Pandemic Thanksgiving

In a weird year, Thanksgiving is going to be different. I didn't travel, which I haven't done in a few years but I had always had friends to share the meal with. I had to figure out what to do on my own and I wanted a proper meal. It turned out to be challenging to find places selling single meals instead of for 4 to 6. 

As I was feeling fairly sorry for myself, I saw a note from my friend Tricia about volunteering as a Thanksgiving meal driver for Project Angel Food. I decided that I needed to help others to remind myself of what I have to be grateful for. 

Shortly after signing up for PAF, I found a menu from a highly rated and fairly new restaurant that I hadn't tried before. Pasjoli was selling individual meals and their dessert was a pumpkin Basque cheesecake. Perfect! I don't much like pumpkin pie. 

As Thanksgiving approached I was pleasantly surprised by the organized and informative emails I was receiving from PAF. Many non-profits fall down on this front. In the morning, I headed to the meal pick up location. After some initial confusion approaching the location, I got my car into the line. First stop, make sure they have the paperwork they need (waivers, DL, insurance). Second stop, get the address list and a paper with the number of meals on my windshield. Third stop, get the meals loaded in my trunk. 

Before heading to the first stop, I pulled over to check the locations on the list. They are all clustered together in Koreatown and mid Wilshire. Aside from some parking issues, three of the deliveries went smoothly. One person was not at home. I left their meals with a neighbour who didn't speak English but looked like had at least one child. It took a couple of hours and I walked more than I anticipated. 

In the afternoon, I hopped on a Zoom call with Wilson and Ming and Mei's family. It was nice to see them all, Penny and Oliver have grown so much.

I had made arrangements with my neighbours Jasmin and Michael to eat together down by our fire pit. They canceled their travel plans last minute. About a half hour prior, I heated up the oven to warm up the turkey, stuffing, potatoes gratin, and green beans. Truffle gravy and cranberries warm up briefly in the microwave. Rolls get heated through in the oven, everything gets tossed on a plate. 

I brought down a bottle of 'FU Twenty Twenty' rose to share, which turned out really delicious! And the meal, so good! I definitely need to add Pasjoli to my takeaway list. They have a Xmas and a NYE menu as well. Need to think about that.😁

I finished with the pumpkin cheesecake with creme fraiche and caramel sauce. 

Seriously, why does anyone eat pumpkin pie? This was creamy with balanced flavours, absolutely perfect. Worth every calorie.🤤

Turns out, it was a pretty great Thanksgiving and I do have a lot to be grateful for. 

Lockdown again

CA and LA County are going back into lockdown. The COVID positive test rate is sky rocketing again. Curfew is in effect from 10p to 6a. Restaurants will need to close outdoor dining starting Wednesday. 

Meanwhile millions of people are traveling for Thanksgiving despite the fact many of them probably are carrying the virus but are asymptomatic. 

The amount of anger I have towards people who are not behaving for the good of the community is unspeakable. 

I'm taking the week off because work is exhausting and I won't be able to have a proper vacation this year. 

On Thanksgiving morning, I will drive to Project Angel Food and pick up meals to be delivered to people who are too ill to feed themselves. In the afternoon, I will heat up my to-go meal from Pasjoli, a fancy restaurant that's fairly new, was getting a great rep but I didn't have a chance to try before the pandemic started in March. My neighbours M and J had to cancel their trip to see family. So we three will meet down in our back area with our individual meals and share thanks for having good people for neighbours. 

Hallelujah!

The election result was announced on Saturday morning. 

Some of us celebrated last night with some bubbly. 

New Fridge!

Two weeks later, I have a fridge again! 

It took two stores (Best Buy, Home Depot), some soul searching to focus on what is most important for me in a fridge (side-by-side, white, ice/water in door, adjustable shelves), dealing with some friendly but not so knowledgeable staff, a long wait on hold with the delivery company, two additional trips to the store and finding the one guy who knows everything, and a pre-emptive call again to the delivery company because their automated call wasn't early enough for me. 

