COVID-19 Picnic

Uncategorized 2 Minutes

We are a family of somewhat happy refugees, waiting for developing news of the corona virus. John rescued grandson Nathaniel from Charlotte after his university closed. Our poor student was suffering from an awful head cold, diagnosed by a walk-in health facility. It definitely was not the dreaded virus. He didn’t do the mirror ritual until 12 hours after he arrived.

Nathaniel moves the mirror up to show he is with us.

Son John $pencer and Rose left our house to avoid Nathaniel’s illness. They checked in with us from time to time with calls and texts, which I really appreciated. While they were hiking, Rose texted, “It’s a beautiful day here. I hope you are all enjoying it as much as I am.”

The next day they hiked to the ridge line and got a good signal. Rose wrote, “I hope you all stay well. We are in our element here and enjoying our freedom and break from the news.” She sent me a photo of their campsite.

As that photo was coming in, David, Nathaniel, and I were chatting with Lise in Denmark. She was supposed to go to Sweden to appear in a promotional video for a new type of stomach balloon for weight loss. The border was closed because of the virus, but they were able to do the video in Denmark. She was having stomach cramps because of the procedure. She explained that this would be the worst day, and she would feel much better the next day. As we chatted, she made up a new verse of the Misery song. Years ago she made up a song with the boys because she had a miserable cold. After that, she would add a verse when any of them felt bad. Today’s verse was something about “If I pop, you’ll need a mop”.

Lise said in Denmark people are required to stay 6 feet apart. From her flat, she looks down on the street outside a bakery. They have put tape on the sidewalk, marking intervals of 6 feet for those waiting to go inside one at a time.

The boys and I had a picnic lunch on the front porch. Normally we eat on the screened porch at the back, but it was windy and cold there. The fellows sat in the sun as I hid in the shadows.

Porch picnic

Nathaniel went inside and came back with his vintage leather jacket. He wanted it to warm up in the sun and said, “I feel like Pastor Hofler in this jacket. All I need is a cigar to compete the picture.”

David might have leaned forward to get out of the picture. Note toes high-lighted with white.

The sky was very busy, making me think that people were flying because they couldn’t shop. Every time I looked at the sky, I saw another plane streaking over. As old contrails disappeared, new ones took their place. I showed the boys what I saw – a cloud in the center of a tic-tac-toe grid.

Sky tic-tac-toe

Have any of you had pleasant things happen related to the viral pandemic?

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

Published

60 thoughts on “COVID-19 Picnic”

  1. Good question. I’m finding that now with the neighbor kids home all day, they’re playing outdoors more during the day. As a result I’m hearing lots of giggles and shouts of joy and basketball bouncing noises throughout the day– and these gleeful sounds make me smile every time.

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  2. I think John Spencer and Rose have the right idea. Despite not being able to play in the garden yet I have been spending more time at the farm ( mostly hanging out with the dogs and working on training Ranger). I am learning to appreciate the cool/cold/windy days more.

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      1. I’m still having to layer up too. Even wore long johns yesterday. IF the forecast is right the temps will be much warmer this week. I’m looking forward to that!!! 🙂

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  3. My brother Salem was racing around the house one day and lost his footing. He slid sideways into the wall and I almost cried I was laughing so hard!! He vowed revenge so now I’m napping with one eye open.

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  4. We are hunkering down here. We had a warm day on Friday and are hoping for more this coming week. The weekend is cool and windy. I have to remind myself it’s still March and for March we have had a very mild one. The kids next door are playing in their driveway. We rarely see kids outside in our neighborhood. They have lessons and sports stuff to go to or maybe they are inside on devices but it looks like parents are sending them out to get rid of excess energy! Just like my mom did!

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  6. The sunshine and fresh air are good for you. Nice to have your family around at this time. You are in an ideal situation. Take care. Our quarantine has been extended to mid-April. Lots of togetherness.

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  7. It’s nice to hear the children laugh outside. It’s also been peaceful and quiet. Fear can slow people down. Nobody going every chance they get, so the gasoline prices are down to $1.80 per gallon.

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  9. So good to hear you are all doing well Anne! It has been far to long since I have been on here. Life has been a bit crazy around here due to my annual women’s retreat (which happened prior to isolation stuff) and my brother in law breaking his knee cap. He is a bachelor and so siblings have been stepping in to help him.
    Love the photos! Not sure I will totally catch up but I am going to give it a good effort.
    Love to you all!

