June 2020

June 2020

In the Days of the Quarantine

PA/DE/DC

1- M- PA- Quarantine Day #78- RED

It was a balcony gardening afternoon.  I bought another damn plant, a beautiful magenta asian lily which should bloom in a day or two. I can't wait and I must stop buying plants for my balcony garden.

The protests in the USA have spread around the world.  Trump has called in the National Guard to turn on its own people.  The country has become a shit show.

My anti-Trump tweet of the day: You hid in a bunker while the country imploded. You are a coward. #TrumpResignNow


2- TU- PA- Quarantine Day #79- RED

It's Primary Election Day and the candidate for the November election has already been decided so it was quiet annoying to even waste my time to vote at all for the election.  We are stuck with joe Biden as the Democratic candidate for the POTUS.  He is better than Trump but it is maddening that we started out last year with so many great candidates and now it comes down to two, old white men as our only choices.

I worked the polls for a state representative.  It was a waste of time being there since so many of us voted by mail this time.  Mostly I just chatted everyone up.

Judy Lynn Jackson posted on Facebook that her brother died of the corona virus.  Both he and she had been battling this virus. She's recovered but she has some permanent damage to her vocal cords, for some reason that I do not understand.

Ironhill is now serving margarita cocktails to go: 4 pints for $25.  I ordered them and found out that I had a $20 coupon so I got these great drinks for only $5.  What a great country.

On the way home, I heard protesters by the county courthouse so I went to join them.  It was refreshing to see the depth of anger in everyone.  We have had it.

3-W- PA- Quarantine Day #80- RED

Well, the two pints of margaritas really helped me sleep last night.  I probably tossed and turned but I definitely had lots of dreams.  So maybe I should move to hard alcohol to help with my insomnia.

We had wild storms today.  I looked out of my bedroom window and noticed that the umbrella on my balcony was moving too much.  By the time I got to the balcony, it was air borne and a struggle too close.  The wind was just too damn strong.  And it was really dark,  Most of the day resembles dusk.
I went to the pharmacy late in the afternoon and they were still without power.  Notices on facebook mentioned that we were under a tornado watch.

I watched a documentary on the Appalachian Trail, Flip Flop Flippin'.  Everyone has a trail nickname.  Mine would be SCAR.  Now I have a ridiculous idea that I should go out on a day hike.  But I hate to hike.

There is still lots of tension in the country.  Trump continues to fuel a fire of rage in so many of us.  His former Secretary of Defense just announced that Trump is a danger to our constitution.  Now Trump is trashing him.  I just hate this man and he can't leave office soon enough.


4- TH- PA- Quarantine Day #81- RED

It was a gorgeous day and I ran off to find beer and spare ribs.  Now I am loaded up with comfort food and drinks for a few days.

Today is the last day of being in the red zone of the quarantine.  Tomorrow we move cautiously to the yellow zone.  But accuracy, the quarantine is over for the people.  These protests have forced us to chose between speaking up or sitting it out.  And too many of us have stepped up. So now, social distancing is done.

We had a big ass protest today, organized by the Mayor's office. The whole damn town came out.  We met at the government building in Gay street and then we marched up to the court house.  People just kept joining th group.  The Mayor made a commitment to ban knee holds.  She pledged not to accept the help of the National Guard.  The African American Sheriff spoke.  A mother, whose daughter was killed in a racial crime, spoke.  The Chief of Police spoke.  Everyone took a knee and I felt she relief for the first time in a week.

I finished the day by watching the movie, Anita, the story of Anita Hill's testimony about Clarence Thomas and sexual harassment in the work place.  She was inspirational.  And it was a fitting way to end this emotionally charged day.

Face Book Post:  #TakeAKnee. When you kneel in silence for those 8 long minutes, it’s so hard to believe that this cop didn’t have one fleeting moment of reflection about his actions.

5- F- PA- Quarantine Day #82- RED

It was a miserable day and the last day when we have to be so secluded.  We move in to the Yellow Phase tomorrow.  There will be a few more options to eat out and to shop.  The world is peeling open again.

I spent much of the day on my blue chair which now has a permanent impression of my big, fat ass.  I worked on WAFW stuff.  I love what we are doing with these young women in China and Bangladesh.

I checked in with Sharon and we can't get together on Saturday as a huge protest is planned in all the major cities in the country.  One million people are expected to defend on DC alone.  And the Mayor of DC renamed the street leading up to the White House Black Lives Matter Blvd.  And Trump has put two miles of fencing around the White House.  He is hunkered down in fear and mismanagement.

I rented The Artist and The Theif from Bryn Mawr Film Institute.  It was intriguing.  I am not sure I would necessarily watch it again or recommend it.  But it was a very interesting story on people who are drawn to the wrong people.

