Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Nine

Week nine…whoa.

Things are getting confusing with the loosening of restrictions. More businesses are open and most people are wearing masks. Pretty much every store asks people to wear masks, but they do nothing to enforce the policy and there are those who refuse to comply, yet still shop. This is frustrating, but I can understand the hard position of the people working at the stores and store owners. The bizarre politics regarding masks has made for a tense environment. People have died from trying to enforce the rules. It’s crazy.

We went to Lowes last week to buy a new BBQ and maybe 90% of the people had on masks and were careful about distancing. To those who went mask-less, I was muttering “A**hole” as I passed them. I just don’t understand the resistance.

As far as I know, my friend’s aunt is the only person in my extended circle that has become infected. Truthfully, it is feeling like things are less serious, but I also don’t want to be naive and let my guard down. I’m still hopeful that we will be able to see the kids this summer.

Back to the BBQ…it ‘s great. I’ve missed having a BBQ. Dan spent Saturday evening building it and on Sunday, we feasted on steak. Heaven. We also got all of our new deck furniture from American Furniture Warehouse, including a table with a fire pit.

The weather was hot and summery all weekend and we spent it in our new garden. We had cocktails and sunbathed. It might be as close as we get to taking a vacation this year, but it certainly wasn’t shabby.

The garden is enclosed with a fence, so our indoor cats were allowed to enjoy it. They explored everything,

Tom proved to be quite the hunter and went after every bug, although I’m not sure that he managed to actually catch anything. Either way, it was cute, especially when he pounced like a rabbit.

Most of our neighbors have dogs, and the cats were fearless, actually wanting to go up to the fence to meet them. Luckily, all of the dogs proved to be friendly. We have to be careful of Slinky, because he is agile enough to jump the fence. Tom is too fat to escape.

I learned that the saying: “It’s just like riding a bicycle,” is bullshit.

Dan bought us bicycles last week and we have been riding nearly every night. The first two days I was pitiful. I rode a bicycle as a kid, but couldn’t remember what to do. I skidded along, rode at a snail’s pace, and freaked out every time I went over a small bump or a car came near me. I was so nervous.

It was much harder than I thought it would be. Part of the reason that I was so edgy, is about fifteen years ago, I did the “Muddy Buddy” race with my ex-husband. In the race, we worked as a team, alternating riding a bike and running, with difficult obstacles at various check-points where we switched off. The race was labeled as something that basically anyone could accomplish.

Lies!!!!

I decided to bike ride the first leg and it included a steep, downhill mountain biking portion. I had never done mountain biking and I saw a guy, clearly someone who was an experienced cyclist, wipe out in front of me. He was covered in blood with a tree branch piercing through his leg. He had to be evacuated. I got off the bike and walked it the rest of the way, shaking. Also, my randomly assigned race number was 666. I’m not superstitious, but maybe the universe was trying to tell me something?

Now my biking confidence is back and I’m enjoying our rides. The next improvement will be a better seat, which Dan purchased for us today. No more sore bottoms!

Last week when I blogged, the Survivor: Winners at War finale had not aired. I’m happy to report that my contestant pick in our bet with the neighbors, won- Tony!!! The neighbors have to make me a Mai Tai. Despite having to scale back on the fanfare, it was a great finale.

We haven’t been watching much TV, but we did watch the horror movie Fantasy Island. Based on the premise, I had really wanted to see this movie. It was a disappointment. Good concept, but the story was weak. The tone was odd; not true horror, more screwball comedy and heavy drama. It could have been great, but it suffered from not knowing what type of movie it wanted to be.

I was busy on Zoom, with the second half of my grammar class on Saturday and a meeting with my new writer’s group on Sunday.

When we were out, we took pictures of the low gas prices. If we are able to go on our road trip this summer, this will be great.

I usually close with cute cat pictures, but this time, I’m sharing a funny picture of me. Today, we had Chipotle for the first time since pre-Covid. And check out that quarantine hair and eye-brows. My next trip to the salon will like getting a complete make-over. You won’t recognize me!

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Eight

I cannot believe that it has been two months. Oddly enough, this week things seemed to be a bit more normal. Yesterday, Dan had a dermatologist appointment that was made months ago, before the everything closed and the office didn’t cancel it. I went with him, although I stayed in the car during his appointment.

