No ominous vibes.
2019 ended with a trip to Welland to see family with our new poodle puppy in tow, followed by a New Year’s Eve dinner.
2020 started routinely.
JANUARY
We did make it to midnight, coughing the whole time.
I spent the first few days trying to rehome a piano for Alison (one of the writing group). It ended up going to a young relative of hers who was just starting to learn. Piano looked to be a major part of this year – 2020. I had made the decision to pursue my Associateship of the Royal Conservatory of Canada so lots of piano lessons and piano practice. An onerous undertaking.
The Forest City Wordwrights, my writing group, continued its monthly sessions. Amazing that we have been together for four years. I submitted a story about the loss of Ivy, our last Doberman, to Chicken Soup – worth doing but like most rejections today the response was “silence”.
Dog training is also a high priority for 2020 – Kohl, now 6 months old, is getting bigger and much more confident. Definitely got a mind of his own. He graduated from Grade 1 and moved on to Grade 2 – at a training centre about an hour and a half drive east of London.
Having invested in clippers, scissors and a very powerful dryer we wimped and pursued grooming services from the co-breeder who has set up a new business in Strathroy – a half hour drive west of London.
Good thing Kohl likes the car.
FEBRUARY
I celebrated my birthday at the ortho clinic (again!) seeing the surgeon for my follow-up and to celebrate the completing of my participation in a two-year study related to different types of hip replacements.
The writing group was active – checking out competitions and reviewing books on the art of writing.
In a test of my piano accomplishments – I played t the St. Thomas Rotary Festival – this time a Chopin Etude, by memory. Wish it had gone better but the adjudicator was very generous. This piece is now so much better, but it is hugely challenging and wildly fast. I played in the Festival two years ago three weeks after my hip replacement surgery, hobbling up on stage on my crutches. I played that time much better – the adjudicator just about took a header over my crutch at the end of my performance.
MARCH
There were murmurs about a virus surfacing in Europe – my recollection is that Italy was the primary focus for the first part of the month. A couple of cases occurred in the West – US and Canada – but the general response from the powers that be here in Canada was that there was no great concern. So life went on.
We attended a performance to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s death – Gerald Vreman, my piano coach, played the Concerto #1 as the highlight of the event. It was well attended. I remember discussing the Italian situation with the virus with another of Gerald’s adult students who was planning to go to Italy in April to address family situations. (She didn’t go. Several of her relatives contracted the virus.)
Mid March we went to a wine tasting in Niagara – a fabulous cheese buffet spread and several wine options. But there was now a tension, a concern about the buffet and strangers in close confines. The winery had staff serve rather than everyone helping themselves. We had stopped at a Niagara distillery on the way in and a couple of small bottles of hand sanitizer were included in our order. The distillery undertook the production of large quantities of sanitizer and delivered it for free to paramedics, police and other frontline workers in the Niagara region. Many other wineries stepped up to provide more supply.
It was still several days later before all non-essential businesses were ordered closed. Schools were closed. Our beloved Covent Garden Market and Jill’s Table (our favourite kitchen store) closed – we went to both weekly. The vendors were (well still are) our friends. No more housecleaning. No more hair salon. The Club closed but reached out to the community by establishing a meal delivery service.
There was a mad rush on toilet paper.
Technology stepped in. Our dog training went online to complete the Grade 2 course. My piano lessons moved to FaceTime. Yoga went to Zoom. No dog grooming but, using Skype, the groomer delivered a lesson on coat maintenance. Our personal fitness training group moved to virtual using Physiotec.
We walked the golf course with the dog – my Fitbit recorded thousands of steps a day.
The writing group also went virtual – low tech. As if isolation wasn’t hard enough to bear additional upheavals happened. A marriage breakup (upside, the husband had bought a lot of toilet paper before he walked out and didn’t take it with him). The member I had helped with the piano – 88 years old – had just moved into a retirement home and no one could visit. The group tried to stay motivated by doing scheduled prompt writing sessions and circulating the results via email. The better efforts were added to our website. Forest City Wordwrights
In our family, our son worked from home and was “daddy day care” to a 4-year old. His wife quarantined herself thinking she had symptoms, but her test came back negative. She then went back to work, 12-hour shifts, in the dialysis unit of her hospital.
Trips planned got cancelled – my sister’s trip to Florida to join her spouse cancelled. Instead, he was trying to figure out how to get home. And her vet practice was working on a new no-touch system of treating pet patients.
We were already starting to feel guilty that our lives had changed but, comparably, we were untouched. Ergo my addition to my wardrobe –
God grant me the
Serenity to accept things
I cannot change
The Courage to change
The things I can
And the Wisdom to know
When just to play PIANO
APRIL
Everything went quiet and the atmosphere was electric. Our community Owners’ Council (I am a long-time council member) went to Zoom. Wineries and the dog training outfit got creative to keep their clientele in the loop – Zoom, Instagram Live and Facebook Q&A. Friends talked of disappointment at not seeing family at Easter. Church services went online.
