Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Six

It’s week six of social distancing and the weeks are bleeding into one another. We still have a regular weekday work routine and we look forward to the weekends, but those are mostly a blur of relaxing at home. As far as we are aware, we still don’t know anyone who has contracted the virus.

This Monday, Colorado shifted from “stay at home” orders to “safer at home” and certain areas of our city were supposed to try opening up, however, I’ve not noticed any changes. Governor Polis announced that Colorado was joining a pact with the western states and this made me feel optimistic. I’m worried about the states that are pushing to reopen. I’m shocked that Georgia thinks that including places like bowling alleys and movie theaters in their initial reopening phase is a good idea. Seriously?

We saw news footage of an airplane that was full and several people were not wearing masks. I’m not sure why masks are not enforced. Jet Blue did announce that they will enforce wearing masks on flights. I wish other places would do this, specifically grocery stores. It’s not a big deal and everyone should get on board with it.

And about the grocery stores. There is news about the supply chain breaking due to the meat processing plant closures that has me worried. I’m not worried about missing meat. I can eat vegetarian, no big deal. I mainly have this anxiety about people hoarding food again and empty shelves. During our last trip to the store, things were mostly back to normal. I hope this news doesn’t cause another round of panic shopping. The sense of panic increases my anxiety. Mostly, my anxiety is under control. I don’t need to go back to weird anxiety dreams.

We are still among a handful of neighbors wearing masks on our walks. Luckily, we don’t encounter many people during our evening exercise. It feels pretty safe and we are cautious. We took our face covers down for a quick moment to catch a picture of us in front of the community club house that is being constructed. I’m not sure if we are going to be able to enjoy the pool this summer, but it is exciting to think that we will have one in our neighborhood! With our bandanas down, we look like we’ve gone from “bank robbers” to “ready to enjoy bbq at the hoe-down.” So versatile!

A few dramatic weather shots from this week. It rained, we had a small amount of slushy snow, and we also experienced the hottest day of the year. Actually, the hottest day since we moved to Colorado - about 80 degrees! I miss California, so it was heavenly.

The kitchen experiments continued with making shepherd’s pie using a Colman’s seasoning mix from England. The meat leaked through to the mash topping. It isn’t pretty, but it was tasty. Dan even said that it tasted authentic. That’s high praise.

Dan purchased the biggest tub of Branston Pickle from the British Food Depot. We have quite the collection British food items in our cupboard. We might need to open a shop. The “erase-a-hole” is to show perspective. We have holes from home renovation projects. Being stuck at home is leading to a variety of projects.

Using left over chocolate cake, strawberry syrup, and ice cream, Dan made sundaes. Also, I call them “sprinkles” and Dan called them “hundreds and thousands.”

We left the house twice this week. We headed to Tipsy’s Liquor World (best name ever) to stock up on bourbon, gin and beer. We own several cocktail recipe books that have never been used, so we opened one up and made a “New Yorker”. It was tasty, sort of…really strong and not quite as elegant as the photo in the book. We need more practice! Challenge accepted!

Our second outing was to satisfy a craving for Panda Express. I know. I don’t even really like Panda Express, but I was craving their food specifically, not just Chinese food. We created a mobile order and went to pick it up. We decided that I would go in to collect it. I was impressed with the measures they took to maintain safety. They had one entrance for mobile orders and another for walk-ins. The whole restaurant was blocked off and a new register area was created, so that no one except staff was near the kitchen or buffet islands. The employees stayed more than six feet away, had masks, and dropped food off on a pick-up table. Although a few other customers were in the store, they kept their distance and all but one, wore masks. I felt safe. I also picked up dessert at LaMar’s Donuts, located in the same center as Panda Express. LaMars Donuts had similar safety procedures.