Afterwards, we went to American Furniture Warehouse to pick out new garden furniture. The store is massive, like a Costco for furniture and they were rigid with social distancing/safety protocols. We had our masks on, as did everyone else and I felt safe shopping. They gave us branded bottled water and we spotted the owner (tiger guy) walking around the store. It wasn’t very busy, more staff than customers.

In the evening, we went to a local bike shop (Pedal in Littleton) and Dan bought us two new bikes. Again, safety protocols were in place and we didn’t even enter the store. The employees brought everything out to the parking lot. It was a bit strange, since we couldn’t browse through the bikes, but also maybe it was better, since the employee gave us customized service based on our needs. I was able to test ride the bikes too. I’ve never been a fan of bicycling, so I was reluctant, but Dan’s enthusiasm has made me excited to give this new form of exercise a chance. My bike is beautiful and so easy to ride. We are waiting for Dan’s bike to be built, so when we have both of them, I will post pictures. We should have them both by this weekend.

Yesterday felt normal, because people were out doing things, getting back to life. The streets were busier and as we drove past businesses, parking lots were full. I estimate that 95% of the people we saw were following social distancing guidelines and wearing masks. This filled me with hope. That said, we also had local news reports of restaurants deciding to defy orders and serve indoors for Mother’s Day. The news reports were shocking, as these restaurants were completely full with no distancing and masks. I can empathize with business owners who need the business, but this is not okay. Ultimately, I think the actions of the few who decided to be defiant will slow down the overall progress of reopening, plus could even kill people. It’s horrible.

On a lighter note, this week continued to be personally productive and had several highlights.

Our garden is nearly done! It looks amazing and by next week, I should be able to share the completed project with our new furniture. Dan was really excited about the mini digger parked outside of our house. Here are pictures of the progress.

A little less with the kitchen experiments this week. Dan made crepes and I made a curry.

On Saturday morning, I took a three hour zoom grammar course through the Gotham Writer’s Workshop. My grammar skills are decent, but I definitely learned a lot during this intensive class. It was worth taking. The second half of the course is this coming Saturda and I was given homework.

I entered the NYC Midnight Microfiction Challenge. At midnight (eastern standard time) on Friday, I was given my information for the first heat. There are three heats over the next three months. I had twenty-four hours to write a 100 word story that must be in the comedy genre, must involve the action of “lighting a fire,” and must include the word “sleep.” At first, I was daunted by the parameters that I was randomly assigned. It took some playing around with ideas to land on the right one. I ended up very pleased with my entry. It’s a little niche, but hopefully the judges will like it. The concept made Dan laugh and that was priceless. If I advance to the next round, I will share my first entry.

Last night, I attended my first “Virtual Book Signing.” It was hosted by our local book chain, Tattered Cover and was to promote Mikel Jollett’s memoir, Hollywood Park. I’m a huge fan of Jollett, the frontman of The Airborne Toxic Event. Truth be told, he’s a celebrity crush of mine. I love his song writing and his voice. I’ve been to many Airborne concerts and his music is the epitome of Los Angeles. I had been very excited to attend this event live, but virtual was the next best thing. Jollett spoke and sang for about ninety minutes and then took questions. He was raw, emotional, and gracious. I loved hearing him read from his memoir. He made me cry and I felt homesick for Los Angeles. Just really beautiful stuff. I also get an autographed copy of Hollywood Park, which will be mailed in a few weeks.

Tonight is the season finale of Survivor: Winners at War. This has been an epic season and Dan has even been watching it with me from the beginning. This is his first season of Survivor. We discovered that our neighbors are also big fans and we watched the season premiere at their house. Unfortunately, we have not been able to watch the other episodes with them, but mid-season, we did decide to make a friendly wager. We each picked four players and the person with the last player standing gets to choose a cocktail, which the first person out will make. So far, we all have a player still in the game and the hope of one of our players returning from The Edge of Extinction. I have Tony left in the game and Pavarti/Yul/Sophie on the edge. She wasn’t my pick, but I think Natalie has the best shot at making it back from Extinction. She was the first vote out, but she has been phenomenal on the edge.

We will be watching live tonight for the three hour finale! Dan had these mugs made and we gave a pair to our neighbors.

Cows visited our neighborhood several times this week. I could hear them mooing from inside of our house. I love it! They were hang out in a giant field at the end of our street and I went to visit them at sunset.

