Coronavirus Journey, Part 19

Part nineteen of my ongoing journal entries about life in the time of the 2020-2021 Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. Previous posts: Part One (Jan-Mar, 2020). Part Two (April 2020). Part Three (May 2020). Part Four (June 2020). Part Five (July 2020). Part Six (August 2020). Part Seven (September 2020). Part Eight (October 2020). Part Nine (November 2020). Part Ten (December 2020). Part Eleven (January 2021). Part Twelve (February 2021). Part Thirteen (March 2021). Part Fourteen (April 2021). Part Fifteen (May 2021). Part Sixteen (June 2021). Part Seventeen (July-August 2021). Part Eighteen (September-October 2021).

November 3

It’s a sobering morning in America. Election results are mostly in from yesterday’s scattered off-year races around the country. There was a Republican sweep in Virginia (governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and the state house all flipped), a surprisingly close race for New Jersey governor, mixed results elsewhere, gloating from Trump, and to top it off, the Atlanta Braves won the World Series. At least progressive (and Elizabeth Warren protege) Michelle Wu won Boston’s mayoral race — she had Allie’s vote.

The Democrats still can’t get their act together on Capitol Hill and the election results seem most likely to throw further spanners in the works. There’s a small chance they may act as a motivator to agree on the various packages of major legislation they seem so close to passing, but that chance seems vanishingly small. Biden’s poll numbers are evidently lower than any other recent president at this point in his term, and that includes a certain former president…the one doing the gloating. People are mad about the virus, Democratic ineptitude, and the Virginia election turned on issues of education reform and Critical Race Theory that Republicans will no doubt take to the bank over the next year or more. It will be a bad time to be on a school board for a long while. The hand-wringing over next year’s midterms has begun in earnest.

Meanwhile, the virus rates have ticked upward in the U.S. for the first time since the Delta variant peaked two months ago, following the global trend I noted last week. We indeed passed 5,000,000 deaths worldwide though now credible sources report the true number is probably well past 10,000,000. 

Numbers:

• Global cases: 248M; Daily average: 432K; Total Deaths: 5,010,000
• USA cases: 46M; Daily average: 74K; Total Deaths: 748,000 
• Maryland cases: 562,000; Deaths: 10,913; “At risk of outbreak” per CovidActNow.org
  • 0 states “On track to contain COVID” ( )
  • 5 states “Slow disease growth” (Puerto Rico, Northern Marianas, Florida, Hawaii, Connecticut)
  • 22 states “At risk of outbreak” (Indiana, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Nevada, New York…)
  • 25 states “Active or imminent outbreak” (Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Minnesota, Colorado…)
  • 1 state “Severe outbreak” (Alaska)

So yes, the world continues to go to hell in its handbasket. Biden floated through the G20 and COP summits without a major gaffe, other than dozing off here and there (who wouldn’t?), but there were no great breakthroughs either. Plenty of earnest speeches and loose commitments but that’s par for the course. Business as usual is what got us into this mess in the first place.

So what am I going to do about it? Nothing much. I’m going to eat some (hopefully) sustainably farmed salmon to try to improve my blood test results in advance of my annual checkup. I’m going to get an appointment to check my car. I’m getting ready for us to go visit Allie next week (restaurants selected!). The s’mores party at the Baileys’ last weekend was very pleasant though it was hard to get Barb to stop chatting and let the poor people go to sleep. I went to see The French Dispatch, my first solo outing to a film since before Covid (see my review and a little vignette that occurred after the show). I’m still excited to see Yasmin Williams this Friday — have been listening to a lot of her nice music to get ready. Laurie should be home next week from her trip to Greece with the Shinns — it will be good to chat with her. I’m going to keep working on a post about our 2007 trip to Italy. 

It’s the least I can do.

November 18

It’s been a busy few days for me since we got back from Boston. We drove back on Sunday so I would be in town Monday to attend a John Hiatt and Jerry Douglas concert in Annapolis with Larry. Dinner plans in Annapolis were short-circuited when Larry dropped the ball on selecting a place and we ended up eating in the Rams Head venue from its limited menu, but my crab soup and blackened chicken tacos were fine enough. The concert was terrific, with Jerry Douglas and his band opening for about 45 minutes, then John Hiatt joining to run through his extensive catalog. The show was loose and intimate and all involved seemed to have a good time. I certainly did.

