Hope

This has been a scary time, but the distancing, the closures, the lockdowns, the quarantines are having their effect in slowing the virus’ spread.  As we learn more about how it spreads, we can better protect ourselves and each other.  And I’ve been encouraged by the leadership of some of the governors stepping in to fill the vacuum at the top.  We still live in a perilous time, but there is hope.

In the beginning, we knew so little about this virus — this invisible threat.  But now we know more, and with knowledge comes hope.  Intuition can only get you so far, after all.  As we know more, we can better calculate the risks, individually and as a society.

I’ve read more discussion of how we can safely return to normal.  Much of that depends on widespread testing and tests with results immediately available — neither of which we have yet.  I’ve also read some in-depth discussion of what that new normal should be.  We are learning so much about what parts of the old normal don’t really work for us.  Not everything can be valued in dollars, after all.

I see signs of hope around me.  It is uneven, surely, but it is there.  It is a beautiful day here in Portland.  Actually, it is more like California weather than Portland weather.  It is enjoyable, but it is concerning.  Have the weather patterns here on the west coast moved 600 miles north?

We’ve been meeting on Zoom with our family and friends.  Yesterday we spent an hour with Andrea’s brothers and a cousin and his wife.  One brother lives in Idaho and the cousin and wife live in Iowa.  It was nice to spend time with them.  Then in the afternoon we spent an hour with our daughter and son even though they are 100 miles and 15 miles away, respectively.  And this morning we “attended” a church service in Wyoming, where I used to live.  In some ways this time is bringing us closer together.  I only hope that whenever we can resume our busy lives that we remember the value of being with each other.

There are people out.  As I walked down the street the car above passed me, two heads facing forward —the driver and, almost as big, his dog.  They went by too fast for me to take their picture.  When I caught up to the car, man and dog had gone off somewhere.

Walking in the neighborhood, people are pretty good about staying away from each other.  Many are wearing masks.  I tend to pull mine down when no one is around, then pull it up as I approach someone else.  But not everyone is wearing them.  As I walked by a little convenience store, a barefaced young man pulled up, coughing several times as he went into the store.  I was glad to be on the other side of the street.

On a more personal level, I was having trouble with the ends of my fingers splitting and my fingernails chipping and splitting.  Even the surface of the nails felt soft.  I think it was all the hand washing.  I’ve now switched to washing them only with Dove soap, and that seems to have helped.

I’m slowly preparing my loom for weaving.  I’ve got all of the heddles threaded.  Now I’m beaming the warp.  My limited skills are pretty rusty, but it’s a small project, I have a good instruction book, and I’ve got plenty of time.

Take good care of yourself and of those around you.

Kate