If you have seen the video of Mayor Garcetti and his wife dropping their ballots into a drop box, that box is in front of my local branch library! When I say ‘local’ I mean that I need one minute to walk there. In one of the shots you can almost see my house.
Jeff W.
I love that library!Terry W.
Me too.
Isolation Diary: With Maggie, Adam , and Fig back East on an extended visit to Adam’s parents, I have been alone more than usual. And this is a fraught time. To protect myself from anxiety (not a healthy state) I continue to practice Tai Chi every day. Today, while working in the yard, I listened to the On Being podcast. Very helpful in staying centered. And I’m having work done on the house so I can direct my stress that way. And then there is preparing for the next D and D segment. And tomorrow may be bake cookies night. And I take delight in the coincidence of my reading in the paper about our encounter with an asteroid. Not plummeting to earth! No, a NASA space craft, Osiris-Rex, collected samples from the asteroid Bennu. And then, randomly, turning on the TV while I washed the dishes, there was a NOVA report on the whole thing! Current! Sample collection successful. To be returned to the US in 2023. Looking ahead. And the asteroid the Japanese are investigating is shaped similar to Bennu but is different in other ways. So fascinating!! Gotta love that science.
Isolation Diary: So, I was alone today. Not a good day because of the Supreme Court appointment. Not a good day because I am saddened that the huge majority of elected Republicans who are not true believers in democracy’s basic principles and demands. And they have been led to this profoundly hypocritical moment. By what? Trump? Money? Their own inability to imagine themselves with out their ‘power’? They are forever tainted by this betrayal. I want to gather all their supporters in a mammoth embrace and tell them, look, it’s going to be okay with a Dem President. Your world is not going to fall apart. You do not have to have a gay friend if you don’t want to. All your friends can be your same race if that is what you prefer. (Although you will be missing out on a lot of great stuff) You just can’t shoot people, okay?
Laura O.
Beautifully said, Ruth
Isolation Diary: Maggie, Adam , and Fig are back in SoCal from their month long trip to upstate NY. They came by for a visit today….we are keeping distance and wearing masks and mostly staying outdoors until they get their covid tests, but what a delight to be together again.
Susan J.
Enjoy them…as I know you do.Ruth Silveira
Susan, thank you for all the photos and videos! I loved seeing them. You all had wonderful walks and adventures. And quiet times. And, I hear, Fig may have introduced you to several of your neighbors!Susan J.
Ruth Silveira He certainly was the ambassador of the neighborhood. I’m not sure, but I think he’s on the write-in ballot for mayor.Ruth Silveira
Maggie and Adam mentioned that. It’s the same on his block in Pasadena.Holly B.
So nice to have relatives!!!!!!
Isolation Diary: I voted today. In person. That was the only way I could feel sure my vote would be counted. I needed to see the ballot be sucked into the machine, I needed to press the button ‘Cast my Vote’. I voted at the Wiltern, a theater, a beautiful one, at Western and Wilshire. I had filled out a sample ballot at LAVote.net and had a Poll Pass. I entered the theater and there was a table with hand sanitizer and rubber gloves provided, I walked through the beautiful lobby and into the theater. I waited a whole 2 minutes to check in with a poll clerk who then graciously helped me get started with the machine. My poll pass was scanned, there were my choices. I checked them. Okay. Printed out the ballot. Checked the paper ballot. Sent it back into the machine, touched ‘Cast’ and I was done. I felt completely covid safe, the whole thing was well organized and well run. I hope everyone in LA has an equally good experience if they choose to vote in person. I felt so relieved when I left. I know PA and those Great Lake states are considered the decision makers but we in California are part, a big part, of the foundation. It’s not glamorous, and that’s a little hurtful, but we play our part like any good character actor does.
Isolation Diary: I don’t feel quite so isolated presently. Several reasons. I am having a room, bathroom, and closet being repaired and painted and there are people here doing that. Also Maggie, Adam, and Fig are back from their trip to upper state NY and have been visiting (all of us masked until they get their covid tests). Plus I am adjusting to ‘being’ with people on Zoom. A book club. D and D. Friends and improv. And the stress of the looming Election Day colors everything. My strategy for living through Nov 3 might be to finish that bottle of Irish Whiskey in my cupboard and go to sleep, wake up in the morning and read the headline.
French S.
I love you Ruth.Anna M.
Good strategy.Paul B.
Always up for the healing power of a good drink Carl G.I never miss an edition of your isolation diary, Ruth– I love it. And your strategy for election night seems extremely sensible. .Ruth Silveira
Carl G. I am drinking Irish. The information leaks through even though I have stayed away from the TV all day. Still a comment from the LA Times pops up on my phone telling me the tallies are close. How could this be? I take another sip of my Irish.