One situation where I did not feel safe occurred in our own home and I feel stupid for allowing it to happen. Prior to the restrictions, we had scheduled a contractor to fit a radon fan in our basement. We agreed to keep the appointment and he showed up with another employee, neither wore masks. We wore our masks, kept distant, and I wiped down all of the surfaces when they left, but I should have insisted that they wear masks. It’s a foolish risk, especially in our home. I do feel happy to have the radon fan, as that was a worry. Now we can move forward with using our basement for more than storage.

We watched season two of Ricky Gervais’ After Life. I cried every single episode. Buckets. It is both desperately sad and incredibly hopeful. Lovely and compassionate. Hilarious and irreverent. If you can handle the tears, it is the perfect show right now.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, we rented Hustlers. It was entertaining and even more so, since it is based on true events. A crazy story. The biggest take-away is we both could not believe how stunning Jennifer Lopez looks. She’s gorgeous, more gorgeous than her much younger co-stars.

We also watched a heavy, depressing documentary about the environment called Planet of the Humans. It brings up important issues, but it is a lot to handle right now. It didn’t leave me feeling hopeful. it drained me. That said, I love the news about the environment beginning to heal while we are stuck at home. I’m sure that us humans will screw it up again when we get the chance, but maybe not completely. Maybe this will change us for the better too. I hope so.

The best entertainment this week came from Tom. We put a video of a mouse running around the tv screen and he went into action.

Tom was also the star of a card that my friend Julie sent to me. She discovered a company called Punk Post, who create customized, hand drawn cards. This card was sent in honor of Tom, who has not taken to litter box training. I have to watch him and give him the stink-eye to get him to use his box. He’s an obstinate kitten.

We had zoom cocktails with a different friend named Julie and her husband Ryan. Julie and Ryan just joined us in moving from California to Colorado and since we cannot celebrate in person, they gave us a tour of their beautiful new home! Joyful things are happening!

Ending with happy on more cat pictures from this week. Tom claimed a toy box and I caught the two cuddling again.

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Five

Here we are in our fifth week of social distancing and we are still in a routine. It has been okay. I saw a quote, not sure who to attribute it to or if I’m remembering it correctly, but it was something along the lines of: “We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat.” This is so accurate. I don’t take it for granted that we have been very lucky during this situation. We still (as far as we are aware) do not know anyone who has gotten sick. To this end, we are doing our part and staying home.

We did venture out to the grocery store. It has been two weeks since our last shop. Our store was well-stocked and we were able to get everything that we wanted, including a huge bag of flour. We are trying to last another two weeks. Although the store was stocked and not very crowded, it was a different experience. This time, about 50-60% of people wore masks and actively practiced social distancing.

Among the people who were not wearing masks, some went out of their way to come close to us, closer than people would have under pre-virus circumstances. I couldn’t help but feel this was antagonistic. On the same day, many people were protesting the “stay at home” orders, including hundreds in Denver. I felt this growing sentiment of not just people wanting to do their own thing, but an aggression towards those who feel differently. It made me want to get home quickly.

I’m proud to say that a side-effect of the virus has been the way we use food in our household. We have been cooking every meal at home and really eating all of the leftovers. Food waste used to be a big problem for us, but we are using everything. I can’t say that we are eating healthier, as this week included homemade pizza, baking a cake, curry night with fried pompadums, and gnocchi with bolognase sauce.

Dan received an order of goodies from The British Food Depot and I got to try a Wagon Wheel. Wagon Wheels are similar to Moon Pies, but smaller and tastier. I love British snack food!

We started in on a new bag of coffee from Boca Java, my favorite roaster. I’m sharing because the bag has a funny and appropriate label. Also, Boca Java recently suffered a terrible loss when a fire destroyed their roasting facility. They are struggling to get back on their feet. It’s enough that we are all dealing with the virus, but a fire on top of that is a huge setback.

Cooking wasn’t our only project: Dan turned our gorgeous Timothy Oulton light pendant, into a floor light. Dan added the base. It is too heavy to hang, but having it on the floor is actually a great addition to our living room. We also took part in the third Timothy Oulton Los Angeles Lock Down event, where we were treated to a preview of new products.

