200523 open the doors robber mask hammock birthday cake

may 23

  "open the doors and out come all the people!"

  we are at day 74 of the covid pandemic. it has been a new and different life these ten weeks. i thought the social lockdown was interesting, very sci-fi, with clear and reassuring lines of protocol. this week has been much more weird. retailers were able to open their doors once again, with mask and social-distancing protocols. suddenly people are everywhere: some of them are wearing masks, some are so polite but others act like covid is a non-issue now. i was trying to pick up my on-line order at rona and its small parking lot was a circus. i felt like i had fallen through the looking glass and any moment the red queen would race by, hair all blown about, muffling through a red-checkered mask!

  "don't stand, don't stand so close to me." **the police

  indre and i went to the creek on wednesday. we had been a few times and seen almost no-one, mostly dog walkers and there was plenty of space for all. but this wednesday the weather was fine and the park looked like mother's day, with families and groups of teenagers everywhere. we got cornered at our car by a family with a stroller who didn't give us a moment to get in. we were both a bit shocked. on the way home we practiced things we could say if it happened again, so the words would be ready when we needed them. my stand-up comedy teacher taught us to write some heckler responses and practice them so they would pop out of our brains when needed. or one could start coughing! that might scare them off! so often when a man walks by four feet from me, i am reminded that all his life he has believed that four inches was six. maybe some women believe that too, because its not only men who are so nonchalant. 

  on a happier note, my friend in calgary sent me two wonderful masks she calls the bank robber!  it is so nice to wear and i feel very assertive wearing it, as if it says: this is the new me. 

i also brought out the picnic table and bench and the hammock last weekend and today the leaves on the maple have almost filled in the canopy. the children seem able to play in the hammock and not break it. they love it and have great fun. i love it too. it hangs between the tree and the corner of the garage which we had repainted last year. it's a little bit of heaven. by pulling a rope hooked on the garage you can make the hammock swing.

  my craft room is well on  the way to being useable. i sealed up the first door, worked like a charm, and now that i have more duct tape i can put the cover on the other doorway. (did i mention that the room was without doors?) that one opens from the long room and will be the entry/exit.
  meals continue to be excellent, this week we are enjoying large oranges, so sweet and easy to peel; and apples, they keep so well and there is such a variety. when a bunch of bananas comes home the children will devour the whole bunch at one sitting, so you have to get yours before they're gone. indre made an apple crisp almost all by herself, and it disappeared! it was magic! being eight changes everything: suddenly it all makes sense.
  which reminds me that robin turns 5 in two weeks. i was planning to hang streamers from the front maple branches, which i used to do for rain's birthday. but i decided streamers weren't  necessary enough to go into a store for. need remains a benchmark for me even as people are starting to buy garden plants and clothes and whatever else they are out there getting.
  we also have to get a cake. so i googled our very local 6 points bakery; i think they are more reliable, because they are small, although their prices are outrageous. (their cakes are amazing.) in the process of googling, i discovered that the shop is with "skip the dishes". i haven't used skip, but i am excited to see that they match the tip you give the restaurant with a donation to the local food bank, and they encourage you to tip the restaurant itself, none of which skip keeps. (i presume that you may, or should, tip the delivery person too.)
  we have not had take-out or delivery meals since february 26. we used to list them on the hall white-board calendar to help limit spending. pandemic works better. k and i have talked about it, but we can't see a safe way around it. ah, sashimi. some day my fish will come!

  i am writing under the tree at the picnic table. this morning i cut the lawn and the children are with their parents, so i am taking the rest of the day for myself. btw, i decided that it was sexist or ageist to think that it shouldn't be my job to cut the lawn. ageist or privilege? that i think it should be my daughter (nac) or rick (allergy), not me? i think it's privilege. but i am strong and able. i like how i do it, which is a bonus. tamar and i are each doing parts of the dinner. just an easy frozen pizza and some veg and fruit.

i would love to hear about your days.
thanks for visiting. fare well. (we can resurrect this once-anachronistic salutation in its original sense.)