A journalist suggested we should all be recording our daily experiences during this pandemic. Oh how we wish there was only a pandemic to deal with. It’s my 6 month anniversary of sheltering at home. I won’t be going outside today because of the smoke from all the California wildfires. Then there’s BLM. And there’s an upcoming election.
Let me describe a recent day when the air quality in my neighborhood was rated green instead of yellow, unhealthy, like it is today.
1am – cat is crying outside the bedroom door. I get up, go to the murphy bed in the office, call the cat up and we both go back to sleep.
5am- cat is crying. I walk with her to the kitchen and watch her eat. She’s an exhibitionist. When she finishes, I open the back door and out she goes. I go back to bed and try to go back to sleep.
6am – unsuccessful at getting back to sleep, I decide to bake some Irish soda bread. I want to use up the buttermilk before it expires. So far my favorite recipe is Ruth Reichl’s except I skip the part where you brush on 2 tablespoons of butter before putting the loaves in the oven. I make an 8 cup pot of coffee, half caf, half decaf, for the two of us – drink a cup.
7am or so – remove bread from the oven but as the recipe suggests waiting several hours before slicing, I place the loaves on a rack to cool.
8am or so – MA is in the kitchen, hands on her Vitamix, blending her prebiotic (not probiotic) drink. I don’t touch that stuff. Next she has a cup of coffee and makes us an omelette with egg whites, shredded cheddar and two slices of ham. I open the European shutters using the remote so we can see if the smoke is blocking Mt. Tam, or worse, the entire Marin shoreline. At the dining table, she watches TV and checks emails on her iPad, and I mostly read newspapers on my iPad: SF Chronicle, NY Times, Irish Times, Times of London, Portland (Maine) Press Herald. OK – I don’t read all of them, I may just peruse the front pages. In terms of the TV, I’m most interested in the fires update, weather updates, smoke predictions.
9 – 12am Pull on a T-shirt and sweats, sit at my desk, and place each bare foot on a Yamuna Body Roller Foot Waker. Maybe first I brushed my hair and my teeth. Replace my reading glasses with the pair with transition lens. Check my two work email accounts, respond, prepare for my two zoom meetings, perform analyses and document results.
12-1pm Either I went out for a 1/2 hour walk up and down the local hills (mask at the ready) and ate lunch, or I attended an hour virtual yoga class. One of the scientists up at the Lab is also a certified yoga teacher and he provides weekly classes to the Lab community for free. I’d gladly pay for them. I’ve been taking the classes twice a week for six months now. I don’t feel like I have a yoga practice but the teacher keeps talking about our “practice” so I guess he thinks we do. Next – grab some lunch.
1-5pm Back at my desk for afternoon zoom meeting, responding to emails. Maybe take a break and take a shower. Otherwise, take a shower after 5.
5-7pm In the garden picking lettuce, mint, and chives for a salad. Afterwards, I water the raised beds and two of the rose bushes where the drip system is not working. Unless we’re having chicken, pasta, or leftovers, MA makes dinner, preferably grills something outside. I make the salad or cook the vegetables. When the air is clear, we eat on the front terrace, especially if it is hot, or on the side deck where we put up an umbrella to avoid being blinded waiting for sunset.
7-10pm Wash dishes (mostly my job), watch something on TV (no violence, no horror), get in bed, maybe read a book. Think about how lucky I am to have love, health, shelter, and food. Say a prayer for those who don’t. Fall asleep.