Belinda, am responding to your issue over in that site help thread. :)
I was glad that I got a new sewing machine for myself about 2 yrs ago. I've made maybe three dozen pleated masks for my husband and me, and sent some to our three children & their spouses. I use two layers of high thread count quilting cotton with a third layer inside of a non-woven filter material.
I drove by our neighborhood community center today and there was a long line of cars trying to enter the parking lot. Why? They were giving out free face masks. I don't know who sponsored that effort, but what a great idea!
Hope they were good ones, Dusty! Washable ones should be three layers, cotton-cotton-water resistant, and cover from above the nose to below the chin, according to our city's Chief Medical Officer of Health.
I drove by our neighborhood community center today and there was a long line of cars trying to enter the parking lot. Why? They were giving out free face masks. I don't know who sponsored that effort, but what a great idea!
...
My plea is that we all would act with consideration toward others and wear our masks, limit our gatherings, keep our distance and stay home when we don't need to go out. We can limit the further spread of the virus by following the advice of the scientists who are studying this beast. Let's just do it!
Right on, Richard. We have one friend from our knitting circle who got infected right out of hospital while recovering from a broken hip. Her physiotherapy was wasted. She has recovered after a month on a ventilator but now has to try to do her rehab at home as an outpatient; and she lives alone.
Belinda, go to our Forums area and in the "Site Questions...How do I?" forum there is this discussion:
https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/site-questions-how-do-i/33874/how-do-i-attach-photos-to-a-post#r33878
Follow the instructions in that thread for how to EMBED an image in your post (as opposed to attaching it to your post).
Thanks Richard. Our hope is that we can all do our part to tamp down the spread of this virus. Certainly enough people have died that we should all take it seriously and be responsible.
Perhaps on a more serious note about COVID. Some members of the forum have contracted this disease, some with mild symptoms some seriously ill, even on life support for a while.
I have heard some folks who think this pandemic is just something that is made up. But make believe does not kill people. This virus is real, it is serious and it is deadly.
My plea is that we all would act with consideration toward others and wear our masks, limit our gatherings, keep our distance and stay home when we don't need to go out. We can limit the further spread of the virus by following the advice of the scientists who are studying this beast. Let's just do it!
Just toilet paper again. 
One small positive thing at my house- have been improving my cooking skills (which were pretty good to begin with). Last night i stir fried some baby bok choy with some mushrooms and pan-seared raddichio wedges, served it over brown rice with tamari sauce. And it was good.
Just me and my husband this year for thanksgiving. We're going to have a nice little roast chicken, with cranb sauce, stuffing, baked sweet potatoes, and ice cream for dessert... at our now festively lit kitchen table. Since it's just two of us, we'll have the same identical meal the next day too with the plentiful leftovers. 
Not having any festivals to attend is a downer. My favorite restaurants have gone the way of the dodo, with more closing permanently every day. One more lockdown and that is it for a lot of them. Not sure what will happen with all the unemployed and under employed once the protections lift. Can't teach as I cannot do it online. Can't travel as most of the flights are cancelled or non existent and 28 days out of my life in isolation is not I thing I value. Not a good time at all. And on top of that, watching the Virus spread, (second wave was predicted) and yet everyone seems astonished. Current measurements will not work, but then they new it wouldn't yet had to provide the population with something to believe in, and they are running out of people to blame. On the other hand it is interesting to watch history repeat, and be able to predict to the letter what will happen.
Most years I complain when people put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving (and some even before Halloween!), but it's perfectly understandable this year. We need something to pick up our spirits and remind us of what "normal" is supposed to be.
@b-ross-ashley, my dulcimer group resembles your folk chorus in that our move online has allowed us to bring in people from all over. Nowadays only about half our attendees are from Northern California. So although social distancing guidelines have taken away our abilities to socialize locally, they have opened up other ways to expand social gatherings unlimited by geography.
Musically speaking, our folk chorus have been doing online rehearsals since September, and right now our video editor (the husband of one of our section leaders) is putting together a video of all of us singing into our cellphone cameras on the Temagami Round. If we go public with it I will post a link here. We have more planned. This year, thanks to doing it remotely, we have members from Nova Scotia to Michigan. (Usually, we only have members who can get in to downtown Toronto physically.)
