This is my happy place.....

 I am back walking outdoors.   I know, it doesn't sound like much, but after my fall, I was afraid to walk outdoors in Vancouver for a long time, and when it did stop raining long enough for it even to be possible to walk outdoors, I wouldn't do it without a walking stick, for fear of falling again.  It feels good to be striding outdoors again.  I go the first thing in the A.M., when it is still quite cool.  It feels so good, and I have been averaging  5 miles a day.

I walk every street in my complex, so the pictures are all close to home....

At that time of day, there are very few people out - a few dog walkers, of course -  but even outdoors, everyone is wearing masks and distancing.  This in the land of the free and the home of the brave.  And it certainly was not my experience in Canada...

Because everyone - certainly everyone in my social circle - has been vaccinated, and because it is gloriously warm and being outdoors is so pleasant, the opportunities for social interaction are multiplied.

Neighbor Michael and I went to dinner to celebrate his birthday on March 5.  This is Miro's, previously talked about in these pages, an Eastern European restaurant which is a favourite.  As you can see, they have done a great job with outdoor seating, and the food and service are still marvelous...

...this bunny is one of hundreds to be seen on my walks....

Friend Norma came to visit Palm Springs, and invited me to a lovely dinner at LaVallerois, an old favourite here, but new to me.  It is located down town, near the art museum (which is opening next week!!!), and the lovely old trees were planted by the original owner 40 odd years ago.  The service, food and conversation were all charming; it felt as though I were back in the land of the living.

So, I've been walking, socializing with my neighbors and friends, and reinstated another daily Desert ritual....

.....squeezing a glass of grapefruit juice or orange juice, from fruit just picked from the trees, every day....  it is a little piece of heaven.

I am still playing bridge, on line, of course, but because I am playing with people from the club here in the Desert, it feels downright cozy. And this week, three more social events, dinners with friend Sue, with John and Ron, and an encore dinner with Michael.  Still no gym (it is actually open, but I am not feeling quite comfortable going there, in spite of being totally vaccinated), or library, or classes, or zumba, but it is a start.

Without work to draw me back, I am feeling precious little pull to go back to Vancouver.....

I am reading as well.  I've reread any number of P.D.James mysteries, and am in the midst of rereading all the Sherlock Holmes stories.  And I am hooked up to getting audio books from the Palm Springs Library, most recently: Agatha Arch is Afraid of Everything by Kristin Bair (a very strange but strangely enjoyable novel);  The Girl of His Dreams, by Donna Leon (part of a mystery series which takes place in Venice and which I quite like); and Hot to Trot, by M.C.Beaton (a piece of fluff which was surprisingly enjoyable to listen to).  Best of all was Conduct Unbecoming by Randy Shilts, about gays and lesbians in the US military.  If the name sounds familiar, he also wrote And The Band Played On, the definitive book on the start of the AIDS crisis in San Francisco.  Shilts died of AIDS in 1993, and I was amazingly affected to learn that.  He was such a talent....

In short, I am very content, and am looking forward to open borders and friendly visits.

 

Back in the Desert

I am extremely happy. 

Part of the malaise of COVID is the inactivity, and the fear that one will never be able to do things again.  I guess I needed to show myself that I could be my usual decisive self.  And I did.  First of all, I actually retired.  It finally seemed like the right thing to do.  I will be 75 years old this year, and will shortly have been at the organization for 25 years.  It seemed like the numbers were aligning in my favour.  Then, there were considerable changes in law and policy, and in COVID world, without meetings and available colleagues, it was too much like work to try to assimilate them, particularly since the amount of work I have been getting makes it hardly seem worth the effort.  So, I retired as of February 1.  The boss rewarded me with the nicest going away letter I have seen in my 25 years, so even without an official sendoff, I felt valued - more than I have in a long time, actually...

And then I decided to go down to the Desert, in a better-late-than-never bid for some warmth and sunshine, and, more importantly, to get the COVID vaccine.  It is readily available to anyone my age, whereas the lack of vaccine in Canada would mean I likely wouldn't get vaccinated until July, at the earliest.  The trip from Vancouver to Palm Springs is one that I have done many, many times before; nonetheless, it took some doing to overcome the above-mentioned malaise and put all the moving parts together.  

