Weekend 5? of COVID (I think)

Sidewalk Art Outside My Apartment

Is this the 5th weekend? It has to be. Though, like everyone, for me, the days are running together.  I think when we look back at this "Time of COVID" we will have some interesting anecdotes for some sort of sociological or anthropological study. Though I'm not sure what the appetite for such a study will be. 

I'm trying to be a good citizen and "Shelter in Place". I've stayed home each of the last five weekends. I did go out to the pharmacy a couple of times but did drive-thru. But otherwise, a homebody I have been. 

On Facebook, I've seen several Memes saying, "Check on your extroverted friends...they are not okay with this". And for just a  moment I am evaluating if the word is "extrovert" or "extroverted".  That's the kind of rabbit hole my mind takes me. I went down another rabbit hole at the very beginning of this post. You probably wouldn't notice a rabbit hole trip if I didn't pause to tell you about it. So today, because I'm in just that kind of mood, I will tell you about one of the rabbit holes. 

As I typed the word "COVID", my Grammarly application corrected it from "Covid" to "COVID". And my thought was "Really?" Has it been long enough that a grammar app should know what the naming convention for the illness is? Turns out the answer is "yes", it has been long enough. Our diligent grammar first responders have created a guide to make it more clear how we are to describe "The Covid".  [Note: They would hate how I'm doing it here.  So don't do as I do...or even as I say.] 

For your reading pleasure, and further research opportunities, I give you the answers to these burning questions below.

Link to AP Stylebook

But wait, there's more! I have so much more to tell you about. 

[Side Note: You have to be of a certain age to want to share a smile about the idiom.]

Okay...where were we... "But Wait, There's More!"

All kidding aside, I'm so interested in how others are coping and entertaining themselves during this time. Before the Shelter-In-Place orders were announced, my girlfriend approached the strange times with the words, "In these uncertain times..." or something like that. She was way ahead of me in seeing where this was all going. 

Television is, of course, an easy answer to fill one's time. And, as long as the TV is either entertaining or informative,  I wouldn't consider that a poor use of time. I, myself, value entertainment very much. 

But one can only watch so much TV I guess. Although, we are lucky to have so many choices. In my mother's day, isolation would have simply meant more time on phone calls. The old fashioned kind of phone which was tethered to the wall for connection. In the '70s, many of us had different versions of these devices. Mine was a green princess phone. Back in the day, though, your sisters wanted their turn to talk to their friends, which would mean you had to "get off the phone" with your friends. If one of us refused to hang up, then we were forced to hear lots of pickups from other extensions. Sometimes just a huff and then a hangup. Often a phrase like, "GET OFF THE PHONE" was heard. The worst was when one of the parents got on the phone. That meant your phone time was truly over.

Anyway, back in those days, you had to share phone time with others. Worse yet, you could never really be sure one of your sisters wasn't secretly, stealthily, listening. Today, I guess that is more likely to be our own government listening...so, yeah, no problem.

Long-distance calling was "a thing". Your phone bill actually tallied how long you were on a long-distance call and charged extra for those minutes. That put the hurting on talking with relatives who were out of town, like as far as Raleigh (from Durham). It was cheaper to drive to see them than to call. 

But, today we have so many choices of communication, like video chats. I've been on several. I prefer the phone...that way I'm not so self-conscious about how I look. We get to see video messages from celebrities telling us that we are "all in this together". Which, I don't know, maybe we are. I know illness does not discriminate. 

My favorite thing we have today, that we didn't have in my Mom's day, is the ability to share pictures instantly. Pictures and even videos! I haven't talked about it on here, but I became a Nona just before Christmas. My daughter has the most beautiful baby girl. She does not live in the same town as I do, which makes seeing her in person, during these times, impossible. But we don't have to pay long-distance charges for phone calls, of which there are many. I've been lucky to have gotten to see my granddaughter several times before the whole "troubled times" started, and I'm so grateful for that. But I miss being able to go visit anytime I want. Baby Girl was just two months old the last time I saw her in real life. Next Tuesday, she will be four months old. But to get my Baby Girl fix, my daughter sends pictures and videos every day. It's not the same, but it's something!

Cameras and Walking Trails

I used to see myself as an avid amateur/hobbyist photographer.  I sort of held that idea of myself even after losing Jordan to the Nursing Home. I bought the new camera Jordan had been encouraging me to get for over a year. I took the camera on the trip to Costa Rica, and then....nothing. Both my new camera and my old trusty Nikon sat on a shelf (where I could see them). When someone asked, I would tell them, "Yes, I'm a photographer."