I started watching I'm Not Your Negro and I had to pause it as there is too much to take in.  Everything he discussed in 1968 is the same today.  It's as if we have made no progress in these last 50 years. James Baldwin had a brilliant mind.


6- SA-  PA- Quarantine Day #83- Yellow

There are people sitting outside in the courtyard and they are laughing and relieved to be free to move around a bit.  It feels funny to hear them after there has been so much silence for so long.  Now I have to work on integrating myself back in to the world.

I spent most of the day working on WAFW things.  I had a call to Cyd, a call to Jerrie, an email to Maiike.  I drew up an outline and application for our English Language Mentorship Program. I sent an email to all of the facilitators.  This is beginning to feel like a job.

My Tweet: OMG, my state opened up a little bit today. I’m allowed to go outside and play with 
others after 81 days. Yippee!!! I’m so happy. HAS ANYOnNE SEEN MY BRA?


7 - SU PA- Quarantine Day #84- Yellow

It was beautiful day so Sharon asked me to come down and sit outside and have dinner.  I stopped by Ironhill and picked up 4 margaritas to go and couldn't wait to share them.  Glenn wasn't around and Deidre was supposed to join us so she just stopped by to say hello so that left two drinks for each of us.  I was so damn happy but I was surprised how excited Sharon was as well. She is not much of a drinker.

8 - M- PA/DE- Quarantine Day #85- Yellow

It was a gorgeous, gorgeous day so I drove to Rehobeth Beach, DE.  To reduce the crowd, the local police have blocked off half of the public parking which must be a real challenge on the weekend.  But I found a spot and I found an outdoor restaurant that would serve me a beer and a lobster roll so life was great for me. I sat on the beach for about an hour and just listened to the roar of the waves.  I love that sound.

I came home and had my first call with my Chinese student from Sias University.  Landon is a freshman from Hehan Province and we have already planned things for me to do when I finally get to return to China, although there does not seem to be any realistic return date in sight. She is very upset because she left her dorm in December for winter break.  The university never opened up again and all of her spring/summer clothes are in the dorm and she cant get to them.

9- TU- PA- Quarantine Day #85- Yellow

I started the day at 8:30 with a call to Amsterdam.  I have another person who is willing to start a Sisters' Keeper group in Bangladesh.  We are now up to 26 students and five groups.  I followed that up by sitting in a zoom call with my students from Bangladesh.  It was great to hear from them and to listen to what impact we have had on them.  Now I want to go back and reconnect with them.

Afterwards, I texted Nadia for about 30 minutes.  It was nice to reconnect with her. She recently got remarried and is not telling anyone as it is a big deal in her country to divorce and remarry.  We certainly do have a lot of rule in life that interfere with people's authentic lives.

I had a call with Kathi Lewis and Jane Moment.  Kathi has been in the hospital for 11 weeks now.  She looked great.  I thought she would look beat up.  But she was in good spirits and excited to hear from us.  Hopefully, we will get some time last the beach this summer.

I had a CARE zoom call with HRC as the Keynote Speaker.  She and I have the same hair cut : the 3 months overdue cut.  I wonder if she is as sick of her hair as I am.

Phylis and I walked around town tonight and then we went to Tecca for a drink.  Some man was just about leaning on me and I had to tell him to give me some space.  He just couldn't get that he was crowding me and needed to keep away from me.  These next couple of months are going to be tough as we make our way back in to the herd.

I went a little overboard with my tweets today:

• Just wondering if he is proud of his KKK endorsement. #TrumpRecession #MAGA #TrumpResign
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• Just wondering if he is going to make any more heartless comments about George Floyd, looking down and smiling because the stock market performed so well. #TrumpRecession #MAGA #TrumpResignNow
• 
  
• Just wondering if he is going to brag about how great the economy is as more and more people file for unemployment. #TrumpRecession #MAGA #TrumpResignNow
• 
  
• Just wondering if he is going to call any reporters "stupid" today. #TrumpResignNow #MAGA #TrumpRecession
• 
  
• Just wondering if Mexico is also going to pay for the wall around the WH. #TrumpResign #MAGA #TrumpBunkerBaby
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• Just wondering if he is going to malign any other citizens today or just the 75 year old guy who got his head cracked by the police. #TrumpMeltdown #MAGA #TrumpResign
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• Just wondering if he is going to ask the military to turn on Americans again. #TrumpRecession #TrumpResign #MAGA
• 
  
• I wonder if he grabbed any women by the pussy today.  He likes to do that. #TrumpResign #MAGA #TrumpRecession
• 
  