I am here to tell you that it can be done.  I got the plane reservation.  I got everyone organized to take care of outstanding matters in Vancouver.  I got John on board to drive me to the airport in Vancouver, and my Palm Springs John to pick me up at the other end.  I got the required COVID test scheduled within 48 hours of departure.  And the trip was smooth sailing (so to speak) all the way.  Nonetheless, by the time I got to Palm Springs, I was exhausted; I could barely speak.  Overstimulation, maybe - I saw more people on the one day of travel than I have in 11 months!!!

I can't tell you how happy I am to be here.  I got the first vaccine within 4 days of my arrival, and have a scheduled date for the second.  The sun is shining and it is warm.  The pools in my complex are open.  And because everyone I know has had one or both shots, there is more comfort seeing one another - on patios, because it is warm enough to sit on them, and with masks and distancing, but still.....

As you can see, I am back walking, but instead of walking the hallways of my building, I am in the great outdoors.

More pictures and raves later.  But just in case, in the rush to get away I forgot to call and say I was leaving, I wanted to let you all know that I am alive and very, very well.

OMG

I can't believe I let the day go by, not only without ceremony, but without even noticing.  David died 15 years ago yesterday, February 6, 2006.  Those of you who know me know that every year on that date, and on his birthday, December 9, I have dinner with my husband.  Every year, it is the same dinner, prime rib and bourbon, David's two favourite food groups.

Maybe it is the lack of calendars in my life in these days of COVID.  But the day went by.  I am mortified

Back to the new normal

 Lots of ups and downs.  When last we spoke, I was feeling poopy.  Better today, for no particularly good reason.  But I find being - well, poopy (I can't even call it depressed, really) - boring, and I have a low tolerance level for boredom.  So I try to get out of that downward spiral before it wears a groove in my brain so deep that I can't get it out.  

Books first.  I think I already mentioned War, by Margaret McMillan, a Canadian historian.  Not any earth shattering revelations, but a good review of how wars have been conducted through the ages, and how war shapes society and society shapes war.  She is a good writer, and is one of those I would read whether I was interested in the topic or not.  Next up was Identity, by Francis Fukuyama, who I would call a social historian.  Here, he writes about a topic close to my heart, the rise of identity politics, which, with the best of intentions, has ended up dividing us rather than uniting us.  I highly recommend it for those who are looking for the causes of the rise of the rabid underclass.  

On a completely different topic, Shakespeare in a Divided America, by James Shapiro (author of The Year of Lear and dozens of other books about Shakespeare.  The subtitle is "What his plays tell us about our past and our future", and that about sums it up.  I am a sucker for anything Shakespeare, and this was really fascinating.  I really didn't know about most of the historical incidents involving Shakespeare in America, and will probably never look at Julius Caesar or Coriolanus the same way again.  

Another very pleasant surprise was The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.  It was a retelling of the story of Achilles, from the more personal vantage point of Petrocolus, his lover, and I was totally rapt from beginning to end.  

Have I already mentioned The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, by Alexander McCall Smith?  It is one of his lovely, gentle books in the Ladies #1 Detective Agency series, and has not changed my opinion that I will read everything he writes.

Finally, I have just started reading (technically speaking, listening to), Too Much and Never Enough, by Mary L Trump, Donald's niece.  She clearly loathes him, but the writing (and reading - it is being read by the author) is quite unemotional, written like the clinical psychologist she is.  It provides a grounding as to where this dysfunctional  man comes from.  Once again, I am rapt.

So, worry not, my friends.  I have once again escaped from the clutches of depression through the time-honoured vehicle of books.  

 

Alright, I`ve had enough.