Yes, Robin ... the City of Toronto and Peel Region to our west (Mississauga, Malton, Brampton etc.) are being hit extremely hard so far by the second wave.
On the other hand I have a look at the maps of what is going on in the States and almost the entire country was in shades of red yesterday, except Hawai'i. I fear for my family, in Florida, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York and California, and my myriads of friends down there.
It is kind of a cliche to say so, but in my nearly 53 years up here I have actually found Canadians slightly more disciplined about accepting authority than my and Sandie's fellow Americans ... it is not always a good thing but right now there is less resistance to masking up etc. and that, friends, is really a good thing.
@b-ross-ashley I saw where Toronto is to be under lockdown. Truly, I hope it helps lessen the virus's spread greatly! Y'all take care.
Love all this Christmas talk--and photos, too!
::A-hem:: Dr Fauci has no jurisdiction. Everybody North of the Lakes knows that the Canadian border in the Arctic extends right to the North Pole ... Santa even has a Canadian postal code. H0H 0H0.
Sounds to me like Mr. & Mrs. Claus are two very smart Christmas cookies. 
Belinda, what a tree! I read in the news just today that Dr. Fauci says Santa is practically immune from Covid, so you must be relieved! 
https://people.com/human-interest/santa-claus-has-innate-immunity-from-covid-19-fauci-reveals/
Very nice, Lisa.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
That is lovely!
Here is how my 'cozy lights' over the kitchen table came out- we had our first dinner under a mini canopy of stars! 
Well there's much similarity to the 'cozy' traditions found in colder winter Scandinavian/Northern countries. They know how to really enjoy the comforts that can be had during the dark winter, such as candles, hot cocoa, wooly socks and knit sweaters, warm food and hearty soups, lap throws, saunas, snowshoeing, baking, etc. They are experts in warding off the winter doldrums!
We all have just a few short months of winter to get through before Spring and perhaps an end to this horrible time of virus suffering and social quarantining.
Good for you, Strumelia. Yes folks are decorating earlier this year. I think this is one thing that reminds us of normal, and it is something that is not limited by our sense of responsibility toward others nor by governmental restriction.
The odd thing to me is the local media here seem to find it so surprising and out of character. If one thinks about it for just a moment it is not at all surprising. Indeed it is to be welcomed.
Hugs.
Sounds as if you may be less lonely than my lady and I in our little apartment in midtown Toronto, surrounded by people ... but as of Sunday midnight going back into lockdown. We have our holiday lights up already, keeping our living room window ablaze with twinkles.
Doesn't it look as though we may have some working vaccines after two or three more months? That is unbelievable and surely something to look forward to!
Just knowing that helps us face the next few dark cold dreary months.
Yes, our holiday season is going to be a bit different this year and maybe it will be hard to stay uplifted. Nowadays it's totally dark at 4pm. 
I noticed the other night one of my neighbors... a lady who lives alone, had put up a whole bunch of twinkling colored Xmas lights in her window and on her front porch. It's still a week before Thanksgiving(!), but it struck me as so pretty and cozy. It inspired me to put up a few strands of twinkling lights myself!
I decided i would string some lights over our humble kitchen table nook where my husband and I eat all our meals. I have it in place now, and i can't wait til tonight to see how festive it looks when the sun goes down! Maybe i'll post a picture here.
I did a little online looking and discovered that apparently there's a whole trend going on right now of people putting up holiday decorations early in order to feel cheerful and comforted despite the ongoing pandemic and the cold weather and short days setting in.
We won't be having a tree this year, and no family coming. But our little kitchen nook will be cheery for sure! 
Dusty, Great news about your wife's job from home! There was a time when people begged to be allowed to do their office jobs (mostly computer work) from home and bosses said No way! Looks like a way has been found for many after all. It's just too bad that it took a deadly pandemic to have that happen.
Dusty, things are getting like that all over this Fall. Most of the US is confronted by rising infection rates, and here in Canada we are too.
Good for your lady, that reduces the personal risk.
Keep smiling. keep playing.. we will get through this all together or not at all.
The good news: my wife started that new job this week, so now we're all working or going to school from home. Our tight little COVID circle is intact again.
