”Where can we go to hide?” Amy Wu asked her fellow escapee, Chien-Chi.
”I know just the place where we can get lost,” Chien-Chi replied. “Follow me.”
Amy had escaped the mob who wanted to use her tiny Chinatown store to store weapons. She had refused. Her friend, Chien-Chi was trying to help.
Amy followed Chien-Chi as he sprinted through Chinatown, He skidded into a Chinese restaurant and she followed. It was busy and a maze. Easy to get lost.
Amy followed the owner to the back of the restaurant. There was the freezer. Her purserers stood right beside it.
Good Sunday morning! If we were having coffee this beautiful late summer day, I would invite you in and offer you any of the coffees or teas you fancy. So help yourself to a cuppa, pull up a chair and let’s talk!
It’s been a beautiful weather week here in the Upper South region of the United States. Specifically, just as information for those of you who are new, the state is Kentucky, the northeastern part near the southern Ohio border. My grandfather used to call the weather we’ve been having “bright, blue days.” They usually only happen here in June and September, so the weather is early this year. Does that mean an early winter? I love the bright, blue days. The temperature is warm and the humidity has dropped. Perfect! All in all, it’s been a wet summer here. I’m aware of the drought in many areas of the U.S., but not here. The Appalachian area south and east of me, Eastern Kentucky, had a record-shattering “1000 year flood” recently. So many Kentucky residents are shoveling mud and trying rebuild. It’s very heartwrenching.
Did you meet your writing goals this past week? I’ve been taking a break from writing, but I’m about to jump back in it with both feet. I’m working on a couple of books that I’m determined to finish. I don’t really see much hope for working much in the next couple of weeks. It’s an awkward time of year with just a couple of weeks left until the unofficial start of the fall season, Labor Day weekend, arrives. It’s also pretty busy with the students going back to school. We tend to go back to work after Labor Day if we have been vacationing. Until life settles down, I will probably stick to blogging.
This is the time of year I take a close look at my flower gardens. Some of you know I live in the woods, so it’s impossible to garden for veggies. I’ve been making notes on these flower beds around the house to see what I need to replace. I want to know what did well and what did poorly. As far as veggies go, we go to a local farmer’s market and get amazing green beans, corn, cantaloupe, beets, strawberries and much more. We have had wonderful, healthy eating this summer. I love to cook if I have fresh vegetables and fresh fruit to use.
It seems my days are filled with appointments of one kind or another and small, but necessary, projects around the house. I can’t do nearly as much as I could just a couple of years ago. Time marches on and I’m surely not a spring chicken any longer. My body (and soul) tell me that every day.
Sometimes, I worry because my tolerance for other people, up close and in person, is at an all-time low. I’ve always been a loner, an introvert. Still am and on top of that, I don’t like to be around people much these days. The pandemic helped me grow accustomed to not being able to see my family and friends, which is one of the biggest effects of the pandemic on lots of people. I usually prefer more private pursuits now, either with my husband, or alone. I save my very limited energy for that.
We would have liked to have done a little traveling this summer in our RV. Who can afford that? At current gas prices, it would cost $500 to fill up the gas tank – once! Soon, we want to take a RV trip around one of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior, which hugs the U.S. – Canadian border. Everyone raves about that drive. Lake Superior is such a beautiful, wild, lake and the trip takes you to its waterfalls and pictured rocks all along both coasts. The southern coast of the lake is in Northern Michigan while the northern coast crosses into Canada.
I feel like I just gave a journalistic report on my world. I’d love to hear about your world. The differences are what makes life interesting.
She only saw the ocean once in her 78 years. A few years before she had to leave home, her brother-in-law arranged a trip to the beach for she and her sisters. They spent a week at the seashore and it was a glorious time. They had their coffee on the beach in the mornings and their nightcap at night,
She spent time collecting sea shells. She kept them in a glass dome after she returned home.
When she had to leave home for good, she took her shells. She thought of her sisters and remembered the best of times.
Doctor is in a home visit to a senior man and takes him sample for corona virus testing
How do you handle possible exposure to COVID19? Now that COVID is not in the news every day, have you dismissed it as a force in your life? Do you still take precautions? What is your level of precautions? Totally paranoid or dismissive? Different people handle the threat of COVID19 in different ways depending on their age, chances of exposure and even their politics. In my opinion, COVID19 is a public health issue and not a political issue no matter how hard our politicians may have tried to make it so. I prefer to look at the virus as a matter of public health. It has, after all, killed millions of people worldwide or caused illnesses they already had to kill them. If you look at the COVID statistics for your country or area, you may see that COVID still seems to be a pandemic and is still not simply endemic in most places since we are still having significant deaths from it and outbreaks from time to time. We can classify the flu as an endemic problem.
Personally, I have known of more friends and acquaintances getting COVID19 in the past six months than in the entire first couple of years of the pandemic. I’m assuming they are getting the Omicron 5 variant which is now predominant and is supposed to be incredibly transmissible. Whatever variant they are getting seems to be pretty bad. Hospitalizations and deaths are down. Most people I know have tried to recuperate at home. They have reported to me several days or a week of being violently ill with several weeks of recuperation afterward. It has taken time for them to get their energy back. The people I know who are older have had a hard recovery from COVID19, especially if they have underlying medical conditions which most of us develop as we age.
How do you protect yourself from COVID19 or do you? I’ll share with you what I do. I am an older American and I do have an underlying medical condition. I’ve had both COVID19 vaccinations and both boosters. If I’m talking to neighbors or friends on a one-on-one basis, I try to stay at least 6-10 feet away from them because I feel social distancing is important and effective. However, if I think I’m going to be in a crowd, even a small crowd, I wear a mask. For example, if I’m going to shop at a store like Wal-mart or the grocery store, I always wear my mask. I either use disposable masks and only wear it once or twice or I launder my masks often. If I need personal services like the hair salon or nail salon, and certainly when I go to medical appointments, I wear a mask.
Let me say a word about masks. I hate them. They make me claustrophobic and I feel like I’m going to have a panic attack. I wear them anyway.
I still don’t attend big events at all. Sporting events, concerts and other large venue events are out for me as are bars and nightclubs. The virus is going to have to abate before I feel comfortable with these large events. I will occasionally go in a restaurant, but I like to choose those that have patio dining. I wear a mask.
Perhaps the thorniest problem I have encountered is get-togethers with family. Some of my family have taken COVID19 seriously and some have not,. I”ll have to admit that, in the interest of family unity and peace, I don’t wear a mask when I’m with my family, even extended family. I trust them to tell me if they think they have been exposed to COVID. I realize this may be my downfall!
Since the scientists predict that COVID19 will become endemic, we’re all going to have to figure out how to manage possible exposure to the virus. It’s an individual choice although in my area, medical facilities still require masking. But, in general, we as responsible individuals have to decide our own response that will protect both us and those with whom we are in contact.
Comments and discussion are encouraged and welcome!
The Write Scribe 