I am resigned...

 ....  to getting old, I guess,  New heart valve or no, I am slower now, and creakier.  I am not imagining it - there has been a definite change in the past year, whether accelerated by the disruptions of COVID it is hard to say.

I can say that I don't like what COVID has brought out in us.  We have all become fearful.  I'm not saying that it was without reason, but still, it is not a pretty sight, to see us all cowering.  I'm trying to wean myself from the now-instinctive fear of other humans, and human contact, but I still flinch when someone hugs me.  So, although I - mostly -wear a mask indoors when I am apt to see (possibly unvaccinated) strangers, I am out and about, at the gym, at the community center, at the bridge table, and at live events such as lectures, movies, and live music.  I know, I know, COVID is still around,  But so is the flu, and in all these years, I have never - to my knowledge - gotten it.  So, as much as I am able, I am back in the world....

The truth of the matter is, I have not personally been touched.  Noone I know has had COVID, much less died from it.  No, I don't think it was a hoax cooked up by the liberal elite, but for me personally it was a lot of anxiety around a phantom....

So, what have I been up to?  Dinner and Scrabble with friends Marvin

...and his partner Geoff...

.......dinner with friend Michael, with whom - thank you Facebook, I have been reunited after 55 years....

,,,,,face to face bridge....

.....David (left), director of this very small club, and his partner Robert...

.... Sue, previously seen in these pages.  She is another player at the club.  I had great hopes for a  friendship once upon a time, but apparently I am not up to her standards, either as a bridge player or a companion....

.......Darren, my sometimes partner (we are having a bit of a break right now, as bridge partners sometimes do..) 

......and more good byes.  This is the group - or part of it - from the gym, saying farewell for the season to the snowbirds at Tropicale....

(I used to hang out at Tropicale lots - it is by far my favorite watering hole (if I can be said to have one, but haven't been since pre-COVID)

....had friend Elaine over for yet another goodbye - she's heading back to Alberta for the season...

...she brought me lovely tulips...

.....and went to Michael's house for more Scrabble....

It's probably a good thing I move more slowly now, otherwise complete boredom might set in....

What else can I tell you?

Well, if I am being totally honest, I guess I should tell you that I  have become resigned to not being on anyone's A List.  It started years ago, in high school, and has continued over the years.  Easy to shove those thoughts aside, in the rush of work and vacations and leisure activities of my own making.  Not so easy to avoid now, when reaching out to folks has been singularly unsuccessful.  So, I'm reconcilds.  I don't  really fit in anywhere - not rich enough, not smart enough, not congenial enough.

I know, get off the pity pot.  I'll try tor next time...

No April Showers here.....

Well, it's a start.....

These are the lasst grapefruits from the trees here, and I am very much enjoying my daily glass of goodness...

I've charged my camera, and have figured out how to download pictures from my phone.  Usually, the fact that Google is everywhere gives me the creeps, but the fact that pictures on my phone are also on my computer - no downloads or wires required - well, it's still pretty creepy, but damned convenient.

If I'm going to keep going out, I will have to start keeping a calendar again, so I can report back to you.  And I'll have to remember to document everything with pictures.

Getting up early for walks has benefits - see above for sunrise in our complex.  In any event it is my best time to day.  I alluded to the decline in my cheerfullness facttor in my last post.  In that respect too, mornings are my best time.  By late afternoon, I am remembering the slights of a lifetime.

Maybe I should start blogging in the morning?

What else can I tell you?  Took friend Scott and his bride Susie (and mutual friend Darren) out to dinner for Scott's birthday last week, and added another restaurant to my repertoire. It is called Guiseppe's, another great Italian restaurant here in the Desert.  Very low key, but good food and nice atmosphere.  I will definitely go again.

Lunch with Linda the following day, an acquaintance from bridge, who I've been trying to cultivate, but things like the pandemic and her husband's ongoing illness have intervened.  We finally, connected, though, and I think this will be ongoing.  I certainly hope so - I enjoyed our chat immensely,

Snowbirds are starting to leave, hence group pictures will be forthcoming...

 

....this is my aerobics class,.  (We've all migrated from zumba, pre-pandemic, so old friends by now.

(I should also mention that Dale and Mike, the two gentlemen in the back, had a party for the class a few weeks ago in their lovely home in Palm Springs.  I will have to remember to bring my camera - or at the very least, start using my phone......)

Most recently friends Caroline and Lou - had me over for lunch and Scrabble.  We play on line every day, but have always played face-to-face on occasion, and we enjoy our afternoons doing so.  They are heading back to Manitoba soon, so this was our last opportunity for a while....

I've managed to get some more reading done.  

Why We're Polarized, by Ezra Klein, talks about, well, why we're polarized.  It is not a happy-making book, but it is a plausible explanation, and those of you who know me know that this stuff  - i.e., why we behave as we do - fascinates.me.  Along the same lines is a book called Grit, by Angela Duckworth.  Her premise?  Talent is all very well and good, but the best predictor of success - in just about anything - is perseverance, in other words, grit,

(On a personal level, I wouldn't know anything about that.  I have been lucky that things came easily to me.  If they would have been hard, I never would have completed them.  On an intellectual level, however, I completely agree with her....)

