Plague Redux 2 - Peak Week - April 13, 2020

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

No bonus check.
Nobody sick.

The morning crisp, cold, and clear. A smattering of snow. Gone. I just watched three of the most beautiful creatures in my life cavort out back near an old and gnarled apple tree, old and gnarled, yep, but still bearing. I take it as a metaphor.

We've been told this is peak week - the curve will go up/the curve will go down. Remember that remarkably true story of the Japanese soldier who never heard about the surrender and spent the next 40 years in hiding on an island believing the war was still on?...I have these thoughts:  Could that be us? We never hear the plague is over, so we never leave our "hideout"? Of course, not, but it's a plot, i.e., the grid gets taken down; communication is impossible; an intrepid community of survivors completely cut off; etc, etc, etc. If you like it, it's yours. I don't need credit A token percentage of the gross will cover my expenses.

What's also come to mind - Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death." It's more nerve wracking now than ever. We can party all we want and kid ourselves along. Go ahead. Do it. Enjoy. And keep me in the loop.

A reporter came to visit W.C.Fields on his deathbed. "How are ya, W.C.", the reporter asked. "Lookin' for a loophole," he answered.

Good to laugh. Very good to laugh.

When Bob Hope's children asked him where he wanted to be buried, he said, "Surprise me."

It doesn't lurk. It meanders. It's all around like bird netting.  Who was it tried to hide from God and couldn't?  For me, on my better days, the fact that this thing could take me out tomorrow acts as a propellant. A correction of direction. A reminder. A chance to get maybe one thing right. It demands focus, and focus is knowing what you don't have to do. 

I don't have to answer the phone; I don't have to sign your petition; I don't have to finish a book just because I started it. I don't have to open the door if you're out there with a pamphlet; I don't have to open the door period. I don't have to go to another super bowl party; I don't have to go to another bris; I don't need to smile or go to meetings, but, if I do go to a meeting, I can get up and leave whenever I feel like it. Gregory Corso, a Beat poet and lover of Alan Ginsburg, said that, "True power is standing on the street corner waiting for nobody."

And your point is?

Focus.

L'Chaim!

Bedtime
Nobody's sick.

Thursday
April 16, 2020

I really don't have anything more to say. Hang in. Wash hands. Clean fingers crossed.

Friday
April 17, 2020

Rural communities are not safe.
90 confirmed in Greene County

Saturday
April 18, 2020

96 confirmed in Greene County
Disgusted and frightened by the political situation
It snowed! Give us a break, will ya?
Taking the baby back to Kingston shortly.
Nobody's sick.

That's it.