We drank wine, ordered more. The writers group organized lots of prompt sessions and took advantage of virtual writing workshops.
I wrote at the time….
OUTSIDE THE WINDOW.
Coming back to life – cutting the grass. Seems almost normal. Kohl is checking out this new activity. Well not really new – back in the fall of 2019 it was normal routine. Nothing normal about today.
Well that really isn’t true either. The sun is shining, the grass is green, the leaves are starting to unfold from their buds on the trees. The bees are back, feasting on the dandelions. I rescued one from the sunroom and set him free. Something missing though.
No golfers.
The irrigation system was being checked this morning. Big sprays of water over the 1st green. The fertilizer cart headed back from the second hole. The greens are cut, the rough is trimmed.
No golfers.
There are walkers galore. What else is there to do? Our private park. I’ve hit my 10,000 steps several times. We have videoed Kohl doing his leash work and his tugging and his retrieving. Posted it online because there are no dog training classes. We chat from a social distance with fellow residents. Introduce Kohl but no social interaction allowed. Walking carefully by fellow walkers, an appropriate distance maintained, a wave, a smile.
The eagles are soaring in the afternoon sky. A robin has nested on the pillar by our front porch. Not sure where the ducks nested this year. Kohl and I watch them come and go from the ponds. And geese, of course. The superintendent was out a few weeks ago – loud noises to spook them away. Back down to the Thames Valley Conservation area or Kains Woods. Kohl has met a muskrat and checks out the stream every walk to look for him (or her). We spooked two deer who bounced down the fairway, tails flagging white and high. Kohl would have been in hot pursuit except for the leash.
No golfers.
In a normal time, spring, warm, we would not be walking on this course soaking up the joy of renewal. We truly would be observing outside the window. So all beautiful and vibrant but all outside the window.
Outside the window.
MAY
The days are now starting to blend together, one after another, a disturbing lack of rhythm. Days, now weeks, now months.
Just in case we thought spring was actually here Mother Nature delivered a final dose of winter.
Just a week later the golf course opened. One person per cart. Social distancing. No raking of the traps. The Clubhouse was still closed. To complement the meal delivery program the Club initiated a grocery service. A godsend to some in the community who were reluctant to or unable to go to a grocery store. Social distancing at our favourite store was almost impossible so we stopped going. Masks were promoted for anywhere social distancing wasn’t possible – in a very short time both masks and social distancing were mandated.
Kohl was in dire need of a groom, but no groomers were allowed to be open. We discovered ticks. Fortunately, not carriers of Lyme disease but we combed Kohl out carefully after any walks in the fescue. Lots of deer and coyotes so not a surprise but easy to miss. End of the month Kohl got his groom. I didn’t. I looked worse than Kohl.
It was disappointing to have to celebrate a friend’s 88th birthday virtually. Not even a cake was allowed to be delivered. So, I made her a birthday card and posted a virtual party on the writing group website. The new owner of her family homestead tried to do a visit outside her window but was discouraged by the management of the retirement home.
Just for an outing we drove to Niagara for a curbside pickup of barbecued brisket – crazy – we were getting claustrophobic. It was delicious. Kohl came on the drive but didn’t share in the brisket.
JUNE
The region started opening up. With some trepidation we went back to personal fitness training – 1 client at a time, by appointment only. We visited the market and our favourite kitchen store but our emails setting up these outings show quite a bit of angst.
And now masks – I ordered masks from a clothing store – Frank Lyman specials. One of the residents in the community started making masks, no charge except that she was the volunteer fundraiser for the London Symphonia and a donation would be much appreciated. Expensive masks. One is a keyboard pattern and the other musical notes and clefs.
Out of the blue Howard got an email from his best friend when he was ten, a woman now living in Seattle. A package arrived from her – more masks.
Mid-month in-person dog training restarted – small class, no spectators. The patio at the Club opened with masks required except at the table. Separate entrance and exit paths. Owners’ Council meetings remained virtual. Piano lessons still on FaceTime.
The writing group continued to meet “virtually”, writing prompts and just staying in touch. The birthday member had a fall and ended up in hospital. It was hard to track down how she was. Visitors were very limited and she had to quarantine because of being at the hospital.
Just to add another challenge an element in our oven burned out. It took weeks to organize a repair call and weeks to find out it couldn’t be replaced. Good thing we had the Big Green Egg. I even cooked Yorkshire puddings on it.
JULY
Our favourite July event for years was the i4C – International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration. The organizers put together a virtual offering including the School of Cool event. Not quite as entertaining as the in-person. Not sure whether the 2021 event will fly or not.
