Lockdown trivia

If anyone who reads this blog has NOT been in Lockdown in an institution, you might like to know what it is like to be in one, and for those who are also isolated it might be of comfort to know what a fellow unfortunate is feeling.

On a Wednesday in late Jan. an attendant here tested positive for the Covid virus and the staff responded immediately. All in-house activities were cancelled, (like crossword puzzles, movies, Bingo), all meals were served in rooms, all residents confined to their rooms, no visitors, and no outings. The severityy of the restrictions was felt more severely as the weeks crept on, and I and many others suffered increasingly severe depression. When we lived in Chicago depression was a regular winter event for me, but after we moved to southern CA it diminished to a minor event hat could be easily thwarted. Having it return was an unpleasant and unwelcome surprise. And as the weeks dragged on it kept getting worse. Happily we are now (in March) lightening up a bit and the future looks promisiing for surmounting rhe virus and creeping back to normal. But it has been a very harsh experience.

The first lifting of the restrictions occurred at the end of Feb. when we were allowed to go out with frends/family. My first outing was a birding trip to Emigrant Lake with Terence Philippe. But it was a disaster. The lake was a mere mud puddle with no sight nor sound of a waterbird, the shores were brown and without any vegetation or wildlife. We covered the whole area and saw only a few Lesser Goldfinches in the shrubs. Our total ws 12 species, a sad, small number for what is usually a birding hotspot. It was a sharp realization   of how seriously the drought has affected our birds.

Last week, tho, was finally eventful in wonderful ways. On March 10, Maple Ridge began cautiously retrning itself to normal by letting us have visitors in our rooms and also letting us go out wherenever we want with friends or relatives. What a marvelous development. And the day Heath arrived for a visit. And a whirlwind enveloped me. In her 4-dy visit we accomplished the huge list of tasks and pleasures I had prepared. First my taxes. A challenge because I had no even been able to access lst year’s files to see what form to use. And the mail here is in crisis and I have not gotten lots of info needed to do this year’s. But HEATH IS UNDAUNTIBLE AND TODAY IT IS ALL DONE!

I have been having some very strange experiences with my memory. And one in particular made me know it was time to transfer power-of-attrney to Heath, who was willing and able to take it on. It was time. An incident on the Wednesday before the time change was a vivid indicator of the nee for Heath to step ain and manage mt affairs. I awoke thinking it was Sunday, the actual day of the end of daylight saving, and changed all my clocks. Then I sat down with my daily paper and realized my mistake and had to change them all back again. So it ws really a signal that Heath should take over.

Also I have new shoes, pants and all odds and ends on the list and a spinning head. I have divested all money matters to her and feel a great load off my shoulders. Essential, as my memory problems are increasing every day.

I am working on a new mosaic project that has me engrossed. It is for my 6 greatgrandchildren and I dont  want to write about it until it is done, but just say that inspiration continue to strike for more fun things to create, and I can still use my studio, although not as much as I would like. The van here takes me Tues and Thurs and a friend here has offered to take me on Wed. So I will have 3 sucessive morning to create.

Pepper came for lunch today and we had a great catch-up. He had his lunch in his pockets – a yogurt on one side, a banana on the other. He left early to get his first shot of Moderna vaccine at BiMart,  having snagged an appointment at BiMart in a big new, open, mass, innoculatiom session. He was thrilled to get this break. All my younger friends are finding ways to get vaccinated. Oregon is doing well in this crisis.

We had a big snow over the weekend while Heath was here and I took this photo from my bedroom. It made our ountain range across the valley look lke the Sierras, it was simply breathtaking. I got a disapointing photograph and have sent better ones in the past, so this blog shall be words only. And the next one should be an improvement, as all indiications point to a positive future.