When the guys did arrive, they did quick work of pulling out the old fridge, installing the new one, removing all of the annoying protective plastic and disposing of the trash. Bonus: the fridge space floor has never been so clean.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the ice cubes and water, I've added some freezer organizers (at suggestion of my neighbour) and shelf liners and slowly building back my food stash. 

Pandemic silver linings

Here's my latest Bucket of Blooms project. 

First the bucket:

You can see the colours and different shapes and textures. The florist's skill is in putting the flowers together.

The florist used a wider shorter ceramic vessel whereas I used a taller skinnier one so I adapted the lesson to my vase's different shape.

I love the contrast with the silver of the vase and the asymmetry of the arrangement. I love this new thing I'm learning.

My neighbours stumbled on a fire pit for our back area and it's perfect! Several of us hung out on Friday enjoying the warmth of the fire in the slight evening chill of an LA autumn. 

Your most precious appliance is your refrigerator

So apparently, refrigerators are a hot (😂 see what I did there?) and rare commodity right now. Sadly for me.

My fridge (which was here when I moved in) bit the dust. It died overnight with all of my freezer items pretty much melted in the morning. I had a repair guy come and look at it but there was no hope. 

When I tried to find fridges available to be delivered in the next few days-nothing. I thought I had some options but even those disappeared the next day. 

I was able to borrow space from a neighbour for a couple of days. I found a mini-fridge at Best Buy late on Thursday. Crossed my fingers that they actually had it and I could pick it up the next day. And they came thru! Thank you Best Buy!!

So now I've got the few things I could salvage from my fridge stored safely. A few things remain in my neighbours freezer for the duration. I took the weekend off from fridge hunting, I'll pick it up again this week.

One thing I found online that has been a wonderful salve for the soul is the LA Phil's Sound/Stage series. They are a series of 1/2 hr online concerts, filmed at the Hollywood Bowl in August. The musicians are spread apart on the giant stage, wind players behind a plexi screen. No audience. There have been 2 so far and they have been incredibly beautiful and poignant. 

Almost normal

There was a lot going on this weekend, after a rather exhausting week of work. It started with learning of the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She made my life as a single woman possible. This is a huge loss and many of my friends and acquaintances are feeling it. 

And yet, so many almost normal things happened this weekend. My friend Amy had returned from summering in Minnesota and we planned a 'spontaneous' safely distanced afternoon meet up at Superba. I haven't seen her in real life since March and it felt so good to catch up and not have a screen between us.

I also figured out how to change out my air filters. Just one of those home maintenance chores that I had no understanding of and took forever to Google what to do. But with the poor air quality from fire smoke and the amount of time I have on the weekend to figure stuff like this out, no better time.

I almost messed up my Sunday morning ballet class booking but learned last minute that I got in, but even more special was that Gigi was coming to class for the first time and Yuki would be there as well! We haven't all been in class together in ages. Prior to the pandemic, our class schedules were just not the same. All three of us promised to have Chiyako in our thoughts during class. Ballet is the one thing that gives us a sense of our full selves. Aside from the masks, we have to work just as hard in class and focus just as much. It's such a gift. I think we all appreciate it more now than ever before.

After class, I hopped on an IG Live sale of crystals for a designer who I was introduced to via a work friend. I started out just wanting to lurk but it turned out to be super fun. By the end, some of us were chatting over the live comments and joking about doing a WLA meet up. 

Finally, the pandemic Emmys was Sunday night. It was a strange broadcast with everyone at home and some random bits happening in the studios. (Alpacas are cute with their moptop hair, but that was a lot of work for an Al Pacino joke.) I'm thrilled for Schitt's Creek winning so many and landing all 4 acting Emmys, and for the Watchmen wins. Schitt's Creek helped get me through pandemic spring and I'm so thrilled for this talented group of Canadians.

California burning

The west coast is on fire. From Washington state down to Southern California. A few days ago the ash was so bad in the Bay area that the skies turned red during the day. 

It wasn't as bad here although the sky was very overcast but with a sepia tone to it. It felt very ominous.

On a brighter note, the Bucket of Blooms for the month was a lesson in zhuzhing an orchid plant. It really made such a difference to a simple store bought orchid to put it in a nice pot with some succulents, change out the plain plastic clips and add some moss.

