Checking In During Quarantine

More precious than gold... rarer than emeralds... more in demand that contemporary art! Toilet paper! the stuff of dreams!! A friend dropped two rolls in our mailbox; it was like Xmas. In fact, I confided to Bob that despite it's being on our toilet paper dispenser, I've been afraid to use it. I feel like I should save it for a special occasion. *1.)
Anyone else suddenly sick and tired of COVID 19? It's sort of like the Donald Trump of pandemics. Every time you turn on the news or look at the Internet... or decide it would be a nice afternoon to visit a museum or go shopping, there it is, being awful and you wonder what did we ever do to deserve this!!?!?!?
And it's been a boring slog having to wade through unemployment applications on line, arranging for simple shopping trips that used to be a cinch. Wanting to go some place else, but having no place to go as most destinations are shut down. And going to the store is scary stuff: everyone masked or now wearing those plastic face shields*2.) and furtively eyeing each others carts to see who got that last roll of toilet paper. Some odd price gouging going on: ice cream (for which I've had a hankering) is over $5 a pint (fuggedaboudit!!) and eggs are over-priced and tiny. But gas is ridiculously cheap! I marveled at a sign advertising $1.89 a gallon and then saw another station offering gas for $1.79. Those cynical rethuglicans again. There's some price was going on in OPEC and we have no where to go so our prices come down. We're no doubt bailing out EXXON and Shell...
Bob and I finally got around to cleaning (a few parts of) the house today. I keep reading about people who claimed to have immediately set to cleaning their apartments once the quarantine was announced. I kept feeling like I had better things to do, but today- maybe in advance of the holiday to which no one can come, we cleaned.
So tomorrow is Easter, a good pagan holiday of earth reawakening and fertility. It will be quiet and I miss my family members not coming. Hell, I miss everyone right about now. Talking on the phone is one thing but I wish friends and family could see how nice our gardens look. (I promise to post pretty flower pictures next time.)

  

1.) This is what has been starring as toilet paper at our house. My sister Beatrice asked if it was "septic safe". How the hell should I know??! It's what we have. But it's time to admit that I've always suspected I'm either a bit on the Asperger's scale or mildly OCD. Even as a child, I searched for patterns where there should have been patterns (like on kitchen tiles or ceilings.) I found it alarming when none was discernible and kept looking, hoping I'd missed the pattern somehow. Well, as an adult, this behavior still dogs me. The damned pattern on the side of this particular kleenex box is driving me bonkers. Every time I look at it, I insist there must be a reason they blocked in the deep orange and paler orange and beige in the way they did...


*2.)But there are a few cavalier, no-doubt-rethuglicans striding through the stores with no protection of any kind, wearing a disdainful "look at the bunch" of pussies expression. They make me so angry, but their fearless Orange leader has decried he will wear no mask!

Combination Holiday

We celebrated a truly combined holiday yesterday. As not all family celebrants were able to attend on actual Easter, we celebrated a day earlier; which made for a combination Passover/Easter/April Fool's Day and Beatrice's Birthday. Such modern, multi-tasking holiday types are we.
There were many eggs presented, all lovely. Beatrice and John contributed the above selection of glamorous pastel saturated hues. Cathy made a basket of dyed eggs, too- some alluringly dark and mysterious; I believe she alluded to one as being a hundred year old egg. I ate that one at lunch.

As  this was the first Easter/Multiplex holiday that we were observing since Mommy passed away, I had thought to honor her memory with setting an elegant table with the good silverware and formal dishes. But when I opened the silver box, it smelled moldy, and even worse was the fact that the actual silver smelled and no amount of washing seemed to remove it. So we resorted to everyday forks, knives and spoons. The food tasted just fine.
And food! There was food aplenty! Scalloped potatoes and asparagus with confetti and pork cooked in the crock pot and Key Lime Pie and wine and beer. One of my favorite moments of the day came when we left the great outdoors, where we had been enjoying the sun and spring-like weather and everyone was hungry and the house was heavy with the scent of heavenly roasting pork and John exclaimed, "PORK!" I think he summed up what we all were anticipating.

I had decorated for the multiple holiday festivities and it did turn out to be a colorful event, what with all the eggs and the centerpiece, which featured a strange bird sculpture that had once been at Mommy's house. (Mommy was present in a few ways at Easter; I guess you can't help but miss someone who hosted holidays for so many years.)

My other favorite moment was when we were all still outside, prior to eating, and Beatrice was spontaneously playing soccer with Robin. I really encourage Beatrice and John to get a dog; well, not just any dog. They should put in for one of Robin's puppies which we are now planning for next year, as this year is already too hectic. (I'll need to arrange "maternity leave" from work to help handle the delivery and nursery duties!)
And speaking of Robin, she had quite a morning. I got up early and made coffee and was on the computer checking emails when I realized that Lil Robin was not laying under the computer table (and on my left foot) and it seemed awfully quiet. I went looking for her down stairs and found her contemplating two piles of her own vomit. (Fortunately, she's not like some dogs who eat their own puke...) She seemed just fine soon after but I think she overdid the cleaning of plates and consuming of odd bits at Easter dinner. Too much excitement!

More egg shots! These were the leftovers, three of which made a delicious egg salad sandwich for our lunch today. I especially liked that two tone pastel purplish and blue on in the center. I didn't want to crack that shell as it was so pretty!