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    1. Don’t struggle to catch up. That is too daunting. Jump in to write a little of what you’ve done, and you’ll be swimming to keep up. That’s too bad that your brother-in-law’s knee was broken. Hope he mends quickly.

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  10. You sure are beneath an airplane thoroughfare! Is it noisy or are they to high to hear that much? Glad Nathaniel is well. My daughter and her BF may have contracted the illness, but they are self quarantined for two weeks. The brunt of it may have occurred before even leaving Amsterdam. So, they’d pretty much gotten over it. I heard from a Doctor friends’ wife that the cough will be dry to start then get extremely heavy in severe case, causing breathing to be difficult. So, hot teas and of course calling the doctor are important.

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  11. All nice!! Well, since neither we nor my daughter Kathryn own a car, the three of us videochatted today, using a website called Zoom. Do you know it? It’s free to use online. So we had a lovely visit this p.m. After that I did a big load of laundry down in the basement of our building. I washed my hands every time I re-entered our apt. so they are sparkling clean! In fact they’ve never been so C L E A N! 😀 All in all, not so thrilling but an ok day! Was quite cold so no walk. Tomorrow, definitely we’ll go for a walk outside!

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      1. Let’s see… 65F = 18C – that would be our threshold for eating outside, too. For walking, anything above zeroC (32F) is fine – provided there isn’t much wind! Have I mentioned I hate wind?! 😄

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  13. Sounds lovely. I was surprised by the air traffic. We have been doing puzzles and watching movies with Mom and walking on the beach and meeting friends and family online.

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  14. So glad that your grandsons are with you as you all hunker down to avoid the virus. I have been doing a lot of reading and running, both of which I enjoy a lot.

    I love the line form the “Misery Song”! 🙂

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  17. Anne-I have wondered if you lived near where the cases are increasing? Here, thankfully, for now-there are none in my county. I am so glad Nathaniel is out of Charlotte! Stay well and safe. love Michele

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    1. Yesterday the county said there were no confirmed cases of the virus, but 48 people have been tested. Results are not in yet. The cases in counties around us were brought in by one New Yorker who is now isolated in Franklin. Hope you can continue to dodge this virus.

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  18. The good thing – I finally feel all these years of buying a bit ahead for staples is a little justified. On a sour note, I am trying to shop for my parents so they don’t have to be exposed, they are in their 80’s. Although the grocery I shop in wants a reduced volume of customers, and has an hour set aside for seniors to shop, they would not allow me to purchase two separate orders. Everything had to be on the same tab. I know they are trying to stop over-buying but this makes things more difficult to try and sort out, so much easier when you can have two receipts and separate bagging for two separate households.

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    1. Sorry Anne, I realized after I posted my comment I’m not in any way being uplifting. I am still a bit stressed after my early morning run to the grocery store. I need to put my hands in some dirt, plant some seeds, and hope this heavy rain passes soon so I can go outside. Did I tell you NJ is no one of the states on lockdown?

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        1. Oh my….Anne, I went to the store between 6:45 and 7:00 and it was packed. I hope she makes out okay through all of this. It has to be stressful dealing with stressed people.

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  19. I’m glad you all are managing well through the lockdown. We are hanging in there too, we went and bought food to last a couple of weeks in case they enforce the shelter in place law. So far, we just have suggestions and some restrictions, Dallas has taken a much stricter stance so far than Ft Worth. I’m sure it’s coming soon though. I’m looking forward to warmer days so I can get outside and walk. I hope Nathaniel gets well soon.

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    1. Nathaniel is feeling much better, thank you. He is doing his online class in my room where he can shut the doors and be away from noise. He’ll fly to NJ Wednesday where his dad will pick him up and take him upstate NY. We still don’t have a confirmed case of the virus in our county, so things are not as tight here as elsewhere. I hope y’all will avoid the virus and that things will get easier soon.

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  21. Our whole state is shut down. My positive is that I really respect everything our governor is doing to try to keep the disease toll down. You really get to see a leader in this kind of time. I had no idea he was so capable.

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  22. Howdy Mountain Folk,

    Glad you found the very ferry stuff interesting. There used to be a ferry from Clason Point to College Point, but the city wanted to make a big showing for the 39 World’s Fair. They finished the Whitestone Bridge in record time to open the day before the Fair opened. A little Bronx history there. There used to be a sunken old ferry at the point, as we called it, when I was growing up. Never did find out when it sunk at the old ferry slip. Not sure when it was finally removed. I was hardly home all thru 7th

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