Trying to write this blog post and get on with my day. We are starting to split firewood today. It is sunny and the winds are calm. But in the house here all the phones are ringing off the hook. People have the time and inclination to BS. Meanwhile I have my daily list to accomplish. Lucky My Rebecca is here to fend off most of the calls.
So how are we doing? I was was out yesterday morning early and this morning early and the folks I saw and talked to seems cheery and cooperative. This is one of my new strategies to get out there as early as possible to do any business or shopping. Everything seems as clean as it will get for the day and few folks are out yet.
Yes, this IGA that I went into here, the one close to home, was out of TP and some sanitizing products but everything else was there. Then I went to one hardware store to get ant traps and a #392 battery. They had plenty of ant traps but there is a shortage of this particular battery because it is the “thermometer battery”. I did finally find one elsewhere but they are rare. But that is a good sign that folks are getting their thermometers up and working to monitor their families wellness.
And I have been walking here on my own at the appointed walk times. You can picture it, saying the rosary and feeding the birds as I go. Jane one of my regular walkers who won’t be here in person said that she would “make” some of my walks by walking around her neighbor at the same times. That was quite nice of her and a very creative thought.
This is a time for creativity, for some good improvisation. I love those videos of the apartment dwellers in Italy coming out on their balconies at 8 PM to make music. They also figured out a way to play bingo I hear. And on the rooftops they have been doing some version of aerobics. Better living through coping strategies!
OK, time to go for now. Don’t forget to check in with the Comments. There has been some great things happening there.
great things happening loves, Felipé.
We are doing OK on our new ‘stay home’ lifestyle which results in sitting many hours a day and almost no steps on the counter. My minimum is usually 10,000 and Monday I barely broke 1000, same for today. Us old folks are strongly encouraged to not leave the house except for urgent things like walk the dog (we don’t have one), or take out the trash (not full yet). No going for a walk, even where there are few or no other people.
We have friends here who insisted we send them a shopping list and they are buying groceries for us tomorrow and bringing them to our door. What a blessing! The local govt has organized a volunteer corp to do this for anyone who needs help, just call the police station to get help. I think that is so great!
Anyway, it is an important time to think about how blessed we are and gives us time to prepare for the holy week soon upon us. We are scheduled to participate in an Easter Retreat starting April 5th, so I hope the two week emergency period doesn’t get extended so we can go.
Feed a bird for me!
Ronaldo ~ My Rebecca is talking on the phone to her brother in Memphis. They are both laughing their heads off talking about old family stuff. All inside jokes. It’s a good time for that! Hang tough, Felipé.
Hi boss,
Cris SACBC here reporting from the South Cone. I am safe and sound, working from home since Thursday, and having not left my home since Saturday morning either. There are 68 cases here confirmed, what tells how quickly this microorganism spreads. None is a local case, all are either people who came from abroad or close contacts, which somehow tells that the measures taken were on time.
Yesterday and today, more measures were taken: almost all companies are allowing people to work from home, people are offering their own resources, like their own computers, so they can stay at home too. Schools were closed on Monday, and today, leaves were granted to 1 of the parents, and to some more people. Also everyone older than 60 has been granted a leave, and they have priority to shop for groceries, first thing in the morning and on their own. The public transportation will be stopped on Thursday, and it looks as if the measures are being taken in steps, so as to allow us all to organize.
Now, we have to be compliant, which is the difficult part, as we are not good at following rules… but I have to say I am amazed at some exchanges I have had with some people in text messages or voice messages… we seem to be all learning from this experience, which feeds my hopes!
Togethernessing Loves,
Cris
Cris ~ sounds like you are almost having too much fun down there. OK, sorry for the joke. Well, people here are quickly coming on board with things. Guess what? I had a dental appointment early Monday morning and today they called to say that all dental offices are closing down. So, you were right about that when you urged me not to go. I wanted to tell you. So, hang in there. Thanks for the report loves, Felipé.x
One of my favorite Irish poems for our Camino Family.
‘Lake Isle of Innisfree’
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
-William Butler Yeats
I believe WBY was also a great Pilgrim and Caminohead at heart!
Diego
Oh Diego, it is so great to be in touch with you and have you here with us now. I’m going to put your comment up on the blog tomorrow. And what a great poem. Thanks. Cool buddy, Felipé.
Thanks for the reminder about thermometers! I suddenly recalled using it on one of the little ones and probably sent it home with them. So now Omi & Pop don’t have one. Oppps! Add that to the shopping list.
Karin ~ It is a good tool and essential now. My Rebecca and I are taking our temps everyday before lunch to get a baseline going. Good luck with your situation. Thanks for checking in. Felipé.x
Hola Felipe, Clan and Tribe of Caminoheads,
Your other Bureau Chiefs have been johnny-on-the-spot with their comments and reports at each guard changing day and night. “No excuse, Sir” is the best I can come up with for my absence. It has taken quite a lot of “getting used to” this new reality. Social Distancing is such a foreign concept to me, as you (all) have probably deduced in the times we have spent together. And the continuous Blessing of having so many of our immediate family so close by has transformed the concept of “one big Family” into becoming the reality. We are either at the kid’s homes, or they at ours, or all or part of us together at all manner of events day in and day out. To go from that to being “safe-guarded” alone at home is a seismic shift. We all know this is all for the best. That doesn’t make it easier. My sister and I drove the 100 miles to the Nursing Home where my nearly 99 year old Mother is being cared for in order to take her to an essential doctor’s visit. She has been “in isolation” for the past 12 days. She truly feels abandoned. My other brothers and sisters who live nearby are stalwarts at visiting her almost daily, and now there is no one to drop in to see and eat with her. Her dementia is at the stage where the reasoning function is absent. She only functions in the here and now. “I keep wondering why nobody is coming to see me”. Words with a knife edge and blunt-force at the same time.
Our wonderful local Padre, Fr Bill, has started videotaping Mass for us. He has asked his parishioners to send large pictures of themselves and families to him. He is taping them on the front of the pews so that he can feel our presence as he says Mass for us all. One of our regular waitresses in our local eatery saw me in town a couple of days ago and said so seriously, “I’m going to so miss all you Catholics”. We would go there as a group after Mass and always included her in our prayer before meals.
And, so, Life goes On. Differently. But on. Do take care, all of you!!
Semper Fi,
Pilgrim Farmer John
Dear PFJ,
This is hard for us, but much more so for the older people, and those who cannot really comprehend cognitively, what is going on. It is a challenge to ponder the risks for those of us who have the ability to do so, much more to those who do not.
Sunday, when I opened the portal we are using to track the situation, I just had this thought: “when this situation became this whole global disaster?”… and I said this even when I have been looking at this page no less than 10 times a day since this started.
This is unknown terrain for us… but, with companions like you all going through it, I am sure we will find our way.
Much love,
Cris
Dear Cris,
I don’t think your beautiful young mind can grasp how much we “old folks” appreciate all you do and all you are. You are an inspiration!
Old folks love,
PFJ
Thanks John for checking in with us. This is a significant challenge for all of us maybe in different ways. But the old improvise, adapt and overcome motto seems especially helpful. Semper Fi, Felipé.
so I am now in March 2020 looking for quotes for that news piece I mentioned today and I LOVE what Jane is doing…it’s like those Russian nesting dolls that are different sizes with one inside the other inside the other. THere’s the BIG Camino in Spain, then Phil’s Camino (which connects to that in so many ways), then Jane’s Camino in solidarity!
Catalina ~ yes, thank you, I see that. It ripples outward. Felipé.x