CORONAVIRUS SURVIVAL Day 4

Packjack and I were supposed to be skiing today. Floating down the slopes in Tahoe, getting powfaced in the three feet of fresh, humming “The Road to Shamballa”, not a care in the world. Instead I’m storing my ski stuff in the attic and cracking walnuts out on the front porch.

You know those chores you have been putting off forever, the second and third tier chores, which you can put off and nobody really minds. Finishing the closet in cedar paneling, completing that final line of moldings in the kitchen, cracking the bag of walnuts that have been sitting on your workbench since they fell from your tree in October. It’s time to get that stuff done.

Or not, because it’s also time to sit in your pajamas all day reading “American Dirt” like I did yesterday. It’s a time of crisis, do whatever gets you through the day.

This stay-away-from-all-people stuff is curious to me. As a proud Sociologist (UCSB class of 1987, BA Sociology) I am Sonoma’s Chauncey Gardner. I like to watch.

Because really, what else is there to do? We are socially distanced, people move to the other side of the street when we are out walking Sam (the dog), we are not partying on the beach like those crazy kids in Florida, we are monitoring our health, we are cancelling St. Patrick’s day dinners with friends, we get our exercise, eat healthy and follow guidelines.

But it’s a kooky time. I woke up this morning to Kate leaving the house because she wanted to get to Safeway at 6am and yes she was able to score a prime 12 pack of “CoronaVirus Gold” previously known as toilet paper. Also fresh Ginger Root, which is her drug of choice and a gooey apple, fritter which is my drug of choice.

Now it’s 8am, the sun is out; I’m showered, shaved, and ready to Carpe Diem. I’m tempted to do a repeat of yesterday but I like to contribute so I head to the front porch to crack walnuts. Then a little reading, then baking the walnuts into banana bread then a dumb fight at lunch over stuff I’m too sensitive about then a little tax preparation even though the deadline has been pushed back 90 days then another email from the district then Kate gets called into work at the newspaper and I sit by the fire happy to have some guilt free time with Luca and Lydia and Soledad and Rebeca.

Because a great book takes you away from your life and puts you smack dab in the middle of that great book. Currently I’m on top of a train deep in the Sonoran Desert, not that I’d rather be there than here but “American Dirt” is engrossing.

And if you are looking for more prime escapist literature (after, of course, you finish reading these 130 blogs) check out all books by TC Boyle (start with “Drop City” because of the local connection) then JoJo Moyes then John Irving then, well, you get the picture. Just read people, that’s the message; now stop bothering me while I get back up on the train.