2020 Diary: Easter Season

4/5/2020: Palm Sunday. Up just in time to join in the Rosary, and then Mass on EWTN. Then prayers and Bible, starting Hebrews. It seems a little lighter this morning, and the birds are calling. Now almost 9 AM. Ramen for breakfast. Went in about 12:30 PM, got boiled eggs, and they gave me Ritz Chips and bananas and some cornbread as well, so I was nicely supplied. Helped with Kam’s homework. At lunch the Shanafelts brought Chicken Express then went to shop. Later I went in and sewed a button on Kam’s shorts; a neat job, I think, and I cleaned up the sewing box. Kam came and hung out a while. Supper was simply chicken again. Kenny reading Dracula once more this evening. No writing today; it seems that it is not for Sunday.

 

4/6/2020: Woke up about 5:30 AM from disquieting dreams, which I shall not record; it is enough to say it concerns my old sins and weaknesses which come back to trouble me in dreams, as unswept and inaccessible corners can trouble my housecleaning. Prayers, Bible, and preparations for the day have washed the feelings away, but I still find the facts something to be dealt with. I must not let it poison the day, but work while the sun shines. It is times like this that I remember we are all always hastening to our end, virus or no virus. Time for a shower.

I’d been thinking for a while that I might be able to pin a wash rag up to hold soap slivers, and thereby use my old soap. This morning it came to me that the pin would rust, so maybe if I could tie a knot … but the material was too thick. I thought all I needed was a cloth bag … and then I realized a sock was a cloth bag. I have a few clean mismatched socks, and no sooner found than jerry-rigged, and it worked well, too. It only took me months to figure it out. But along the way I cleaned the pencil drawer out looking for a pin and organized the top of the closet. Progress! After the shower, I shaped my beard up, too. Almost 7:30 AM. Posted on PoB [Power of Babel], left a Chesterton quote on FB, finished off the bananas. Opened up the house; it looks like the clouds may be clearing. Started my wash at 9 AM, fried Kam eggs and bacon, swept kitchen porch.

Cut up the broccoli. Switched loads, just as the pool guy drove up at 11 AM. Got a new jug of water. Did preliminary work on Kam’s homework. Almost noon now. At 1 PM went in and mixed broccoli salad, put the enchiladas together, and got the chili rice prep done. Rosary at 2:30 PM. Now almost 3 PM.

Grassed dogs and started supper by putting the enchiladas in and making the chili rice, which took forever to get soft. Kam came in about 7 PM for homework, then I washed up. Yen started “The Wizard of Oz” tonight, and later did what I imagine is the next to last reading of “Dracula”. Now almost 10:30 PM.

4/7/2020: All as usual today, with a some dragging. Wrote a little in AFYHM. Called the medical center and asked about their protocols, then e-mailed John; hadn’t heard back from him as of 8:30 PM. Exterminators at 4 PM with Andy to guide them. Then supper of fish patties and couscous. Helped Kam with homework. Oz and Dracula with Yen. Tried making a mask with my Ace bandage; looked like a geek.

John replied at 1:53 AM: I was waiting for this! Aargh. I've got no problem doing it under regular circumstances, but I must say the timing is about as bad as it could be.  It's next Monday, right? I'm sure we can work it out; I am set to return to work the following day anyway, so I probably ought to get used to the idea of getting out into the plague zone again.  If the number of cases blows up before then, you should cancel, and try again later- I canceled my appointment last week and they were totally down with it. So, a provisional yes from me, but we must watch the way the wind is blowing! 

 

4/8/2010: Up about 6:30 AM. Got John’s e-mail and I must say I don’t blame his reluctance. I am ready at a moment’s notice to postpone my doctor’s appointment. Put up a quick post on my blog about Oz covers. Well. On with the day. Prayers, Bible. This damn appointment seems to rise up between me and any writing I want to do. Made Kam biscuits this morning and ate what he couldn’t finish. Ramen. Finished up his homework, at least the [prep] part I’ve been doing; now he has to complete it. Hot today and sunny: the little green fruits on the tree outside keep falling off and rolling down the roof. Helped by squirrels? Lots of wildlife out, wasps and other bugs and a striped lizard leaping from fence bar to fence bar. Brain very sluggish, possibly the heat, but also pain in my right eye and pain and weakness in my right leg, like I had before my TIA. Made supper: sausages, gumbo, and Uncle Ben’s Four Cheese Rice (of which there is too little for me to partake of). Personally, had a sausage on bread and broccoli salad; any leftover gumbo I’ll make with ramen. Rosary. Now almost 6 PM.

