I'm Just Visiting This Planet

This has been some year. If anyone had told me in March that I’d still be staying at home in December I’d have either thought they were joking or thought they were crazy. When our trip to Santa Fe with Jane LaFazio and the Madeline Island School of the Arts was postponed from March 2020 until March 2021 I thought that we’d be fine. Ha! Always, I am reminded of that wonderful Yiddish saying, “Man (and woman) plans, God laughs.” And so here we are, still staying at home, worrying and praying for the over 3,000 Americans who are dying every day .That’s 9/11 every single day. And over 300,000 Americans dead  and over 1.6 million dead world wide, according to The New York Times. And some people in America can’t see past their own noses to put on a mask. How selfish! In some ways this is the perfect Christmas to remember John Lennon’s Happy Christmas (War is Over) song. Happy Christmas everyone!

I can't believe that we've been doing "this" for nearly nine months now. The last time I ate in a restaurant, inside, was March 3, 2020, at Lefteris Gyro in Tarrytown. I remember it, not only because it was the last time I ate inside at a restaurant, but because at the time it was so, well, ordinary. I am sooooo tired of thinking about food. I used to enjoy reading recipes, planning what we would cook, thinking about shopping. Now it's all just one big pain in the butt. Shopping means getting up at 6 AM to get to Whole Foods by 7 on Friday morning or DeCicco's by 7:30 pretty much any day. It means making sure to "follow the arrows" and not get too close to anyone. What fun! When we mentioned that we were tired of cooking Christina, who works at Fred's Auto Repair, suggested we try  Blue Apron . She and Fred were both pretty excited about it.  A plug for Fred's, where we have taken our cars since 2002. The only auto repair shop where I once ...

 Things are weird in the Corey-Knapp household. I just found a draft of a post I wrote in July but never published. Oh well, that's old news. We're going a little stir crazy. Oh, we've been out of the house. We've gotten haircuts, gone shopping, been to the dentist (both of us), and even a few doctor's appointments. Okay, more than a few--remember, we're old. But now that we're both retired we would like to be traveling, to somewhere other than Whole Foods. And now this (as John Oliver would say)-the election! I am stunned that so many people could vote for Trump after these past four years, especially after these past eight months. But I'm particularly stunned that people who call themselves Christians could vote for him. When I see signs like "Catholics for Trump" or learn that friends of mine think he's done great things for the economy, I realize that we live in two different Americas. A friend recently posted on Facebook "Well, ...

But I do know that I’m getting kind of tired of this. By this I mean: Grocery shopping every ten days or so because it has become so nerve-wracking. Zoom meetings-I am so over Zoom. Remembering my mask when I go out Trying to remember what “going out” was like You get the picture. And I’m starting to think that “this” is the “new normal.” At least the garden looks good, the garden we weren’t going to have because we were supposed to be traveling. I like this picture so much that I made it one of my “virtual backgrounds” for when I’m on Zoom on my iPad. Garden gate with Tibetan prayer flags How are you doing?

We were sitting on the porch last week when I looked up at the skylights and saw—-well it looked like hundreds but it was probably only about 20–stink bugs. They are quite disgusting, and I couldn’t help thinking, oh great. Another  plague. McHale to the rescue! I won’t even begin to guess how many of these uninvited guests we had, but it was a lot. And of course, every plague has it’s price of removal. But McHale was here on Monday, and although we’re still picking up the bodies, both dead and some barely alive, it was worth every penny. And now, on to the dryer! The steam valve (who knew we even had a steam valve?) is running non-stop and wetting the clothes instead of drying them. Tomorrow it’s time to call Berger’s  and find the number for the Electrolux repairman. Happy self-quarantining everyone!

[Note: I count from March 3 because that's the date that the first case was discovered in Westchester County New York.] So here we are, just over three months into this. And I finally started working on our home office. Mostly I have "before" pictures. Like these: The overall "look"  There's a table under there, under the farmer's market basket and the pile of mail. Stuff on the table by the door  I can't begin to tell you how long this "project" has been on the list of things to do. This office has looked like a bomb dropped for quite some time. There are papers to be filed, like the pile of bills you see on the right below. So I've learned that I can put off difficult projects for, oh, three months with no problem. At the beginning of the stay at home order, I assumed that I would have lots of energy for projects like this. Boy, was I wrong! I barely have the energy for this project now! Stay tuned! maybe by Day 1...

