Life in the Time of CoVid-Day 42 Lockdown: Hello Sunshine!
Thursday, May 7, 2020: SA Lockdown Day 42; C&K Home at Last!
In his daily report, NY Gov. Cuomo heralded “The Season” starting: “Now, through August 12th, sunsets will be 8 p.m. or later.” Change is in the air: bulbs are bobbing, birds are chirping, trees are blooming. Speaking of trees: check out my baby apple tree! The kids gave it to us 3 years ago and see my tree/how big it’s grown/well friends…take Bobby! Really, how could I resist?)
NY: Number of new COVid-19 hospitalizations continues to fall; yesterday [only] 601, down from 659 the day before. Total hospitalizations fell to [only] 9,179 from 9,600 the day before; 232 deaths.
With spring comes restlessness—and hope. Hope that CoVid 19 goes the way of the Spanish Flu here in the Northern Hemisphere, that with warmer weather and longer days, incidents of infection will continue to decline. “Still,” Cuomo pointed out, “As the weather gets warmer, we must continue our vigilance and practice social distancing.”
Yeah right… People are over it.
SA: 7,808 known cases of CoVid-19; 153 people are dead; 279,379 people have been tested.
Cuomo is trying hard to mix highlights with the horrors in his daily reports. To that end, each evening he singles out one positive/generous act. He calls these "Deep Breath Moments” Who knew?
“When Ireland was in need during the potato famine in 1847, the Choctaw Nation was there to help, digging deep in their pockets to send donations to the stricken country. Now, 173 years later, hundreds of Irish people are repaying the act of kindness by sending donations to help Native American tribes during the Coronavirus pandemic.” Click over to read “Irish Return an Old Favor, Helping Native Americans Battling the Virus.” I was glad I did.
Here’s something else I just discovered that has my theatre-loving toes tapping: Broadway on Utube! Yes! TodayTix (which, with Broadway being dark has renamed itself TomorrowTix is still my go-to place for info on all things theatre—everything streaming.
And best, they’ve created a guide of Theatre from Around the World including the Broadway Streaming (with is offering a month’s free trial with $8.99 after that.) If we’re lucky that will be all we need before Live Theatre Lives again! Until then, we can Watch Theatre From Around the World in Our Home!
We will cope. And we can hope. And for those of us with plenty to eat, time to type and means to keep the Internet buzzing, hopes that the optimistic outcome in Tom Foolery’s bedtime read-aloud: The Great Realization: Hindsight 2020.
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Poetry Challenge #138-I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
“I can’t write five words but that I change seven”—Dorothy Parker
“I love revisions...We can't go back and revise our lives but being allowed to go back and revise what we have written comes closest.”—Katherine Paterson.
Poetry Challenge #138
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!
One of the best things to do to make a poem better is revise it.
First, read your poem aloud. If it sounds good, reads well, great! Now try to make it even better by doing the following:
Can you replace weak words with more visual words? Words like “that” or “was” or “is” can usually be replaced with something stronger. Try to make every word count.
Listen to the sounds of each word. Is there a sound that’s repeated in your poem? Can you replace words to add more of that sound?
Read your poem very slowly. Pause at the end of each line. Is that the best word to end on? Play with your line lengths and with punctuation. Make readers read it the way you want them to.
Repeat these steps until you’re satisfied and then read the poem once more aloud.
Happy revising!
“Every success story is a tale of constant adaption, revision and change”—Sir Richard Branson
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge MORE THAN 4 YEARS ago! (without a miss!!!) We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
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Ask Norman...How Many Teeth . . . ?
Ask Norman your questions HERE!
Hey Kids!
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish—about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Poetry Challenge #137- XYZipppppper!
Two Part Question: 1. Did you wear a coat or pants today? 2. How did you clasp the front closed?
If your answer to the second part was “I zipped up!” Then put on your party hat and let’s here it for Elias Howe!* It’s National Zipper Day!
Elias Howe’s first zipper wasn’t called a zipper. When Howe filed his patent in 1851, it was for an “Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure.” But …Howe never tried to market or sell his invention, so it wasn’t until 42 year later when Whitcomb Judson patented a fastener similar to but not exactly the same called the “Clasp Locker.” Judson debuted his clasp locker at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. But… people were too zipped up at that time to fathom doing away with button hooks and laces, so nothing came of it.
