Mono Monday. : : Up/Down

The stairs that go to our raised beds and an arbor are definitely a challenge. I like to think that going up and down them all the time without needing a railing keeps us fit. There is another way up and down on the other side of the property via a path that traverses the steep hill. Thanks to SueJay50 for hosting the challenge this week.

The air quality is definitely improving. Depending which window one looks out, blue sky can actually be seen* I made a brief trip out to leave the Dancing Stars quilt on Megan's porch and texted her that it was  there. A couple of hours later I got a lovely response from her with a number of pictures of her with her baby. He weighed 9lbs.12oz and looks like he is two months old! He will be sleeping through the night in no time! She said she would bring him by our zoom class in a couple of weeks to show him off....he was born on the day of the apocalyptic skies and the terrible smoke.

I read with interest a newsletter from a classmate of Tim's (once his date for the senior prom back at Berkeley High School.) She is living with her husband and two daughters in Ho Chi Minh City where he teaches at an American school. She reports that back in the end of January they returned from a trip to Laos after the lunar new year holiday. The airport felt 'quiet and unfriendly'. They got out their masks, always with them when traveling in case of bad air pollution. 'Starting that day remembering to put on a mask seemed more important than remembering to put on your underwear.' 

After a coughing British pilot threw a party in an expat bar in March, the numbers in the country went from 16 to 100 in a week. US citizens were given a week to leave the country with no guarantee that they could re-enter. If she left, she would lose her job, so they elected to stay after lockdown was instituted. Five weeks later, after two weeks with no new cases it was lifted,. 'I don't think the country could make it much longer - this is a poor country - -people live on a very thin line here.' 

Still no one can leave the country. 'For now it is the four of us trying to take it day by day and appreciating this country that has gone to such lengths to keep their people safe'

The British pilot, as of May 20 was still very sick in the hospital awaiting a donor so he can undergo a double lung transplant. The country has spent the equivalent of $2million US trying to save him.

I think they are all safer there than they would be here....

*extra