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.