Finally, in 1917, a fella who worked at the company Judson founded, Gideon Sundback invented the “Separable Fastener.” Folks like it, but…no one knew quite what to do with it. Apparently, the trouble was all in the name. It wasn’t until 1923 when B. F. Goodrich tried the danged zipper as a boot fastener and coined the name that stuck. Which brings us to our prompt.
Poetry Challenge #137
XYZ: Xamine Your ZZZipppppper!
Back in my school yard days, whenever a friend forgot to zip his or her pants, we’d call out with a helpful XYZ! Let’s begin by doing exactly that. By design a zipper is “two facing-rows of teeth that pull into a single piece by the slider.”
In honor of National Zipper Day let’s choose two different sets of words and link them together—zip them—into a poem.
Begin with two words. But, just as zipping a snug pair of jeans isn’t easy, let’s not make this poem come together too easily. Choose two words that do not seem at all connected. For instance: Tire & Popcorn; Carnival & Pencil; Snow & Tabasco. You get the idea.
Write each word on one side of a paper. Now, BRAINSTORM, list 5 or more words that relate to each of those words.
Weave, link, fasten—ZIP these words together into a one poem. Extra points for physically arranging the poem into a zipper shape on the page.
Or, write about riding THE BIG ZIPPER
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
Ready! Set! X.Y.Z.
*That zipper isn’t the only thing about those clothes for which we have good ole Elias to thank. He also invented the sewing machine. Without him, instead of a closets & drawers full of clothes to choose from, we might be scrounging around in hand-sewn sacks tied with string—zip it pontificator, stick to the subject!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge MORE THAN 4 YEARS ago! (without a miss!!!) We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
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Life in the Time of CoVid-Day 30 Lockdown
Saturday, April 25: SA Lockdown Day 30; C&K Quarantine Day 15
We are officially out of quarantine. Two weeks ago, yesterday, we arrived back in US.
Weird how being in Lockdown feels routine, normal sort of . . . in such an abnormal way… We’re all zooming, chatting with folks we never chatted with before, making friends with strangers—connected via shared separation. Or are we connecting because at 6-feet apart it’s safe? There’s a hook…
Worldwide: 2.8 million confirmed CoVid cases; more than 197,000 people have died.
Reminds me of how back in the days when were flew three-across-share-the elbow-rest we’d avoid talking to row mates entire hours-long flights until, in those finite minutes between wheels-down and exodus the plane would erupt in happy houresk chatter while everyone exchanged cheery “where you headed?” “Is this home for you?” “Enjoy your day!” chit-chat. There was a hook…
We’d go to serious lengths to limit conversation. A friend proudly relayed how on Southwest Flights (without unassigned seats), after shimmying into a window seat she’d casually “leave” a crumpled tissue on the seat beside her to dissuade would-be seatmates. Imagine the terror said tissue would strike now? I feigned sleep—including slack jaw and when necessary drool in demand. I wonder now, how I’d act?
It’s a push me-pull you: At the same time we’re ordering designer facemasks—Should Facemasks Be A Fashion Statement?—and signature sanitizer (here’s a recipe—add your own scent), we’re already lamenting the “good-ole days” of crowds & grand gatherings—wondering if we’ll ever get to cram thousands into a stadium—or even hundreds at a wedding again. Will tots of today get to rock shoulder-to-shoulder in a million-lipped hiss of Bu-bu-bu-Benny-and-the-jetssssssssss?
The New York Times recently solicited snippets of readers/viewers pre-pandimic memories and received over 700 submissions from around the world. Here’s the link.
A season or so ago, the New York Times launched a column called Modern Love, featuring personally essays of sweet-meets, etc. which spun into a podcast and then series. If you need some feel-good viewing, click on. Here’s the Modern Love trailer.
And now, capitalizing or sense of time rushing—and standing still—and impermanence the NYT has branched out into flash essays—100 words or less, called—bite-sized snippets in tumultuous times and love stories. If you have one, submit yours here Tiny Love Stories. Or, if, like me, it feels good to know what’s going on “over there” because I’m so over what’s happening “in here,” read on. And here’s the link to more:
“Will the Dishwasher End Us?