On Tuesday, I took my car to the shop for a checkup and to deal with a check engine service light. The diagnosis was not good, with several thousand dollars of services recommended and no clear indication what the check engine light was about. The light came back on an hour or so after I left the shop. So now I’m kicking around the idea of getting a new car for Barb and trading in my Volt. It’s been an enjoyable car to drive for nearly 6 years, but I’m not sure we’re up for a second winter of degraded performance. I wish there was another electric car I wanted other than a Tesla, but so far no. There seem to be a lot on the horizon, but that horizon is not here yet. So I think we will likely get another hybrid like Barb’s Camry…in fact, probably another Camry. It’s not as green as we could be, but it’s a nod in the right direction and can safely get us to Boston without refueling.

Wednesday was the big day for Manny’s dental operation, removing his teeth and hopefully curing his gums from periodontal disease. I took him to the animal dentist bright and early at 7:30am, then went home to wait and hear from the dentist. He finally called in the early afternoon to say that based on X-rays and examination he recommended removing all of Manny’s teeth, so that’s what we did. I picked Manny up around 5pm. He was well medicated with an opiate and a time-released pain injection. The dentist gave us some syringes of additional pain medication to use if needed but so far we haven’t seemed to need them. Manny’s biggest worry is the plastic cone of shame he needs to prevent him from licking things and upsetting his sutures. He’ll need to wear it for two weeks, they say. Now two days later, he’s coming to terms with the cone, sort of, and we are getting used to removing it so he can eat. He’s pretty good about letting us put the cone back on. I’m feeding him his regular canned food, but in smaller portions and I mash it up even further and add some water. He seems to love it. He has a hard time being affectionate with the cone on, but we take it off now and then for some cuddle time. I think he’s going to be fine. We hope so, anyway.

• 

• 

On Thursday, I dealt with Manny and his needs but in addition to the Maids biweekly cleaning we also had a plumber come to replace the sump pump that had been acting up in recent weeks. We also had a heater/air conditioning tech come to replace the fan on one of our outdoor condenser units that had stopped working. The fan had stopped but the condenser itself was working overtime, freezing up in the morning and running up our electric bill. I still don’t fully understand what the unit does even after Googling it and asking the technician for an explanation. Magic. As long as it keeps our house warm or cool as needed, I’m prepared to accept it. Fortunately, the weather was delightfully warm and Manny and I were able to spend a good part of the day on the porch.

With all of these household distractions, I’ve been less focused on the news of the world but things keep spinning, teetering out of control (what control?). The virus is making a serious resurgence in Europe despite relatively high vaccination rates. Infections are rising in the U.S. as well, jumping more than I thought in recent days. 

Numbers:

• Global cases: 256M; Daily average: 516K; Total Deaths: 5,130,000
• USA cases: 47.5M; Daily average: 95K; Total Deaths: 767,000 
• Maryland cases: 575,000; Deaths: 11,096; “At risk of outbreak” per CovidActNow.org
  • 0 states “On track to contain COVID” ( )
  • 6 states “Slow disease growth” (Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana)
  • 18 states “At risk of outbreak” (Washington, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, New Jersey…)
  • 28 states “Active or imminent outbreak” (Minnesota, New Mexico, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Wisconsin…)
  • 1 state “Severe outbreak” (Michigan)

As I’ve been writing this, the House finally passed the $2 trillion Build Back Better / reconciliation / social infrastructure bill after months and months of ugly wrangling. Now it goes over to the Senate where it will go through even more weeks of ugly wrangling. After months of fussing that the House progressives wouldn’t pass the infrastructure bill without a simultaneous agreement on the social issues bill, they went ahead and passed the first without a public commitment from Senators Manchin or Sinema on the second. It’s progress, I suppose, but the Democrats continually find new ways to wrest defeat from the jaws of victory and make the grapes taste sour anyway.

There’s more happening in our little world and in the larger world around us — more than I have time or energy to write about at the moment. I will try to write a little more often to get caught up, but this will do for the moment.

November 24

So much for my pledge to write more often. There’s been a continued low level of busy-ness in my little life that keeps me from sitting down and getting things done on the computer. 

For example, my Chevy Volt has been acting up which necessitated a couple of trips to get it serviced. It still doesn’t seem to be 100% and I’ve pretty much made up my mind to get a new car for Barb. I will take her Camry for some time until there is a wider selection of electric cars that I want. After researching online, I came to the conclusion that getting a new Camry Hybrid for Barb is the best bet, so we are now going through the rigamarole of buying a new car. It’s surprisingly difficult. The local dealer is not even taking orders for new cars; they will put you on a waitlist and let you know if something close to what you want comes available within the “5-state area”. So now we’re waiting, as if for an adoption, a little bit in limbo.