Labour Day

Long weekends during the pandemic are surprisingly sad. There's nothing much to do with your extra day vs every other weekend. Plus we have a heat wave here with record temps in the hotter parts of the valley and fires all around us. 

I managed to catch a cool astronomical sight with Mars being visible very close to the moon. The sky is a little strange due to smoke from fires and I think that's why the moon looks so red in this photo. Mars always looks red, which I find fascinating since outer space always seems very black and white. 

One of the things I've managed to accomplish lately (since my balcony and railings were painted) is to tidy it up a bit and fill the planters I inherited from the previous owner. Earlier attempts at plants failed so I went to the local garden center and picked up a succulent. They have a large variety of them, including a ton of echeverias and some of them are blooming. They are just the right size. Now pray to the garden gods that I can keep this one alive. 

The other balcony has a baby agave that I picked up free from a swap online. It turned out to be too large for the original purpose so I'm hoping it does well in the planter.

My herb cuttings that accidentally rooted are now in makeshift pots on the windowsill. I had to scrounge around for pots that would fit on the narrow sill. Again, fingers crossed that they survive. 

It feels good to be surrounded by plants. In addition to these new ones, I've got my decades old jade on the balcony, a new spider plant that I'm hoping will thrive from a baby, my avocado that I grew from a pit, and my orchid that never blooms but just put out a new leaf. 

End of summer

Hard to believe that Labour Day is approaching already. As with much of time passing during this pandemic, it seems equally that summer went by so quickly and also dragged on forever. 

This past week was my first Bucket of Blooms monthly delivery after the event that was organized by my vendor friend. This one turned out to be gorgeous with roses, thistle, dahlia, clematis and campanula. 

It was a great decision to do this, it gave me an hour to create and learn, and will provide a few days of beautiful display and scent of roses. I'll continue to do this while our outer lives are so limited.

Over the weekend we all learned that Chadwick Boseman had passed away from colon cancer. In addition to the sadness from losing a talent so young, we learned he was battling the disease while producing amazing work. Such strength. 

On a cheerier note, my neighbour's older daughter celebrated her birthday. Her dad made chocolate souffles for her and did a few extras for some of us. 

We enjoyed a beautiful Saturday night in our back patio area, talking and enjoying our desserts as the night cooled.

And to end the weekend, I finally got my act together to try a pita recipe that I'd found. The one I used is a whole wheat version. I used my pizza pan instead of direct on the grill grates (which just seems like a bad idea). It turned out to be pretty easy but relatively labour intensive since the bake times are short, meaning you stand by a hot oven making each one of the pitas individually. The place still smells like pita this morning. I'll try one later and see if the pockets formed. 

Rest in peace, Chiyako.

Yesterday, Gigi called to tell me that she had recently learned that Chiyako had passed. All she knew was that she had been hospitalized for pneumonia and had been poorly of late.

This was shocking news to all of us who knew her. It's been 10 years since she'd returned to Japan and it had not been possible to really keep in touch. She would drop a note for holidays and birthdays but I could never get a correspondence going. 

We originally met at Westside Ballet taking class with Aimee and then Joan. We, along with Yuki, shared a birthday month and year.  This picture was from a gathering at Joan's house in 2006, around Christmas. 

Nature as a restorative

I took a half day on Monday and met Gigi at Huntington Gardens. It's been so challenging not being able to think about or plan travel so I was excited when Gigi suggested the Garden which had recently re-opened. The Library and other indoor spaces are still closed. 

It was a hot day in San Marino but I so needed the time in this beautiful garden. One of the silver linings from this pandemic is that open public spaces are more sparsely populated. The gardens are still beautiful despite the terrible disease ravaging humanity and the ridiculous way that the federal government is NOT handling it. 

It was nice to have extended time with Gigi to just chitchat and shoot the breeze.

This is an art piece by Lita Albuquerque in the bamboo grove of the Japanese Garden.

Abundance within a restricted life

Monday was my chance to go to the office to pick up some stuff from my desk since we will not be working at the office for the balance of the year at least. They had some strict protocols in place to check we were healthy and had approvals. While I was there, I took a video of my walk to my desk and also a picture of the Second Century construction site. The giant cranes were put up and they are quite impressive.