We went on many walks, always sporting our bank robber bandana masks. Yesterday, cows congregated at the fence near our house, so we went to visit them.

We celebrated Earth Day this week and if there is one positive result of Covid-19, it is in many places the environment is healing. It seems to be healing in ways that simply wouldn’t have happened if we had not been forced to change our behavior.

The weather has been beautiful, but since our garden is still just dirt, we have been staying inside. I read a ton and Dan played video games. We Skyped with the kids. We watched more Schitt’s Creek, currently on season 3. We did a double-movie Saturday with Guy Richie’s The Gentlemen (great, worth watching, very funny) and The Impractical Joker’s Movie. We are huge fans of The Impractical Jokers, but the movie is a stinker. They have a few challenges like on their show, which are amusing, but it also has a strange storyline, which was totally unnecessary.

As I mentioned before, we are lucky and grateful for everything that we have, but that doesn’t mean that we are not allowed to feeling disappointment. If Covid-19 hadn’t happened, we would be in Las Vegas right now. This is actually the first time in Dan’s career that he has missed the NAB trade show and I have gone with him every year, since we have been together. When it was cold this winter, I was dreaming of our April trip, especially sunbathing poolside with umbrella drinks. I was looking forward to having the Chinese Chicken Salad at Chin-Chin and hanging out with my friend Cath. I know it’s just a trip to Vegas and we’ve been to Vegas a million times, but it is a disappointment. In light of that, here are some of my favorite pictures from previous Vegas trips, including our Aria Wedding.

And as usual, I will end with a picture of our two fur-babies. Now that we are always home, I’m not sure how they will handle it when we are finally allowed to start traveling again!

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Four

It’s week four of social distancing and things have become routine. It’s nice to have a sense of routine. Dan and I are both still busy with a full work schedule and our weekends have become a good mix of projects, down-time, and catching up with loved ones, especially my step-kids in Sweden.

As the number of infections and deaths increases, we feel relatively safe here in Littleton. A news report last night said that our local hospitals still had 70% capacity available and plenty of ventilators. This made me feel less stressed. Our healthcare professionals are definitely working hard, but it is not as dire here as it could be. I hope that doesn’t change. As far as we are aware, we still don’t know anyone who has become infected. I did have one student cancel a class due to a high fever and I had not heard back from her, so that is worrisome. She is Taiwan.

Generally, I’ve felt less stressed this week. I did have one stressed induced nightmare, where I had to
”scrub the virus” off of my body and I woke up with scratch marks all over my arms. Otherwise, I’ve been sleeping well. We have a week-night routine of the 10pm local news, followed by Stephen Colbert’s monologue, and then bed. We wake up around 6:30am and get our morning news at 7am with CBS This Morning. I am mesmerized by Gale King’s colorful wardrobe.

My biggest concern at the moment is actually Sweden. My step-kids live in Sweden and Sweden isn’t enacting strict social distancing measures. As far as I understand, they are recommending it, especially for older people, but they are not closing most businesses or schools. I’m not sure if their strategy will work and I see their infections/deaths climbing. I worry about my step-kids and their family in Sweden. On a less important note, I’m also worried that our upcoming summer vacation with them will have to be canceled. It’s not only about having a fun vacation ( and we have an amazing one booked, that we are holding-off on canceling), but it is mostly about missing the time with them. We don’t have very much time with them, so losing it, will be very hard. I do feel grateful that we live in a time when technology makes it so easy to connect virtually, but it isn’t the same.

So much virtual connecting this week. I’m a bit exhausted by it, but also grateful. I had a virtual happy hour with my friend Melissa in Oregon. We also participated in the second Timothy Oulton “Friday Night Los Angeles Lock Down.” This week, in addition to giving away prizes, they hosted a Q&A with Timothy Oulton, which was very interesting. It’s great to hear what inspired our favorite designer. I also listened to a virtual concert by Josh Ritter, called The Silo Sessions. He played his entire The Animal Years album, which is one of my all-time favorite albums. A Josh Ritter concert is exactly what I needed right now and there is something special about being invited into an artist’s actual home. I could hear Ritter’s wife and children in the background and he sat on the floor with his guitar. It was low key and very intimate.

