A New "Normal"

There are two people in our county with confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19), and no doubt more to come, but I have to say that our county, and many others in this state, are doing a remarkable job of closing down all but the most essential services (grocery stores, gas stations, health care, etc.). 

Schools, concerts, museums, movie theaters, and church services, among many other events and locations, are closed. My church has emailed the order of service for this Sunday, and the ministers and organist will be live-streaming the service so that the congregation can see it on their computers at home. I'd never heard the term "live-streaming" until a couple of weeks ago...

There will be no St. Patrick's Day parade through downtown Bellingham this Saturday, which makes the 80 or so folks in my Silver Sneakers class, including me, very disappointed. Our instructor had obtained rainbow tie-dye shirts for us to wear in the parade, and we were "fired up and ready to go" with our routine.

Now we're all learning about "social distancing"--a new term, but I'm sure we'll get the hang of it, although it's hard to break the habit of hugging friends!

Staying home and limiting contact with other people is the best way to keep this pandemic from spreading.  Phil and I have plenty of interesting (or necessary) things to do at home. There are bound to be some volunteer activities we can take part in to help others, too. 

We do most of our food shopping at the Community Food Co-op, and as retirees, we have more flexibility in terms of when we can go there than working folks do. At this time of year, we enjoy buying 10  daffodil blossoms grown in the county south of us for $1.99 (1.62 GBP, 1.79 Euro). Two bunches are an inexpensive luxury!

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