The virtual lecture was interesting but not in the same league as this real experience in 2018.
Mid-July, masks were made mandatory inside businesses and restaurants.
A storm went through the area knocking out power. Wind shear took out trees and twisted a garage door like a pretzel. There was other minor damage, but our property was untouched.
AUGUST
Here we are on the Hidden Bench patio participating in a dog training Zoom call (using my iPhone for data) – a treat to be in the open air, a socially distanced outing. Only a couple of people were allowed inside the tasting room at a time. Everyone was masked on the formal patio and inside. That did lend an ominous air to the occasion that we tried to ignore.
Wine and the study of wine fills hours of the days.
Not my favourite task at the best of times but we had to kick off the election process for Owners’ Council. Three vacancies, four candidates. We set up the voting process on Survey Monkey.
Our medical checkup appointment pushed out 6 weeks. The clinic was closed. Doctors dealt with non-emergency medical issues on the phone.
And for the writing group, I wrote virtual meeting notes – a truly virtual meeting as it didn’t take place even virtually.
SUMMER DOLDRUMS AND COVID-19
Although we are escaping the oppressive heat of July and early August the fresh cool mornings just exacerbate the feelings of physical and emotional constraint brought on by social distancing, masks and angst. For those of us “trapped” in relatively idyllic locations we ache for those who are confined to homes, deprived of social interaction, suffering from ailments (some serious but medical attention is hard to obtain) or working in difficult circumstances (vets, dentists, health care workers). The fear mongering in the media and amongst our political class (domestic and international) makes it difficult to define what social activity is a reasonable risk and what is not. As we mask everywhere it seems like eons ago that our public health advisors were saying masks were useless. Now you can be lynched for failing to mask and “endangering” others even if there is no-one within dozens of feet much less six. As we tentatively test a return to “normal” – my piano lessons are now in person, but I arrive at one door and leave through another, masks are worn, handwashing is required and all the door knobs get sanitized between students. Yoga is still on Zoom. Kohl’s dog training is in person – 6 students in a huge training hall, masked, no spectators and, just to be sure, social distancing. I guess this will be the “new normal” for many weeks, months. Winter is ominously lurking – another form of confinement.
The Wordwrights have supported each other’s projects and creativity for several years now. It is hard to lose the physical connection even though it was only monthly. And that is especially hard when members of the group are going through personal challenges. Let’s keep reaching out to each other, virtually for now, but, with the power of Zen, lift our spirits and energize our creativity. Share the moments of despair but also indulge the moments of accomplishment even joy.
We will get through this!
SEPTEMBER
On the Labour Day long weekend, a Foreign Affair Brisket Event was organized – a picnic. Masks to enter the picnic grounds, questionnaire and temperature taken. Kohl accompanied us to this “socially distanced” picnic. He was a very good boy. Brisket sandwiches, baked beans and chips and, of course, a glass of wine. I was the driver – Howard had 2. Seven hours from leaving home to getting back. Pooched!
Last day of August and it looks like a new range will finally be installed. In this complicated life the deliverers of the range don’t disconnect the old appliance or connect the new one. So, we had to find an electrician to come in the day before the delivery and the day after. Having strangers wandering through the house was stressful. Then the range arrived with a significant dent – the price was adjusted by $500. The dent doesn’t show because the range is set into the cabinets but still annoying.
The Owners’ Council election went ahead with only a hitch or two on Survey Monkey. Sadly, one of the council members was diagnosed with lung cancer during the summer. She voted from her hospital bed and died a week after the results were published. Still miss her presence at the meetings – bright, funny.
OCTOBER
This month it is a year since we saw our close family. We looked at the possibility of visiting. Too many “uncontrollables”, particularly the 4-year old who loves to hug. That and our son doing part-time firefighting. And our daughter-in-law still in the health care system. And we would have to bring Kohl who has never met their dog, Odi (standard schnauzer).
We roasted a turkey for Thanksgiving even though it was just the two of us. Multiple turkey dinners, turkey pies, turkey stock, stuffing for pork tenderloin…not really an ideal menu option for two.
The trials of several of the writing group members continued. Real emotional hardship. Our prompt sessions stalled – jaded perhaps.
Makes me feel guilty for chafing at the restrictions when I have access to outdoors, to good food and wine, to books, movies and playing with/training my dog. I feel badly for my sister and the difficult processes implemented in her vet practice. Her significant other would normally be on the way to their property in Florida but not this year.
Fall moves on. Golfing is still a go so our walks are around the outside of the course. Absolutely gorgeous.
So much routine too. Numerous meetings and issues with Owners’ Council. Personal training resumed. Piano continues. Seems surreal.
