A moment in time

Caronavirus is our Jaws

I was watching Jaws the other day. I don’t know if it’s my favorite movie, but I must have seen it 100 times. Every time I come across it on tv, I stop what I’m doing and I watch.

I happened to turn it on in the exact scene that reminded me of Florida these days. Mayor Larry Vaughn of Amity Island in Jaws wants the beaches open for July 4th through the whole summer, while the police want the beaches closed to protect people from the shark, the mayor wants the beaches open; sort of like the dolts in Florida these days who feel the beaches should be open, just adding to the spread of caronavirus.

No sheltering in place for these idiots.

The reason I like Jaws is not about the shark, the part I like is the little beach town in New England and that point in time, the mid 1970s. I love that. It reminds me so much of the Hamptons where I spend part of the summer with my cousins and I am hoping to be able to be there this summer, but if these idiots in parts of Florida are still spreading the virus by opening beaches and other businesses, who knows what summer will bring.

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Three stories about today

CBS Sunday Morning had some great stories this week, they were all feel good stories about the caronavirus and our sheltering in place. This first one is of interest to me because I’ve been thinking it – it’s about the backgrounds you see on people’s zoom reporting. It’s funny. I like the Lady Gaga one because she is always all out there being the most of the most and yet her home background is so plain – it’s her home office. Others go out of the way to show off awards and things like that.

I often wonder what I would show. I don’t zoom, I do Facetime, but with people who know me and have been here, so I don’t have to choose a background to impress.

Another story was about artist Nadir Nelson and his work. He’s an award winning artist and you can see why here.

Beven Strickland of North Carolina got up off her couch and headed to NYC to help in the hospital. It’s a beautiful story about a beautiful hero.

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Enough with the solitude already

solitude

This sheltering in place is starting to get to me. A couple of weeks ago (was it a couple of weeks, or one week or a month, who knows anymore at this point) I said that I could live like this – alone in the woods or in Alaska in solitude. But this has gotten old faster than I thought. Maybe I could be alone in the woods for a week now, maybe a few days.

It’s early Saturday morning. I miss getting up and heading to the gym on Saturday mornings, in the quiet, where the village is quiet and free of people. Wow, there I go again, liking to be free of people. But I mean only when I’m out early in the morning at the gym. Then of course after the gym at breakfast – I like it quiet then. Then when I get home and watch tv. On Saturday mornings I watch a bunch of cooking shows on PBS, I barely boil water, but I find the cooking shows very relaxing. I like to eat, I don’t like to cook. After that I do my day whatever that is, but of course it always involves people, which is the big thing missing now – people.

I’m rambling on. I keep thinking of summer, hoping we will all be set free and can travel and have a normal world, but how will that be? Will we still be wearing masks when out in public? What will the subway be like? What about bars and restaurants? I’m sure hand shaking is a thing of the past, but I don’t care about that, and that ubiquitous kiss on the cheek or both cheeks will end, that I will not miss, I was never a fan of that.

One day at a time, that’s how I’m taking it. My life moved in slow motion for so many years. I would tell people that a week felt like a month. I didn’t know the reason why and I didn’t want to know out of fear of ruining that. It’s a great thing when your life moves in slow motion, but now it’s moving fast, which is kind of weird since you would think out of pure boredom it would move slow, but it’s the opposite. It’s Saturday again? Wasn’t it just Saturday?

I keep thinking of years from now when we tell young people what it was like in 2020 – how the whole world shut down, how we were all in self isolation, under house arrest. I don’t wish to rush my life, but I sort of look forward to the future.

The sound of silence

silence It’s so quiet outside. It’s almost like being back 100 years or more.

Sure inside we have the tv and computer on but outside there is not much traffic, including air travel – so we don’t have many planes overhead or cars on the street.

The Earth is recovering from abuse. The ozone layer is closing, oceans and waterways are getting cleaner and clearer, there is much less air pollution and less movement on the ground is stopping earthquakes from occurring. And animals are reappearing.

In Lake Michigan, algae blooms are disappearing and the water is clearing up so much that hundreds of shipwrecks are showing up on the sandy bottom.

The planet is healing.

There are sounds we don’t hear anymore, things from the past – like typewriter bells and a tv dial, cash registers, rotary dial phones and such. And today it’s mechanical things like cars on the road and planes in the air to a big degree.

I read recently that 74 miles of Oakland streets will close to cars to give walkers, bicyclists exercise room during coronavirus stay-home order. Streets closed to cars.

the-earth Things I do hear are more birds chirping and singing in the morning and crickets and water gurgling. And at night it’s mostly silent. And friends are silent, the ones who are drama-filled know I won’t be part of that, so that’s been silenced in my life, too.

I hate to run a cartoon without giving credit to the cartoonist, but I don’t know who did this, but it explains what is going on so clearly.

