More observations from my unexpected COVID life...   I'm so used to my mask that sometimes I wear it while driving alone in my car.   Most of the customers in Whole Foolds are now Prime buisness people shopping to deliver.   I'm getting better at reading people even though I only see their eyes.   Supporting the small buinesses in my neighborhood is harder when a lot of them are closed.   Social distancing is an oxymoron.  

I came up when Mayor LaGuardia read the comics on the radio, before TV test patterns and Uncle Miltie and listened in on a telephone Party Line. So a lot of communication progress has occurred in my life span, but I was never so much in the dark as I have been since the August 4th storm.

A few days ago I was inspired to think about the temporary nature of so many things in our lives. Although one could contemplate that everything is temporary, my attention turned to our Passion Flowers.Our Passion Flowers last just one day. The buds form over time and slowly prepare for the flower to open. We watch, hoping the buds survive to bloom. Oftentimes, they do not and fall prematurely.

Disruption can carry positive and negative connotation. Personally, disruption is a catalyst for fresh ideas. A shake-up, if you will. Stirring, while uncomfortable, can be life changing. Usually an outside force disrupts us to go another direction. Immediately, we fight the change and push back to “normal”, or maybe the word “normal”could be interchangeable with “comfortable.” In discomfort, we grow. Some of my most difficult situations, where I could not see my way through to the other side of difficult, turned out to be the biggest blessings.

So it's  summer time during COvid. Where do you take your grandaughter and her parents? Can't go on a cruise. Won't go on an airplane. Won't go to a hotel or eat in restaurants. So we decided to rent a motorhome and go to a campground. Since we owned motorhomes years ago I was pretty familiar with the operation and driving.   i found a rental company in Pennsylavania and a campground about 2 hours away  so that we could stay in one place for the week.  

As many of you know, prior to the pandemic, I habitually attended Weight Watcher (“WW”) Workshops on Saturday mornings. I had attended the meetings for years and, for me, it was integral part of my life’s journey. Given the context of the meetings and, what we each shared, I felt particularly close to my fellow attendees and coach.    

One of my fave Stones’ LPs, Aftermath, offers a fine title to this blog. Besides Tropical Storm Isaias cutting out my power (and thus cable and Internet), a fair amount of branches and leaves littered my yard and deck. My outside monitor, albeit covered also took a hit; its replacement, same as I use in my office, arrived midweek.

Just recently, a Washington state library, in the midst of a rennovation, were removing a corner panel which, lo and behold, revealed a stash of beer and chewing gum from the 1980s. Ironically the panel was from a shelf housing the mystery book section. The stash contained five unopened cans of Hamm's beer and an opened back of Godzilla Heads gum.