240311 Covid Day 1461 (if we were still counting)

 March 11, 2024

Our first crocus:

*****

It has been four years since the Covid pandemic started. It has now been declared over, by the World Health Organization, and by most of the world. But we are again under mask mandates at hospitals. I never stopped wearing a mask in all indoor public spaces, except on the few occasions when I have dined inside a restaurant or cafeteria. Although hand sanitizers have begun to disappear from store entrances, I carry some in the car. I wonder if it is a thing, that when a threat becomes too big and ubiquitous, that people start to blot it out. If a dragon moved in to the neighbourhood, you might just start pretending it wasn't there.

Covid is more than a flu. It can leave you with long-term health impairments, including effects on the brain, other organs, and the immune system. Its effect on our health care system now and in the future is a huge problem which will continue for decades, perhaps, as people with long-term conditions continue to need support, while more patients are added to the burden each year. 

It seemed possible, during those years when the world as one faced the problem, that we might have joined hands across borders and oceans to bring about a revolution of change for the better. We saw how much we depended on "essential workers", and might have realized that they deserved respect and care and a living wage. But, while lip-service was given, the rich, and the corporations they ran, took advantage of the crisis to get richer, and pushed up the cost of living. The overburdened health care systems were left to founder. Maybe I myself am pretending the dragon isn't there, but I feel powerless. I don't know how we can change the way the world works, the way that the rich hold all the power.

The dragon will eat us up and burn our villages.

*****

But here comes the sun, suddenly pouring light into my room! Every day I find blessings of pleasure and beauty, I meet smiles, kind words, and good deeds done without expectation of payment. These must count for something. The world keeps on turning and spring is coming again. 

This is the year of the dragon. May it be our champion and bring fortune to the poor and needy, fight for freedom from cruelty, hatred, and greed. 

Trees are budding: this is a tree by the field. A beautiful blue sky raises the spirits!

March 11, 2021, early morning sun. (I went looking in my photographs for where we have been on this day in previous years.)

Fig enjoying the early spring warmth.

The sun pouring in the windows of the vineyard. 

March 11, 2022

Our new dog, Rocky, who arrived on February the first, 2022.

Last year at this time, we were here in Toronto and there was snow in the field where Rocky and I walk.

Best of news today is that the Cooper's hawks are back from their honeymoon! I heard them calling "Chck, chck" and searched the trees to see them. I finally saw one swoop down, through the branches of their tree, to the nest!

Mumma Yaga