Gimme Shelter

Here is Denise. We all know how hard it is to photograph black cats. Well, Denise is holding a black duck, an Indian Runner named Jade. The black cat is called Jacques Cousteau. Denise is a rescuer of domestic ducks, a self-appointed savior of abandoned fowl that don’t have many champions. For over 25 years she has worked up and down the coast, placing birds in good homes and educating people with her little traveling show. “It’s not a chicken, “ she has to tell many children, and some adults, “It’s a duck.” 
I found Denise because of our new experiment in walking different paths every day. As much as I like the predictability of our usual couple miles over by the lighthouse, it’s amazing what you can discover if you go left instead of right sometimes.

It’s grey outside and in. After the big spurt of going for a three mile walk, I seem to have slid into a pile of muck. 

I did have a terrific idea for social distancing before the fog settled in: a Wolverine-like device straps to your wrist. If people aren’t keeping their distance, you merely extend your arm (a good three feet right there, as those of us who measure fabric or thread from the tip of our nose along an outstretched arm surely know), press a button, and bam, out comes a stick/arm/blade to indicate six feet, creating the radius of a perfect arc of protection. Which leads to Venn diagrams, all of us inhabiting overlapping circles. I also can’t stop thinking about The Cone of Silence, but that’s another cultural reference entirely.
I invented this in self defense as I was carrying my unopened umbrella along the path this morning. Unbelievably there are still folks who don’t get it, and I took to extending my arm, lengthened as it was by the stub of the umbrella. It gave me about four feet of clear space, and I’m sure led to a lot of puzzlement at the crazy old lady who was not exactly threatening people with her umbrella. It did clear the way though. And how I yearned for a longer stick! Hence the Telescoping Social Distancing Device. If you can figure out how to make it work, the idea is yours! Just send me one when you’re finished. 

And that’s as productive as I got today. I’m reminded of the punchline of a recent post by Wildwood, which more or less says: The fact that you can’t leave home does NOT mean you’ve suddenly developed a desire to clean the basement. Or sort through boxes of pre-digital photos, or tidy up the art room, or purge the attic. The list is long and makes me very sleepy. 


Day Seven