Reaching a decision about selling a car is a little more wrenching than I remembered. It’s more like deciding when to put down a cat or dog. After six years or so, the car is a sort of member of the family wrapped up with my own identity and personality. It’s an odd sentiment. Now I’m faced with the task of cleaning out my car to get it ready to sell but not knowing when that might actually happen — and hoping that I don’t have to sink more money into getting the car fixed in the interim.

In the meantime, Thanksgiving looms. Barb and I are going to Leslie’s, which means we are preparing mashed potatoes (which I’m doing today, a day ahead) and asparagus…because Leslie was not enthusiastic about us making green bean casserole. I’m mildly insulted about the green beans but then I don’t really like the casserole very much either. But how else will I get my annual fix of French’s Fried Onions? Barb will do a pumpkin pie, too. We will join Leslie and her extended family who, as a group, are not our favorites but then I doubt we are theirs. It’s nice of Leslie to have us. 

It was great seeing Allie a couple of weekends ago for our erstwhile Thanksgiving but we will still miss her on the actual day. She will spend it with some friends in Boston and we will catch up with her afterwards. It was the sensible thing to see her ahead of time and not have any of us travel for this actual weekend, but it’s not really a substitute for being together. We’re all looking forward to having her here for Christmas and New Years.

Yesterday we had a Scattergories game that included nearly the entire family: Sue at her home in Gainesville, Laurie from Segovia, the Shinn family from Andalucia somewhere near Malaga, Jonah from I guess Jon’s parents’ house in Gainesville, the Saidis in San Antonio where Riad is shooting Pig Royalty, Jill and her girls from the Galapagos, and me and Manny. We were only missing Maggie and her boys. It was mildly remarkable to see everyone at once and wish each other Happy Thanksgivings. The game itself was beside the point.

I’ve been able to watch a flurry of movies lately which I’ve chronicled…none of them great but it’s nice to see some decent offerings come available. The eight-hour Beatles: Get Back documentary starts streaming tomorrow and will keep me busy for the weekend.

There’s a melancholy air to Thanksgiving in general this year. The nation is in a much better place than we were a year ago, to be sure, but we are scarred and a little bit scared. The virus has not gone away — we are better protected but the threat still festers. The economy is much better but there are worries about inflation that have been dormant for decades. The political world is not actively erupting but the pressures for coming elections are mounting. There is a lot to be thankful for but people are still pretty darn worried. It’s an odd state of being. I don’t think anyone wants this to be the “new normal” but it’s unclear what to do about it other than keep on riding and waiting.

Numbers:

• Global cases: 259M; Daily average: 566K; Total Deaths: 5,170,000
• USA cases: 47.9M; Daily average: 95K; Total Deaths: 775,000 
• Maryland cases: 580,000; Deaths: 11,145; “At risk of outbreak” per CovidActNow.org
  • 0 states “On track to contain COVID” ( )
  • 4 states “Slow disease growth” (Puerto Rico, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama)
  • 20 states “At risk of outbreak” (Northern Marianas, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, Washington…)
  • 28 states “Active or imminent outbreak” (Minnesota, New Mexico, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Wisconsin…)
  • 1 state “Severe outbreak” (Michigan)

Happy Thanksgiving, one and all.

December 1

This past week we’ve been confronted with the Omicron variant of Covid-19. The WHO designated it a variant of concern, many nations restricted international flights from southern Africa, and global stock markets wobbled. The jury is still out on how serious an actual threat the variant poses; it seems more transmissible but it’s not clear whether its effects are more severe or whether our current vaccines are sufficient. Scientists need a couple more weeks to make those judgements, it seems. But that doesn’t mean the world can’t panic for the time being. I prefer not to. Continuing with our current precautions and not taking further risks seems like a reasonable course at the moment.

Virus spread in the U.S. has dropped a little, though that may just be a matter of reporting anomalies during Thanksgiving. The cold weather states are generally seeing higher rates of spread. I’m not sure what’s happened in the Northern Marianas. For most of the year the islands had the best rates in the country; now they’re among the worst.