We attended an important virtual meeting hosted by our community association that taught us how to prep our sprinkler system for spring/summer. We followed the steps and watered our little patch of lawn…but then we had to shut it down again, because snow came. Oh, Colorado, you weather tease!

We continued with the kitchen experiments. I caved and tried the viral sensation: whipped coffee. It was easy to make and very sweet. It reminded me of Thai iced coffee, more of a dessert drink.

Dan made an English Trifle to go with our Sunday roast dinner. We are lacking a proper trifle bowl, but made-do with a pyrex baking dish.

Dan baked amazing cinnamon raisin bread. Our house smelled so good!!!

Another big accomplishment was physically moving our Timothy Oulton Rex Mirror to a new spot in the house. This was a big deal because it is incredibly heavy and took five men to lift it when we moved to Colorado, but somehow, we managed to do it ourselves on Saturday. In a super hero moment, Dan took the weight of the entire mirror and stood it up. It was like I was trapped under a car and he had to lift it to save me- that kind of strength. Here is a cute picture of Tom in front of the mirror.

During a clean-out of unpacked moving boxes in our garage, we hit the jackpot.

This week we watched a few long-anticipated movies. First, we finally watched Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. I’m not a huge fan of the Star Wars franchise, but it seemed like a must-see, especially as we have a trip to Walt Disney World planned. It was better than I had anticipated. Last night, we finally watched Cats.

Cats…I kind of loved it. I know it isn’t very good and it’s truly bizarre, but I liked that Victoria was made a protagonist ( she is a minor character in the stage musical) and Francesca Hayward who plays her, gives a moving performance. It’s all-around weird and the music sounds dated, yet I found myself in tears at the end. I was moved. I think it might be a bit of nostalgia. Cats was my first Broadway show that I saw as a child and I thought it was magical. I’m not sure why the movie made me so emotional, but maybe it was a feeling of sadness for theatres being closed or nostalgia for a different, easier time. I also got torn up by the abandonment story line and thinking of how we rescued our kitties. I also had been drinking gin. Who knows what triggered me, but I was definitely triggered.

I do know that this episode of This American Life, also sums up my fascination with the whole damn thing. Clearly, E.J Dixon is my long-lost sister.

Speaking of cats…here are some cat pictures from this week. Highlights include the cats watching the snow, including Tom trying to catch snowflakes by jumping at the glass. Tom also helped Dan build his new driving simulator chair. I love the picture of Tom and Slinky taking turns at their food bowl. They need to work on their social distancing skills.

Sunday was Easter. We don’t normally do anything special to celebrate Easter, but we did have a relaxing day at home. I read for hours, sitting in a chaise by the window, enjoying the falling snow and multiple cups of coffee. The cats cuddled with me. It was great.

I’m ending with a childhood Easter memory from the early 80’s. My mom always had Good Friday off and we would go to Disneyland. This lasted throughout my entire childhood, until my teen years. I always associate this time of year with Disneyland.

In the 80’s Disneyland had a promotion called “Thumpers Easter egg hunt,” where each child could pick a plastic egg that contained a prize. Most of the prizes were small, like a free soda or popcorn. I always wanted to win the stuffed animal- never did. The top prize was a return ticket to Disneyland and although that was the most rare prize, I managed to pick an egg with it for several years in a row. My mom was thrilled. I still wanted the stuffed animal.

Here I am with Thumper and my Dorothy Hamill hair style. I realize that it seems weird that I was wearing a sailor dress and Mary Janes to Disneyland, but this my style. I almost exclusively wore dresses until I was in Junior High. This wasn’t an Easter thing. I’ve always leaned towards being fancy for any occasion.