Life in the Time of Coronavirus, Day 16

With two Pilates classes and one cocktail party under my belt, I managed to connect seamlessly via Zoom to our regular Monday morning Pilates class. The only problem was where to put the computer? Wound up putting it on the floor between us, which meant that Megan, the instructor, had a lovely view of my desk, but only small parts of both John and me. Probably not the most photogenic bits either. And since she has to stay seated because her computer can only capture half of her. She chose the top half. Ozzie joined us for awhile, barked for awhile and then wandered back to his bed. Having these classes is definitely a good thing...it gives a bit of structure to our day and Larry and Maggie are working on remote coffee together afterward since we're all on Zoom already....

It's still raining and cold and I haven't set foot outside except for a few circuits around the back patio. Cheer was needed so I decided to make cookies and searched the pantry for available ingredients. Oh goodie, some chocolate chips. Oh hell, they are sugar free ones. How did they get there? John said they were the only ones left on the shelves when he went to the store so he bought them. No wonder they were still on the shelf.  Oh well, we'll give them a try, maybe they'll be better with nuts. No nuts... Oh goodie, Jim scored a bag of flour and left it on the porch. Oh hell, we're out of brown sugar. John ate the last of it right down to the little ceramic bear in the bottom of the jar.. What's a good substitute for brown sugar...Molasses!  Plenty of that left over from Christmas gingerbread houses. The molasses cookies pictured here were the ultimate result. 

Will came by and picked up a tin of them from the porch.

The sun made a feeble and half hearted attempt to come out but it was good enough for the birds. While I sat on my spot on the couch I saw many of the usual suspects, a  rufous hummingbird, and a small bright orange and black bird....oriole colors but It never emerged fully from the shrubbery under the bird feeder, so I only had a tantalizing look at it.

Speaking of birds, Tim sent me a picture of a bird's nest he found on his walk yesterday.* He thought it was a hummingbird nest because it is 'ingeniously held together with with help from spider webs'... a hummingbird trick according to Tim, but 'perhaps other birds have learned that as well.'

Tim used to bring me bird's nests all the time when he was younger because he knew I saved them for the Christmas tree....

An article in the local paper this morning has pictures from the 'Spanish Influenza' of 1918-1919. It started in the trenches at the end of the 'War to End All Wars' but many soldiers' war ended there in the trenches or soon after they got home. ...The Sonoma County board of Health ordered the closing of all places of amusement and entertainment and prohibited public gatherings of any nature....Funerals were limited to immediate relatives and close friends and merchants were instructed to wear face masks while serving the public....A third of the world's population, about 500,000,000 people were infected, and 50 million, including my mother's older sister, Alberta, died. The virus itself ultimately petered out because enough people had had it and recovered and built up an immunity 

Is that what they're trying to do in Sweden now?

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