Numbers:

• Global cases: 263M; Daily average: 573K; Total Deaths: 5,220,000
• USA cases: 48.1M; Daily average: 83K; Total Deaths: 777,000 
• Maryland cases: 586,000; Deaths: 11,206; “At risk of outbreak” per CovidActNow.org
  • 0 states “On track to contain COVID” ( )
  • 6 states “Slow disease growth” (Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana…)
  • 16 states “At risk of outbreak” (Connecticut, Idaho, Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina…)
  • 30 states “Active or imminent outbreak” (New Hampshire, Vermont, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northern Marianas…)
  • 1 state “Severe outbreak” (Michigan)

Manny has survived his two postoperative weeks in a cone. I relieved him of the cone last night and he seems much happier, sprightly even. He’s playing with toys he usually doesn’t care about. He’s getting two cans of wet food each day, now supplemented with some dry food that I soak in a little water. He seems pretty happy with that mix. With the cooler weather he’s also very insistent about lap time with me. 

Allie was offered a new job and accepted, starting in mid-January at Lantern, a new Massachusetts-based cannabis shopping and delivery website. It’s a spinoff of Drizly, a successful web-based liquor store. She’s getting in at pretty much the ground floor, one of the first 30 employees. She knows it’s a bit risky but figures now is a good time in her career to try something like this. We wish her and the company the best of luck in this new adventure. My guess is that it should be an interesting ride for a couple of years and may even turn into a home run if Lantern can successfully navigate the myriad shifting local cannabis laws, state by state. In a few years that industry will probably be in a very different situation and it seems a fair chance that Lantern might ride the wave.

Taking on a new job complicates our plans for Allie to join us in Key West and Marathon in late January. She’s still not quite sure about coming but I think it’s unlikely. If she doesn’t, I may shift our reservation to just stay in Marathon where Barb can more likely get a tan. We’ll see. I don’t think the virus will keep us from going but one never knows, do one?

I’m about to put down the full payment for our 2023 Australia/New Zealand cruise. Surely things will be better by then, right? I’m hoping, and still going ahead with it even though it may be one of the few big splurges I can see on the horizon. It’s not that I don’t think we will travel, but I doubt we will do many other cruises or fly halfway around the world after this. The financial and environmental costs seem more extravagant than I’m comfortable with. We’ll still take nice trips, but probably not many like this one. 

I’ve continued to watch a lot of TV lately. See my capsule reviews of The Beatles: Get Back, Shang Chi, Passing, and Tick, Tick…Boom! I wouldn’t have guessed that the latter would be my favorite of the bunch.

December 6

It seems my wishful thinking last week that maybe the virus had peaked was premature. Daily case counts in the U.S. are again topping 100,000 and the more contagious Omicron variant is starting to pop up all over the country. It is still too early to know whether this spells doom and gloom – we don’t know how severe things will get –  but it seems we are bound to have a winter surge one way or another. On a global level, we are at just about the same level we were one year ago, though in the U.S. we are at about half the number of daily cases compared to this time last year. Geographically, northern Europe and the northern tier of U.S. states have the highest rates, which is a bad portent as the rest of us get colder. Last year, case counts peaked (in the U.S. and globally) in early January then dropped precipitously. I hope this year’s pattern is no worse, but that’s only more wishful thinking.

Selfishly, I’m most concerned that it doesn’t impact our travel plans in January (the Keys) or March (music trip with Laurie). I also hope that not too many people get sick or die…but that’s kind of a second thought at the moment. We’re still eating in restaurants now and then and going shopping with masks. Most but not all people are still wearing masks around here. I think I may start double masking again, and I’d like to find some actual N-95 masks just in case. I can’t recall ever seeing one for sale in a store but clearly some people have them.

Numbers:

• Global cases: 266M; Daily average: 622K; Total Deaths: 5,250,000
• USA cases: 49.0M; Daily average: 110K; Total Deaths: 787,000 
• Maryland cases: 593,000; Deaths: 11,255; “At risk of outbreak” per CovidActNow.org
  • 0 states “On track to contain COVID” ( )
  • 3 states “Slow disease growth” (Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alabama)
  • 14 states “At risk of outbreak” (Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Maryland…)
  • 30 states “Active or imminent outbreak” (Wisconsin, Indiana, New Mexico, West Virginia, Iowa…)
  • 6 states “Severe outbreak” (Northern Marianas, Rhode Island, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire…)

I went for my annual medical checkup last week and was dismayed to confirm that I’d actually gained weight from last year. I was doing better a few months ago, but November definitely did me in. The rest of my numbers are pretty good, not any worse but not much better. I’m still near diabetic and have higher blood pressure than I should, even if I’m a little better than last year. In general, I’m reasonably healthy but for the fact I’m way overweight and can’t seem to lose it.

