Sunday, March 22, 2020



Safely there, safely back. We had a grand time, in beautiful weather, but very cold. Paradox rediscovered her talent for mousing. The papers are full of rich people with Second Homes retiring to the country for social isolation, to the irritation of the locals, but I prefer to hunker down here. I'm very glad to be safely back, cats and all.

It is strange to reflect that we are all, to a considerable extent, thinking about the same things today. And yesterday, and tomorrow.

My May small-boat cruise to the upper left hand corner of the Scottish mainland has been cancelled. I gave up hope at least a week ago, but it is still sad news. C. and I will probably re-book, but the length of time for which I need to stay alive and on my feet is obviously increased thereby. Among the many pleasures of anticipation has been the choosing, rejecting, re-choosing of my cruise wardrobe. Maybe I should go ahead and buy one brightly-coloured item.

And I have also been reflecting that this would be a suitable moment for buying yarn for a new project. Absurd, in my case, given how many projects are backed up in the stash collection, and how long it will take to finish the modest accumulation in the progress bar to the right, and how old I am.

What would it be? Brooklyn Tweed’s (and Norah Gaughan’s) “Foldlines”? I bought the pattern, but never the yarn. Indeed, was going to use Madelinetosh of some sort. But now I think, let’s go for Arbor. Something red – there are lots of good ones.

Alexander mentioned the other day the “found poem” which he composed from this blog for my 80th birthday, and had printed on tea towels. You’ll find it, in full, in the entry for Thursday August 15 2013. He thinks the overall sense of gloom is appropriate to current events, and I agree. What could have been the occasion which prompted me to write: “These are times such as none of us have ever experienced”? Whatever it was, it’s truer now.

When my father was old (=about my present age) and going blind from macular degeneration, he read Gibbon’s Decline and Fall. I don’t know for sure whether he read it because he was going blind. I don’t know whether he finished reading it. But that might be a project worth undertaking. The Weekend Financial Times has a feature in which various pundits suggest various titles to read while one is in social isolation. Someone offers Il Gattopardo; otherwise I’m not terribly impressed with the suggestions. But Gibbon, yes.

I re-engaged with the Oak Park scarf while we were away. Pic tomorrow.




19 comments:

  1. glad you had a chance to go and that you are back safely. oddly i can only comment from a chrome browser so i have been limited in the past bec i usually read you on my iPad. but i am at my desk today getting ready to forge out for milk and flour and few other basics. i am working remotely for the last two weeks (my office is in a small building with two other companies sharing one bathroom and they both have lots of clients in and out - i decided we had to work from home and am glad we did two weeks ago and didnt wait for Cuomo's decision Friday). we were very busy and may continue to be as we are an online software company. it has been annoying reading all the posts of people trying to figure out what to do with their free time when those of us working remotely are still working. my big worry is that i wont get food bec the stores are running out of basics by the end of the day when i would be going. i may have to do an early morning run ... hopefully i will get what i need today.

    its a new world for all of us and the danger is that people think that just not working is fine - they are going to parks and playing sports - Cuomo ripped into NYC residents about this (this mornings presser) and told the mayor to take care of this. He is right (C i mean) that this is dangerous - you can not be near someone and as a basketball player he knows how hard it is but we have to stop. NYC and Westchester (the area above NYC) have the most cases in the country as of now and the most deaths.

    I wont even start on the WH occupant for it would be too vile and unladylike to write.

    I am glad Cuomo is my governor and pray that G#D help us all

    my best wishes to you Jean and all who frequent this blog to stay safe at home and good health to all of us!

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    1. just as an FYI, as of sunday at 8 pm non essential persons and work places are closed until further notice in the entire state of NY, only essential travel to stores for food and medicine is allowed. solo walks or runs are permitted. no other outside activities allowed. all state courts, etc closed, libraries, etc. only certain businesses deemed essential allowed open. restaurants only deliver or curb pickup.

      Illinois and California and Connecticut have also issued same orders.

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    2. SoGal, I am also working from home. I have a video conference shortly which means I have to at least comb my hair!

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    3. SoGal, I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and our office has been in our home for many years. But we would get out and travel around the city to job sites. (we are architects) Staying inside is very hard and the anxiety for us as people in the high risk group (77 and 83) has made my blood pressure go up. Now I have to scurry around and find face masks which are required for older people. Wish I could knit masks!
      Like you I am glad Jean has brought us all together. Knitting is such a help!

