing clouds!

Obligatory New Year's Resolutions Post: 2020

It’s time for my annual New Year’s Resolution’s post. If you are part of my life or have read my 2019 wrap-up, you’ll know that it has been a hell of a year for us. Life was more complicated than usual and I lost sight of many of my resolutions, including keeping a consistent blog schedule. Luckily, the last month has brought a lot of calm and I have a great feeling about 2020.

Let’s take a look at the goals that I set for myself in 2019.

1. Create a writing schedule with a focus on the revisions for my novel. - Semi-successful. For several months during the first half of the year, I kept on track with writing in the mornings. I made a lot of progress. I owe much of this to a new habit that I created. I began to write a list of small goals on a sheet of paper and leaving it on a clean desk with my computer, so that I was ready to work in the morning. I plan on going with this strategy in the new year.

2. Attend a Writing Conference = I was registered and had begun to travel to the AWP Conference in Portland, when we found out that my mother-in-law was critically ill. We canceled our plans and fly to England. I was disappointed to miss the conference, but family comes first.

3. Maintain a blogging schedule=Semi-successful in the early part of the year and then it fell apart. This was one of my worst blogging years, since I have started “Always Packed for Adventure.” Thank you for sticking with me, it will get better!

4. Read 60 books or more = Big fail. I only read 26 books this year. Unbelievable and so out of character. I didn’t count literary journals or magazines, which I also read. I also recently discovered audio books and those are not included. Michelle Obama’s Becoming was fabulous to listen to in her own voice.

5. Track food and get to a healthy weight = Lasted three months and lost some weight, but then put it all back on and then some. This was made extra difficult by all of our traveling and moving.

6. Track steps and be mindful about exercise -See above.

7. Visit a new country, state or major city = Traveled a ton in 2019- Sweden, England (twice), the Big Island of Hawaii…I had been to all of these places. I did add Colorado and New Mexico as new states. I also visited different parts of Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. In my home state of California, I visited Death Valley National Park and Yosemite National Park for the first time. We also went to Sequoia National Park, which I had not visited since I was five. I spent a total of 107 nights in hotel rooms last year! That sounds nuts, until I realized that my husband, with all of his work trips, spent over 200. I love traveling, but more nights in our new home, is what I’m aiming for in 2020.

8. Scan in old-family photos and documents-Success! I’ve done about 80% of this and I’m really happy.

9. Continue to work on family Genealogy project = Success and I look to work on this more deeply in 2020.

10. Work More, Save More, Spend Less = Semi success. I think this will be much easier to achieve in 2020.

I’m fairly happy with what I achieved, especially with all of the upheaval in 2019. Now the fun part: setting goals for 2020. Many of them are the same, with a few additions and tweaks.

Maintain a creative writing schedule: Work on novel and other non-blog writing for a minimum of five hours a week. If I know I am traveling, make sure to work ahead to meet this goal. The ultimate goal is to finally begin looking for an agent.
Blog: Commit to two blog posts a week and catch-up on old book/travel reviews.
Attend a Writing Conference
Read a Minimum of 50 books.
Start my Youtube Idea: Keeping quite for now, but I have a business idea for YouTube, which ties into my tutoring job.
Start my Podcast =. I have the equipment, I have a name, and I have a solid plan. I hope to get this going in the the first quarter of 2019.
Maintain Going to the Gym =. Dan just bought us gym memberships and I’m hoping that we can get this to become a routine. We both need the exercise and to shed a few pounds. I’d also like to get better, build up to a longer, more intense cardio workout. I love strength training and pilates, but I currently avoid cardio.
Maintain Food Log = Be aware of what we are eating and focus on eating more sensibly. This always works when I need to focus on my health.
Achieve and Maintain good Blood Test Results = Earlier this week, my annual blood test came back with high triglycerides ( a problem I’ve had throughout my life) and prediabetes (a new and scary diagnosis.) I need to do my best to focus on healthy eating and exercise to change these issues. This is definitely the most urgent and vital resolution of 2020.
Visit a new country, state, or major city.
Finish Scanning photos and documents - this should be easy to accomplish. It just feels great to know that precious photos are backed up on the computer.
Add several new recipes to our repertoire. We can throw a great dinner party meal, but we usually resort to the same tricks..I’m looking at you, English roast dinner! I’d love to expand and be more creative in the kitchen.