The bad news: our county is moving backwards into a more restrictive set of COVID protocols (California has a 4-tiered, color-coded system). It seems everyone gets serious about being careful and the infection rates go down, allowing us to move into a less restrictive tier. Everyone celebrates and decides we're out of the woods, and then they get careless again, putting us back into a more restrictive tier.
Dusty it makes me very happy to hear this wonderful news about your wife's new job. Yaaaaaaay!! 
A little bit of good news for us. My wife is getting a new job that will allow her to work entirely from home. Her current job only lets her work from home two days a week, and since I work from home and our daughter is doing high school virtually, my wife's job was the only exception to our otherwise tight, COVID-free lives. She requested on numerous occasions to work from home, citing the number of people in the building who had been infected and complaining that too many co-workers were not following proper protocols, but they only gave her two days. So she's leaving. And getting a promotion, too. Probably the happiest member of our family will be the dog, who will soon have the whole pack home every day, the way he thinks it ought to be.
Wow, this reminds me of how I felt upon my first post-COVID dental visit. They had installed special air cleaners, implemented a number of precautions (including taking my temp and testing my O2) and put quite rigorous/extensive between-patient cleaning into place--and a lot more. My longtime hygienist was clad in all manner of PPE. On the one hand, I felt grateful they were taking so much care to protect me--and their staff. On the other hand, I was heartbroken to see Niki decked out like something out of a sci-fi movie--just do do her job safely. We had to do a socially distant air-hug instead of our usual post-cleaning hug. She had to stay in the room to be sprayed down with a special fog, couldn't even walk/chat with me on the way to the front desk as usual.
I feel the same about your story. On the one hand, I am touched they put so much care into making the wedding safe for all. On the other hand, it breaks my heart that all this is necessary.
On yet another hand...I'm with Strumelia. The Vegas mansion would not have been my cup of tea! :) I'm not a big/loud crowd kind of person...
Dusty, I'd say the bride and groom put a lot of thought and consideration into their adapted wedding. They did a great job and at least for me it would have been more fun than a mansion Las Vegas wedding. Bingo and paint ballon art and individual food bags! 
It does indeed sound memorable. :D
Strange days indeed. I attended a COVID wedding yesterday. My brother-in-law got married to his long-time girlfriend. The wedding was originally planned for Labor Day weekend in Las Vegas, and he had rented a huge mansion there where the wedding party and their close family and friends were going to stay. Needless to say, those plans were canceled.
Instead, there was a short, social distancing ceremony with about 20 people involved at a park, and then we we went back to their backyard for a party of sorts. Everyone sat in family pods, so my wife, daughter and I had our own table. There was no buffet or anything like that. They had the event catered, with individual bags of food for each attendee. Even the drinks were individualized. My wife indicated on the questionnaire that I liked whiskey, so on our table was a whole bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey, just for me. (Don't worry, we took the bottle home after I barely made a dent in it.) Also on each table was a bottle of hand sanitizer and a container of Lysol wipes. I was expecting face masks displaying a picture of the newlyweds, but they didn't go that far.
There was no dancing or anything, but we played bingo and a few other contact-less games, including something where we each threw a balloon filled with paint at big canvas. They are planning to put that paint-splattered, Jackson Pollock-like canvas in their living room. Kind of a cool idea, though we left before seeing the final product.
In the end, it was nice but also strange. I'm sure we will remember the experience, which I guess is all you can ask of a wedding.
@don-grundy, there were a few small fires about 75 miles away, but they were easily put out. Since I live in the Central Valley rather than the hills, the fires usually affect us less as a direct threat than by clouding our air with smoke. I actually have a bunch of masks in the garage for when the air gets really bad. Unfortunately, those are different masks than we need to halt the spread of viruses. Perhaps I'll have to double up on the masks soon. Yikes!
@ken-longfield, the rolling blackouts have indeed affected a lot of people. Luckily, our house is on the same little portion of the grid as a police station (and maybe a fire station, too), so we're exempt from those purposeful blackouts.
But folks along the coast, where it never gets above 80 are really suffering since their homes don't have adequate A/C.
I just read an article that questioned the rolling blackouts since although power usage was as high as expected, the state still had plenty of electricity in reserve. The conclusion was that over the last several years since the last major heat wave, so many people have added solar panels to their homes that the drain on the grid is significantly less than it used to be. A sign of progress, I suppose.
