Friday, August 6, 2021

Summer In Plague Times


It is coming on deep summer here in Lloyd and the pine cone lilies have raised their cones up. The blooms on them are beginning, such fragile little cream-colored blossoms, and the cones themselves are beginning to deepen into red. In a few weeks, the hurricane lilies should be coming along, popping up out of seemingly nowhere but plain old ground, their stalks growing inches a day. 

Dottie is sitting on two eggs now. Well, actually, the last time I checked on her, she was not sitting on them at all but on a completely different egg that had just been laid in another nest. I seriously doubt it was one of hers. I think that tomorrow I'll toss her other two eggs out as I know they cannot possibly have live chicks in them. Not in this heat. But perhaps I'll give her another day or two unless she truly shows no more interest in sitting on them. Poor little mama needs to learn to go broody earlier in the spring as her sister did. A lot of damn work for such a poor outcome. 

I think Gibson had a pretty good time here last night. I felt bad because I did not have a great deal of energy to offer the sweet boy. I made the spaghetti and meat balls and the purple cow but when it came time to read his bedtime books, I only got through three of them and just could not face reading The Little Red Hen Makes A Pizza. This was a first for me. He understood and went right to sleep and this morning he said that he slept very, very well. He and his grandfather played a lot of Wii and they both enjoy that so perhaps it wasn't so bad for him. I took him home a little after noon and jetted down the road for a quick Costco catch-up where I got to see Brenda with the beautiful mermaid eyes. I was glad to see her as I haven't for awhile. She told me she'd been on vacation. I was going to run into Publix too but realized I was driving around without a license plate which does happen occasionally when your husband is a car dealer and switches plates on vehicles, sometimes forgetting to put one back. I am so paranoid about getting stopped by the police that I just came home after Costco and no, I did not get stopped. I always have the irrational fear that if a cop stopped me, he would somehow find a massive quantity of drugs that I knew nothing about somewhere in my car. This no doubt springs from the old, old hippie days when police loved to stop hippies and search their cars thoroughly and whoops! sometimes even planted drugs on them and actually, a police officer a few counties over was just taken to trial for doing exactly that, virtually ruining the lives of citizens who were suddenly in possession of illegal substances that they had never seen before in their lives. 

But it was good to get home and just do a few chores around here. Friday, of course, is sheets-washing day and that has been accomplished. The porch plants are watered. The kitchen tidied and swept. It has rained and cooled off considerably and I've done the prep work for a skillet spanakopita and thawed out some snapper. The fish and the spanakopita and a few of the last small tomatoes will probably be our supper. I am catching my breath. 

May has texted us that her mother-in-law has Covid, despite being fully vaccinated. Her symptoms so far are mild. I have a cousin with the same story. A local woman I know who was the principal of the high school that both May and Jessie went to has also gotten Covid, despite being vaccinated and she has bad asthma so she is not comfortable. Her daughter has it too. She thinks she got it, ironically, at a school board meeting about mandatory masking in the schools. Many there were unmasked, many probably unvaccinated, and social distancing was not observed. And the meeting went on for hours. 

Both Lily and Jessie took their kids to school orientations today and Jessie said she got so upset that she couldn't fill out a form. Many of the teachers were not masked, nor were many of the parents. I think that she may choose to homeschool her boys for at least the first part of the school year to see how it goes. Lily is at her wits' end, knowing that she cannot keep her children home for another school year and yet being scared to send them to school. I feel so deeply for both of them. August and Levon need to have the experience of a classroom and to learn to function in the society of that arena. And yet- Jessie is on medication for her autoimmune disorders. So do Glen and I need to start masking again around the ones who do go to school? Obviously, our glorious moment in the sun of feeling protected and safe is over. I bought a box of disposable masks at Costco today and I am going to either order or make more masks for us to wear. There is no way we are going anywhere maskless now with the horrible rate of infection around here. It's the worst it's been since the whole thing started. 

It's overwhelming again. And the tendrils of how all of this affects all of us is monumental. Michael, May's husband, was planning to travel to see his uncle who is in the late stages of cancer but those plans are now off the table. The hospitals here have canceled all elective surgery again. They are using classrooms as patient rooms. There is not enough staff. They are begging people to get vaccinated. Younger adults and children are the ones getting sickest now. 

Well. Time for a martini. 

When I went out to water the porch plants I found this little beauty.

The golden orb weavers are another sign of deep summer here. They are everywhere, doing their annual dance of web-spinning, courtship, and egg laying. They will be here for a few months until it begins to turn cool at which point they will die, leaving their eggs wrapped in silk purses for summer hatching. 