This weekend was my 3rd Hello Fresh box and I've definitely been enjoying my meals. This weekend's delivery came on time (although the driver left it outside of our lobby door-luckily they text you and I could run down and get it 🙄). I've made the barramundi, and the zucchini tagine. Both were really delicious. The recipes tend to use a lot of butter and salt. I tend to reduce those ingredients. The fish was the first time I've ever cooked it at home and it was super easy and I really enjoyed it. There has been a commonality in a lot of the recipes: liberal use of lemon, garlic, onion. It was a good decision to start one of these services while our lives are so reduced. I really needed the inspiration.

The other main thing bringing me joy these days is taking ballet in the studio. Since studio 6 has the giant garage door, they are able to continue holding class there. It makes such a difference, gets me out of the house and out of my head, makes me work harder than when I'm at home, and usually Kelly and Joyce are in the Sunday class so I get to see them if only briefly. 

Friday was Ma's birthday this year and Mei arranged to have a special call with some of the extended family dialing in. Shen Shen, Shu shu, Gugu and Da Bo Mu all joined us. Al did a cameo, and Ching joined us late. It was great to see everyone and here how they are all coping. 

My latest pandemic TV is Schitt's Creek. I didn't think I would like it for quite a few episodes but now I'm a fan and I'm watching all the old videos on YouTube of the cast doing talk shows. 

The neverending, time altering summer goes on

I haven't updated in a couple of weeks because, well, I was feeling out of sorts. A typical July 4th weekend pre-pandemic would be just another long weekend for me, but there's usually the opportunity to invite people over to watch the fireworks from our roof. Not only could I not do that, but the official shows were all cancelled. That didn't stop every yahoo in the area from picking up some illegal ones. They've been popping off way earlier and more extensively than previous years (as the Nextdoor folks will attest) and the actual night of the 4th was INSANE! There were full on rockets going up within a block of us and apparently the entire Southern California landscape was covered with them. 

Normally I love a good fireworks show but this year, I felt like it was just representing people being selfish for their own enjoyment, f* other people, and this year we can little afford that attitude (as currently skyrocketing COVID rates will attest). 

The one good thing that came out of that weekend was that I got my first Hello Fresh delivery. I'd been pondering starting a meal kit service just because my ability to conjure up interesting and varied meals has been pushed to its limits. I was getting so BORED with trying to figure out what to eat for 3 meals a day and I'm not one to love repeats. I enjoy a good leftover but there's gotta be a variety. The first 3 meals turned out really good! I had 2 chicken dishes and 1 vegetarian pasta and since they all come with 2 servings that's 6 meals for me. I did realize I need to cook them up quickly as the veggies start getting limp but they were all quite tasty and didn't involve trying to find stuff in the grocery store that I only need a tiny bit of. I could also control spice levels for those dishes that included them. I didn't mind the chopping and prep work, I think it's not a bad thing to practice. 

After the first delivery, I realized I wanted to switch my day to Friday so I had weekend nights to cook. That meant a long break to my next delivery. Well while the first one went without a hitch the second one was problematic. The delivery was delayed although the customer service staff had no way of knowing what was going on so I had no idea if I'd need to shop for food for the week or not. It took 4 calls and 24 hrs to get my delivery. After firing off some strongly worded emails, I did make the first recipe of pork burgers which turned out to be delish! I left the second serving unassembled for another day. If despite the delivery snafu, you're still interested here's a discount code to try it out: HS-4X55DOOFB.

Last weekend I got a boost out of a brunch with a couple of my dance friends. We went to class first and then went to The Rose Venice to celebrate Kelly's birthday. It was the first time at The Rose since this whole thing started and we had a nice secluded outdoor table that felt very safe. Our meals were delicious, service was great, and I ran into a vendor I hadn't seen in ages which made the whole thing feel very LA. 

These days it doesn't take much to add some joy to our routine.