I hope the rolling black outs don't cause your AC to go out or do you have a back up generator. Our son and his family live way south of you in Van Nuys and they've been having this heat as well. Stay cool inside and play dulcimer.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Well in the middle of this pandemic here on the west coast we're also dealing with a massive heat wave. The worst in about 75 years, I just heard. It will be over 100 for most of the day, even staying in the 90s well into the evening. I'm so grateful that we installed a new HVAC unit in May; I feel bad for all those folks with no air conditioning. At least the county lifted the water rationing restrictions so I can water the lawn more often than twice a week. But I don't think I'll be doing much work outside the next several days.
Welcome back, @B-Ross-Ashley. You might find that this time of quarantine is an opportunity to hunker down and play more music. We have also found that the initial shortage of toilet paper and some basic food items is over and other than disinfectant wipes and sprays, nearly everything can be found in the markets again. I guess I didn't need that 96-roll box of industrial toilet paper that I ordered when I panicked seeing the empty store shelves back in March and April!
Hey, @b-ross-ashley Ross-- good to see you again! It's nice to hear you are going to pick up the dulcimer again. I have found playing mountain dulcimer to be a balm to my spirit. Take care.
Hi, all, it has been a while since I poked my head in here ... Sandie and I are still alive, and living in the middle of the 4th largest city north of Mexico. I have not played much at all in the last while. Our community chorus scrubbed its season in March and we have only done the occasional online singing since. The COVID-19 pandemic has not hit us anywhere near as bad as it has our neighbours across the Lakes, but it has hit our elders in Long Term Care really hard, plus the personal care workers who look after them.
But I am back, and hope to pick up the dulcimer again! Glad to see the rest of you too.
Sandie and I mask up when venturing out, and I get out a lot more than she does. She is asthmatic. Masks are now required in indoors public spaces like malls, stores, etc. Bars and restaurants are now open only for outside service, patios etc. Pro sports are still on hold, and the federal government have decided not to allow our baseball team to play their home games here ... keeping cross-border travel to the essential minimum. Hockey may resume, with all games played in two Canadian cities, Edmonton and Toronto, no cross-border travel involved. I am wondering whether the same will happen with the Canadian Football League.
There were some shortages for a while, particularly TP and bakers' yeast! Since I use a bread machine that got to be a hassle for a while but it is coming back now. The Province is opening up gradually, much more slowly than some of your states are (I hope that is not too political, LOL).
Travel is difficult. I have an annual conference later this summer that is going to be online instead of in person because it is just not going to be possible to get to Ottawa safely. So it goes.
Stay safe, all!
Hats off to you Belinda, for becoming avid hikers with your husband!
I find it interesting how different people get creative in figuring out ways to get their exercise safely during the pandemic. We each gravitate towards types of exercise that suit both our current situation, our comfort level, and our individual personalities. 
Sounds like a nice first outing, Don. If you are outdoors and maintain social distancing, you are pretty safe. My daughter and I went kayaing in a nearby lake last week. It was only a day trip, but it was so nice to get out and away from everything. Neither the ducks nor the trout know anything about the COVID, and we forgot about it as well for a few hours.
Sounds like fun, Don
So sorry for the negative part of the change. It is a tough time. Just lots of care, hand washing and more hand washing and masks when around people.
Dusty, that's sounds very stressful for your family. I hope you manage to navigate this situation safely, it stinks that you have little control over it.
I suggest that you guys order several metal 'door openers' to keep with your keychains/purses/cars. They're a 'thing' now, Brian and I have them for when we have to go to stores or indoor places. Creates less germ contamination when opening office doors, flushing toilets, pushing elevator buttons, pressing payment keypads, etc. They work for most but not all situations and are handy to have:
Well my wife moved to a new job this past week. During the interviews they said that she might have to do some of her training in person. Now they've decided she will have to do all of her training in person and might not be able to work from home for a year. This despite the governor's announcent that all state workers are supposed to work from home for the foreseeable future. Very frustrating. Even though she wears masks and sanitizes her desk every morning, she still has to use the elevator and the bathroom there. Aargh! Our house had been its own little quarantine bubble. Now that bubble is burst. 
