Month: April 2020

Isolation Diary 2: All day arranged around dealing with internet access. I was reminded of one thing, learned two. The reminder which came very late in the day…I can connect my computer directly from the modem, I do not have to use a wireless connection. (That’s why i am able to post now.) Of course, i had forgotten all about how this all works! I press these buttons and I get what I want, right?!

I learned that I can access the internet on my computer by activating my ‘personal hot spot’ on my phone. That uses a lot of data but is useful in an emergency. Lastly, I learned that my MacBookPro is now considered obsolete. And fourthly and fifthly and tenthly, how important my internet connection is to me right now. Hello out there!

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Carl G.
Hello yourself! V only trip I took out of the house or masked and gloved was to my computer repair guy to put the Internet back on my laptop from where it had mysteriously disappeared.

Ruth Silveira
It’s all in the air, in the wind. I wonder if we were sensitive enough we could access the internet with our minds?

Nancy W.
Hello out there, Ruth!

Anna M.
Yay Ruth!

Isolation Diary: Internet problem fixed! Question to self this morning: what do I do?!!! Just buy new stuff? Call HelloTech to come fix my life? or One more call to Apple Support? I chose the last one. Called Apple. Got help. Wireless working again. Ever so grateful. Still, all my hardware is obsolete. I will worry about that tomorrow. And then, to make my day even better, Dean brought me toilet paper, and Maggie, Adam, and Fig, suffering from the stir crazies, came for a visit. So, yes, I did, I held Fig. A lot. I touched another human. That’s not an issue for many of you. For those of us who live alone, it is. We adults kept our distance, no hugs. But if a little guy lunges into your arms, what are you to do? Fig is almost 1 year old now.

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Jessie M.
Yay human contact!

Jaime A.
I’m so glad you got hugs. I’m giving you more in my mind.

Nick U.
I’m with Jamie, mental hugs coming your way. On the other hand, that doesn’t sound so good. But what other sort of hugs would you get from me in any case?

Joyce H.
(Joyce sent a heart emoji with a house inside.)

Leslie D.
Hi Ruth! What a wonderful post and how nice to hear what you guys are all up to!

Isolation Diary: Happy for the sunshine, time outside pulling weeds, listening to Terry Pratchett stories. I do love audible books. But also today, because it was pleasant weather, and because of the May 15th projection of isolation date…I felt trapped. How long, maybe not very, before I start pushing the boundaries? Also today I reached out to distant friends, people who have been friends but who now live far away and I may not see again. And others who live closer but our paths just do not cross often. How are you? I hope I find you well. Good finish to the day with an hilarious D & D game. For our admittedly somewhat silly group, Maggie is an excellent DM, being the silliest of us all.

The extension of our time of isolation to May 15 seemed like such a long time to wait for this all to be over.

(But April 12 to me)

Isolation Diary: Time in the garden. Responses from friends I reached out to. Conversations begun. Continued editing a children’s story I wrote long ago. Danced. Tai chi. and as I write this it is already Monday and my birthday. I like my birthday. Late Sunday afternoon my Ring notified me that there was movement at my door. I heard voices. Opening the app, which takes way too long!, I realized I knew the people on my front porch. They were Jessie (daughter) and Duncan (grandson). They were putting up happy birthday decoration which….if I didn’t have a Ring and didn’t hear them …i might have been delightfully surprised on Monday morning when I went out to pick up the paper. As it was, i got to talk in person with them. A highly valued treat. The sign says Happy Birthday Ruth, you can’t quite see that in the photo.

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Claudette W.
Happy birthday, Ruth !

And after that a whole lot of happy birthday messages—Emily K., Jeff L., Natalie R., Natasha P, Elizabeth Y., Colin S., Laura O., Joe HK, Joe J., Jaime A., Christie M., Carla Jo., Jeremy A., Crystal K., DeAnne M., Anna M., Jamie W., Lise H., Joyce H., Ed G., Susan J.., Rik K., Matt A., Shannon E., Holly B., Hope W., Rafeal C., Vonie RA., Madeleine I., Keong S., Carl G., Aaron M., Cindy C-I., Phyllis B., Jen C.

(And to me this is about April 13th)

Isolation Diary: My birthday. Thank you everyone for your happy birthday wishes. I was not in complete isolation today as Maggie, Adam, and Fig came over and that was a good gift. I was presented with a small sketch of myself wearing a crown. I now have my Queen ID card. I believe I can now get free admission for myself and my retinue to any castle in the known world. (A new isolation project–how does one acquire a retinue?) In other news; I have 694 unread emails. Why? Most are alerts of dire circumstances that would be helped tremendously if I donated some money. The number of frantic solicitations is so numerous my mind has gone numb. Of the remaining emails the majority are not to be missed deals from businesses I have purchased from. Some messages from local community sites. And….oh! A person. A friend. Here, in isolation, don’t I have time to take care of this overload? Time? The most elastic and personal concept there is. No. I don’t have time I want to spend on deleting these unwanted emails. There is time…..I have time……to do…..to be…..

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Jeff W.
I love these daily dispatches!

And more birthday messages: JJ M., Cydney., Danielle., Natascha C-A., Jessica H.

