Skip to main content

In the Big Middle

We set the alarm now to go to the grocery store.  Being in the older more vulnerable group, it's easier when the store first opens.  Still, there are days when there are no bananas.  Forget about paper products and hand sanitizer.  Maybe someday.  Some day when the pandemic is over.
In Oregon, we are among the last few states where someone pumps gas for you.  No longer; any attempt to social distance will not be overlooked.

Some folks are hyper concerned, while others could step up their game and get with the program.  Still, others are simply confused.  It's not uncommon now to push your grocery cart down an aisle only to find someone heading in your direction and turned around and suddenly felt the need not to pass.

On days when the weather permits, I walk around the long block where I live just to get some exercise.  It takes about 7 minutes for a brisk walk.  It totals 608 steps.  Occasionally I walk around twice.  Often, I see nothing but an occasional dog walker.
We're in the big middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and life as we came to depend on is in limbo.  There is some hope today that our favorite pizza place might re-open for take-out only service.  That's wonderful news in light of the fact that everything else in the neighborhood is closed.  Closed until...nobody knows.  No more sushi, no bagels or Matzo ball soup; no tacos or bowls with chips or tortillas.  The grass-fed beef burgers and brunch specials have disappeared for now.
In the last 20 or years or so I have a birthday ritual.  Coming in early April, my birthday always triggered some much-anticipated activities.  I will not watch the Giants and Dodgers play for keeps.  I will not buy my 2020 fishing license...yet.  I will not have only 3 weeks to wait for the Kentucky Derby.
My music jam group will not meet on Friday afternoons until further notice.  My harmonicas will sit the next few months out.  But the blues will go on and I will survive.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mr. Greene v. Mr. Brown

I want to tell you about something. Something I've carried inside myself for a number of years now. Perhaps if I were a different kind of person I wouldn't need to talk about it. I'm not. My need to tell it is stronger than your need to hear it. Because, however, there are a number of teachers and former students of mine who may read these meanderings from time to time, I need to tell this story all the more. About 7 or 8 years ago I was asked if I would allow a university PhD. candidate to observe an English class. At first I decided against it because I was scheduled to have a student teacher placed with me the second half of the semester in question. After some urging, however, at the request of a respected colleague, I agreed. Soon I was committing to extra meetings, signing documents and explaining to the class in question who the young woman who thoughtfully pounded away on a laptop in the rear of the classroom three times a week was. I knew that the topic of ...

The Quality of Optimism

 I've returned to The Book of Qualities, by J Ruth Gentler once again to meet the needs of one of the senior students in my little Writing From Memory class I'm currently teaching in my local community center.  This little volume personifies various concepts and personality traits.  The particular student "in need" seems to be fixated on writing about her past relationships.  Apparently, there were many.   I'm OK with that.  I only hope that she picks a few qualities that are as revealing about herself as those that might describe her Ex's.  There is much to be learned by writing about a quality.  The aforementioned book seems to have survived well over the years.  I first encountered it and its author way back in the late 1970s.  I took a journal writing workshop from her.  Then, a few years later, her book came out and I introduced these writing exercises to my students.  11th grade Juniors seemed to do the best with it. ...

Writing on the Wall

       The first time I saw graffiti that was memorable was in a middle school bathroom.  As 6th graders I often walked home with friends by the middle school we'd soon be attending.  A stop by the boys bathroom near the boys gym placed me face to face with a piece of graffiti that immediately madame and my friends laugh uncontrollably.  On the wall above the urinals, was penned a short poem that read"                     This is a Teepee to take a pee pee,                         Not a wigwam to beat your tom tom      14 year-old humor at it's best.  The laughter my friends and I experienced was cathartic.  Being bottom of the barrel Freshmen could have dire consequences in the boys bathroom.  Those unpleasantries would come later, but for the moment, we were ecstatic and proceeded to read all the g...