My doctor offered a newly approved prescription treatment for weight loss, Wegovy. He gave me the first injection and I have three more samples to do each week for the rest of the month, then weekly thereafter in increasing doses. I’m not convinced I want to do this. For the past three days I haven’t had any particular side effects and had less craving for food; I’ve been eating a little less and am generally more conscious of what I’m eating. So maybe the drug is working or maybe I’m just talking myself into it. Next Friday I’m supposed to self-administer a shot. We’ll see how that goes.

In other aggravating ongoing news, we are still looking for a new car for Barb. We know what we want but our local dealer can’t find us a Camry Hybrid even though we widened the color parameters a bit. I got a little impatient yesterday and did a search via AAA that resulted in my name being shuttled to a different corner of our local dealership, so now I’ve got a different department calling me and my original salesperson is pissed off. So that bodes well. I’m going to give them a few more days before I widen my search to some other models. There are some Hondas and Hyundais that may be better than the Camry, but Barb is already comfortable with getting a new Camry. My Volt seemed to operate a little better over the weekend, but I need it to be a lot more reliable. Barb’s starting to tell her friends “I told him that we should have gotten a new car a long time ago.” So there’s that, too.

Seems like I had more to write about when I started this entry, but I guess that will do for now. Oh, I finished Measuring the World, a novel about Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Gauss. I didn’t love it, unfortunately, but I’m ready to start a new nonfiction series by Alan Taylor, American Colonies. His two more recent books, American Revolutions and American Republics seem very much up my alley and are well reviewed but I figured I should start at the beginning.

December 14

I’ve been on my weight reduction medicine for 10 days and can report that I’ve lost all of about 3 pounds…but I’m still about 5 pounds heavier than I was in September so it’s not saying much. I do notice that my appetite is suppressed and I’m trying to do better with portion control and less snacking. I was able to administer my own shot on Friday with no particular drama – it’s an easy injection tube that I can do in my leg, so that’s not much of an issue. I’ve more or less decided I will go ahead and finish this initial month of my free trial and then figure out if I want to go further. I’m hoping that if I can develop some better discipline over my eating habits then maybe I don’t actually need the medication. We’ll see.

The only side effect I’ve noticed in the past week is interrupted sleep and some disturbing dreams. I don’t know if that’s directly attributable to the medication or just anxiety over worrying more about my weight. The last couple of days have been better so maybe it was just something I needed to get used to. I emphatically realize that the best thing I can do for my overall health is to lose some weight, so I really want to change some of my bad habits. It’s not easy but for the moment I’m making some progress.

We’re still waiting for the new car we want to pop up somewhere so we can buy it. Barb’s pretty much settled on getting another Camry Hybrid so there’s not much point in me shopping for alternatives. So we wait. It would be great to get one in the next few days before I drive up to Boston to get Allie for the holidays. But if not, we’ll just wait a while longer. Barb agreed to use my car on Friday if needed, so I can take her current Camry up to Boston. It’s a much better car for a long journey. My Volt has behaved a bit better for the last few days, not exactly as well as it used to, but well enough. It does need new brakes, though. I’d very much like to get the new car and trade in the Volt rather than get the brakes fixed. I’m hoping that’s not too dangerous a decision.

Such is the nature of risk assessment. You make your choices and live your life. Last Friday, Barb and I went to Larry’s retirement dinner with Ashley, Tony, Tom Coons and surprise (to me) guest, Marcus. We ate indoors at Tio Pepe, an old Baltimore establishment, sitting together for nearly 4 hours. The meal, by the way, was terrible – some of the worst expensive food I’ve had in a long time – but the company was good and we had a nice night. Yesterday, I went to lunch with Jenny, Rose and Amber and likewise sat indoors for several hours in a relatively crowded place (The Point Crab House…at the marina where Lynn and Justin dock their boat). We assume these risks nowadays even though the virus is still very much around and the Omicron variant is spreading.  