Big fight today before grocery shopping about the proper way to load knives into the dishwasher. A small yet pivotal moment in our shelter-at-home lives. Do we cause a scene in the Trader Joe’s line? Do we forgo collaboration on the grocery list? It’s drizzling, gray. The people behind us are a little too close. He’s wearing the jacket that my father gave him. I laugh, pull him toward me, say, “This is the dumbest fight I’ve ever been in.” He nods, kisses me. If we have to be stuck, at least we’re stuck together. — Madison Olivieri”
Enjoy! Because—Hit it Dionne! What the world needs now is love, sweet love…
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Ask Norman...Do You Ever Get Thirsty?
Ask Norman your questions HERE!
Hey Kids!
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish—about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Poetry Challenge #136-Happy 50th Earth Day
The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970—fifty years ago! It is now celebrated by millions of people all over the world who care about our planet.
Check out One Square Inch of Silence which was founded on Earth Day in 2005 to find out how you can participate in expanding naturally silent spaces around the globe.
“The concept of Earth Day was established in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. On March 21, 1970, a sanctioned Proclamation was signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations. On April 22, 1970, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson founded Earth Day.”—National Day Calendar.
On this day each year—for the past 50 years—people around the world, promote green campaigns to save the Earth.
Poetry Challenge #136
Happy Earth Day
One way to celebrate our world is to write a poem about it. Because haiku is usually written about nature, today is a great day to write one (or two or three).
Haiku usually has three lines with 5 syllables on the first and third line and 7 syllables on the second.
Think about what you most appreciate about Earth on this Earth Day and write a haiku celebrating that trait.
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
Share your Earth Day experiences using #EarthDay on Social Media.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge MORE THAN 4 YEARS ago! (without a miss!!!) We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
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Life in the Time of CoVid-Day 25 Lockdown Limbo: Gotta Plan-Gotta Laugh!
Monday, April 20: SA Lockdown Day 25; C&K Quarantine Day 10
ONLY 25 ?????? Who am I to complain?
I know, right? When everyone in the US has been Self-Isolating/Safety-Distancing/ LOCKDOWN for a soooooooooo much longer than that! And WHOO-HOO! The curve in many places—Italy, China, Spain…California, Washington, New York is flattening. We are winning! Right! Right?
In SA, with 3,158 confirmed CoVid cases & 54 deaths they’re calling this Lockdown Limbo. That place of quiet between “Help! We’re gonna die!” and “Help! I’m going broke—let me out of here.”
In Jaws terms we’re in the boat with Sheriff Broady. Jaws has already killed, so we know what it can do; and its knows we’re here, stuck in the middle of the ocean with a dead motor, because it’s seen us and we’ve seen it. Duh…duh-duh… Do we wait? or Do we swim for it?
Or, if you prefer George Clooney over Roy Schneider (and who doesn’t) then we’re still out in the boat, in the middle of the ocean—during The Perfect Storm—drifting between swells.
We still have chance right?
It’s the anticipation that gets us.
It’s maddening not to be doing something…
So, I get why folks are getting restless, protesting—hollering at Governors & health officials “Let me Go!”
What am I doing? Barely visible over the top of my computer screen, conveniently close to the toaster, is a slightly softened stick of salted butter and jar of mixed berry jam… just to the right of that are chocolates (already unbagged and mounded into a tidy pile) I am weighing my options. Toast or candy? Toast or candy? Toast or candy…
And I’m planning. . . No matter what we wish, when officials free us from Lockdown CoVid will not be gone. Yet. There’s no telling when or if—as with polio, small pox, measles, TB—CoVid-19 will be just another bug to vaccinate against—please!
USA: About 755,000 CoVid cases; 40,000 dead. Yesterday was the 1st day since April 2 that the death toll in NY was less than 500.
We have to be vigilant and practical, i.e. Masking and Washing.
Which is why I’m reposting this simple doable grocery-washing procedure video by Dr. Jeffery VanWigen:
And through it all . . . We need to nourish a sense of humor and wonder, so I’m sharing a bit of both.
Wonder—as in wonderful seeing penguins tootling down the streets of Simons Town, SA.
Humor—Bravo! who thinks up these pandemic jokes!
Keep Smiling/keep shining/knowing you can always count on me….for corny songs.