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    4. SoGal, I live in MD but am a native New Yorker - born on Long Island and my dad and everyone else's commuted via the Long Island Distressway to work. I admire Gov. Cuomo for his frankness and his leadership. Our own governor is a Republican, but I can forgive him that (sorry, I am just being tongue-in-cheek) because he at least has not drunk Mr. T's Cool-Aid. All essential businesses are now closed. Church services are on-line only - even Easter, though we may have a "socially distant" event on Palm Sunday in the parking lot. I am working from home. Even out court proceedings are done remotely, most are postponed until the pandemic is over. The medical experts are talking 40-89 percent of the population being possibly infected otherwise. Our son, who was staying at an AirBnB in Brooklyn, NY and waiting tables between acting gigs, tested positive for it. His AirBnB hosts basically threw him out. Luckily he was well enough (after three days at a friend's house who also got sick:( ) to drive home to MD. He's holing up in a hotel room with a kitchen until his quarantine is up (Wednesday). His sisters brought him groceries. Imagine this times millions. We have to "flatten" that curve as they say.

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  2. Yes, knitting! That is the answer! And yarn! I had a modest delivery to start doing the Carlos and Arne quarantine knitalong. My first efforts were thwarted my not reading the instructions or counting the chart properly but now that I've cast on 29 stitches instead of 30 I'm on a roll.
    My fears of not finishing the crochet blanket in time are over too.
    I feel your pain, Southern Gal, still working and shoe-horning food shopping into the gaps.
    My daughter's driving instructor is self-isolating with 'covid-like' symptoms. She had loads of extra lessons before he became unwell, so she's now self-isolating for 14 days, and as she came over last weekend I'm staying in as well.
    All a bit too real.

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  3. Allison10:32 PM

    To answer your question...

    Monday, September 15, 2008
    ...But I am writing on the day when Lehman Brothers went down. These are times such as none of us has ever experienced. Our savings are at stake, our jobs, our children’s jobs, our grandchildren’s future.

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  4. I have a confession to make. Mass yesterday was live-streamed, so I made myself ready in my home office. I was unable to resist a cup of tea and my knitting. However I did sit and stand as needed and sang the singing bits and made the spoken responses. Can I take my knitting to church when we finally resume worshipping in the same place?

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  5. Absolutely, now is THE time to buy something special. Daughter in quarantine (son has it) remarked today "Now I understand why a stash. And now is the time to knit the good stuff we were saving.!

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  6. We have sent flower cards to our children from st saviour's flowers in Jersey. (Might send one to myself!) Starting to eye up my stash with a view to knitting for Christmas shoeboxes. I'm now 'self-shielding' for 12 weeks; husband going out as little as possible.

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  7. So glad to hear that you are back safely. We are basking in spring sunshine here. My husband is working the allotment - we planted two rows of early potatoes yesterday. So hard to feel that a crisis is upon us with the birds singing and flowers everywhere. But the death toll in Italy is sobering. I do hope that you are having your food delivered.

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  8. Jean, when I hear Gibbons mentioned all I can think of is Dickens - Our Mutual Friend. Declining and Falling. Glad you have a lovely time.

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    1. Anonymous4:36 PM

      I will NEVER be able to read Gibbons without thinking of Silas Wegg. Declining and Falling, indeed.
      Gretchen (aka stashdragon)

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  9. Jean, GO AHEAD and buy the yarn that you want. Your age is all the more reason to purchase what you want--we knit for pleasure! We will all leave this world with many unfinished projects (and I have quilting projects on top of the knitting). What's one more if it makes us happy/gives pleasure.

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    1. Anonymous4:38 PM

      I couldn't agree more!
      -- Gretchen (aka stashdragon)

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  10. =Tamar4:54 PM

    Maryland has not required isolation yet (as far as I know), but I am doing it anyway. It's not greatly different from my usual introvert life, yet those tiny differences do add up. Perhaps your trainer could recommend an indoor walk to give about the same exercise as your regular outdoor walk.

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    1. Good for you - from Joan, a fellow "Merliner":)!

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  11. Anonymous5:42 PM

    Red is always good. Tomato? Poppy? Crimson?
    JennyS

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