This past week I was invited to a vendor event that involved getting a bucket of flowers delivered along with supplies, and joining an online group to learn how to arrange them! The florist walked us through using oasis, how each flower should be treated (when to peel off leaves or petals, which stems were fragile or tough, where to cut, etc) and we all ended up with gorgeous arrangements that looked like a million bucks! When I posted a pic of my masterpiece on FB, I must've gotten more likes and comments than possibly any post ever! I think people are really feeling our restricted lives, and flowers are one thing that makes people happy. Every time I walk by my arrangement the scent of the roses and the beautiful colours still makes me happy. I'm thinking of joining the florist's Bucket of Blooms service. For not a lot of money, it means learning flower arranging and having a splash of beauty every few weeks. 

This weekend was also when comet Neowise was visiting our solar system. It was bright enough to try and spot even from my urban light polluted roof. On Friday, my neighbours told me that the ISS was also flying by. It turned out to be doing its pass at about the same time and in roughly the same place as the comet. We managed to spot the fast moving space station, and with binoculars could clearly see the comet as well sitting just under the Big Dipper. (Neighbour teens could see it with bare eyes. Darn youth.) It won't be back for almost 7000 years. It really does put our small lives in perspective.

Balancing risks

As the city and state have started to allow places to open (hair salons, gyms, restaurants etc), we're also hearing that the number of COVID cases has risen sharply. I've been wearing a mask everywhere, and limiting the indoor places I'm going to, but it's hard to know where it's worth engaging again and where it's not. 

As the ballet studio has been starting in-person classes, I've been realizing how much I hate taking class at home. It has rarely felt like I'm getting any kind of work out or maintaining any kind of technique. This week I took Veronica's class, which like Chasen's also was online. Again, only 3 people (one of them was Allegra) and I didn't mind the slower pace required for the teacher to manage the online group. James' Thursday class was the first in-person only and full 90 minutes. My balance needs to be strengthened again among other things, but it has felt so good taking these classes that I can't bring myself to take online classes right now. It's not easy wearing a mask the whole time but it's something you get used to.

This weekend I checked out an AR performance by Heidi Duckler Dance at LA State Historic Park. This is a park located north of Chinatown that I've never been to. I was required to install an app that will allow me to interact with the on-site material. There were a decent but well scattered population of people using the park. Seemed like most of them had no idea what the various art posters were about. I had a hard time initially figuring out how to work the AR app. Eventually, an email to the company led to instructions and it turned out to be really cool. The company had scattered random plastic things sitting or hanging on the lawn or plantings in the park. In two locations there were small posters stuck in the ground. When the app was used to capture the image, a video played. In one location, the videos were of dancers performing in different locations. In the second location, they were of reef and other sealife. Not only was this a great way to present dance, but I also explored a new park for the first time 

On Sunday, I took a class with more than 3 people! It still felt safe and everyone kept their distance properly. After, Joyce and I met Kelly and Margie at Rustic Kitchen's outdoor patio. It was so enjoyable to catch up in person, share a meal, and feel a little more normal. We kept our masks on while speaking, only taking them off for eating and drinking. We all put our masks back on after eating without even having discussed it. 

It still makes me anxious to dip my toe into the world like this, but the rewards are so huge right now. 

Life both in person and online

Working online makes the week seem very long and the weekends very short. However some things are starting to open up, the most exciting for me is the return to in-studio classes at Westside School of Ballet. 

I wasn't sure how I'd feel but for my first class, there were only two other students. Chasen was teaching online at the same time so his attention was often focused on the computer but I didn't mind as it was just such a pleasure to have a proper barre, good Marley sprung floor, and space! Since the class was sparsely attended, it felt safe. It's not easy taking class with a mask, but it's a small price to pay. 

On Saturday, I met two business friends at the LA Arboretum. It's in Arcadia, so normally quite far to get to, but with reduced traffic, it was worth taking the time to spend in a beautiful garden and seeing people I hadn't seen in a long time, talking like old times. It's peafowl mating season so the resident peacocks were in fine form, displaying at the least provocation. The peahens seemed not to be taken in by the ostentatious displays. 

The garden is quite large with a lot of unusual plants, water features, and paths. We ended up spending two hours walking around without even realizing the time. It was a little more crowded than I would've preferred however outdoor activities seem to be the safest at the moment.

