I'm sitting in the sun in the backyard---first time this spring!
It's 52ºF, and sunny--warmest day of 2020 in Mpls so far.
(It's supposed to be a chilly, rainy weekend ahead, though.)
Stay at Home
Minnesota governor Walz issued a two-week Stay-at-Home order, starting tonight at midnight and lasting till April 10 at 5 p.m.
Given that I'll be here a lot, I'm extra-happy I moved to this house last fall--and that I stayed here (when I was going to do otherwise last month).
I'd hate to be cooped up in my old apartment, with the bellowing homeowner downstairs. The politics of Covid-19 are just the sort to trigger his rants at his wife---and while I sometimes agreed with the content (if I could make out his words, which I often could, unfortunately), I always hated his aggressive surety.
After I didn't move from this house in February, though I never told HouseMate about it, relations between us took a sharp and unexpected turn for the better.
Now, ten days after the St. Patrick's Day closing of restaurants in MN, she and I are getting along well--very well, even.
It helps that the house is a decent size (one-and-a-half story bungalow), so we can stay out of each other's way, and now the weather's warming up, we can easily go for walks to the superette, hardware store, or the lake, three blocks away.
HM & I are cooking and sharing meals companionably, and every evening now we watch an episode of Picard. (I'm way more of a Star Trek fan, so I love it even with its flaws; she likes it well enough.) There are only five (out of ten) episodes left though.
HM is working on an elaborate art piece, and I've been sewing masks. (I think I'll soon switch to sewing a fully rounded stuffed animal from scratch--something I've never done (only made flat ones).
Living with HM is actually what I'd thought it would be like in the first place. I'm not sure what all made the first few months so hard.
Her mental state is easily set askew--that was part of it.
But I'd made an initial mistake that would make anyone feel wary about this new person in their space:
Remember, I immediately replaced HM's toilet-brush without asking her (and threw out the old one)?
I quickly realized that that was a mistake, psychologically--it was "just" a toilet brush, but that's not what matters---it was the not-asking.
Recently she confirmed that yes, that had made her very nervous.
My thoughtless action came up because I was telling her about the book I'd read about hoarding--Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things.
The psychiatrist who co-wrote it said that forced clearances of clutter don't work.
In fact, they can be dangerous:
some percentage of people who return to a home that has been cleared by legal order (for health), commit suicide.
People who hoard explained to the author their stuff is like skin, defining who they are, protecting them.
Having it removed is like being flayed alive.
Luckily HM is not that sensitive. The toilet brush debacle?
"I'm over it," she said.
Go Out!
So, we are to shelter-in-place, but we are encouraged to GO OUTSIDE, and stay 6-feet apart.
bink drove over yesterday and we went for a walk along the lake together, apart.
Here, sitting on logs at the swimming beach.
I love this--Duluth made a guide of what 6-feet looks, for those who know the wingspan of a bald eagle...☺️ or, anyway, of a bike.
I adapted it, so I could post it as a square on the thrift store's FB--I'm still posting "for the duration".
I'd texted Big Boss on Monday that I wouldn't be coming into the closed store to list on eBay, as I'd said I would (another decision I'm grateful for--going to the PO is not staying-at-home, and mailing things is not risk-free either).
He'd replied that he wholeheartedly understood and that I can apply for unemployment; but, he wrote,
"I beseech you to volunteer to keep doing our social media."
(I do like knowing this guy. First I'm dope, now I'm beseeched.)
I've put off applying for unemployment because I dread such things, but I'd have asked to keep doing our social media anyway.
I like doing it.
I don't like that there's no one from the store (or the larger CSociety we are part of) to kick ideas around with though. I can make posts fine on my own, but this shouldn't be The Fresca Show.
I messaged Big Boss this morning "inviting" him--as co-executive-- to write or video a message I can post online, and offered a few ideas:
What gives you spiritual comfort at this time?
What can people do to help?
What is the local Society doing to help? (I truly don't know!)
He wrote back that he'd start Monday.
I know he's busy (still working cleaning up the store), but I also get the sense he is about as eager to write a message as I am to apply for unemployment. Which is funny because he's a gifted speaker. I'm not sure he trusts that?
He'd mentioned Psalm 91 on his own FB, which is all about how God will protect you from pestilence if you have faith in him.
I hate that blatantly false line of thinking, but there're some great images in the psalm--most especially this maternal image:
Also I like the rhythm and language of these lines:
"You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday."
Breaking News
Wow, I just saw New York governor Andrew Cuomo's speech to the National Guard, deploying to New Rochelle---isn't that where Dick can Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore lived?
Damn.
This IS looking like a zombie movie!
I made this to post online, because--yeah, every moment is a moment in history, but this is a clearly defined moment, a moment to dial up the better angels of our nature.
And those better angels may help most by simply (not simple) staying home.
Word from Ireland:
Video from "Ar scáth a chéile - Upper Springfield, West Belfast, via twitter.com/mattuthompson/status/1243092973761544192?s=20
So, yeah... I'd like someone from SVDP to say something like this (even a clunky version) for our social media. I guess I'll just have to figure out ways to say/do it myself...
Oh! Here! This is my Act for the Ages:
Update from Seven, the girlette on quarantine duty in Colorado
My friend Jeff reports last night was the first night he didn't cough (much) in ages!
Seven is on the job... with help from GODzilla!!!
You can see in the photo Jeff posted on FB that her hair is mussed from the effort.
It's 52ºF, and sunny--warmest day of 2020 in Mpls so far.
(It's supposed to be a chilly, rainy weekend ahead, though.)