• Just wondering when he is going to show us his taxes. #TrumpRecession #TrumpResign #MAGA
• 
  
• Just wondering when we are going to be great again. #TrumpResign #MAGA #TrumpRecession

10- W- PA- Quarantine Day #86- Yellow

My tweet this morning: The Electoral College is racist. Want to make America great: give everyone an equal vote. One person; one vote. All votes matter. #BLM #MAGA #ElectoralCollegeIsRacist

I had lunch with Kathy Flatley at Ironhill and it was stressful. We have assigned tables outside. The menu is limited. I couldn't get a flight of beer. There is very little contact with the wait staff. We are not supposed to linger. So we eat and get out. It wasn't relaxing enough.

Then I can home and feel in to a little bit of a funk.  I can't sooth myself today.  I have an 8:30 zoom call and I had a beer for lunch so I felt a little trapped.  I didn't want to drive after drinking a beer.  It was really hot but I forgot about the pool.  I also forgot about hanging in the lounge as well.  So I just tried to nap and listen to an audible book.  I would finally get the rhyme of the narrator and then I would fall asleep for a few minutes and wake up and be disoriented in the story line.  So I would have to start over and try to pay more attention.  But it was really a waste of time because I don't feel refreshed and I am just going to have to start the story over for the third time. And I am still in a funk.

I had a zoom call with the WAFW facilitators and only one woman showed up and so did Jerrie but we still had a good conversation.  I like hanging with these people.

11- TH- PA- Quarantine Day #87- Yellow

It was rainy and then it was sunny and then it was rainy.  So it was hard for me to figure out what to do with myself today.  At the moment, I am lost between my quarantine world and my yellow phase world.  Things are opening up but not enough things that interest me.  I dont know what to do with myself.

And I have lost my social interaction interests.  I just dont feel like hanging with people.  I've lost my attention span for conversation.

I watched The Hate You Give Us a movie about a girl who witnessed a cop shoot and kill her friend. I recommended it to one of my Bangladesh students and she wrote back that she was going to watch it but in the interim, she wanted to know my opinion of renaming the White House.  She thinks the tilte has undercurrents of white supremacy.

I went to Jenkins Arboretum today and took photos.  My phone camera bombed out on me and I took mediocre photos at best but I was too lazy to go back out and take them again. And the threat of rain was too big a deterrent.


12- F- PA- Quarantine Day #88- Yellow

I sent a text to Kevin Williams to see if he wanted to meet up for a drink and he did and so we met for a late lunch.  It was great to catch up with him.  We talked mostly about the riots last week and the impact it has had on him.  For once, he told me, he feels validated.

I put a selfie photo of us up on Facebook and people are chiming in and liking it.  At the moment, it has 153 likes.  I think we all must be hungry for a post that isn't political.

I connected with my Chinese student, Landon.  She is hungry for conversation.  She really struggles but she tries so damn hard to communicate with me that her efforts are admirable.

I didn't watch any shows on the internet tonight.  I think this is a first during the quarantine and maybe the start of going back to my old ways.

My tweet today: Trump is willfully ignorant. #TrumpResignNow #MAGA #TrumpVirus #TrumpIsAnIdiot #TrumpIsALaughingStock #TrumpMeltdown

13- SA- PA- Quarantine Day #89- Yellow

It was a glorious day and I sat inside all day.  I don't know why I didnt go out and play but I just didn't.  I texted a few people to see if they wanted to get together but everyone was only available tomorrow.  I had four offers for tomorrow.  So in my boredom, I made quick trip to Walmart and bought shit I didn't need.  That seemed to appease me for the moment.

Later in the evening, I had a phone call with Tiasha from Bangladesh.  She is fascinated by all of the protesting going on here.  I sent her a movie recommendation yesterday that I knew she would just love and she did and then she had questions.  So it was nice to talk to her about the differences in race relations between our two countries.

14- SU- PA- Quarantine Day #90- Yellow

lunch with tricia
dinner with sharon
phone call to nadia


15- M- PA- Quarantine Day #91- Yellow

I wandered off to Marsh Creek State Park for the afternoon.  It was crowded as we are all so hungry to be out in the world again.  I sat in my beach chair and enjoyed the gentle breeze from the pond.  I tried to read but I still do not have the attention span to read as I used to do.  This fills me with shame and sadness.

In the evening, a few of us went in to town and had drinks at Ryan's pub.  It felt great to be outside and socializing. It got chilly so, without shame, we begged Jeff to run back to the apartment building and get us something to put on so we could stay out longer and in comfort.

16- TU- PA- Quarantine Day #92- Yellow

I had dinner with sue and tom at their home.  It was nice to see them again after all these months.

