Like most of you, I am getting a bit off kilter here. I mean, after all it is Day 52 for me in COVID-19 lockdown. But I broke that run of strict isolation today. I didn’t want to. But I had to. This morning I dashed out to visit my spine doctor, due to ongoing … More Traveling Back in Time: Memories of Wet Markets – COVID-19 Isolation, Day 52
Unofficially, it’s Day 44 for me. I wish it weren’t. I wish I could frolic on the beach, fly away in an airplane, eat at the Inn at Little Washington, walk the streets of Paris and Oslo and London. But I can’t. And I wouldn’t, even I could. It’s still early days in this pandemic. … More Yes, I’m Still Here: Hanging on, Day 44 of COVID-19 Isolation
I’ve heard the saying “That sucks” for years without really being sure of what it meant. Now I think I know. — STEPHEN KING, “THE STAND” It’s Day 30, and I am not writing about Day 29, because the days are running together, like “Groundhog Day”, and I feel like Bill Murray. Every day the … More Dreaming and Wishing, Being In a State of Siege: Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Day 30
Some days felt longer than other days. Some days felt like two whole days. — JOSHUA FERRIS, “THEN WE CAME TO THE END” Days merging, time sluggish yet fleeting. Some days do indeed feel as if Father Time decided to add a few days to the week, or more hours to the days. The following … More Starvation and Hunger, in a State of Siege: Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Days 27 & 28
Is there really a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow? That’s not the question in my mind these days. What is on my mind is just what’s going to happen when I can finally get out and about again without cringing every time I get near another living, breathing human being. There … More In a State of Siege: Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Days 21 & 22
The sense of impending doom hanging heavy on my mind lifted, but only slightly, as I started scrolling through the gorgeous photos. By the time I finished, the sight of those deep-blue Norwegian fjords, flanked by high mountains, their peaks frosty with snow, opened up something in me. But what? Hope. That someday, hopefully someday, … More In a State of Siege: Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Days 19 & 20
Dedicated to the people struck down by COVID-19. On Day 17 of self-isolation, for some reason I wake up thinking of William Golding’s novel The Lord of the Flies. It brilliantly explores the human struggle, which civilization covers up and denies. Morality, law, and culture versus anarchy, bloodlust, power, amorality, selfishness, violence. An eerie sense … More In a State of Siege: Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Days 17 & 18
CYNTHIA D. BERTELSEN 