Dana and Friends*

Today is my birthday and I can't help comparing it to last years' as it was the day Covid lockdowns were announced in many places, including here. It was the last time we sat indoors to drink coffee and sink into the comfy couch at The Trail House.  I sometimes felt I was being swallowed by that couch and I very much doubt that such a well worn piece of furniture will ever make a reappearance there again.  We were all so preoccupied by what was to come that everybody forgot my birthday, (including me) until the lovely women who work there brought over coffee and a pastry with a candle in it and sang happy birthday. 

A group of us from the PIlates class went there after class once or twice a week for coffee. We are still good friends and still get together when we can, but instead of driving across town to take the class we walk into the next room at home to take it on Zoom. On  this last day of sitting inside , however, most of us had never heard of Zoom.

Since then a tent was erected in the Trail House parking lot, taken down and erected again as officials banned outdoor dining for awhile after they allowed it, then allowed it again. Whether they don't want to make the investment in outdoor heaters at Trail House or have just been unable to find them, there aren't any,  and even on sunny days it can be really cold out there in the morning. One day wJohn and I got take out coffee, sat in the car in the parking to drink it and wondered why we hadn't just made coffee at home .

I don't think anyone could have predicted many of the things that have happened in the year that has followed...making masks, wearing masks everywhere we go, reading the newspaper reports of as the death tolls mounted here and in every corner of the globe, the incredible sacrifices made by the medical community, being separated from our friends and families, shortages of all kinds of things, most mystifyingly toilet paper and yeast. 

Amazon, Doordash and delivery services bringing us necessities, and the decline of mail and shipping services. There were drive thru Covid testing centers to get swabs stuck up our noses seemingly into our brains, telemedicine visits , DIY tooth filling kits, drive-by birthday and graduatiion ceremonies. A lot of businesses pivoted really quickly but many simply couldn't survive. Quarantine seems like a crudely blunt instrument to deal with the ever changing, ever mutating, chimeric virus called Covid 19.

Two or three days ago Sonoma County was finally been moved into the red tier from the purple where we have been since the tier system was introduced last August. Don't ask me what the tiers mean...the rules are so complicated that I don't see how they can enforce them or expect anybody to comply, but as of today 25% capacity indoor dining will be allowed. So  exactly one year later.from the last time we sat there, we might be able to sit inside for a cup of coffee. John and I thought it might be a nice way to celebrate my birthday but in another sign of the changes that have taken place over the year, neither one of had the energy to go there. Maybe tomorrow....

*We are taking the rocks out from between the slabs of concrete in our patio. Spike kicks them out all over the place and they are like ball bearings scattered around. Some friends came over this morning to help us remove the rocks from outside our bedroom. Dana came over later to continue the job and removed twice as many rocks as it took the four of us to do. Of course Mike had shoulder surgery a couple of months ago so Kathy and I had a one armed man and a one legged helping us....