We looked at each other the other day and realized that we haven’t seen anyone but each other in 65 days (Zoom doesn’t count). The days all mush together. It’s hard to remember to show up for Zoom meetings-Anne missed a board meeting, my friend Gaye missed a Committee on Preparation for Ministry meeting. We don’t know what day it is, what time it is, and the gloomy weather isn’t helping. At least the sun came out today. Kali and Shiva in a hug On the other hand, the cats make us laugh, so here are a few cat photos: Shiva asleep Kali on the cable box

Radishes survived the frost Anne examining the "tender greens" Herbs from Hilltop Hanover Yesterday we were able to work in the garden. I was so happy to just be out of the house! We removed the row covers that we put on last week when we had a frost warning. The radishes and greens look fine. We planted all of the herbs that we bought at Hilltop Hanover Farm. After a couple of years of not belonging to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) we belong to two: Hilltop Hanover and Fable We joined these two because they are CSA's that issue you a "card" and you can shop whenever you want and buy whatever you want. We are experimenting with this model--it allowed us to get organic herb starters for the garden that we didn't know we were going to have. The plan was to travel this summer--Ha!--and not have a garden. "Man plans, God laughs" goes the old Yiddish saying and it apparently applies to women also. Once we realized that we...

I’m counting from March 3, so I think that I’m up to day 49-28 days in March and 21 in April. So now the routine is: Up between 6:30 and 7ish Shower Yoga Breakfast Read the newspaper Wait for Governor Cuomo and his update Get depressed Have lunch Watch Fauda  Season 3 (we’re up to episode of 7 out of 12) Start cocktail hour (with fancy appetizers) Make dinner Watch something else—The Plot Against America was last night’s event. Okay so we don’t get depressed every day, especially today—“only” 481 deaths, down from over 700 day after day. Our lives aren’t all that different from the “before.” We are cooking more, shopping less and watching more TV. We’re walking the trails in our neighborhood and have discovered trails that we always meant to walk. We (okay Anne) have seedlings growing under grow lights in the basement—dill, parsley, cilantro and thyme. We have radishes and greens growing under row covers as we await our last (we hope!) overnight freeze....

Okay, it’s official—I am soooo over this. And I’m not really even sure which part has me the most vexed. Is it missing physically being in  church? Is it how stressful grocery shopping has become? Is it how divided my brain is—when neighbors lost power I asked Anne if we could have them over to charge their phones, totally forgetting that we are in self-isolation. I think the worst part is not being able to just leave the house and go somewhere else. Anywhere else. The library, Whole Foods, church, synagogue, the Jacob Burns , Lexington Square  for lunch or dinner. Passover and Easter were very strange. Of course we weren’t the only ones asking “Why is this night different from all other nights?” and laughing. The sunrise service was different, too—I attended in my pajamas, which was kind of nice, and stayed warm while I watched Chip and Tami looking cold. My happiest moments have been outside, in the garden. Here I am filling one of our raised beds so that we can pl...

I’m counting from March 3, the day that the first person in New Rochelle was diagnosed, or at least when we were alerted in the news media that someone in New Rochelle had tested positive for CORVID-19. So it’s just 31 days. And we’ve only been on a “stay at home” order for about 19 of those days. Only. Tuesday we decided that it was time we each wore a mask when we were out grocery shopping. But what kind of mask, where to get one, how to make one? We knew we were going to Seasons in Scarsdale early (like 7 AM early) to do some Passover shopping, so we needed masks ASAP. I haven’t used my sewing machine in, oh, forty years (don’t ask why it has moved with me to every single place I’ve lived since college) and I didn’t think that this was the time to reintroduce myself to sewing. We found a YouTube video showing how to make a mask out of paper towels, aluminum foil and rubber bands—about our speed. It went well until we got to the part where you “just” take a hole puncher and ...

Okay, I’m done. This is getting boring, monotonous and weird. I don’t have the energy for all of the projects that I thought I would get done while we were on “lockdown.” My computer is acting weird, too—shutting down for no reason, not opening Word. I hope it doesn’t have a virus, ha ha. I guess we’ve only been confined to the house for two weeks but it’s starting to feel like forever. I hope when I look back on these days I can do so with a sense of compassion. I know that’s how I looked back on the days after 9/11. Peace to everyone—hope you are all doing okay!