17- W- PA- Quarantine Day #93- Yellow

I went DE to buy a new laptop. I couldn't even get in to the store.  You have to have an appointment and a problem with your laptop.  I was told to buy it on line.

Late in the evening, I conversation with Jessica Peirson.  There is a classmate of hers who is claiming that he was sexually assaulted while he was in high school and under my watch.  He just wrote a scathing statement on FB that the district administration turned a blind eye to this abuse.  Jessica is furious as she knows I would never do that and she is worried that I am being wrongly accused of negligence of duty.  I explained to Jessica that this student has been in contact with me over his allegations and he is suffering from some sort of PTSD and mental health issues.  I suggested that she just treat him with kindness rather than confrontation.

18- TH- PA- Quarantine Day #94- Yellow

I slept too damn late today.  I took a sleep aid around 4 AM and it didn't kick in until after 7 AM. So waking up was too much of a challenge.  I spent the rest of the day on my balcony and just enjoyed the solitude.  I ran over to Walmart and picked up a few more plants and another shade umbrella and then I just sat on my balcony for most of the afternoon and the evening.  I just sat with my thoughts and music.

Tomorrow, all of the amenities in the apartment building open up so I think I will lose much of my privacy as people begin to venture out to the court yard in the evenings.

19- F- PA- Quarantine Day #95- Yellow

The governor announced that we will go Green on June 26 which will end the quarantine. I cant believe it.
I joined Debbie, Lisa and Jen at Stolen Sun Brewery for an outdoor happy hour.

20- SA-Quarantine Day #95- Yellow
dinner with dom and jaye
getting a cake for lauren

21- SU- Quarantine Day #95- Yellow
We had another family zoom call.  I wonder how long we will continue with this new way to stay connected.

We had a party at Patricia's house to celebrate Lauren's birthday.

22- M--Quarantine Day #98- Yellow

OMG, it was hot, hot, hot.  It's June and it was 96F.  What will August be like if it is this hot on the first day of summer.

I took a road trip to Washington DC to see the Black Lives Matter Blvd. I met up the Shaughan

23- TU-  Quarantine Day #99- Yellow

I finally got around to getting my car inspection which was due in March.

24- W-  Quarantine Day #100- Yellow

I drove to Gateway Garden in DE and picked up two more native plants for my balcony.  This has to stop.
I had another zoom call with the My Sisters' Keepers facilitators.  I am enjoying their company.
call to my chinese student

Tweet: What irony. The EU now views us as a “shithole country.” #TrumpCoronaVirus #TrumpIsALaughingStock

25- TH-  Quarantine Day #101- Code Yellow
I had a dentist appointment.  She is now open for business again and you know it is a sad state of affairs when I go joyfully to the dentist.
 great dames zoom
margaritas with phyliss

26- F- PA- Quartanine Day #102- Code GREEN
dinner at sharon's
karen incident
firecrackers

27- SA- PA

I finally get to go to the Sierra Trading Post store and I am hyperventilation with excitement. And, surprise, surprise, surprise, I bought too much shit that I didn't need. I need to avoid this place.

28- SU- PA

Goose Island Brewery is open and they are serving flights of beer.  I was so damn happy to be there.  And they had a grilled cheese and brisket sandwich.  Life really doesn't get much better than that.  I met Deb and Lisa and Mary there and we sat for four hours.  I missed these moments.  I love to sit in a bar and let an afternoon just slip away from me.

I posted my brewery photo on Facebook and someone chimed in that Pittsburgh has already closed down restaurants as the virus is flaring up again.  If we have to go in to quarantine again, I am really going to have to work on my attitude.  While we are not completely opened here, there is enough for me to do to feel as if I have returned to my normal life.  it will be too hard to go back.

29- M- PA

I was up earlier than usual and made my way to Stroudsburg to go kayaking down the Delaware River.  I hooked up with Lisa Latham and her sister and Lauren Chamberlain and her new boyfriend.  We loaded up the vehicles and we spent several hours just floating down the river.  It seemed like just a hour but it was more like three hours.  I love to go kayaking and now I want to buy a kayak again.  I hope this urge passes as I have nowhere to store my kayak and no one to paddle with.
shopping

30- TU- PA

Today ends my regular health insurance. For almost 65 years, I have had Blue Cross/Blue Shield Health Insurance and they have been a pain in my ass.  At midnight, I will now be covered by Medicare and finally, finally I am going to have better health care.  I cant wait.

I went shopping again today and I bought more blouses.  I wonder if these blouses symbolize my urge to go to some place where I have to dress up a bit.  I'm all dressed up but nowhere to go.