My new reality

Thank you all for your concern regarding the termination of our South American/Patagonia tour. Turns out Argentina has or will begin shortly a 14 day quarantine on arriving US citizens (among others) that were in-country less than 14 days which we would have been included in. Our tour organization, Odysseys Unlimited, was correct in sending us home. That and American Airlines will be suspending service to BA so if we had stayed that could have delayed our return later in the month anyway. They don’t have many cases of Coronavirus in Argentina yet so although we felt it was safe to stay the thought of getting home was foremost on our minds. That, and the hourly evolving situation around the world made the decision to return easier. 

Despite the news about horrible lines and delays at airports our return was very easy. There were no lines, we had a very speedy entry through customs in Miami, waited in a moderately quiet Miami airport, and arrived in a very quiet JFK airport with no lines, no screening, and very few masks in view. We stayed overnight with our friends Jeanette and Allen (sorry Allan, I don’t know the correct spelling of your name! Alan? Allan? Allen? Allyn?) though we kept a respectful distance and elbowed each other instead of hugging. From there we drove on home on Sunday. The sun was shining and the roads were quiet. We stopped at BJ’s in Albany since we had cleared out all the food in the house (except of our pantry items). We expected to see a madhouse but no, it was quiet and I could get just about everything I needed (no TP, no surprise there). The cashier said the previous two days they had lines of 100 people or more!

So here we are at home, self isolating.  Although we had not visited any hot zones we did travel through airports so we are being careful. There doesn’t appear to be an outbreak in this area yet; I would hate to be the one that starts it and become Saranac Lake’s Patient Zero. Since we have retired up here to the Adirondacks self isolation is more or less a way of life anyway unless you make efforts to socialize.  Remarkably, we now have a more active social life with our neighbors up here than we had when we were working and living in suburban Boston!  However, it is now approaching mud season so there are fewer neighbors about and self isolation should be easy.  What are our plans?  Well, that brings me to the intent of this blog:  Self Isolation Activities (SIA) or What To Do In An Apocalyptic World? (WTDIAAW) or WTF Do I Do Now? (WTFDIDN). I’m still working on the acronym…

On a normal ILITWSKB (I Live In The Woods So Keep Busy) day, I linger over breakfast, reading news, checking FB, doing correspondence, etc while watching GMA and a little bit of Kelly and Ryan. 2 cups of tea please! So there’s that. Then I get started on chores (laundry, housecleaning, etc). I’ll go for a walk or workout downstairs on the crosstrainer (it’s still cold in the house in the morning so this is a good way to warm up). There’s online yoga, reading and writing in the afternoon, sewing, puttering about, and then preparing dinner, hot tub, wind down. Feed and stoke the fire all day long. That’s a typical winter day.

New plans I’ll be adding: starting seedlings for the garden, writing this blog more frequently, hoping to do more vigorous workouts (I signed up for the Tupper Lake Tinman Triathlon again!), sewing, finishing my latest upholstery project, cleaning out my closet. I think I’ll actually start practicing piano again since we have a beautiful baby grand sitting here that no one is touching. Between us Greg and I have about 18 years of lessons that we should be able to remember. I’ve got some stained glass projects in my head that I need to get to. We’ll both have to work on getting credit and refunds from our Patagonia excursions we didn’t get to, if we can get through the very busy telephone lines. And Greg is thinking of a few house improvements that he’ll need some supervision for (although he doesn’t think so).

Along the way I’ve been stumbling on and thinking of more ideas that you may want to consider if you have to HDASH (Hunker Down And Stay Home):

Libraries offer ebook lending; you can download a borrowed ebook to your phone or Kindle. Our library uses Libby (LibbyApp.com). AmazonFreeTime is another free app which has activities, music, and books for kids. Many yoga places are offering free yoga classes for a few weeks. I got an offer from http://www.BreatheStThomas.com where I took a class last month. Also consider signing up with Tory J Nash (www.toryjnash.com) who teaches online yoga and ayurveda classes regularly. Consider writing some honest-to-goodness hand written letters to friends and family or service men and women abroad. Try baking something difficult (but then you’ll have to eat it!). Our friend Mike is making new cocktails and posting them on FB. Walking, running, and bike riding are still open and free and can be done solitarilily (just invented that word). Churches are posting services; maybe it’s time to go back to church in your pajamas. Here’s a video of my cousin Fr. Jack’s sermon at St. Joe’s on Sunday back in Buffalo: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3107893049243980&id=100000699462394

Try knitting or crocheting baby items. There’s gonna be a baby boom around December this year. Be prepared! I’ve been saving pages of golf tips that I’ll get around to practicing when it gets warmer. How about meditating? Couldn’t hurt! Investigate this compilation of meditative practices from http://www.yogajournal.com Call someone and talk. Color in an adult coloring book. Do a puzzle…upsidedown! Organize those photos and make that album you always said you’d get to. Clean out that closet/spice rack/junk drawer/basement/garage/attic. Make a quilt! Check out these amazing quilts from 2 of my friends:

Of course there’s always bingewatching something but anyone can do that. If you have ideas, post them below in comments on Facebook or on my wordpress page. Hey, we’re all in this together (but separately)! We can beat this thing called ISAHWMF*! Later, people. Gonna go out for a walk. Stay well! (*I’m Stuck At Home With My Family).