It is somehow comforting to know that some things are proceeding as they always have, even if the rest of the world is in turmoil and fear and confusion. The lady spiders know what they are doing and they are living their lives and although I certainly do not care to have one crawling on me (and this has never happened), their presence is a sort of comforting magic to me. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon







32 comments:

  1. my pine cone lily cones haven't started to turn red yet. and spiders seem scarce this year. I wonder if the deep freeze in the spring killed them. and haven't seen a banana spider either, after them showing up for one summer a couple of years ago, haven't seen them since.

    just found out my dumb ass unvaccinated brother-in-law (because he 'heard stuff') has covid. pretty bad but not so bad yet to be hospitalized. same thing here in Texas. cases skyrocketing and our gov has issued an edict of no mask or vax mandates. what the fuck is wrong with them. some of the school districts are defying the gov and if he pulls funding because of it, it won't go well for him. I'm so glad my kids and grandkids are grown.

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    1. Our governor IS pulling funding for school districts mandating masks. So, yeah, our dumbass is dumber than your dumbass.
      God, I'm sick of this shit.

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  2. School can wait, Can not replace kids- perspective.
    I adore the beautiful spider, very fancy.
    Pin cone lilies , new to me and wonderful.
    They look yummy but are probably toxic.

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    1. I completely agree with your perspective. The fact remains though, that some parents just cannot stay at home with their kids. And that sucks.
      I don't think that the lilies are toxic. They are also known as shampoo lilies because the liquid from the cones (they are full of it) can actually be used as a soap substitute.

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  3. I’m just heartbroken to see my granddaughter’s Facebook posts saying kids have rights, too. She refuses to ‘make’ her 3-year-old son (my ONLY great-grandchild, dammit!) because it’s against his constitutional rights! The whole damned thing has become nothing but a political pissing match. We just talked to our dear friends in Oklahoma. Both vaccinated months ago due to multiple underlying conditions, and went to see a family member three states away. Both were diagnosed with COVID today. Only one person had been vaccinated, and a total of eight people were diagnosed today because of flat out stupidity!

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    1. That's horrendous about your granddaughter. Is it against our constitutional rights to have to wear seatbelts? Is it her child's constitutional right to imbibe alcohol if she thinks that's okay? What bullshit! People are just so damn stupid. I'm sorry to hear about your friends.

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  4. I know Gibson enjoyed his Mer and Boppy time, and so did you. He is a gentle and loving soul. I am sad for Lily and Jessie both......yes- children need the experience of school.....but the juggle between safety and *need* becomes a dilemna, especially for working parents who are juggling jobs along with raising their children. The thought of pulling back on hugs and kisses is not easy either...for any of us, is it? Have never seen a pine cone lily in my life...... are the pale yellow flowers aromatic? they look like they should smell like vanilla!
    susan M

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    1. Lily is exactly in the dilemma you describe. Plus- their internet just is not up to the demands of three children doing distance schooling. They've tried everything to get better internet but where they live, it's not possible.
      And the idea of going without hugs and kisses- just horrible.
      I've never smelled the pinecone lily blossoms. I'll have to do that.

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  5. My (vaccinated) granddaughter is a senior this year, and not about to miss her senior year, as did her brother. She's the last grand in school, and I am so thankful. Kudos to my daughter, who managed to work and homeschool last year.

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    1. Serious kudos to your daughter. Lily did the best she could with that last year too. Basically, she just could not work during the week which was a huge drain on them financially.

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  6. thinking of you and yours tonight- the school thing is OUT OF CONTROL here so i can't even imagine FL right now.

    xxalainaxx

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  7. From the relative sanity of a state with mask mandates, school masking reinstated for the upcoming year, pretty good level of vaccination, and a governor who personally totally destroyed a heckler a couple of days ago for being a knucklehead shouting about masks as dictatorship. I'm really torn up about the rates in Florida, little children dying. It's agony.
    I'm glad you have the chickens and the garden to comfort you among your worries.

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    1. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have a sane governor who isn't afraid to speak the truth. You are very lucky.
      My chickens and my yard do comfort me. You're right.

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  8. I feel so badly for the Residents there in Florida that have been doing everything responsibly and your Covidiot Governor and the Covidiots he panders to are undoing all the good done. It's very scary to hear of the Children being Hospitalized and put on Ventilators and how high the Case counts are there and in Texas. Yet, honestly, it's spreading everywhere now and with only 50% of Adults Vaccinated, it was inevitable. I worry about my Grandchild, her High School can only strongly suggest Masking since we have a Covidiot Governor too, Dumbass Ducey. I'm glad you have your Home Sanctuary there to retreat to and it's always a Joy to read your Posts about what's up in Lloyd.

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    1. Thank you, Bohemian. I'm so sorry that you have such a shit head for a governor too.

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  9. I feel for both Jessie and Lily. Know only too well what it means to have a little one virtual schooling with you and the price everyone--children, teachers, parents--paid to try to provide safety for all concerned. So much harder for Lily as a working mom of three. Hard, too, for Jessie and the boys, when this should be the exciting start of their schooling, only to find it fraught with tension and anxiety around issues of safety. Hope they can find the best solution for each of their situations--best, under the circumstances. Am grateful for the sake of my grandchildren that our state is mandating masks in school as the transmission rates are increasing here, too, even though a decent majority are vaccinated.