Kenny finished The Wizard of Oz tonight and is skipping the horror tales until he can select a new work. When I went in to clean up, Susan said that perhaps I should reschedule my appointment if things get worse. I e-mailed John: Susan agrees that this might not be the best time for a doctor's appointment, and that it should be postponed if things get worse, and maybe even until they get much better. I'm thinking that it could be put off until the end of April and the end of this 'lockdown' [hopeless optimism!]. She of course was eager to get the SSI stuff in train and didn't think I could get an appointment until much later. As usual, I goofed, misread the signs, and plunked on a bad date. I may call the doctor's office tomorrow and ask their opinion.

At 10 PM I stepped out to see if I could see the ‘Pink Moon’ but it hasn’t risen high enough. I did smell a wonderful flowering scent: I would probably call it jasmine or chinaberry. Spring continues. Great trilling of frogs and toads in the quiet night. On my last tea bags, might be able to squeeze out one more pale jug.

 

4/9/2020: Up at 7 AM after a night of dream adventures (neither especially good nor bad, simply … adventures) that went out of my head as I woke up. Prayers, Bible, and shower. Now 8 AM. I purpose to try a good chunk of writing today.

E-mail from John: Yes- maybe even like mid- May, and then see how things are. That's what I would do.  […]  There is such an unreal aura about these past few weeks.  I wonder how many times "this just sucks " has been uttered, just in the tri-county area alone? I've watched more network TV lately than I have in years, and it is a little nauseating to see the marketing of the Covid19 taking place before my very eyes. Gone are the happy whistling/ukulele strumming days of the past- cue the somber yet hopeful piano solos, symbolic of our being together alone. I don't know whether to be touched...or horrified! Ah well, to better days!

So made new appointment: May 11, 8:30 AM. For lunch, had a leftover sausage and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Saw my first hummingbird of the year. Kam very clingy today and had me grassing the Chis every couple of hours. It was fairly clear and sunny most of the day, but toward evening the clouds gathered and there was some rain and some growling thunder. Made chili, corn on the cob, and butter rotini. Helped Kam finish up his homework, including making a drawing for Easter. My first drawing since New Year’s Eve and colored it to boot.

Over the day wrote three and a half pages, so I progress there. Read all the annotations to Frankenstein. Kenny not reading tonight due to migraine from working outside all day. Going in soon to clean up, and then my evening will be free.

 

4/10/2020: Good Friday. Cloudy and cool in the morning, clearer and sunnier in the afternoon. Prayers, Bible. A little writing. Fish and taters for supper. As I wrote John: Not a lot to say today. Solemn, of course. I wrote a few pages. I hope Amy got the stuff all right. I told Susan what we were doing, but I didn't think to ask her particularly to leave the porch light on. The safety light should have come on, of course. My right leg has been giving me the pip for the last few days; could be the weather. And that's about all. I think I must have missed "The Ten Commandments" this year.

“The Wizard of Oz” on TCM this evening. Said Rosary on the front porch. Kenny started reading “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” and “Frankenstein” this evening.

 

4/11/2010: Up about 6:30 AM. I guess that’s the new norm for a while. Wrote down dream, got dressed. Cool this morning; opened everything up. Started making ramen. Now 8 AM. Prayers, Bible. I’ve decided to let writing concerns go by until after Easter.

So I just see on TV that Zantac has been shown to cause a host of cancers. Mom was on that for years. I wonder just how many of her problems were iatrogenic.

I’ve been looking around the house lately and wondering just how much of my stuff I could do without, and how much I wouldn’t mind ‘going’ out of the family when I pass. I don’t seem to have such a hard clinging to things as I used to. Unless someone actually wants them, they won’t keep them anyway, nor I suppose should they keep them, just because I held onto them. It would be better to ‘release them into the wild’ again to find another owner. If you remove all the books and toys out of the equation, there are only a couple of chests of family stuff and the one plastic ‘bureau’ of my papers that are irreplaceable. I wish I could somehow get someone to help me clean up the attic. The one task that is in my reach is clearing up my computer files, and that is daunting. Not physically, but mentally exhausting. I would rather face a physical task, to think with my hands a bit.

