I cannot believe that it has been two months. Oddly enough, this week things seemed to be a bit more normal. Yesterday, Dan had a dermatologist appointment that was made months ago, before the everything closed and the office didn’t cancel it. I went with him, although I stayed in the car during his appointment.

Afterwards, we went to American Furniture Warehouse to pick out new garden furniture. The store is massive, like a Costco for furniture and they were rigid with social distancing/safety protocols. We had our masks on, as did everyone else and I felt safe shopping. They gave us branded bottled water and we spotted the owner (tiger guy) walking around the store. It wasn’t very busy, more staff than customers.

In the evening, we went to a local bike shop (Pedal in Littleton) and Dan bought us two new bikes. Again, safety protocols were in place and we didn’t even enter the store. The employees brought everything out to the parking lot. It was a bit strange, since we couldn’t browse through the bikes, but also maybe it was better, since the employee gave us customized service based on our needs. I was able to test ride the bikes too. I’ve never been a fan of bicycling, so I was reluctant, but Dan’s enthusiasm has made me excited to give this new form of exercise a chance. My bike is beautiful and so easy to ride. We are waiting for Dan’s bike to be built, so when we have both of them, I will post pictures. We should have them both by this weekend.

Yesterday felt normal, because people were out doing things, getting back to life. The streets were busier and as we drove past businesses, parking lots were full. I estimate that 95% of the people we saw were following social distancing guidelines and wearing masks. This filled me with hope. That said, we also had local news reports of restaurants deciding to defy orders and serve indoors for Mother’s Day. The news reports were shocking, as these restaurants were completely full with no distancing and masks. I can empathize with business owners who need the business, but this is not okay. Ultimately, I think the actions of the few who decided to be defiant will slow down the overall progress of reopening, plus could even kill people. It’s horrible.

On a lighter note, this week continued to be personally productive and had several highlights.

Our garden is nearly done! It looks amazing and by next week, I should be able to share the completed project with our new furniture. Dan was really excited about the mini digger parked outside of our house. Here are pictures of the progress.

A little less with the kitchen experiments this week. Dan made crepes and I made a curry.

On Saturday morning, I took a three hour zoom grammar course through the Gotham Writer’s Workshop. My grammar skills are decent, but I definitely learned a lot during this intensive class. It was worth taking. The second half of the course is this coming Saturda and I was given homework.

I entered the NYC Midnight Microfiction Challenge. At midnight (eastern standard time) on Friday, I was given my information for the first heat. There are three heats over the next three months. I had twenty-four hours to write a 100 word story that must be in the comedy genre, must involve the action of “lighting a fire,” and must include the word “sleep.” At first, I was daunted by the parameters that I was randomly assigned. It took some playing around with ideas to land on the right one. I ended up very pleased with my entry. It’s a little niche, but hopefully the judges will like it. The concept made Dan laugh and that was priceless. If I advance to the next round, I will share my first entry.

Last night, I attended my first “Virtual Book Signing.” It was hosted by our local book chain, Tattered Cover and was to promote Mikel Jollett’s memoir, Hollywood Park. I’m a huge fan of Jollett, the frontman of The Airborne Toxic Event. Truth be told, he’s a celebrity crush of mine. I love his song writing and his voice. I’ve been to many Airborne concerts and his music is the epitome of Los Angeles. I had been very excited to attend this event live, but virtual was the next best thing. Jollett spoke and sang for about ninety minutes and then took questions. He was raw, emotional, and gracious. I loved hearing him read from his memoir. He made me cry and I felt homesick for Los Angeles. Just really beautiful stuff. I also get an autographed copy of Hollywood Park, which will be mailed in a few weeks.

Tonight is the season finale of Survivor: Winners at War. This has been an epic season and Dan has even been watching it with me from the beginning. This is his first season of Survivor. We discovered that our neighbors are also big fans and we watched the season premiere at their house. Unfortunately, we have not been able to watch the other episodes with them, but mid-season, we did decide to make a friendly wager. We each picked four players and the person with the last player standing gets to choose a cocktail, which the first person out will make. So far, we all have a player still in the game and the hope of one of our players returning from The Edge of Extinction. I have Tony left in the game and Pavarti/Yul/Sophie on the edge. She wasn’t my pick, but I think Natalie has the best shot at making it back from Extinction. She was the first vote out, but she has been phenomenal on the edge.

We will be watching live tonight for the three hour finale! Dan had these mugs made and we gave a pair to our neighbors.

Cows visited our neighborhood several times this week. I could hear them mooing from inside of our house. I love it! They were hang out in a giant field at the end of our street and I went to visit them at sunset.

And of course some cute cat pictures.

The one where Slinky is eating and Tom is looking at the camera was a funny moment. Slinky is old and skinny, so we have been giving him extra food. Tom gobbled up his small portion and was feeling sorry for himself, because Slinky was still eating. He even tried “petting” Slinky gently on the head, but Slinky was not about to share!