 It is official.  Well, almost.  I have retired, as of February 1.  I actually retired  9 years ago, but, almost immediately thereafter, I was asked to come back, to work on contract.  I have been doing that ever since, working in the summer, and repairing to Palm Springs in the winter, more specifically, as soon as it started raining in earnest in Vancouver.  But I have had enough.  I will be turning 75 this year, and have spent the last 25 years at the tribunal in one form or another.  It seems like a good time to call it a day.  I have been lucky not to embarrass myself, or the tribunal, during that time; best not to push my luck.

Although it was my choice, and I do still think it was the right one, I am still feeling, well, poopy.  The end of an era, the severing of the last rope tying me to reality, I don`t really know. 

And though, with the exception of working (and truly, I have not been doing much of that) I am doing everything else I have been doing for this interminable 10 months, all of a sudden I am hugely bored.  My notorious short attention span has gotten even shorter; I can`t keep my mind on anything.  Books take me forever - constantly picking them up and putting them down.  And knitting a pair of socks seems endless.

Objectively speaking, I am still having a relatively good pandemic, although it is dispiriting to see how long it is going to take for Canadians to get the vaccine (apparently Canada is 9th in the ranking of countries in the vaccine rollout).  Although I have a trip to Viet Nam scheduled for next fall, it is looking less and less likely that that will come to pass.  And although I am used to being alone, and am better at it than most, I am more and more afraid, that I will not be able to make the transition back to social interaction.  

I usual don`t write when I`m feeling poopy.  You know me; glass half full, not glass half empty.  But this is how I feel.

Introspection

 Well, it has to be introspection, doesn't it, as we are not doing too much of any else right now, in the days of COVID.

And speaking of COVID.  Doesn't it seem strange to you that Costcos are open and churches are closed?  Someone asked me that the other day, and the answer to that is no, I don't find it strange.  Churches are unventilated spaces in the best of times, where people are singing at each other, or, at best, talking at each other, with neither distancing nor masking enforced, as best as I have seen.  Costco can enforce both masking and distancing, and is selling essential goods (among other things, of course).  In any event, as far as I have read, there has never been an outbreak linked to a Costco.  On the other hand, there have been any number of outbreaks linked to churches.....

What does fry my hide is the spectacle of public officials taking vacations in foreign places while the public at large is told to stay at home.  And people wonder that there is contempt for government, and the tendency to flaunt the rules if one thinks one can get away with it!      

One thing the pandemic has brought to the fore is the incredibly large number of stupid people in this world.  The number of COVID deniers (even while being treated - and sometimes dying - in the hospital) and anti-vaxxers is truly mindboggling.

And then there is the political situation in the US, another thing that has brought stupidity to the forefront (in normal times, we can go for quite some time, living in the rarefied air that we do, without being reminded how stupid people are).  There is a quote from George Carlin going around.  I am not a bid George Carlin fan - I always thought you get the same thing across without using so much profanity - but this one is good.  He said something like, Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

The other bit that's going around social media right now is a speech by Arnold Schwartzennager.  You can find it on YouTube.  Again, I have never been a big fan, but this is a good take on the meaning of what is going on now with Trump and his supporters, and his attempted coup. He likened January 6 to Crystalnacht in Germany, and the analogy is apt.  Listen to it if you can.

The good news is that, so far, the system continues to work.  I won't bring out the champagne however, until January 20 has come and gone.....  and, hopefully, once the enabling republicans have been charged with sedition.  Then we will have dodged the bullet.  For now.  But think about it.  The next tin pot dictator might be smarter,  Then we really would be in trouble.

You would think the Republicans would want to have Trump impeached, and forbidden to hold office again.  That way he wouldn't be able to run against Cruz et al in 2024.......

As always, though, my personal life is reasonably benign.  My broken arm is not 100%, but much better.  I am faithfully doing my physio 4 times a day (truthfully, there is not that much else to do) and there has been improvement.  I can actually hold a book, type with both hands, and even knit, albeit slowly.  I have found a mentor, a great bridge player, and nice to boot (not a very frequent combination) who is willing to help me improve.  He is, of course, not in Vancouver, but, rather, in Palm Springs, but in these days of digital bridge, it doesn't much matter.  I am actually quite excited about it.  

