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
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
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
Hello again. It’s Day 16 officially, but I’ve actually been self-isolating for about three weeks now. I don’t need to remind you, I know, that things are not getting better outside my door. I wish I could. But I don’t have a Pollyanna personality. At least not right now. This past week did bring a … More In a State of Siege: Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Day 16
I wish I could write about every day as if it were a new and exciting adventure now. But I’ll be honest. It’s a bit of a struggle. I’ll admit it. Today I felt flattened. And I told myself it’s OK to feel that way. And I sort of believed it. I watched too much … More Struggling with the New Normal. Honest. In a State of Siege, Not at All Easy
The waiting’s the worst, in a way. I’m used to the solitude, for that is the way of writers. No solitude, no writing. But, again, this is different. Words from others who’ve survived plagues seem to offer some solace now, a morbid preoccupation. And I’m not the only one with this symptom of the times. … More In a State of Siege: Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Day 7
Everything is moving so fast with the spread of COVID-19. Its true impact hits me when I read the stories coming out of Italy. A society where family and community are so strong, yet now they cannot physically be together, not even to bury their dead. A very human practice now off limits in a … More In a State of Siege: Coronavirua (COVID-19) – Day 5