Our days have fallen into a pattern: Up fairly early, feed the cats, shovel the litter boxes, make tea Anne showers, we each do yoga (sometimes together, sometimes I do sun salutations and she does AM Yoga with Rodney Ye on DVD) Breakfast Read the paper, do the Set Puzzle  in the New York Times, and if I haven't done the crossword yet, I do that Around 11 AM we listen to Governor Cuomo's briefing Depending on the day, one of us might have a Zoom event. Today I facilitated the Thursday morning Faith4Life class at First Presbyterian Church of Yorktown through Zoom. Anne was going to Zoom with her friends but instead, we got out and took a nice long walk along the trails at Gedney Park . Looking at the bright side, we've discovered the trails at Warburg Park  and rediscovered the trails at Teatown Reservation. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the country. At this point I know at least six people who either have COVID-19 or who probably h...

So today it snowed—of course! It’s that kind of time, isn’t it? My cousin called me from Puerto Rico. My cousin and his wife live just outside of San Juan where my cousin’s wife is a dean at the University of the Sacred Heart.  She was involved in creating an on-line university—in just a little over a week! Mike told me that they are fine, just one disaster after another. Maria, earthquakes and now Coronavirus. They are currently being required to stay at home and there is a curfew, from 9 PM until 5 AM in San Juan. We are settling into a routine. Today we did our morning stuff (shower, breakfast, newspaper) followed by snow day stuff (build a fire). Then we did a jigsaw puzzle and listened to a book on Audible, followed by a chair yoga class on Amazon Prime for about 50 minutes. I went off to pick up dinner (thank you, Craig Pellis at Silver Spoon Catering )—chicken, veggies, roasted potatoes (sweet and white) and a container of “Jewish penicillin” just in case. The news...

So here we are, March 22, day 19. But who’s counting? Anne is “at” Torah study (on Zoom). I’m about to “go” to church (on Facebook Live). Yesterday, thanks to our wonderful local supermarket DeCicco and Sons  we old folks were able to shop early. We kept our distance (socially, of course!) and were able to stock up on everything we needed. We just couldn’t get Anne’s goat yogurt. I now feel much more secure. We have almost a full case of wine, we have a full fridge and a full upright freezer downstairs, we joined Fable Farm’s CSA and Hilltop Hanover Farm’s CSA. And Anne ordered seeds for the garden, since we’re not going anywhere this summer. So bring it on, we’re ready. How about you? How are you doing? Let me know in a comment or two. Peace.

We are spending a ridiculous amount of time inside. Not that I want to do anything inside—we have a list of house projects that we have put off for literally years (clean the basement, go through the files in the home office) and now I know why. These projects are so enervating that even if there all that there is to do I don’t want to do them. Watching Governor Cuomo’s daily briefing at around 11 AM is the highlight of the day. He looks more presidential every minute. I find myself wondering when this all really began for us—the first person who was diagnosed in Westchester as an attorney in New Rochelle, on March 3rd. So let’s count that as the beginning. We had the house cleaned that day, I had lunch with a friend at a restaurant in Tarrytown, that was a “normal” day. The next day I attended the Women’s Circle at my church-another normal day. In fact that entire week was normal: Adult Ed on Thursday, Anne’s art class Thursday afternoon. A quick trip to Suburban Wines on Th...

Here we are, at the epicenter, sort of, of the coronavirus in New York. We live in Westchester County, about 30 miles north of New York City, and just a few miles from New Rochelle. The coronavirus epidemic/pandemic started out gentle enough--at the end of February we learned that a man in New Rochelle had come down with it, and his synagogue was closed. Then that man's friends have kids who attend the Westchester Torah Academy, which meets in our shul, so the shul was closed. That closure began on March 4 and was to last for 48 hours. That got moved to March 17, and now the synagogue is closed until March 26. So that's the synagogue. Then there's my church. Sunday, March 8 we "passed the peace" by sort of waving at each other. What to do--do we still have services "in person?" I am currently the Moderator of the Hudson River Presbytery, and a member of the Council of that Presbytery. The Council had an emergency meeting on Thursday, March 12...