But, more time passed and all I was using was my cell phone. Truthfully, my photos have gotten worse and worse. Some of that is because I can't really see the LCD screen to shoot a good pic. Some of it is also the phone camera is going to have limited quality. But, a lot of it is likely because I've fallen out of practice. 

Jordan and I used to "do" our photography as a planned thing. Jordan made sure to charge all batteries the night before and made sure the memory cards were ready. On the day of our shoot, we would take our cameras and go. Sometimes we were in the mountains, just for photographing waterfalls and forests. Sometimes we were in a town, like Asheville or Brevard, and we were little tourists. On those days, a camera was nice because there is so much charm that can be caught. Some of our last shoots were NYC, Brevard, Asheville, and Wilmington. 

Two weeks ago I took a walk. A three-mile walk in Duke Forest. It was the same trail that I hurt myself when I was training to become a runner. (Side note: I did not become a runner.) I consciously set out to walk three miles to try to reclaim some physical activity that I had been building over the last year. In 2019 I made it a goal to workout 3 times a week. At first, my workout was the treadmill, and I was doing interval running and walking for an hour. My goal was to always get 3 miles. I really wanted to get my cardio and legs in shape to run the entire way. By midyear, I was doing hot yoga two times a week and sometimes three. I lost weight. I've been feeling stronger. And then, COVID 19 caused studio closings and workout room closings at work and at the apartment. Closing the gyms and studios is exactly the right thing to do. But, I don't want to accidentally go backward in my weight. So I took a walk. 

Friday I took another walk on another trail and walked a little over 7 miles. Sunday I took a short 2-mile walk, and yesterday I had a 6.5-mile walk. The difference is that yesterday I took my camera. I charged the battery and made sure I had enough space on the memory card and went out on my walk. 

On the trail, there is a bald eagle is watching her nest. I've seen her both times on my walk. Yesterday I took pics. There was also a blue heron on the lake. I took pictures Friday with the phone, but they are simply the worst pictures. Yesterday I got some good shots of the heron. --I say good shots. They were good except for one thing. Too far away. I don't have a sufficient telephoto lens. 

The good news is I'm not feeling defeated. I'm feeling stronger. I will simply need to buy a telephoto lens. I'm determined. I'm determined to keep walking and to keep taking pictures. I am determined to keep reclaiming myself. 

Learning to Cook in the Time of COVID-19

How is everyone coping with the COVID-19 Shelter In Place thing we have going on? For me, this is basically weekend #2. I'm not actually going stir crazy...yet. I am still able to go into the office during the week. I don't have a loved one at home that I need to care for. But, after work and on the weekends, I'm doing my best to comply with the "Stay At Home" guidelines.

It's kind of a nice time for me to nest a little more. I've been in this apartment for about 2 months now. And, you know my biggest goal is picture hanging... which didn't get done before the shelter-in-place action began. It's not simply the result of my procrastination. 

I've thought about starting to cook a little for myself. I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that cooking can be a breakthrough for someone newly alone. I will tell you I have had a mental block about cooking for a very long time. There are probably lots of reasons for this, and really...they don't matter. I try not to attach a value judgment on my ability (or choice) to cook at home. There have been times in my adult life where I cooked more than others. I was never a consistent cook. But...sometimes I cooked more often than others.

Copper pots I polished not long before COVID

Jordan and I enjoyed eating together, especially at home. It didn't matter if it was takeout or a frozen dinner or a home-cooked meal.  We enjoyed the togetherness of eating it. When I was a child, my mother worked full time and came home and cooked dinner every night. As far as I know, that was what everyone's home life was...dinner at the kitchen table with a meal that the Mom prepared. And not a frozen dinner or some other "calling it in" type of meal. It was always meat and potatoes or rice, and at least one vegetable.  I still don't know how Mom pulled that off...every night...but she did.

When Jordan and I were newly married, our meals were less "planned". We often had spaghetti and a salad or a ravioli casserole and a salad. I was never much for vegetables, so I rarely actually prepared them. Though Jordan did like little peas. So I often warmed a can of LeSeur peas for him. There was a long period in the early years when we ate a lot of Ramen Noodles. Other nights were tuna casserole. Which, was surprisingly tasty. Obviously, the early years were for dinners on a budget.