I had to rush home to get online to watch my neighbours youngest daughter become a bat mitzvah. They were online from grandma's house with the guests logging in from all over. Mattea did an amazing job, the whole family looked so proud and happy and it was very special to be able to participate.

The other milestone of sorts this weekend was my first fill up at the gas station since mid March. 

After such a busy day, Sunday was definitely a day for rest. 

Most exciting weekend!

This weekend has been monumental for me! On Friday, my condo neighbours did our usual Friday Happy Hour but with the addition of Gil's smoked salmon, which he made for all of us (we contributed to the cost). Liz and Jon made Hawaiian style dinner rolls (so good) and banana bread, Michael and Jasmin brought vegan potato salad, I brought a bottle of wine, Bryan brought the twins. It was like a real dinner party. 

On Saturday, I had my first hair appointment since before the shut down. It's such a small thing, but wow it felt so good! Sandra trimmed and reshaped my hair, coloured my roots and add violet highlights. It required wearing our masks for the whole time but so worth it!

That evening Chris got a few of us together in their backyard to celebrate Pam's 50th birthday. He ordered in Dear John's TV dinners and a cake from Victor Benes. Becky was there and Jenny brought her new puppy Major who is seriously the cutest puppy EVER. 

Today, was more like a regular pandemic Sunday (James's ballet class in the morning, grocery shopping, etc) but Bryan's twins turned 2 and he invited us all to join him in the back to celebrate. He had some friends over, dressed the twins up in their fancy duds and had Hot Cakes cupcakes.

So much fun being with people in real life, and exhausting.  

Newest neighbour

He started showing up on our local streets shortly after the mayor and state issued the stay at home orders to control the spread of COVID19. People on Nextdoor posted pictures, in astonishment. 

There is a history of peafowl in Southern California. There have been flocks in the area north of Pasadena and in the south bay. They usually start out with someone wealthy bringing a small flock to their large property. The peafowl do what comes naturally and since they can fly, eventually become feral in the surrounding neighbourhoods. Here's an article from the LA Times with some of the backstory. Here's another one in Los Angeles magazine with a map of peafowl communities.

One thing is for sure, they aren't known for hanging around the westside communities. And yet here we are, with at least one peacock and possibly two (or more) peahens. The males and females haven't met yet but one can hope. (Or maybe not, as peafowl are very large birds with a very distinctive and loud call.)

I've been low-key stalking the Mar Vista peacock since I started seeing the Nextdoor posts. It was a bright spot in an otherwise anxious time. My friend Yuki ran into him outside her building, my neighbour Jasmin ran into him on her walk. I had no luck and was beginning to despair. 

Finally this weekend, I went out for a walk and decided on a more circuitous route than I would normally take. As I strolled up one street not far from where I live, I practically tripped over him. 

He was grooming and hanging out mostly. He was not much disturbed by dogs being walked (although the owners were very careful with their pups). A local toddler made him a little perturbed by running around him. Eventually, he started strolling up the street so I followed, with him keeping an eye on me. 

He finally found a nice shady patch of lawn for a wee rest and I left him in peace. 

That was about all the excitement I could handle for the day so I cut my walk short and headed home. 

Different perspectives

Saving these here for future reference.

• Maintaining Professionalism In The Age of Black Death Is…A Lot. An article by Shenequa Golding.
• Killer Mike’s Speech in Atlanta
  
• America Is A Tale of Two Cities. A video essay by CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
• Bobby Kennedy’s Speech the Night of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination.

Celebrating and remembering in a pandemic

It's been a couple of weeks and I can't believe May is closing out shortly. Today is Memorial Day. Usually I don't do much aside from have the day off. I don't know anyone who would invite me to their picnic but in a typical year, the rest of my weekend would probably be more packed with activity so I'd enjoy the downtime.

This year, obviously, it's all downtime. However this past weekend was cause for some celebration. My ballet teacher, Joan Bayley, turned 100 on Saturday. We haven't seen her in person for awhile as she had to stop teaching about a year ago due to balance and strength issues. Her daughter and one of her grandsons lives on the same street as she does and they organized a Zoom party online with our studio, Westside School of Ballet and a separate car drive by party. This also gave the studio a chance to highlight their fundraising campaign to get them through the pandemic closure. 