I understand.

And the people stayed home

peace

And people stayed at home
And read books
And listened
And they rested
And did exercises
And made art and played
And learned new ways of being
And stopped and listened more deeply
Someone meditated, someone prayed
Someone met their shadow
And people began to think differently
And people healed.

And in the absence of people who
Lived in ignorant ways
Dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
The earth also began to heal
And when the danger ended and
People found themselves
They grieved for the dead
And made new choices
And dreamed of new visions
And created new ways of living
And completely healed the earth
Just as they were healed.

– Kitty O’Meara
More on Kitty and the poem here.

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Taking things positively

mercy2

I’ve been trying to take everything positively. I’m not worrying, I’m making the best of things and I love how so many others are, too.

One thing I love is how at 7 pm in many cities people are hanging out their windows and balconies and applauding the service workers. That is the best. I live next to a hospital, on the bay, so the sound travels on the water and I’m sure the life savers at the hospital hear it all.

The hospital has a large campus and I try to walk over every day, just to get out of the house and walk along the bay. I don’t usually see anyone and if I do, we don’t interact, it’s just a quick 45 minutes for me to get out of the house. I saw these signs (see above?) at the hospital entrance. Aren’t they great? There are about 20 of them scattered about – a nice way for the doctors, nurses and hospital workers to start the day. And end it.

I noticed a few little winding streets in the area which I never walked or drove on before and I sometimes walk along them. There is a lot of shade and peacocks and lots of old mansions. It’s a little vacation for half an hour or so.

I also noticed kids are taking this quite seriously. Friends are posting pictures of their kids being home schooled either by teachers or parents and the kids are really into it. They don’t seem to be fooling around, they are really into the school work. One day, years from now, they’ll have some interesting stories to tell their own kids and grand kids. Maybe tell them about how we used to have this funny custom of shaking hands when we met each other, which we may never ever do again.

cynthia

And reporter Cynthia McFadden wins the Zoom/Skype tv game. Remember I posted about all the house scenes from people skyping in to tv news shows? Well this was the scene this morning on the Today Show – a nice lit fireplace, nice background, pretty green wall, the light in the background is on and not a bookshelf (or award or diploma) in sight!

mercy1 — Just one of the many “Thank You” signs at Mercy Hospital in Miami.

Travels with Farley

One of my favorite older comic strips is Travels with Farley. I remember seeing it in The San San Francisco Chronicle when I would visit, but I see from an article by Bill Van Nieekerken, that it was a nationally published strip for many years, starting in 1975, and in 1985, Phil Frank, the Farley cartoonist, moved to San Francisco and the strip was then only posted locally mostly about local issues, those are the ones I remember.

The strips are popping up along with other older strips on a Facebook page called The Batavia Funny (and Not So Funny) Pages and I love seeing them. Even though they are dated, for some reason they speak to me. They always remind me of San Francisco, but they are funny.

A lot of the reruns I’m reading covered the 1976 elections and Jimmy Carter/Gerald Ford and so many of the strips reflect life in the ’70s from elections to inflation. In the ’70s, Farley travele around the country and met people from all walks of life and they discussed the issues of the day. Reading them now makes me want to go back.

Recently there was a parade in town and a guy in the parade looked like Farley! I took his picture and said, “You look like the old Farley comic strip character!” he just smiled and I don’t think he knew what I was talking about, but he was the spitting image of the comic character.

The strips here are a few random ones from 1976 and 1977.

travels-with-farley2 travels-with-farley6 travels-with-farley7 travels-with-farley8 travels-with-farley9 travels-with-farley10 travels-with-farley11 travels-with-farley12

You either see the glass half full or half empty; which are you?

panic It’s amazing to me how people react to our times today regarding the caronavirus. People’s true selves come out. Weird, when I do a spell check for caronavirus, it comes up as “carnivorous. ”

I have one friend who is all doom and gloom. He thinks the world has ended, all he does is watch the news, but I think he only hears the bad stuff, the scary stuff, and he also speaks to too many people who spread rumors and falsehoods.

When I heard that some of the islands around here are closed, I looked at it as a good thing – Key Biscayne is closed except for residents; the Florida Keys are closed except for residents. All hotels in Miami Beach are closed, tourists are asked to go home. I see that as a positive sign for fighting the virus. My friend sees doom and gloom.

Another friend told me the National Guard is coming in, she got the news from an informed source, “They are in Jacksonville now and making their way down I-95, you know why? To ward off chaos, riots and looting!”

The first thing I thought was that they are here to build field hospitals and such. It’s all how you see things, your own perspective. I always choose to see the brighter side of things. Maybe she is right, I don’t think so. For one thing – this isn’t a hurricane, we have food, electricity, tv and internet. Oh yes, food – she says we will run out of food because the food manufacturers are shut down. I don’t think that is the case, that’s like saying the N-95 mask and ventilator manufacturers are shut down.