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    1. You understand completely, Mary. I appreciate that. You are so right about how this should be such an exciting time for both August and Levon. Lily and Jessie are trying so hard to do what is best for their children and for themselves. It's so hard. I'm so grateful I don't have to be making these decisions.

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  10. Here in England 80% of adults have had both vaccinations. Prior to the vaccination programme I guess we thought that this was the way to achieve immunity from COVID-19. However, it is clear that quite a lot of vaccinated people are still contracting coronavirus. Two of Shirley's nursing colleagues are off work feeling ill having been tested positive even though they are double vaccinated. All close family members including children have also tested positive. This damned thing goeson and on. Bloody awful.

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    1. It is bloody awful and I am sorry to hear about your wife's colleagues and family members. I don't think we'll ever know "normal" again.

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  11. Here we go again. I highly recommend these: https://athleta.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=100364002&cid=1171721&pcid=1162979&vid=1

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    1. Thanks, Jill. Have you tried them?

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    2. Yes!! I have about 20 of them. Dont use any others once I found these.

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  12. What can we do, Ms. Moon? I am vaccinated and I mask up when out in public places. But I am tired of it all and can't make others do what they refuse to do.
    Stay healthy!

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    1. I am doing the same as you, Ellen. And no, we can't make others act in a responsible manner.
      Let's all stay healthy.

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  13. As I understand it, though, people coming down with serious Covid are unvaccinated -- the vaccinated can and do get it but the symptoms are generally much milder. And children, although they do get sick, are still much less likely to get seriously ill than adults. Obviously I can't give Jessie and Lily advice, and they'll have to do what they're comfortable with, but it sounds like even if the kids were exposed the likelihood that they'd get seriously ill -- and that any of you would get seriously ill -- is slim. (Jessie's immune suppressing drugs may change that calculus -- that's a question for a doctor.)

    You know how I feel about this. We just have to be as careful as we can but at the same time live our lives.

    That probably doesn't help at all.

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    1. You're right, Steve. We do have to live our lives but risking the lives of our children is another thing entirely. And there have been children hospitalized here with Covid. There was an article in the paper today with a doctor saying that the patients they are seeing in the hospital are 20, 30, and 40 year olds and that some of them are dying. I know you're right about vaccinations at least protecting us from becoming very ill but for people with underlying conditions that may not be enough.

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  14. Difficult to reply from a phone but I think I'd have said much he same as Steve above. There has been a huge case surge in the UK following the end of restrictions but crucially this is not translating to the same rise in hospitalisations and deaths - yes, there has been some rise, but relatively small. It seems the vaccines are moderately effective against reinfection and transmission but are HIGHLY effective against serious illness and mortality - and I sense that for most people that is good enough.
    My son has had a school year with masks and classes in bubbles at his school - it was the most miserable way to learn. Not sure I have any answers but I'm pleased that these restrictions will be removed in the UK from next term. There will be some very sad cases of minors needing hospital treatment and we must be mindful of those with auto-immune issues - but serious illness in this age group is vanishingly small. In the UK the latest official report showed only 25 deaths of under 18s in the entire pandemic most of which had underling causes.
    Best to you - I hope it calms down in Florida soon as it just beginning to here.

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    1. The rise here is NOT small though and I'm sure that's because of several factors including too many people not getting vaccinated and not wearing masks. It's scary. And younger people are the ones showing up in hospitals. Even if they do not die, they are certainly taking up beds that others may need for different things and from what I understand, the delta variant of Covid is so much more contagious that I'm sure it's being spread everywhere. And then there's talk of the next variant...
      Virus just want to live and spread. And they don't care who they kill to meet those ends.

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    2. I agree the low vaccination rates are worrying and the free riders make me quite annoyed - here where I live the take up is extremely high and it makes such a difference.
      On a different note I love spider webs - so beautiful in morning dew.

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  15. We are all hearing the same stories about covid, and more and more we know people, or know people who know people. Yes, we have to live our lives, which is why we're not going to not have our daughter come home to us after her trip, even though I am under no illusions that even if she is careful 100 percent of the time, she could still get a breakthrough case. And there's really no telling, still, how sick one can get even if vaccinated. Most people have relatively mild cases, but not all. I am starting to feel as twitchy as I was last spring, and last winter. If I were Jessie, I would probably home school the boys, but if I were Lily, I would probably send them to school after them being home for a year. But I would caution them to ALWAYS wear their masks at school, except when eating, and to do that outdoors and socially distanced. Oh Mary, there are no good answers. The man and I say all the time that we are lucky not to have small kids at this time. Parents with young kids are having the hardest time of all.

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  16. Also, my nephew was here with us yesterday, and he spent last year co-teaching kindergarten children in person classes. I asked him how the kids were with the masks. He said: "Much better than the adults, frankly. It wasn't a thing for them." Kids meet the world as they find it, so if they're asked to wear masks, they will.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.