And of course some cute cat pictures.

The one where Slinky is eating and Tom is looking at the camera was a funny moment. Slinky is old and skinny, so we have been giving him extra food. Tom gobbled up his small portion and was feeling sorry for himself, because Slinky was still eating. He even tried “petting” Slinky gently on the head, but Slinky was not about to share!

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Seven

I’ve been thinking a lot about 2019.

2019 was a tough year for us. We lost my mother-in-law. We knew we were selling our home, but we didn’t know if we could easily sell it or where we would go next. We had a lot of expensive home repair projects before selling the house and it was stressful. We both kept getting sick and going to urgent care. We traveled, too much. Dan and I were apart, too much. It was all jarring. By contrast, 2020 has been good. We are settled in our home and we are together. Even though the world is a mess, we are doing well. I’m happy.

It’s hard to believe that it is week seven. I found out that my best friend’s aunt has Covid-19. I think that I’ve met her, but I don’t know her, still this is hitting close to home now. The aunt is the care taker for my friend’s grandmother, who is still healthy. Her aunt is asymptomatic, so that’s positive news as well.

On a personal level, this week was both productive and exciting. I found out that a non-fiction piece that I wrote will be published in Intima: A Journal of Interpretive Medicine. I was also asked to write a blog entry for the publication. I’m beyond thrilled at this opportunity and still shocked that my story is going to be published. I spent most of the weekend polishing the first 46 pages of my manuscript and sent it to my new writer’s group for feedback. This is another area where 2020 is going well for me, I feel settled enough in my home life to focus on my writing. More great things are coming, I can feel it.

Landscapers began working on our back garden, which until a few days ago, was a dirt lot. They did the framing for a path on the side of the house and our deck, concrete was poured. Hopefully it will be completed in a few weeks. I can’t wait to have lazy days in the sunshine and backyard bbq’s. We also did our first front yard maintenance: Dan mowed our lawn and I watered the plants. I just ordered garden tools so I could weed. Growing up in Los Angeles, I could never have imagined that this would be my life.

I love to organize! Dan bought me racks to organize our pots/pans/lids.

He also bought and built a shelf to organize our powder room.

The kitchen experiments continued. One evening we had a very British dinner: jacket potatoes (baked potatoes for Americans) smothered in Branston baked beans. Beans on potatoes is a little odd, but it is growing on me.

Dan made an English trifle with Bird’s custard, fresh strawberries, angel food cake and blackberry jello- topped with fresh whipped cream and sprinkles. Yummy!

Our biggest experiment was with our newest kitchen gadget: tortilla maker. We watched a few YouTube videos to learn all about tortilla making and then used the bread maker to make the dough for flour tortillas. They were tasty, but we need more practice. Maybe a different dough recipe. This new skill is coming courtesy of tortillas being sold out at our local store. We can master this!

Last night, Dan made homemade mac and cheese. It reminded me of my favorite mac and cheese that I used to get at the employee cafeteria, “the Dinosaurous” back in the late 90’s when I worked at Universal Studios Hollywood. I used to love it and then they changed the recipe or brand, it wasn’t the same. Until they changed it, I ate it pretty much every single shift.

Falling in the category of both organization and food, I wanted to share the most amazing product that we have recently purchased: Rubbermaid Fresh Works Container. I have them in a variety of sizes and use them to store produce. I used to have a problem of produce rotting before I could use it all and that is no longer an issue. Lettuce lasts about three weeks! We have saved money and reduced waste. It has been especially important as we are trying to avoid trips to the grocery store. It is easy to go two weeks and still have plenty of fresh produce. I highly recommend them.

We finished the third season of West World. We loved the first two seasons, but three was a let-down. The story was a muddled mess and it lacked the creativity of the first two seasons. Some of it was downright silly. Yes, we will watch season four, but if it doesn’t improve, we might ditch it.

We also watched the HBO movie, Bad Education with Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney. It’s based on a true story about of a high school scandal in New York. it’s a crazy story and Hugh Jackman is unrecognizable. He’s great. I highly recommend it.

A beautiful sunset picture from one of our walks. The weather had been warm and lovely. We keep seeing cows in our neighborhood!

And finally, the cute cat pictures. The last one was taken when they both saw a plastic bag that was blowing in the wind and it captivated them for about an hour.