Let’s see. Ramen for breakfast. Chicken salad for lunch. Went in about 3 PM and boiled eggs, baked cake [Easter cooking]. Then made the deviled eggs. Andy came back with Whataburger, fries, and Diet Coke, and there was supper. I continued making the pea salad, then took my burger out to watch The Wizard of Oz again. Went back in to ice the cake; used blue food coloring instead of green by accident! Able to make the icing green by adding yellow, but only got a weird dark color on the coconut. Finished watching Oz. Then in the evening listened to Kenny reading Grimm’s and Frankenstein. Ate more ramen. We’re under a tornado watch until 4 AM.

 

4/12/2020: Easter Sunday. Tornados, hail, and, indeed, any appreciable amount of rain failed to materialize. Prayed, prayed Rosary on EWTN, watched Mass on EWTN then St. James on Facebook. Went in at 9 AM to start peeling potatoes, then started cooking and baked the ham, made mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce, and gravy; just as it was almost ready Andy had to go on a wrecker call. We ate at 12 noon; I said the prayer. A lovely feast (I had Big Red). Later, cake, and later (at supper) reruns. I think we had just the right amount of food, as we used up the cranberries and green beans and rolls, with no huge amounts of the other food left. Weather warm but rather windy. I called John to wish them a Happy Easter and messaged Kenny on FB. Also sent them this e-mail:  I was listening to "This Old House" today and thinking about the piano. We all know the fate of the Gulbransen, and how Mom had that electric organ and played "Porcupines Have Prickly Quills", and the old piano in the garage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY4fRWKwKwc

Well, I was thinking of the garage piano, and I suddenly started wondering, whence came it? It most likely had something to do with Mom (since she played a little), but how? Where did they get it? Why was it relegated to the garage? Did she use to play it often? Did they salvage it from somewhere, maybe thinking to fix it up? Did they inherit it somehow, and if so from which side of the family? Was it one of those things our family always dickers with, that then gets put on the back burner? If you boys don't know any more than I do, I don't imagine that there's anyone who could tell us, probably not even our few elderly relatives still alive.

Susan speculated it might have come from Pop’s old bar. Perhaps Nanny gave it to Mom to store, not wanting to just throw it away. Maybe it even came with the house [itself], from the disappointed builder, unlucky in love.

John replied: I don't know either.  For some reason, I had it in my mind that it was a relic of Pop's stint as a bar owner/ operator, like the beer clock, and the Billy club, that I happen to have tucked into the bed frame near my head. But when I think of it, I don't have any memory of having received that information from a primary source, so...not sure. A good question.  I know the bar was in the building that is now the KC hall and has been for decades. I believe that's where they met, too, right?

I said: Susan was of the vague opinion that it was a part of Pop's old bar, too. That would make sense. Wouldn't it be odd if it was in some sense a 'legacy' of the old Professor [Babel, our music teacher ancestor], if only because the family always had a piano of some sort? I think - or at least it's in my head - that Mom and Pop met in the old Pepper Tree.

 

Notes

i·at·ro·gen·ic

/īˌatrəˈjenik/

adjective

1.    relating to illness caused by medical examination or treatment.

"drugs may cause side effects which can lead to iatrogenic disease"

I'm afraid my moaning about the fate of my 'stuff,' especially of my books, is periodic. Since I have no kids, I'm always worried about my legacy, where my 'stuff' will end up. It's ... well, it's all 'a heap of straw', as Aquinas might say, but to me it's like a physical memory, life witnesses as it were. Now that I've got it all catalogued at least it's a little less compulsive, but ... I'd say my work on 'Timmy' is a further symptom.

The story of the fate of the Gulbransen piano and ‘The Chord of Doom’ is a bit of an epic that could take a lot of telling to be told properly.  The garage piano was always a little rough, but years of relegation to the garage reduced it to a mere framework in the end.