Lockdown Part 2, Day minus 1

It’s mid-November already. The leaves have cycled through their kaleidoscope of colors and now the trees in the Apuane Alps and Apennine mountains here in northwest Tuscany are mostly bare. The hillsides gray. The sidewalks, where the leaves had fallen and lay to rustle through and conjure deep scent memories, have been cleaned. The weather is still mild, thankfully. Today the inimitable blue Tuscan sky is promising.

Today we begin a second lockdown period. Reflecting on the first, there were pluses and minuses, advantages and disadvantages, and here are some with their corollaries.

- I don’t have to worry about missing or being late for any appointments, there are none.

- I don’t have to worry about missing or being late for any appointments, there are none.

- I don’t have to worry about housekeeping too much as no one is coming to see me. 

- I don’t have to worry about housekeeping too much as no one is coming to see me. 

- I don’t have to worry about clothes, hair, make-up, nails, because no one will see me.

- I don’t have to worry about clothes, hair, make-up, nails, because no one will see me.

- I can stare out the window at the birds without worrying if I’m wasting time.

- I can stare out the window at the birds without worrying if I’m wasting time.

- I can do all those projects, clean the garage/attic, because there is nowhere else to go.

- I can do all those projects, clean the attic/garage, because there is nowhere else to go.

- I can start postponed projects not worrying about any deadlines.

- I can start postponed projects not worrying about any deadlines.

- I can read all the books on the nightstand without interruption.

- I can read all the books on the nightstand without interruption.

- I can linger in the bath because I don’t have any appointments or dates.

- I can linger in the bath because I don’t have any appointments or dates.

- With so much time on my hands and nowhere to go I can virtually keep in touch with everyone.

November 15, 2020

- With so much time on my hands and nowhere to go I can virtually keep in touch with everyone.

- We can still go for walks, albeit alone.

- We can still go for walks, albeit alone.

In short, we’re all going to make the most of a very difficult situation. 

Take Care

 

Those Damn Birds

 

They’re having a ball

Dancing

Doing loop de loops 

Do-si-dos

Circling 

Chasing each other

Swooping

Squealing 

Screeching

Squawking

Sending signals crosstown

All those things that birds do

At 4 AM

A regular riot at 5:30

Without a care in the world

As I am just 

Trying to get back to sleep

Those damn birds

They’re having a ball

Seasons Change

Winter

Turns to spring

Spring turns

To glorious summer

Summer

To brilliant autumn

Autumn turns

To winter

Which turns to spring

Until it doesn't

©Kerry Bell 2020

Laying the Cards on the Table

 

The Jack of Hearts 

Has lost his smarts

And doesn’t know where 

To find them

Leave him alone and 

He’ll wreck your home

Switching his tail behind him

Of a September Evening

residual warmth

of summer allays panic

impending winter  

Summer's End

Summer ends

In a downpour

Washing away

Hot memories

Dreams

Music

Dancing 

And sublime food 

Leaving

Cloud shrouded mountains

Clear air

And uncertainty

 

Post Lockdown and the Three Rs

To all who are still suffering through some version of lockdown or re-lockdown or premature reopening or just severe anxiety, there will be relief, comfort, solace, and even great joy. I promise. Sometimes now, I’m euphoric. 

Italy, one of the hardest hit countries in the early stages of the pandemic, reacted, locked down and has emerged with cautious optimism. The success of our lockdown is multi-faceted. In addition to strong leadership, this society, I like to say, is the most civilized I have ever experienced, and came through lockdown through solidarity, compassion, pragmatism and seriousness. We really were all in this together. 

That which helped me, and many others, through this was reading, for both entertainment and enlightenment; writing - keeping a journal every day of even the most trivial thoughts was like having someone to talk to, it just happened to be myself, but it was comforting - and then, this is where we come to ‘rithmetic. 

When we were younger, we often wondered why we had to study math. I can now cite several applications of the math I took. Many of us used it in all that lockdown cooking and baking, modifying recipes for available ingredients - I have now pretty much nailed eggless, butterless, oatmeal cookies - or proportionately reducing recipes for fewer people. Some of us here have an additional challenge, calculating metric vs. American or British measuring quantities or oven temperatures.  In my professional life as a clothing patternmaker, I drew on geometry and used Pi to calculate  the circumference of the waist or hip measure for a silk chiffon circle skirt. We all use it to understand the impact of mortgage or credit card interest rates. There are many other reasons to have paid attention in class.

In terms of its impact during the pandemic, the importance of recognizing distancing requirements, and most of all, as we are reminded daily the virus isn’t gone, it’s always lurking until there is a vaccine, so one of the most important things to have learned in algebra is the concept of exponential.