Isolation Diary: A lovely day today! Sunshine, garden, butterflies. And now full disclosure: I live alone in a house that is paid for. I am basically ‘retired’ and live on social security and pensions. I am affected by the stock market but not by my place of work being shut down. And that is all just timing. I live alone because my husband is dead and my children have their own homes. Although they are close (Burbank and Pasadena) and that is a blessing. All of you dear dear people have your own circumstances and challenges, some serious, I am sure. Why do I continue to post? Well, once you start something and continue long enough to sort of ‘establish’, how do you gracefully retreat? And also…I have been sending out … energy?…messages?…to those beyond my immediate and close circle since I was 8 years old. (that’s when I had my first acting class.) Why? Don’t know. And it’s haphazard at best.
Continuing with my actual day–making face masks for the family and a short but fun D and D session tonight as our trio of adventurers rescued Droop the goblin slave (animated by Maggie our DM) and we fed him maggots (his preferred food) and I gifted him with a scimitar. We are hoping he does not betray us.

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Jamie W.
Anything that ends “…we fed him maggots (his preferred food) and I gifted him with a scimitar. We are hoping he does not betray us” is clearly something I am happy to have read. Keep it up!-)

Mandi M.H.
I like these posts.

Suze C.
I enjoy your updates

Natalie R.
Your voice is so cherished.

Rafeal C.
I’m loving your daily Isolation Diary entries.

Isolation Diary: A gathering via Zoom today of a small improv group/class/workshop. We are experimenting with the circumstances. We made each other laugh. Laughter begins early in us humans. Fig, nearly a year old now, has been guffawing for a couple of months now. His brain is only beginning to organize words. His laughter is brought forth from actions. Is the laughter simply delight? Does he already see a deflection from the ‘norm’ and that is funny? Seeing a human form itself is so fascinating.

A lovely warm day but I did no work in the garden as I was busy with other things. Busy. Really? Yes, I didn’t complete my ‘to do’ list today. I spent the latter hours of the evening making a couple of face masks and listening to a book. I absolutely love listening to books. Often they accompany me as I work in the garden. Not always, sometimes I just listen to the garden. I listen to books while I am sewing….The hard part is finding the books. And the narrators I enjoy. And then getting involved in a series and getting to the end of the current book of the series and knowing there is a wait before the next book is recorded……… And that’s where I am now. More than half way through the latest book of a cherished series. Slowing down……. In the garden, I was listening to Terry Pratchett. At night, Terry Mancour.

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Natasha P.
you are such a wonderful writer, Ruth

Natalie R.
Mmm listening to Terry Pratchett, what a wonderful idea.

Holly B.
What a pistol; I so envy your energy level. I go much slower, but I read your posts every day to get ideas for things to do. You are a remarkable woman; last night I thought of you having babies. How wonderful for you now. Much love to you Ruth. Boomer

Isolation Diary: I pushed the boundaries of isolation today. Not my fault! I blame Jessie. She asked me to make some masks for her, Dean, and Duncan. I did. I had to delivery them, right? No telling when they would arrive if I mailed them. And then Maggie called and said Fig was fussy. Anyway we all ended up over at Jessie and Dean’s for lunch. Duncan had school but he got breaks. I held Fig. We older people, I include Duncan, did not hug but we did not keep 6 feet apart. That visit was so….what’s the word for being filled with delightful bubbles?….I was so…insert proper word…that I was able to do ‘desk work’ this evening. (This involved paper and numbers and a pen and a spread sheet.) I did not neglect the garden. The strawberry plants in my strawberry pot had sunk, compaction and loss of soil, so I fluffed their pillows, so to speak. It’s April but these little guys are weakly producing some fruit (recall that dry and mild February). Only one suitable for eating….which I did and it was delicious. So a day that included a variety of delights in this odd time. And I am grateful.

Isolation Diary: I haven’t commented upon political matters in these posts, I do that elsewhere. But some of the outrageousness of the president does color the mood of the day. The image of armed men on the steps of a public building in Michigan does make one want to make therapy a requirement for voting. All that aside:
My mood was lifted, in part, by a ‘birthday lunch’ with 2 dear friends. For years we have celebrated each other’s b’day by taking the celebrant out to lunch. Couldn’t happen but we did meet on Zoom. And at least I ate lunch. These 2 friends also happen to be improv buddies, so we chatted, you can guess about what, and other things, got that out of the way, and then played.
I don’t know how long I have been in isolation. Time contracts and expands. My computer tells me the date, if I happen to remember to look at my sidebar. And what day of the week is it? It’s Wednesday if all the gardeners in the neighborhood are making noise. Thursday if the noise is trash trucks. Otherwise, could be Flipsday. My time: in two days I’ll see Fig, tomorrow I must do laundry, I will run out of coffee in 3 days.

Isolation Diary: Without the Covid19 Stay at Home order I would not have ordered and had delivered an orange tree that is just wrong for the intended spot. Delivery cost was high, return pick up cost? Probably also high. So I will find a place for it and wait until I can get the tree I want, which doesn’t seem to be available anywhere at the moment. You see, 2 years ago, I bought two orange trees, one for me and one for Jessie and Dean as a Christmas present. Theirs is thriving, producing fruit at the moment, mine is a dying spindly thing, not having grown, having diminished in size. So I want a new one!! but not the one I just got. It’s in a big pot but it looks like a bush. I want a tree! I wasn’t thorough, I didn’t ask the right questions. I had an idea in my head but I didn’t ask for a mundane description of the actual thing. Because I was ordering my idea. Aaaarrgghh!
I have ordered other things during this last month at home. Some have arrived and some haven’t. Where are my books? My vitamins? My TP? Hey, there’s a UPS truck driving by, “Where’s my stuff?!” It drove by again. “Hey! Hey!” Nothing. No stuff.Day not all frustration: visit from Maggie, Adam, and Fig. Fig insisted we dance. Jessie did a shopping for me (I am not allowed out) and brought that by. I have lots of hummus at the moment, little yogurt.

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Susan J.
Who needs yogurt when you got hummus?

Ruth Silveira
One is breakfast, one is lunch.