Joan looked great in the Friday video call and we all got a chance to say some words to her. Quite a few people were getting a little mopey and it started to feel less positive so I stuck to remembering our good times and anticipating when we would all get together again in the studio. 

On Saturday, we met before 2p to do the drive by. I had arranged for balloons and some decor for my car at Party City (thanks to curbside pickup) and was leading the southbound side while Margie planned to lead the north side. The family had decorated her lawn and set up a beautiful backdrop for her chair on her patio. The LA times sent a photographer and reporter to cover the event and they put out a lovely piece. 

The other great thing about this event was for a lot of us to be able to see each other in person for the first time in ages. Many of us stayed after (I wanted to leave my balloons for Joan) and it felt good, even with our face masks. We may have not kept 6' consistently but we were outdoors, didn't touch each other and yet got a chance to hang out and honour a woman who has meant to much to so many people. Here's some pictures from me and friend Mark Stone. 

Today is Memorial Day. I still have no BBQ plans but the Inland Empire Commemorative Air Force decided to honour the fallen of past wars as well as current frontline COVID fighters with an 18 plane flyover of Southern California. Several of us from the building got on our roof to watch. These WWII era planes are much slower than the Air Force Thunderbirds from a few weeks ago but no less thrilling. Here's a video I took. 

Boredom and isolation

Each week it gets harder and harder. I know I have it pretty good considering, given people who have lost jobs, or work in essential services and may worry about their health every day. But having so limited real human interaction is wearing on me.

However there are opportunities for highlights even under the circumstances. 

I've taken to varying my walk locations. I started heading south of Washington, as I read in Nextdoor that there is a peacock wandering the area. I'm determined to find it! Plus it gives me new routes and gardens to enjoy. 

One of my neighbours posted about heading to the beach to see the algae bioluminescence so after getting a tip on where to park and walk, I headed on one night. I was shocked at the number of people driving to the beach. Luckily the spot that was suggested worked out. There were more people than expected but not so many that I couldn't stay distant, and I wore a mask just in case. The algae glow when they are disturbed, as a defense. When the waves hit just right you can see the glow on the face of the wave and it rolls as the wave moves. It's really beautiful and I'm so glad I took the trouble to see it. 

Turn up the heat

Local temperatures went from mid 60s to high 70s last week. I was the happy recipient of more food generosity from my neighbours, and I finally figured out a decent set up for taking online ballet classes. I've been working from home for 6 weeks now.

I haven't gone out for a walk much this past week because I was getting bored with my previous mile lap and the masks that Mei made are quite thick. Great for public places but not great for breathing. 😂 I received one of my online mask orders so now I have some slightly thinner ones and I don't have to ration my mask usage as much. 

My neighbour made smoked salmon this week. He's bored and taking on long projects! He surprised me by texting me at around 5p one day that there was a packet for me at my door. 🤤 I'm pretty particular about my salmon and I have to say this was the best smoked salmon I've ever had! I had it with a slice of Edie's sourdough, some goat gouda and a chunk of pomelo. So good! 

At the end of the week, we all got together spaced out in our back area. At first it was just the Kuehnerts, Gorens and me. But then Bryan brought the babies down! Since they are almost 2 and don't understand 6', we all got our masks. The kids were a real spirit lifter, so joyous and inquisitive. Sophia was a little more cautious, Ethan more outgoing. When Gil brought out some salmon for them Ethan started shoving it into his mouth like a chipmunk. We all really needed the boost. At the end of the evening, the Gorens gave me a chunk of the chicken they made for dinner, which was delicious and juicy. 

This weekend I took on the project of colouring my roots with the kit that Sandra sent me. The instructions were quite clear and it worked out really well. I'm still sore from crouching by my tub to rinse all the colour out, though. 😓 

There were some fun things to watch this weekend. I dipped into the Met Opera online gala. Broadway stars put on a Sondheim celebration as well, I caught this after on YouTube, so I missed the 'live' debacle. 

Back to another week of work.