We’ve topped 50 million cases in the U.S., 15% of the entire population. We’re about to pass 800,000 deaths in the U.S., a number too staggering to believe – more than the Civil War, more than the 1918 flu. Way more than we conceived possible two years ago. More than I would have thought possible after the vaccines were introduced a year ago when the U.S. deaths were “only” 300,000.

Numbers:

• Global cases: 271M; Daily average: 617K; Total Deaths: 5,310,000
• USA cases: 50.1M; Daily average: 120K; Total Deaths: 797,000 
• Maryland cases: 593,000; Deaths: 11,255; “At risk of outbreak” per CovidActNow.org
  • 0 states “On track to contain COVID” ( )
  • 4 states “Slow disease growth” (Puerto Rico, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana)
  • 13 states “At risk of outbreak” (Arkansas, Nevada, Idaho, Maryland, South Carolina…)
  • 32 states “Active or imminent outbreak” (Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, Indiana, Vermont…)
  • 4 states “Severe outbreak” (Northern Marianas, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Minnesota)

I guess this is what they mean by living with the disease. I’m off to a dentist appointment. Wish me luck.

December 22

We’ve had a busy few days here in the Duncan household. I drove up to Boston last Friday to get Allie and Perri and we returned to Maryland on Saturday. The drives went without incident though we had the usual random delays through Connecticut. Still, we made good time, particularly on Saturday. We were home in time for Barb to want dinner after Perri got a little bit settled.

We decided on Korean BBQ at Shin Chon and headed there at 5:30pm in the late dusk. After 16+ years of being careful about deer crossing the road, our luck finally ran out. Less than a mile from our home, I crested a hill and braked for one deer but as the car was slowing a second deer came following and we thumped into her. The front fender of Barb’s car was pretty banged up but we were all OK; the deer was in a heap on the road but still breathing. We decided the car was still drivable, and I made sure an oncoming car slowed down to avoid hitting the deer. We were all a bit rattled but decided to head on to dinner, hoping that the deer would at least be able to limp into the woods nearby. We knew not to try to touch it but not much more. We were relieved that when we returned from dinner we didn’t see a splattered carcass on the road. 

We were all thrown off a bit by hitting the deer and facing the complications of getting Barb’s car fixed, on top of the ongoing issues with my car and our difficulties finding a new car to buy. Meanwhile, the news was full of frightful expectations for the impending explosion of the Omicron variant of the virus, all of which made our various plans for the holidays that much more uncertain. Barb doesn’t handle uncertainty well. And then there was the matter of The Maids moving things in our house the previous Thursday – Barb still couldn’t find her lemon squeezer and some postcards she was using to send as holiday greetings to her work colleagues. It was driving her to distraction.

On Sunday, I filed an insurance claim on the car but there was little else I could do other than make plans to call repair shops on Monday. Allie and I went to see Spielberg’s new version of West Side Story (Barb had seen it on Saturday with Leslie). The film was good and it was fun to see it with Allie and discuss afterward. The original play, soundtrack and film had an outsize role in our families and we all had our own associations and memories. I was still a little distracted through it all, nevertheless. We had dinner reservations that evening at Medium Rare in Bethesda for steak frites. We took my car down and the dinner itself was fine, as usual, but we were all still a bit nervous that our little worlds were teetering on various precipices.

On Monday, Barb took my car to work and I set about various chores. I spoke with the body shop and found they could not schedule any repairs until February 1. I spoke further with our insurance company and confirmed that as long as the car was driveable it was not a legal problem to drive with a damaged bumper and wonky headlight. I made an appointment to take the car to my service guys at BA Autocare to check its roadworthiness. The earliest they could see it was Wednesday morning. I went on to do some grocery shopping and got a few last Christmas things. The car seemed OK, which was some relief. Neither of our cars were in good enough shape to reliably drive Allie back to Boston in January, so I reserved a rental car for five days starting New Year’s Day. The rate was pretty reasonable, so that seemed like a decent plan. 

The best news on Monday was that Barb found her postcards tucked into a drawer with stamps and mailing labels, right where she put them before the Maids came. And I found her missing lemon squeezer hiding in plain sight in the drawer where it belonged. The Maids hadn’t touched either of them, and Barb was greatly relieved that her world was regaining some sense of order.

The next couple of days settled down. Allie worked from our dining room, Barb took my car into work, Manny and Perri spent some time in the sun on the porch even though it was chilly. I showed Allie how to make spaghetti sauce on Tuesday evening and resolved to add some key family recipes to Billzpage, someday. 

