A Time For Everything

My monthly writers meeting has gone virtual. Our speaker for this month will be speaking to us via Zoom. Bars and restaurants in Tarrant County are going to be shut down at some point today, so the decision is definitely out of my hands now, but we'd already made the decision so that we weren't scrambling super last minute to put plan B into motion. I'm really going to miss seeing my friends this month though. These women are my people.

My thoughts about what's going on due to COVID-19 have spanned the gamut all week as I read this article and that article and the other article. I've finally come to the conclusion, however, that a) while all these closures are tragic and spell hardships for a great many people, they're necessary; b) social distancing is unfortunately necessary primarily / especially to manage the impact on our health care system; and c) many people want to blame the government and / or the media for various things going on such as panic buying, but I honestly don't know how things could have gone any different. People are still gonna over-react, people are still going to make decisions based on fear and not facts, people are still going to get their news *not* from appropriate sources.

We're a mere three months out from the first confirmed case in China. Were we supposed to shut down everything mid-January when we didn't know much? Sure, that would have been better. And what exactly caused people to think toilet paper was the can't-live-without item?

I really don't know.

But for good and for ill the world has been forced to hunker down and so we shall. We all have a chance to reconnect with our families, we can catch up on reading and crafts, television, and maybe get some spring cleaning done.

My plans include getting the garage cleaned out and getting my two books written and some other writing/publishing related stuff that I need to decide upon and write down.

Anyway...I was on a cruise to the Western Caribbean two weeks ago. That seems so long ago at this point, but I promised pictures. Our first stop was New Orleans, though, and I shared a few pictures the other day. Here are a few more from DH and my morning trek through the residential portion of the French Quarter. I have a love of architecture and I fell in love with the area. If I had money to spare, I would buy property in the French Quarter and try to infuse the area with small businesses and small living spaces...

Someday.

Here are just a few of my favorites:






There were so many building for sale and / or boarded over. It made my heart hurt.

But if you want to see the rest of my random photos, here's the link.

Take care and be safe!

I've started three posts for today, but things are changing at such a rapid pace that whatever I wrote on Friday is no longer applicable.

Today I'm at work. Our office consists of four people usually. One employee is on vacation for the next three days; DH is at home still self-quarantining, but will probably start actually working remotely; the other employee is here to hold down the fort and do the actual work of our business (IT/MSP) while I do the back end/admin stuff.

Our oldest arrived in town the weekend we left on our trip and left this morning to start her new life in Denver with her soulmate (her words, not mine). Now that DH has his office back and we're back to our usual household residents, life can finally return to some semblance of rhythm and routine.

Remember I wanted that last week. Well, it didn't happen. Too many bodies in the house, too many dishes to wash, too much laundry to do, too much going on in the world to focus on writing as I'd hoped to. But now that the home-front is back to normal, maybe I can re-establish some equilibrium and re-gain that focus.

My plans for writing this past weekend didn't pan out as hoped either. With everything going on both in the house and out in the world as well as not being in the story for almost two weeks, I wasn't nearly as productive as I'd hoped. Thank goodness I don't depend on writing and productivity on that front for my paycheck. I'd be in big trouble.

But something normal and exciting did happen this past weekend. My baby girl (aka DD or my Hockey partner in Crime) bought her first car. She's been driving what she affectionately calls The Tank--a 1999 Dodge Ram pickup we gave her way back in the day when she first started driving and the other two didn't. She's been driving it ever since, nursing it through various mechanical issues through the years. But it is really on its last legs without some serious work that she can't afford, so...

Anyway, while her original plan was to get a smallish SUV, much like my RAV4, she ended up with a 2014 Chevy Cruze. As a sedan, it had a smaller price tag, so that was a factor. And the color--well, it was like a sign. :0)



I might have mentioned my love of Pecan Pralines & Cream ice cream a time or two in the past. Well, pecan pralines are actually a thing... I thought it was just combined for the ice cream flavor but not so. And I discovered pecan pralines are an actual thing in New Orleans, so I went in search. I didn't get a picture of the bag before I tore into it, but here are the pecan pralines. I like them a lot, but they're definitely better in the ice cream. :0)



Last but not least, some things to do online during this nationwide shutdown:

Download coloring books from museums: http://www.openculture.com/2019/02/download-free-coloring-books-from-113-museums.html

The Metropolitan Opera will be streaming operas free in the evenings for a while: https://operawire.com/metropolitan-opera-to-offer-up-nightly-met-opera-streams/

And the Cincinnati Zoo will be offering a "daily safari" via Facebook highlighting one of their animals: https://www.facebook.com/cincinnatizoo/

Take care...catch you Wednesday.

The world is grinding to a halt as the Corona Virus does its thing and yet we must carry on with life as best we are able. It's an interesting contrast.

All major sports seasons and events are or, I imagine, will be canceled or suspended. Conferences of all kinds are also being canceled. I get it. Slow the spread as much as possible so that medical facilities aren't overwhelmed, although it might a little late on that front. I want my hockey teams safe and healthy and I don't want sick people in general, but I'm really bummed the season was canceled.


I'm also nervous about the impacts across the globe, across the nation, and across the various industries; what the ripple effect is going to be.

Unfortunately, the only thing I can do is stay home--which I mostly do--and keep myself and my family out of harm's way.

It's really terrible to learn and to understand how spectacularly the infrastructure of our country has failed us. Yes, there have been people predicting something like this for years, but no one took it seriously enough to act or prepare.

I hate to imagine what the landscape of society will look like by the end of 2020.

Sorry for the downer post, but just posting all my vacation pictures without acknowledging the world-wide crisis would leave the wrong impression.

Anyway, have a safe and educational weekend--meaning, stay tuned to what's going on and take the utmost precautions you can.

...aside from just generally being on vacation for a week+ were:


1. I got to eat ice cream everyday. Most days it was soft serve, but one day the soft serve machine was frozen and so I checked out the actual ice cream station and discovered coconut ice cream!! They didn't have it out every day, but I checked. :0)

2. Eating English muffins (with butter and strawberry jelly) and bacon and fresh pineapple every day for breakfast. :0)

3. Spending some quality time with DH. :0)

As I mentioned, I'd never been to New Orleans, so I was excited to visit the city, specifically and especially the French Quarter.

Here are a few fun pictures of my visit:





And what (first or any(?)) visit is complete without a visit to Cafe DuMonde for beignets??

DH and I woke ridiculously early our first full day in NOLA and made the stop at about 4am. Probably a good thing, because all the pictures I've seen of this place during they day--it's packed. So it worked out.


More pictures to come.

Hope you're having a great week.

DH and I were on an NCL cruise of the Western Caribbean along with my mother- and father-in-law.

We embarked from New Orleans--a city I'd never been to--so we traveled a day early so that we could explore the French Quarter a little.

There will be pictures and tales of our adventures coming soon. I meant to pre-schedule some posts for last week, but just ran out of time.

But I'm back and ready to get back into the regularly scheduled rhythms and routines of life.

Hope you're well and had a good week last week. See you Wednesday...