In terms of fiction, I read Hanya Yanagihara's book called The People in the Trees.  I have read her  earlier book, A Little Life, and a later one, To Paradise.  They are unhappy books all - she must be one traumatized lady - but page turners every one.

Finally, I'm starting to re-read all the Nero Wolf mysteries - and, while I'm at it, to add those that I don't have to my collection.  They are great reads, and do their part to keep me out of mischief!

Ta ta for now....

I've Declared The Pandemic Officially Over

 No, I'm not so dumb to think that it's really over.  I just think it has gone from a pandemic to an endemic. We have vaccines.  We have better treatments.  The flu mutates every year.  we modify the vaccine every year, we are careful, but we don't stay home.

I'm too old to stay home another year.  

So, I am back out and about.  Hence the revival of the blog.  (It would have been way too boring for the last 5 months.) 

I have gone back to the gym (masked, although no longer required here in Riverside County) for my strength training classes three days a week,.  I'm back to the senior center (proof of vaccine required, masks optional but all in the class - and the instructor - are masked) for aerobics classes two days a week.  And I'm still trying to walk at least 10 miles a week....

The weather is glorious.  Definitely convertible weather, cool in the morning, deliciously warm in the afternoons.

And face-to-face bridge is back.  (Again, proof of vaccine required, masks optional, noone wearing them.)  This is bittersweet.  Lots of people not feeling comfortable enough to attend.  But lots of people now playing in the great bridge game in the sky.  No, they didn't die of COVID, just of old age.

Trying not to cringe when I'm hugged - we are all so fearful....

And - how could I forget - back to live theater and music (masks and vaccines required).  I've mentioned Coachella Valley Rep, a small theater company nearby which I've supported for a number of years.  

First to open, a play called Bakersfield Mist, about a woman living in a trailer park who thinks she found an original masterpiece in a thrift store, and what ensues.  It was surprisingly good - or we were all so starved for live entertainment that we thought it so.  We were all delighted.

Next, a musical revue, called Closer than Ever.  Not profound, but charming, and, again, if was the being there.

No question that the McCallum Theater offerings were good.  Jersey Boys is always a hit, and this production was no exception.  And they have symphony here in the Desert - who knew? - and I was lucky enough to score a ticket from a friend who couldn't attend.  Surprisingly, if was a mostly Russian program, well conducted and well played.  And the acoustics in the McCallum are fabulous!  (I will try to get season's tickets for next season...)

Classes are starting to get back to face to face - I couldn't deal with them on Zoom - so hopefully in the spring...

And, of course, the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD is back in movie theaters - Ariadne auf Naxus a few weeks ago, and this week, Don Carlos, both fabulous!

Of course, I continue to read voraciously.   Peter sent me a care package from San Francisco - a box of ole New Yorkers  and Economists, and between the library, the bookstore, and circulation of good reads among friends and neighbors, books abound.

In no particular order:

How to Change, by Angela Duckworth

Bubble  in the Sun: The Florida Boom of the 1920's and How It Brought on The Great Depression, by Christopher Knowlton

A History of the World in Six Glasses, by Tom Standage

Talking to Strangers:  What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know, by Malcolm Gladwell

The Elements of Choice:  Why The way We Decide Matters, by Eric J. Johnson

Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman

The Sweet Spot:The Pleasures of Suffering and The Search for Meaning, by Paul Bloom

High as the Waters Rise, by Anja Kampmann

Dust, by Martha Grimes

Blood and Oranges: The Story of Los Angeles, by James Oliver Goldsborough

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, by Charles MacKay (this is an oldie - 1850's or so.  I used to have it in my collection, and when I discovered it missing, reordered it and re-read it.)

(Reviews of all of the above available on request....)

And let's not forget the books I listen to - I couldn't do all that exercise - which most of you know I loathe - without audio books, downloaded to my phone from the library, free of charge gratis - and enough to keep me moving. Again, in no particular order:

Nomadland, by Jessica Bruder (fascinating, about older people who have lost their homes, wandering around America in trailers doing low paid seasonal work....);

Mexican Gothic, by Sylvia Moreno Garcia, a horror story, no less (a genre I hate, but couldn't stop listening....);

My Dark Vanessa, by Kate Elizabeth Russell, about the sexual relationship between a 15 year old and her teacher,, and its aftermath,( again, not my thing but unable to stop listening)

Calypso, by David Sedaris...

... to name just a few, and not to bore you with the romances and mysteries interspersed with the weird stuff...

And how do I feel? Well, my health is good.  I had heart surgery in early February (heart valve replacement, pretty common, apparently).Mentally, not so good.  The pandemic has taken its toll, leaving my good nature in tatters.  

More anon.  And pictures as well - as usual with a long absence, I have to learn the procedure anew.  Those of you who are still with me, thank you for caring enough.  The good, the bad, the ugly, all will follow.