Minda Goes West

Writer Man and I both turned 49 this week. I made him an apricot and mascarpone tart. Youngest Kid made me a chocolate cake with white butter frosting. (I prefer white frosting to chocolate frosting.) In current events, it was a rough week. The US exceeded 100,000 deaths from COVID-19. George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis. San Francisco tightened the rules about wearing masks and delivered a depressingly drawn-out reopening plan.  My heart grieves.  The protests in San Francisco over the murder of George Floyd turned into looting yesterday evening, mostly around Union Square and Market Street downtown. I haven't spent much time in Union Square, but Youngest Kid and I shop at the Old Navy and the Westfield Mall that were looted, and I used to walk past the CVS and Walgreens on my way to work, back when we lived at the first apartment. Writer Man walked down that way this afternoon and saw some of the damage first-hand. I did some reading on Campaign Zero's Police ...

I heard a podcaster (Gretchen Rubin, I think) suggest making a list of things you miss in the quarantine, so here goes. Public transportation Some buses are still running, but I think we're still supposed to be saving them for essential trips. Since I can accomplish all my essential activities within walking distance of my apartment, I haven't been on a bus since February 27. I miss being able to jump on a bus and visit another part of San Francisco, and I miss being able to walk until my energy is drained, and then take a bus home.  Movie theaters Yes, we can watch movies at home, but I miss being part of a crowd that's reacting to the same story unfolding. Sipping a cappuccino in a real cup while reading and people watching in a cafe SF has so many great cafes and coffee shops. Or should I say, had? Libraries I am grateful for my library's ebook lending program, which is keeping me nicely stocked in reading material, but there are some books I want to read that...

So here we are, almost 60 days into quarantine. A word, WriterMan reminds me, that literally means 40 days. Although other parts of California are starting to open, the Bay Area remains firmly closed through May. Our own behavior is even more restrictive than what is allowed. We mostly eat food from our storage, supplemented every 2-3 weeks with a delivery from InstaCart and once a week or so with milk and eggs (and ice cream and wine) from the small store across the street. I've had one masked, unsuccessful trip the hardware store looking for bird seed, and one weekend we bought ice cream cones from a food truck parked at the marina. It was excellent ice cream. Other than that, we've stayed out of commercial establishments, not even taking advantage of takeout or food delivery services from those restaurants that are staying open. Well, except for the afternoon Youngest Kid and I spent in the pediatric ER a few days after my last blog post. He started complaining o...