As we began to earn a little more money, I added pork chops, chicken, and lasagna to the repertoire. We even had a period when I made stir-fried snow peas with almost every meal. I made these with butter and beef bouillion crystals.

Jordan was the one that usually made spaghetti. He also made macaroni and cheese. His favorite was from the box with powdered cheese. I bought the "fancy" kind one time. The kind that had a creamy cheese in a foil packet. it even had fancy shell pasta. As far as Jordan was concerned, that was a macaroni and cheese fail.

I'll be honest, I liked the way Jordan made macaroni too.  He made it so buttery that it was the perfect comfort food.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped cooking. When I would entertain the idea of cooking I was always stuck with the question of what to make. Everything sounded so hard. So complex with so many ingredients. I think I pretty much became intimidated if there were more than five ingredients.

When we downsized into our first Durham apartment, Jordan began to cook for us. That was one of my happiest times. I would come home from work and he would go about making dinner, which was often a Lean Cuisine of a Stouffers dinner. They were usually nice and warm and filling. And he would make it and bring it to me on the couch. We would eat together while watching Jeopardy from the couch. He liked taking care of me and I liked being taken care of.

When Jordan started to get sick, he lost the drive (ability) to make dinner. I often brought something home for us. Usually, I went to yoga after work and drove through for dinner on the way home. On those nights, dinner was at about 8. We still enjoyed eating watching some sort of TV.

His favorite was when we ate at the table in the apartment. He would much rather eat at the table than on the couch. The table was just feet away from the couch, so I didn't really see the point. But it was important to him. He loved it when I would serve us on plates at the table with whatever fast food cuisine I'd purchased. He told me that this meant something to him and thanked me for the time we spent at the table.

It was during that time that I was assessing what was going on with him. He was so sweet and all the little things made him so happy. And dinner at the table was one of those things. So, I began to make that a priority.

Since I was making dinner at the table part of our routine, I started one of those subscriptions to cook from a box. The boxes came once a week with everything you needed for three dinners. This was a nice way for us to enjoy the cooking experience that we never really had before. The box came with finger potatoes with instructions on how to cut them and place them on the pan with garlic and seasoning. --I'd never had finger potatoes before. I didn't even know they were a thing. The box came with an onion to chop or leeks or shallots. Jordan would stand with me in the kitchen as we read the directions and I went about doing whatever it said to do next. The most successful dinner was panko chicken. I don't remember what meal had the finger potatoes, but that was a hit as well. I'm grateful for those times we had in the kitchen.

Fast forward to "now". This new apartment has a big kitchen with a huge kitchen island. It beckons for activity.  Today marks the third weekend that I cooked at home. So far I mostly cook breakfast. It is my favorite meal, so that makes sense. Last weekend I had eggs and sausage on Saturday and cereal on Sunday. I like cereal...so for me, that is a treat.

Last Sunday, while browsing the web, I had a huge desire to make some sort of chocolate treat. I bought a bag of dark chocolate chips a couple of weeks back. I was entertaining the idea of Toll House cookies but hadn't made them yet. So, here was my thought... haystacks. Except for using dark chocolate chips instead of butterscotch chips. Why? Dark chocolate is what I had.  I did not have chow mein noodles (of course), but I had a couple of bags of Chex Mix snacks. And I had several snack-size bags of peanuts. I also had my oatmeal squares cereal and a bag of potato chips. I melted the chocolate chips and began to stir in different snacks to create my makeshift haystacks. For the Chex Mix snacks, I used the Rice Chex and the Corn Chex but did not use Wheat Chex (that doesn't go with chocolate...obviously). I also used pretzels and peanuts. I made stacks out of cereal and also dipped individual potato chips into the chocolate. The results were quite satisfactory. Not culinary genius...but a little innovation to use what I had to create something like what I wanted.

Today I made two pigs in a blanket with Lit'l Smokie Sausages and crescent rolls. And I made cheese rice. I actually like rice for breakfast...so I decided to use my boxed package today. The pigs in a blanket were okay. --I liked the crescent rolls with just butter best. The rice was good. But the morning meal didn't really do it for me. It was okay. Which is acceptable...and another day of me staying in and cooking. So even though I didn't love what I made...I didn't hate it either. And I did enjoy the feeling of being at home.

So there you have it. COVID-19 is helping me to learn to feel at home.

That, and the brownies I just pulled from the oven. Those are knocking my socks off.