things that keep me up at night
It is a new year but the quarantine goes on as Covid-19 rages throughout the U.S. But it is Sam’s birthday and it must be celebrated. We all don our masks and keep social distancing while we have a little party outside on Jon’s front porch.
We were, at some time in the recent past, hoping that 2021 would be free of Covid-19 but as the deaths in the U.S. mount up towards 500,000, things still are very grim. The ray of light is that two vaccines have been approved for emergency use. However, the lame duck administration of president 45 has no plan for getting them in the arms of the American people. Hopefully the Biden administration will do a much better job.
Our New Year’s celebration is mostly about food. We have a fancy dinner on New Year’s Eve while watching When Harry Met Sally and traditional, good luck black eyed peas over rice and collard greens for New Year’s Day.
We celebrated Christmas as our own household unit due to the pandemic. We had hors d’oeuvres on Christmas Eve and watched Die Hard. There was no present opening or singing of carols which was sad.
We shared Christmas with Jon and family by texting photos and comments of their opening our presents.
Of course we had some present opening and festive eating to do at home.
Sarah makes us our traditional lasagna dinner. For dessert we have the panettone she spent days making. So good!!
Even though our Christmas was quieter and more isolated than usual we still managed to have a good time.
We had a small Hanukkah celebration with John making latkes and lighting the Hanukkah candles.
Today is my birthday and usually we are sharing a celebration with Karen and George. This year, though, nothing is normal and George and I will not be together for “the birthdays.” It is sad. But John and Sarah are treating me with all sorts of great things to eat so I am feeling well-feted by the end of the day.
Even though my birthday was bereft of my birthday buddy, I had a nice day with a phone call from my sisters and my sweet family around me.
Thanksgiving this year of the pandemic was a quiet affair with just John, Sarah, and me. Since we were just three people having a big turkey seemed like too much so we decided to have duck breasts instead. Certainly the Pilgrims had eaten duck! Our lonely dinner was still fun and the food was delicious!
Braving the pandemic, John, Jonathan, and I took a trip to St. George and stayed at the villas at Entrada. We stayed here in August when we were escaping the smoke and felt confident that we could enjoy ourselves here without taking undue risks. The captioned pictures narrate our visit.
We have managed to pick a very cold week to be in St. George which limits the amount of tennis playing we are doing. But we can go hiking and we have a great time exploring Gold Butte National Monument.
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We had such a good time! Hopefully we will make another trip with Jon in February or March. Maybe we will be vaccinated by then!!
John and I have been on our healthy eating plan since the middle of September, 2019. John reached his goal around two weeks ago after losing 50+ pounds and today I reached mine! I am down 60 pounds and very proud of myself. Now the real goal is not to gain it back. I am very good at losing weight and I am super at gaining weight, maintaining weight has always been my biggest challenge.
Because I am feeling pretty good about myself, I took a bunch of selfies in the mirror.
Today we travel over to Palo Alto to see Alex and Sam (and also Jon, Ryan, and Leigh.) We have come bearing sweet treats for Halloween. Jonathan has made a brunch and we all enjoy sitting around distanced outside while we catch up.
Today we visit Imagery Winery to pick up our shipment and I have also scheduled a wine tasting. We sit on their back patio with the tables set far apart. Our server is masked as are we except when sipping. We have our own pens and disposable water. They have taken great pains to make sure we are safe.
It is a beautiful day and we enjoy our tasting. We buy some bottles and pick up our Wine Club shipment. It is almost like being normal.