Yes, time is very weird. We've been working from home since early March. Seems like we've been doing it forever...yet it seems like we just started. I read somewhere the reason for this is the sameness, we're not having events in our lives so much that make marks on time. Can't plan anything, really, so it feels like a permanent hold pattern. Super strange.
Here in NY i believe masks are required inside any food markets. The big supermarket told me they had to hire a guard at the front door to make sure all customers were wearing masks when entering. (I'm glad about that!) Keep in mind that NY was very hard hit by the virus except in the outlying rural areas.
Still rare to find toilet paper, paper towels and tissues here in my area... and thankfully they have limits per customer.
I found a great market for fresh meat and produce that I like to go to now. But since I'm pretty stocked up, I only need to get random supplies once every 10 days or so, and i freeze some bread and meat when i have a little space.
There is absolutely NO rubbing alcohol, Chlorox wipes, or hand sanitizer to be found here in the stores yet. Not even hydrogen perozide! Even jugs of laundry bleach are sparse on the shelf.
Luckily I still have enough disinfecting supplies that I bought several months ago. Since i don't venture out very often, thankfully I'm not going through it as rapidly as I feared. By the time I run out of disinfecting/safety items hopefully it will all be available again. :)
I have tons of lettuce in my garden right now at its peak. There are several friends of ours who come by and pick up a big bag that I set out for them. Sometimes they stop to chat for a while- we put our lawn chairs out on the lawn 12 feet far apart so we can sit and visit when they come by. Fun! In a couple more weeks my mature lettuce will bolt need to be pulled out and reseeded. Lettuce struggles a bit with the Summer heat though, so it's at its best for me in the Spring and Fall.
Now with the temps rising, the string beans are loving it. I have two types growing- both are very slim and French, so they don't get fat and tough like the Blue Lake types i used to grow. I have Tenderette green which are truly tender and I've grown for several years, and also Velour- which is similar slender but dark velvet purple. It looks gorgeous raw, but does turn dark green when cooked.
I'm finding the passage of time has become deceptive during the covid times. We've been staying isolated at home for 3 1/2 months now. In some ways it feels like an eternity ...but in other ways it seems to have passed in a flash. Weird. Other people must be experiencing similar things?
Only in the last couple of weeks has toilet paper shown up regularly on supermarket shelves. But only in small packages of 4-8 rolls. And perhaps about a month ago eggs and meat became once again a regular find. It was certainly nerve wracking to walk through a supermarket and see so many empty ailes. Still hard to find Lysol or Chlorox wipes or rubbing alcohol, but hand sanitizers are available again.
The governor has lifted most restrictions here and left it up to county officials to determine what activities will be permitted. In the county where the music shop is where I teach, group gatherings are still forbidden, but private lessons are now allowed. I was relieved, though, to hear that none of my students feel comfortable returning to in-person lessons yet. The lesson room we use is tiny and does not have great ventilation. If we could meet outdoors, or in a larger space we would all feel more comfortable. One of my students has decided she actually prefers Zoom lessons, saying that not having to worry about gathering her stuff and drive to the music shop enables her to concentrate more just on the music. Interesting.
Our TP shortage was over by the end of March. In my area (Lexington, KY), people are pretty good about wearing masks in public. My husband (who does all the shopping) says MOST of the people in the grocery stores--and Wal-Mart and Lowes--are wearing masks, which is not required, but is strongly recommended.
FABULOUS write up Strumelia. just loved all of it. thank you for putting a possitive spin on this while time in American History, for that matter, world history. Getting back to just the smallest of trivials....the vanilla bottle leaking and all gone when you went to get it. aloha, irene
Putting aside for a moment the deadly seriousness of how covid-19 has terribly effected us all in one way or another, some folks more directly and severely than others...losing jobs, loved ones, lives.
I think this horrible crisis has also caused us to deeply appreciate some of the little things we used to take for granted. Like even just being able to go to the store to pick up eggs or toilet paper. Not to waste things.
If I look at one small positive thing my home isolation period has done for me, I'd have to say it has made me both a better gardener and a better cook. In both those areas of my life i've become more resourceful in finding ways to use and get the most out of what i have, in order to get results.
