The first displacement of the virus brought grandson Nathaniel to us for a week after his university closed down. He recovered from his head cold, lowered the mirror the night before he left, and he and John got up at 3 am to get to the airport in Charlotte. His dad picked him up at Newark Airport, and they drove to his house upstate New York. There he will have a room with peace and quiet to do his online classes.

I enjoyed the birds feeding on the deck and tried to refill the bird feeder to keep the show going. I dropped the feeder, attempted to put it back together, and dropped it a second time. Cute though it was, the feeder could not take that abuse. The birds landed on the roof of the feeder and could see all the spilled seeds on the deck. Other birds went straight to the railing to peck at the suet cakes. They adapted quickly, I’ll say that for them. It was almost time to quit feeding them, anyway. Neighbor Joyce is tracking the migration of the hummingbirds and thinks the males will be here soon. None of the birds realize we are not as free as they are.

Joyce was the first to think of perching on the porch. We are not supposed to go in each other’s homes to visit, but we could be in the fresh air outside and stay six feet apart. She was the first to come to my porch. She basked in the sun, while I sat in the shadows, and we had a most satisfying chat. Someone commented that I should take a photo of porch-sitting, but I forgot to do it.

The next day neighbor Connie took a break from packing to move, and she visited with me on the porch. Bless her heart, she was willing to pose, so our visit was documented. Wasps kept circling close to her, which was unnerving. Son John $pencer found wasp spray and hit a few of the critters. Connie and I saw one die on the floor. I was armed with a fly swatter and the spray, but I didn’t kill any of them. At least the spray served as a warning, keeping them away from us. In the photo you can see the spray bottle on the small table and my chair beyond it. Our chairs were over six feet apart at that point. There is nothing like face-to-face conversation, even if your faces are required to be far apart.

I got my revenge on a wasp the next day. Opening the mailbox, I found a large one sitting on some letters. I gently pulled the mail out, but the wasp went toward the back. Using a piece of daughter Lise’s junk mail, I raked at it and poked it. Luckily it was stunned. I swatted it down and ground it to smithereens with my foot. I didn’t know death could bring such pleasure. Oh death, where is thy sting? It’s in the gravel where it can’t hurt me.