Stay at Home
Minnesota governor Walz issued a two-week Stay-at-Home order, starting tonight at midnight and lasting till April 10 at 5 p.m.
Given that I'll be here a lot, I'm extra-happy I moved to this house last fall--and that I stayed here (when I was going to do otherwise last month).
I'd hate to be cooped up in my old apartment, with the bellowing homeowner downstairs. The politics of Covid-19 are just the sort to trigger his rants at his wife---and while I sometimes agreed with the content (if I could make out his words, which I often could, unfortunately), I always hated his aggressive surety.
After I didn't move from this house in February, though I never told HouseMate about it, relations between us took a sharp and unexpected turn for the better.
Now, ten days after the St. Patrick's Day closing of restaurants in MN, she and I are getting along well--very well, even.
It helps that the house is a decent size (one-and-a-half story bungalow), so we can stay out of each other's way, and now the weather's warming up, we can easily go for walks to the superette, hardware store, or the lake, three blocks away.
HM & I are cooking and sharing meals companionably, and every evening now we watch an episode of Picard. (I'm way more of a Star Trek fan, so I love it even with its flaws; she likes it well enough.) There are only five (out of ten) episodes left though.
HM is working on an elaborate art piece, and I've been sewing masks. (I think I'll soon switch to sewing a fully rounded stuffed animal from scratch--something I've never done (only made flat ones).
Living with HM is actually what I'd thought it would be like in the first place. I'm not sure what all made the first few months so hard.
Her mental state is easily set askew--that was part of it.
But I'd made an initial mistake that would make anyone feel wary about this new person in their space:
Remember, I immediately replaced HM's toilet-brush without asking her (and threw out the old one)?
I quickly realized that that was a mistake, psychologically--it was "just" a toilet brush, but that's not what matters---it was the not-asking.
Recently she confirmed that yes, that had made her very nervous.
My thoughtless action came up because I was telling her about the book I'd read about hoarding--Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things.
The psychiatrist who co-wrote it said that forced clearances of clutter don't work.
In fact, they can be dangerous:
some percentage of people who return to a home that has been cleared by legal order (for health), commit suicide.
People who hoard explained to the author their stuff is like skin, defining who they are, protecting them.
Having it removed is like being flayed alive.
Luckily HM is not that sensitive. The toilet brush debacle?
"I'm over it," she said.
Go Out!
So, we are to shelter-in-place, but we are encouraged to GO OUTSIDE, and stay 6-feet apart.
bink drove over yesterday and we went for a walk along the lake together, apart.
Here, sitting on logs at the swimming beach.
I love this--Duluth made a guide of what 6-feet looks, for those who know the wingspan of a bald eagle...☺️ or, anyway, of a bike.
I adapted it, so I could post it as a square on the thrift store's FB--I'm still posting "for the duration".
I'd texted Big Boss on Monday that I wouldn't be coming into the closed store to list on eBay, as I'd said I would (another decision I'm grateful for--going to the PO is not staying-at-home, and mailing things is not risk-free either).
He'd replied that he wholeheartedly understood and that I can apply for unemployment; but, he wrote,
"I beseech you to volunteer to keep doing our social media."
(I do like knowing this guy. First I'm dope, now I'm beseeched.)
I've put off applying for unemployment because I dread such things, but I'd have asked to keep doing our social media anyway.
I like doing it.
I don't like that there's no one from the store (or the larger CSociety we are part of) to kick ideas around with though. I can make posts fine on my own, but this shouldn't be The Fresca Show.
I messaged Big Boss this morning "inviting" him--as co-executive-- to write or video a message I can post online, and offered a few ideas:
What gives you spiritual comfort at this time?
What can people do to help?
What is the local Society doing to help? (I truly don't know!)
He wrote back that he'd start Monday.
I know he's busy (still working cleaning up the store), but I also get the sense he is about as eager to write a message as I am to apply for unemployment. Which is funny because he's a gifted speaker. I'm not sure he trusts that?
He'd mentioned Psalm 91 on his own FB, which is all about how God will protect you from pestilence if you have faith in him.
I hate that blatantly false line of thinking, but there're some great images in the psalm--most especially this maternal image:
Also I like the rhythm and language of these lines:
"You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday."
Breaking News
Wow, I just saw New York governor Andrew Cuomo's speech to the National Guard, deploying to New Rochelle---isn't that where Dick can Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore lived?
Damn.
This IS looking like a zombie movie!
I made this to post online, because--yeah, every moment is a moment in history, but this is a clearly defined moment, a moment to dial up the better angels of our nature.
And those better angels may help most by simply (not simple) staying home.
Word from Ireland:
"“Empty streets are not a sign of the end of the world, it’s the most remarkable act of global solidarity we’ll likely ever see in our lifetime.
"Don't say to yourself [these empty streets] look like the end of the world. What you're seeing in these empty spaces is how much we care for each other. We care for our [grandparents, parents, children].
We care for people we will never meet."
Video from "Ar scáth a chéile - Upper Springfield, West Belfast, via twitter.com/mattuthompson/status/1243092973761544192?s=20
So, yeah... I'd like someone from SVDP to say something like this (even a clunky version) for our social media. I guess I'll just have to figure out ways to say/do it myself...
Oh! Here! This is my Act for the Ages:
Update from Seven, the girlette on quarantine duty in Colorado
My friend Jeff reports last night was the first night he didn't cough (much) in ages!
Seven is on the job... with help from GODzilla!!!
You can see in the photo Jeff posted on FB that her hair is mussed from the effort.
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