Another friend refuses to stay home, he is out daily on his bike, he is a long-distance rider, he goes out with his biking group and hits places all over the county, he doesn’t like the fact that county parks are shut down to visitors, even cyclists. I have one friend training her clients in parks that she can get into, maybe large front lawns, I don’t know. I sort of don’t mind that as she has to make a living.

Another friend can’t stay home, he is all over the county, sneaking into places that are closed so that he can take pictures.

I fear that if these people don’t take this seriously, it will go on and on. We need to end this virus spread today. It won’t work with people like my friends, and these foolish Spring breakers who think “not me.”

As for me, I don’t mind the solitude, I guess that is the introvert in me, although yesterday, Sunday, seemed like it would never end. There wasn’t anything on tv and I didn’t feel like watching anything on demand. I do enjoy watching Governor Andrew Cuomo on tv, he is very calming and makes a lot of sense when he speaks. Others, not so much.

I finally received my food delivery from Wholefoods – at 10 pm Sunday night! Now I am afraid to touch the bags and the food, due to the panicking of friends who told me not to. I’m not sure how to eat now if I can’t touch anything.

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We’re under house arrest

1920s

I’ve seen this picture a few times over the years and I always love it. I feel like I want to jump in and be part of the scene. It’s sometime in the 1920s and these guys don’t seem to have a care in the world. They are gone now, but they are so alive in the photo.

I keep thinking this when I see old photos and not so old; a picture from just last month, for instance. I was scrolling through pictures on my phone and seeing so many great things that happened the is past year. Lots of travel pictures and family pictures, lots of events in town.

Today it’s like almost like being in jail. I keep thinking things will be different soon, one day soon we will be able to go out and play and eat and travel and do everything we did in the past.

doing-time

I guess I’m not really comparing it to jail – it’s sort of like house arrest, yea, that’s it, house arrest.

Oh sure, we can go out, but to where? To pick up food?

I walked around the neighborhood yesterday, I live on the waterfront, so that was nice and pretty. I stopped at a restaurant I like, I thought I could order take-out, but they were closed, so that was disappointing. It just adds to the depression and gloom.

It’s the new normal.

I keep thinking that when things are better and we have our full freedoms again, we are going to appreciate it so much. So many times things happen in my life which makes me appreciate other things. I feel down or something bad happens and then when that period is over everything is so great with the world, I forget the bad and appreciate the normalcy so much more.

guys — This generation listened to authority.

One thing that bothers me is the younger generation, the Millennials, the college kids, the spring breakers, who are not taking this seriously. They can get sick themselves, but even more so, they are carriers. They are extending this whole lock down period for months by their actions. I’ve seen them crowding into places with my own eyes and of course on tv – the spring breakers on beaches and restaurants.

I saw an older lady on the news telling reporters, “In my day, we listened to the authorities, now they [the younger people] think they know it all.” I thought to myself, I’m sure her generation felt they knew it all, too, and perhaps didn’t follow authority, but then she said, “How do you think I got to be 93?” And that made me smile. She’s right.

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Nesting, social distancing, whatever you call it; let’s do it!

my-carona I have been trying to stay home and not “congregate anywhere,” practicing social distancing. I’m not doing things or going places where I don’t have to be. I did run to the supermarket yesterday to get a few things and it was maddening, of course people were buying up all the toilet paper, paper towels and water. I went early in the morning to avoid the crowds, but at 8 am the store was packed.

I think I am helping the cause by staying home, in this way I am trying to keep the whole country from closing down like Italy and France. I heard that if the virus gets worse, they can close us all down, make us stay home for weeks or a month. Not sure if that is true, but it sort of makes sense. So many local events have been shut down including Ultra, the big music festival, St. Patrick’s Day events, Spring Break!, schools are closed, churches, too, etc., so there must some validity to people congregating in large numbers.

I have friends who are out and about – biking, going to restaurants, theater, church, gym. Not sure what to make of that. I tell them they are selfish and could be carriers even if they don’t get infected. Maybe I’m getting paranoid and they aren’t. But I’m more worried about loss of business than of catching the virus myself and I feel that the more we all stay healthy, the more the economy and life in general will remain normal to some degree.

This isn’t to say I am not worried about people catching the virus, that is my main concern of course. But I do want life to return to normal and it won’t until the infections decrease. The best way to do that is to stay home and not be a potential carrier.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says that if we don’t start taking this seriously, we will all be quarantined for 14 days or more. The whole country!

I’m still cartooning, getting ready for the Tomversation comics debut on May 4. So I’m keeping busy. I’ve also been binge watching Breaking Bad and Shameless.