I wound up growing seedlings in paper milk cartons cut in half, and in empty egg cartons, with a plain 60W garage shop light hanging overhead and Saran wrap spread over to germinate, using dirt simply dug from the yard. Didn't buy any 'starter trays', peat pots, fertilizer, or bags of potting soil. I only ordered seed, which came in the mail. I was surprised to find that much of my remaining old 2019 seeds which sat in the shed for a year still germinated by about 60%. Two months later, we're now getting lots of salads from the garden, and I've been able to give fresh bags of lettuce to some older friends as well.
I learned about food substitutions to use in a pinch when i didn't have a certain ingredient. I've gotten better at throwing together meals from odds and ends pantry items. Some items are scarce to get, so I adjust meal plans around when/if I get them.
I've developed more patience and willingness to tackle more 'from scratch' baking recipes that I previously would have dismissed as being too much work. I've also settled into the routine of making home made yogurt that we now eat all the time.
Vanilla. In our house, our bottle of pure vanilla extract has taken on Goddess status. When the quarantine started, early on I got flour, sugar, baking powder, etc, and figured I was ok for baking treats for a while. I knew I had recently bought a bottle of vanilla which was in the back of the spice cupboard. Well, two weeks later when I went to bake cookies, I found that vanilla bottle had been knocked over months before and had slowly leaked until it was... empty. 
So sad!
To my dismay I found all my local stores were by that time all OUT of most baking supplies like flour, yeast, brown sugar, and... vanilla ! So I ordered a very overpriced but pure Madagasgar 8oz bottle online. The shipping date was three weeks away. Finally a month after ordering, the vanilla arrived in the mail (i had enjoyed envisioning our treasure bottle slowly sailing on a pirate ship, bobbing over the ocean waves from distant islands to us). The aroma when i opened that bottle was otherworldly divine. I never appreciated vanilla so much as now, and I treat that bottle like the crown jewels when I reach for it.
BTW here where I am I went to the regular supermarket a few days ago, and in the huge entire toilet paper/paper towels aisle, there was just ONE lonely little 4pack of toilet paper. And big signs saying TP/papertowels/tissue "LIMIT ONE package per customer". I left that package for someone else who was maybe more in need than I. Is anyone else still finding TP and paper towels completely out of stock in stores still, after like three months now? I find it a little bizarre that tp supply still has not caught up with demand, after all this time. 
Dusty
I have a GT-1 Boss sound processor, it's design for guitars but works well with a dulcimer. Dan Evans did a Demo of 'The Water is Wide' several years ago & I just loved the idea of creating a certain sound for a song. He was kind to give me some pointers on getting started.
I have one dulcimer set up to use with the GT-1. My other dulcimers, I don't use anything with them. The group I am with, has been sending out a song 'challenge' during the quarantine - twice a week with new songs to practice - There was one in a Minor key & no matter how I tried to play it, I just didn't like the tone. So, I created a musical tone on the GT-1 - "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent" I think you could have fun with a GT-1 and come up with some interesting sounds.
Strumelia,
Thank you, besides playing out on the back patio in the evening's for the neighbors - I did try to give the boxes a new look for anyone who happen to walk around the pond. With so many of us staying @ home, many more neighbors had time to come out.
Music isn't on lockdown and it has brighten many people's spirit, I am so glad I have the dulcimer to bring me peace & joy.
Marg, I'm so impressed by the beautiful painting you did on that utility box.
Marg, how did you get that organ sound? That's pretty cool.
And that heron looks fantastic. I wish you were beautifying my neighborhood.
I was posting dulcimer music to FB & sending out to family & friends, 1 song a week as a hug. The first one 'Abide with me' with an organ sound I created for the first Sunday churches were closed.
I am also painting some of the the rusty utility electric boxes around the pond behind my home. this is the first one I did & I just finished my 8th
Interestingly, over the past 2 weeks I've had three people whom I had never met contact me to take online dulcimer lessons. None of them are within 2 hours of me, and one is in another state. Perhaps people are becoming more comfortable with distance technology or perhaps people are just deciding that they might as well learn an instrument while sheltering at home. I don't know the reasons, but it's nice to be able to share music at this time.