So, with all these immediate small-scale home worries coming under some sense of control, I could pay more attention and feed my anxiety over the Omicron variant of the virus. It was first identified less than a month ago in South Africa but has exploded around the world astonishingly quickly. It already accounts for the majority of Covid cases in most of Europe and now in parts of the U.S. There is still uncertainty over its severity but there’s no doubt it is very highly contagious. So far, the consensus seems to be that risks for vaccinated, boosted individuals (us) are relatively low but given the laws of large numbers it will still infect many more people and you don’t want to be one of the ones who get really sick. There is credible talk of upwards of one million new cases per day in the U.S. within a few weeks. Hospitals in many areas are already near capacity, even in Maryland, and unfortunate regions could get swamped in coming weeks. 

Numbers:

• Global cases: 277M; Daily average: 712K; Total Deaths: 5,380,000
• USA cases: 51.5M; Daily average: 168K; Total Deaths: 810,000 
• Maryland cases: 631,000; Deaths: 11,255 (Maryland data hacked in December, not accurate) per CovidActNow.org
  • 0 states “On track to contain COVID” ( )
  • 0 states “Slow disease growth” ( )
  • 12 states “At risk of outbreak” (Washington, Alaska, Louisiana, South Carolina, California…)
  • 30 states “Active or imminent outbreak” (Connecticut, Maine, Wisconsin, Vermont, Indiana…)
  • 10 states “Severe outbreak” (Northern Marianas, District of Columbia, Rhode Island, New York, New Hampshire…)

That said, it is Christmastime and everyone has plans, including us. We are very much in the game of assessing risks and trying to decide what to go ahead with or what to cancel. So far, we have not canceled much of anything. On the immediate table for us: 

• Allie and I had lunch indoors at a restaurant yesterday.
• I’m going shopping today at the grocery store.
• Allie is visiting a school friend this evening for dinner at his Mom’s house. They’re both vaccinated and boosted.
• Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we are due to go to Mary Diamond’s house to revive our pre-Covid tradition of being together (which extends back to her Mom, Jessie O’Neill’s, tradition). Barb is eager to do it and Mary seems willing to go ahead – everyone is vaccinated and boosted. 
• On Christmas Day, Leslie is due to stop by for a short visit but otherwise we are on our own with our traditional meals of Christmas casserole for breakfast and roast beef for dinner.
• We have no Boxing Day plans at the moment and will probably just enjoy leftovers rather than go out.
• On Monday I take my car in for repairs and have an indoor tennis game that evening.
• On Wednesday, we go down to DC for a two-day getaway we planned a while ago. We have lunch and dinner reservations at indoor restaurants at the moment, I thought we’d spend an afternoon in one of the Smithsonian museums, Allie and I have tickets to a John Oliver show at the Kennedy Center, and we have a hotel booked for two nights. On Thursday I thought we’d visit another new Smithsonian exhibit (Futures), we have dinner reservations and then we have tickets for the Carole King musical, Beautiful, at the Kennedy Center. At the moment, we’re thinking we will go ahead with all these adventures, appropriately masked. The variable between now and then is whether the Kennedy Center cancels either of the shows. If they do, then we’ll probably cancel our getaway without having to lose any deposits.
• We have no New Years Eve or Day plans at the moment.
• On Jan. 2, Barb and Allie have a reservation for tea at the Willard in DC
• On Jan. 3 or so I plan to drive Allie back to Boston.

Now that I type it all out, it seems like a lot. We’ll see what actually transpires over the coming two weeks. On Jan. 23, the three of us are booked to go to the Keys for the week. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but the plan right now is to go. I’m hoping that Omicron will be a short burst and we might be on the downslope toward the end of January, but I know that’s mighty optimistic. It might be expensive to try to move the reservations if we have to.

So, we continue to live in uncertain times. We wish ourselves luck and hope that everyone we know and love can successfully surf through this Omicron wave.

December 27

We had a nice, quiet Christmas. Santa was good to us all. We saw Mary Diamond and her family (Bruce, John, Jessie, and John O’Neill and Ben) in McLean on Christmas Eve. They served us a nice dinner and rather than sing Christmas carols as is the tradition, we asked Alexa to play our requests, which was goofy but pretty fun. We stayed for 4 hours which was about an hour more than I wanted, but we seem to have survived the evening with no ill effects. 