I am also playing bridge with robots.  It is really quite interesting. Their playing is actually quite good, although their bidding - not so much.  It is like everything else mechanical - you just have to adapt yourself to how the programmers were thinking, no matter how stupid.  I actually learned this lesson a while ago.  When David and I first went off-shore sailing, in 1988, a fellow boater, who had formerly worked for IBM (which he called Itsy Bitsy Mentality) volunteered to teach us to use the computer, in exchange for a case of beer.  His first lesson:  you are not stupid, the programmers are stupid.  Just figure out how they are thinking and go with it.

Actually, that was the second example.  The first had occurred when I was trying to pass the California bar.  I was taking a prep course, and not doing very well on the sample tests.  Then, one day, as if by magic, I figured how the test preparers were thinking.  Voila.  Passed the California bar first time around!!!

Anyway, so much for that diversion.

Lots of reading going on (the library here us open, albeit with limited access.)  In no particular order.....

Several Martha Grimes mysteries (you would have thought I had read them all by now - she is one of my favourites) - The Fadeaway Girl, Vertigo42, The Blue Last, The Old Success.

Ian Rankin, In a House of Lies.  Another one of my old favourites.  This one I had actually read before, but didn't mind reading again.

Turgenev, Fathers and Sons.  This is one I should have read decades ago, but don't remember having done so.  It's funny - I don't like actual Russians very much, but I adore Russian literature.  Except for Chekov - I loath Chekov.  But I digress even further.....

Stendahl, The Red and The Black.  Again, one of those I should have read decades ago, but didn't, or at least not that I remember.  I couldn't manage to get through it this time either.....

Sidney Chambers, The Granchester Mysteries.  Very gentle stories, the sleuth being a rural churchman.  Nice, but I probably won't seek out any more.  

Elizabeth George, A Banquet of Consequences.  Another old favourite mystery author, but one book  I hadn't read yet.   

Minette Walters, The Cellar.

And, in the audio book department, two Alexander McCall Smith books, The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon (one of his First Ladies Detective Agency series), and A Promise of Ankles (one of the 44 Scotland Street series).  Again, an old favourite, and definitely the author I would most like to have over for dinner - his series are so varied, he must have the most incredible mind.  

Also in the audiobook department (by the way, these come from the library as well, downloaded to the phone), two more by Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty and The Dutch House.  I wouldn't mind having Ann Patchett for dinner either.  Incredible writer.

The Killings at Kingfisher Hill.  This is an Agatha Christie mystery written by a "successor" chosen by her estate (whose name escapes me at the moment).  I usually don't like that sort of thing, but this one was amazingly good, and in the end, there is nothing like a good English manor house mystery.

Finally, a real, bought book.  

Collected Stories, by Willa Cather.  I don't know whether she is in the Canadian school syllabus, but she certainly was in the American one, but only her novels, like Death Comes for the Archbishop, and My Antonia, among others.  These stories came on to my radar recently, when Alex Ross discussed Cather in the course of his book on Wagnerism - he discussed Cather's anti-semitism, her love of opera, and her relationship to Wagner's operas.  Sure enough, the stories are full of all of these, and well written to boot.  I love coming to new (to me) literature this way....

...I think I've missed some, but you get the idea.

Still reading the Economist and the New Yorker (thank you John and Jack for faithfully bring them by when you are done with the current issue), and the occasional article sent by friends (please, feel free to send anything interesting along).

Finally, my mood is pretty good.  Although I see hardly anyone, I am in touch with men and women from all parts of my life (former and present colleagues, friends from the past, friends locally, and bridge buddies), via email, telephone, messages, bridge chat, etc.  - more than 20 people all told - and feel very much connected.

I know I'm not writing frequently, but, in the absence of theaters and music events, and now, the absence of going out at all due to the inclement weather (there is a reason I go to the Desert in the winter) means no pictures - well, I don't want to bore you to death.

But keep checking - I will be back.  

Ta ta, for now....

 

                                                                                                                               

Here is to a better 2021!!!