@Cindy-Stammich, we've been buying groceries for my mother-in-law, too. She tells us what she needs and we leave it outside her door. Once or twice, just to get out of the house, she has driven over to our place for the pickup, and yes, it is so hard not to hug her, but she is so vulnerable that I would never forgive myself if she got sick because we were careless in our contact with her. I want her to be around when we get a vaccine, or enough tests for everyone, or however this ends.
Perhaps some of you have seen some of the videos of Italians quarantined at home singing from balconies (like this one with encouraging videos from China as well). All around the world people are facing challenges dealing with and trying to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. How is it affecting you? Are you still going to work? Children and grandchildren home from school? Dulcimer festivals closing?
Please do not offer 1) any political commentary or 2) any medical advice. We want to ensure that FOTMD remains a space free of partisan bickering and never offers false or misleading medical information.
Thank you Lisa! I know my mom would disagree with me, but when I say the blessing is all mine....
i truly feel that way!
Cindy that's great that you are able to support and help your mother this way.
My uncle was 95 when he passed away this past December, and all the way until his last year or two, he and my aunt took a one or two mile walk every day. A great way to stay active for older folks especially! They always called it their 'hike' even after it had slowed way down as they got older. :)
I have been working from home (a real challenge - and I don't even have kids under foot). Early Tuesday mornings I do our grocery shopping as well as my mom's. I deliver her groceries (only to the front porch). Then we walk. It's amazing that we haven't missed a walk in all the weeks we have been doing this! She is 87 and still walks a mile every day! The hardest part is leaving without a hug!
When the weather's been nice, I've taken my 1.8 mile walk around the neighborhood, brisk, with walking sticks for upper body movement (otherwise, I use the elliptical downstairs). While there have been other people walking around, it's not been a mob, and everyone's been good about stepping aside or even crossing to the other side of the street to make space. However. We have some neighbors across a creek/crevasse from us who were having a big loud party over the weekend with a bunch of people. Somehow I doubt they were social distancing, from the sound of it. And yesterday, I took the afternoon off from work to sit on the deck (was my birthday, after all), and I could hear a bunch of screaming kids (sounded like they were mixing together, not from a single family) out playing, then creeping down into the crevasse, which was either actual or very close to trespass onto our property. Some people...
Dusty, the jam with your friends sounds like a lot of fun and that's not something we're allowed to do, yet. ALL of our parks, playgrounds, state and national parks, arboretums, natural historic sites, etc. are closed. When you see people out of their houses, they tend to be in their own yard (no other people allowed) or walking down the street/sidewalk. The one big "park" they haven't closed is the city's cemetery--that's always been a go-to spot for walking, bird-watching, and nature observing in general. It's a couple hundred years old, so there's lots of history to enjoy there, too. For the most part, the majority of people are following the restrictions as best they can. I'm really hoping that we'll be able to open up more businesses in the next 2-4 weeks, so more people in certain jobs can get back to work.
Dusty I guess if/when we get those old fashioned in-person things back again, we'll appreciate and savor them so much more. FWIW, I think your 10 foot distance with masks was smart behavior.
On another note, I tried a different chocolate chip cookie recipe out today, since my last attempt came out disappointingly mediocre, and were a bit of work. Strangely, this new recipe was way easier to make (no chilling of dough) and the results were incredibly good:
https://www.thewholesomedish.com/the-best-easy-chocolate-chip-cookies/
I should mention that I changed a couple things: -->unfortunately I had no vanilla (it's coming in two weeks) so i left that out. -->I first browned the butter as opposed to simply melting it (giving it a subtle caramel flavor), ...and -->I reduced the choc chips to 1.5 cups instead of two cups, since I wanted to conserve our precious chocolate and i don't care for cookies that are practically solid chips anyway. Oh, and --> I used Ghiardelli Dark chocolate chips, which is an amazing chip.
Man, these cookies are out of this world good! (or as my mother used to say "OTW!"...lol) You can taste the caramel-y browned butter flavor. It yielded a generous 38 cookies of 3" diameter. I'm glad i reduced the chips, because they came out perfect with plentiful melty chips.
Brian said this was called "stress baking". Ok, whatever. 
He also said they were the best cookies ever. He almost went ballistic when he saw the price of chocolate chips nowadays- we had to order them on Amaz, since baking supplies are a little scarce right now. But now he has 'seen the light' for having the ingredients for cookies. My stress baking alleviated some stress for both of us.
