20.
As someone who rides my bike for errands and to just ride, I wear a mask to protect others and have found myself gasping mid hill on ascent, when, alone in the bike lane, I pull my mask down to gulp air. But just as we are cautioned not to shake out blankets, clothing, etc. as the air disturbance and potential virus can vigorously circulate, so, too, when bike riders and runners move through quickly without a mask, does air and possible virus stir up into a wake? I send gratitude and heart-taps and thumb up to fast-moving mask wearers and pray for awareness in others. One runner respectfully halted when I was walking on a thin wooded trail and held up my hand in the universal signal of stop. It took three attempts as he approached too close. “I wear my mask at the grocery store, at the bank, the post office, but this is supposed to be the free time,” he said. I asked him to listen with his heart, and he came up with the idea of pulling his shirt up over his nose and mouth. He then went on, in what he said was his “31 mile run.” Did he really mean 31 miles?! He got a deep prayer.
21.
I have been focusing on morbidity. Parsing out the language in the obituaries. Uncle Tom tells me in today’s Boston Globe there were 25 pages of death announcements. Three days ago it was 17 pages. “Catastrophic stroke.” We now know how Covid-19 can kill by attacking the nervous system or the heart. “Heart rupture,” as described by doctors in first-hand accounts. “Passed away unexpectedly.” “After a short stay at a skilled nursing facility.” “He was 64 years old when he passed away.” “Acute cardiac arrest.” “Unexpectedly passed away at her home.” “Died from complications of Covid-19.”
Others make the point of distinguishing from the possible Covid-19 virus: “Passed away peacefully at home” (one does not generally die peacefully, nor at home, unless it is a stroke or heart-related and a surprise). “Cancer” “Peacefully from natural causes.”
Services are explicit: “Due to the current Covid-19 restrictions, a private, family-only memorial has been held.” “Funeral services were held privately and a family memorial service will be planned for a later date in light of the Corona Virus restrictions.” “Due to the current COVID-19 environment, a Mass and Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.” “Due to Covid-19 the graveside service is strictly limited.” “A service in her honor will be held at St. Timothy’s Church when COVID-19 mandates are lifted.” “A memorial will be planned when it is safe.” “A private service will include only immediate family members.” “There are no services planned at this time.”
22.
The United States overtakes One Million cases of Covid-19 and over 58,000 deaths, more deaths than all of the devastating Vietnam War.
Over 30 Million are now unemployed.
23.
I saw someone do this on our little neighborhood side street. She curled up against a fence to the golf course, nestling in the somewhat overgrown grass blades.
On Fri, May 1, 2020 at 9:48 PM ES xxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
https://decider.com/2020/03/23/jane-austen-social-distancing/
24.
Lit a candle tonight in prayer with the Mashpee Wampanoag to honor the stewarding of their land for 12,000 years and their sovereign right to land, culture and language. Sent off this letter earlier today in coordination with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe:
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Land-In-Trust Hearing May 7, 2020
Dear Secretary of the Interior Bernhardt,
I hope you are safe and healthy in this time of tragedy and crisis. I send my prayers of love and compassion to you and your loved ones.
My name is Jane Putnam Perry. I am a descendant of General Israel Putnam and his cousin General Rufus Putnam, both of the Revolutionary War. Rufus Putnam was responsible for dispensing land grants after the War, during our country’s Western Expansion that established the Northwest Territory. Interestingly, Rufus Putnam, considered the Father of Marietta, Ohio, preserved a sacred Indian burial mound by establishing the Marietta city cemetery around it, in 1801.
I am writing and speaking in honor of my ancestors, especially General Rufus Putnam, who have directed me to communicate our strong opposition to the attack on the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Reservation land. The Mashpee Wampanoag are the first people of this land and extended their hands to my ancestors in friendship and peace. On behalf of my ancestors, I am calling on you to STOP your efforts to take away Mashpee Wampanoag sacred land. I am also asking you to uphold your sacred duty as the federal trustee to protect their land. I ask you to listen to the collective voices who support the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe rather than the opposing voices that seek to destroy their culture and people. I want to ensure that my message from myself and my ancestors reaches your ears and heart and is strongly considered. General Rufus Putnam understood the great respect called forth from sacred land. The Mashpee Wampanoag Reservation Land is no different. Thank you for receiving and placing my communication into the hearing records.
25.
This is an AC Alert from the City of Oakland. Oakland, if you work outside the home or if you’re worried you have COVID, get a test. You can get tested for free at one of the City’s walk-up or drive-through testing locations. Call 311 or go to oaklandca.gov/testing for more information.
Reply with YES to confirm receipt.
26.
Days and dates are getting blurred. Yesterday I waited, stifling, in my “Moon Suit” as Bob refers to it – rain pants and jacket, worn any time one goes outside to make any type of purchase, then stripping in the garage and leaving it there with shoes only worn outside. The person at the post office in front of me was taking a while. I just waited, swaying back and forth to occupy myself as I sweated. The patron’s package zip code was not registering with the postal system, so the package could not be mailed to that unidentified address. The Patron was on the phone with the Receiver, and the Receiver was sure that zip was correct. The Receiver was swearing mad, which I could hear because he was loud. The Patron is saying to the Receiver: “Well, you just won’t get your money.” Meanwhile, the Patron’s two and a half year old daughter is occupying herself by rearranging the display of For Purchase mailers by color. They are organized by size. She puts back every mailer at her mother’s command. She flaps the hard, laminated social-distancing instructions repeatedly for its sound effect. She is remarkably well-behaved but on the edge herself.
I finally get to the counter. I have, in my rising quarantine dyslexia, written the incorrect street number on my book package, so now MY address is not registering with the post office either. We are a hot mess.
27.
My Mom loved saying when we were all together that she felt best “when all my chicks are around.” Peep, peep! Happy Mother’s Day.
28.
I am toggling between the Senate live stream on testimony from Fauci et al on opening up the country AND the live audio stream of Supreme Court arguments on whether tRump can block the release of his financial records. Happy Birthday me.
29.
I just maniacally cleaned all areas where water comes into the house because I miss swimming so much.
30.
In Transition / Transitioned
In transition
The lady bug lights on the green leaf that sparkles off the sun, shaking herself off before flying.
Tiny tight-fitted, terse fascicles bundled in symmetrical clusters look like a rubric cube puzzle. Two days later they are splayed needles.
A soft grey sparrow lies face down into the grated seat of the patio chair. Milky eyes. I move her to the lid of the compost bin, where she rests on a headline “Families in Spain allowed outside.”
The grass between the concrete patio slabs is not grass, but green onion. Food sovereignty.
Transitioned
Shimmering the mottled morning light spills heather hair held by a silver salmon swimming madly transformed from salt to fresh turning up stones cleaning the water a cascading kaleidoscope seen through loose lens.
31.
Lisa, in New York City, is preparing to work from home after recovering from a serious case of positively identified Covid-19. I was tear-struck hearing her live voice over the phone. At the end of our conversation she tells me she has never in her life seen an apparition, but the previous evening an old man appeared in her kitchen. He was lost. Stunned. He did not know what had happened to him. I say to Lisa, of course he didn’t. That is how people are dying from Covid-19. With no time. No time to process. Maybe not even knowing. Their oxygen levels drop subtlety and then precipitously, and then they are gone. Lisa said she reassured the man, telling him he was all right, and to go into the light. So many souls in transition in New York City, and around the world. 310,010 dead from the virus as of today, and those are just the ones that have been counted.