Leslie also came by our house for about an hour to visit on Christmas Eve. In general, we are getting back in the mode of limiting our exposures to possible Covid situations, but not heavily curtailing activities yet. Barb and Allie went with Leslie to a movie on Boxing Day (The Kings Men) and went grocery shopping after that. 

We are still planning to go to DC in a couple of days. I feel like we are walking into a firestorm but as long as the Kennedy Center shows stay on track – which they are so far – we plan to go. It occurs to me that a slightly less risky option is that we just drive down to see the two shows, forgoing the hotel room and dinners in town. We will discuss.

Meanwhile, the virus is certainly exploding all around us. In the last few days, Maryland has shot to double its highest rate ever, into “Severe Outbreak” level. I have my indoor tennis game tonight and it is now mandated that we must play with masks on. This is my last game until March anyway because my partner Deb is heading out of town for two months.

Numbers:

• Global cases: 280M; Daily average: 749K; Total Deaths: 5,400,000
• USA cases: 52.2M; Daily average: 214K; Total Deaths: 815,000 
• Maryland cases: 664,000; Deaths: 11,255 (“Severe Outbreak”, Maryland death totals not updated) per CovidActNow.org
  • 0 states “On track to contain COVID” ( )
  • 0 states “Slow disease growth” ( )
  • 6 states “At risk of outbreak” (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska, Oregon…)
  • 32 states “Active or imminent outbreak” (Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Maine, Vermont, Michigan…)
  • 15 states “Severe outbreak” (District of Columbia, New York, Puerto Rico, New Jersey, Rhode Island…)

So, just a short update for today. We’re keeping our eye on things, enjoying Allie’s company, and wishing Manny would be nicer to Perri. He’s not being a good host.

December 28

As an update, upon sharing my cold feet idea of just going to see the shows in DC and skipping the dinners and hotel, Barb said “Duh” and wondered why that hadn’t occurred to me earlier. Allie was upset about missing the DC activities, saying that she didn’t need to take the days off…which hardly seems to matter to me since she’s leaving her job in a few weeks. In any case, I mulled the options and decided to juggle things to slightly reduce our exposures to crowds.

So now, instead of all going down on Wednesday, just Allie and I will head to DC, check into the hotel and park my car, then go over to the Smithsonian Futures exhibit for a few hours. We’ll then go to a more exotic restaurant choice, Pisco y Nasca, a Peruvian place near the hotel. Then we’ll go to the John Oliver show at Kennedy Center and spend the night at the hotel. 

On Thursday, I’ll drive back home to fetch Barb, rescue her from The Maids who are due that day, then come back to the hotel. We can maybe walk around Georgetown or something in the afternoon or just lay low before an early dinner at 5pm. We found a nice New Orleans-ish restaurant, Dauphine’s, that features a seafood tower that seems to have our name on it. If time permits, we can walk back by the White House and Ellipse with the National Christmas tree (or maybe we do that on the way to dinner) and maybe stop by Founders & Farmers (our other top restaurant option) for dessert and kettle corn. We should be able to drop any leftovers back at the hotel before going to see Beautiful, the Carole King musical at Kennedy Center. 

After one more evening at the hotel, we will return home Friday (New Years Eve) via Mikey & Mel’s in Fulton where we can get brunch and pick up whitefish and bagels for New Years Day.

On January 2, I plan to drive Barb and Allie to their tea at the Willard, killing time outdoors or maybe driving around Arlington or something.

So that’s our minor set of compromises in the face of the Omicron variant. DC, of course, is currently the nation’s epicenter of outbreaks, but here we go anyway with our KN95 masks and a slightly reduced indoor schedule. It seems certain we will be exposed to the virus, we just hope our masks might prevent actually contracting it. And if we do, we hope our vaccines and booster will protect us from any severe reactions. Time will tell. I at least hope I’m able to drive Allie and Perri back to Boston on January 3, the current plan. The exact date is a little flexible for Allie, so if it takes an extra day or two, that’s OK.

All of it is predicated on wishful thinking, but also a matter of being fed up with the virus and figuring out how to live with it rather than be frozen with fear. We’ll see if it’s a foolhardy decision. I’d like to say it’s a calculated risk, but there’s no real calculation involved. 

I played tennis last night with a mask, a miserably frustrating experience mostly because my glasses kept fogging up. I’m happy I won’t have to worry about it again for a couple of months. I hope by March things will be better. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope is not a strategy, they say, but it’s about all I cling to.