There is a change in email – less from friends and family and more from retailers, vendors, travel sites – constant barrage of specials and opportunities. And lots from the Tudorose Poodle group (Kohl’s connections) and McCann’s dog training (Kohl’s connection again). Most of the blog posts from writing sites and piano and music sites remain unopened. Maybe I am also jaded.
Kohl needed his vaccinations so headed for the vet. Phoned when we arrived. A technician came out and fetched Kohl. We spoke to the vet, masked and socially distanced, and paid by phone.
And another little bit of normalcy, we got our flu shots in an outdoor clinic. Never got out of the car. In and out of the parking lot in 20 minutes including the 15-minute wait to make sure there was no reaction.
I wrapped up the month with a Zoom workshop from Quick Brown Fox – How to Write Great Characters. Of course, I haven’t managed to put the info to use.
NOVEMBER
I signed up for a Jill’s Table virtual cooking class. – Marvellous Mushrooms. We picked up the necessary ingredients from the store and from the market. Then I discovered the downside. I had to do all the prep and do it all before it was needed if I wanted to keep up with the Zoom presentation. The kitchen was destroyed. No question the pre-pandemic cooking class, sitting in the store’s teaching space with a glass of wine watching the guest chef work “magic”, delivered to us to taste, was much more relaxing. Not that my culinary results were disappointing. Not at all. Just a lot of WORK.
I registered for a Mysteries and Thrillers writing course through Western. It provided a little intellectual stimulation and I did make a little progress on one of my projects.
I finally got a scheduled medical procedure (CT Colonography) after a year of waiting. Initially I was told it could be scheduled spring of 2021 if I was prepared to go to Strathroy and summer if I wanted to stay in London. I got a call in November and took a deep breath and said OK. Perverse I suppose that a hospital is the last place we feel safe today – whether a patient or a health care worker. And an illustration of the delays the pandemic wrought on non virus health care procedures.
Piano practice is taking its toll on my hands. I have started serious physio! Patients have to fill in a wellness check online before attending a session.
We actually had a dinner reservation at the Club the first week of November – oysters on the half shell. The Club is really trying to keep the residents entertained. Of course, many of them should have been in their southern destinations by now.
The US election provided some significant “entertainment”.
A military organization promoted a virtual Remembrance Day. I posted pictures on their Facebook page and on my own. These two photos pretty much bracketed my father’s military career.
Here is the first picture of my father shaking hands with Prince Akihito in 1953, Victoria, British Columbia.
And the second was a plaque commemorating his role with the Canadian delegation of the International Commission of Control and Supervision, Region 4, in South Vietnam – 1973. The Canadian delegation was pulled out in only 6 months with the observation that they had come to supervise a ceasefire but were instead observing a war.
I also posted the following on Facebook:
Military initiatives are frequently remembered by the works of artists retained to capture the nature of the mission. My mother (her artist name, Elizanne) was selected to be the war artist in Vietnam during this short stint. I have a couple of her works from this project but understood that additional pieces were held in the collection of the Canadian War Museum. My husband and I decided almost 10 years after her death to visit the Museum. The librarian I consulted found the microfiche for us – it was quite emotional to browse those images. What was perhaps more astounding was that the librarian had no idea Canada had played a role in the peacekeeping efforts in South Vietnam.
My father, Colonel Frank Campbell, retired several months after returning from Vietnam. He became employed with The Plan (then Foster Parents Plan) and returned to Saigon as director of their operations there. He was in the process of moving to a new post in Indonesia with belongings packed on the quay to be shipped when he was told to be on the tarmac the next morning to board a Canadian plane. Evacuation of Canadians was underway. I saw my dad walk across the runway to board the plane – newsman, Craig Oliver, had called to tell me to watch. Saigon was falling.
Time Fillers
Tartine bread making every couple of weeks – my starter is 8 years old, I think. Takes the better part of a day to get the loaves into the oven. Slice it up and freeze it – great for grilled cheese except that the cheese oozes through all the holes in the bread. And absolutely amazing for croutons. I have revived my fondness for Caesar salad.
We are back to driving to Flamborough once a week for Kohl’s training class. Still no spectators allowed so Howard gets to sit in the car. I recorded the class with my iPad, leaning it against a chair so that Howard could see what we were doing.
No question that over this year Kohl has provided us with an invaluable distraction. He is oblivious to the stress.
DECEMBER
Last month of a crazy year.
Worth noting the huge push of email to encourage purchasing before Christmas. Businesses trying to survive.
More trials and tribulations for members from the writing group – their friends and family. Even quarantine at the retirement home. Yet several members have finished projects, made major inroads on projects and persevered with the creative writing exercises. The Thrillers and Mysteries course wrapped up.
Family birthdays came and went – quietly – just email or cards.
A morning visitor made short shrift of one of our shrubs – 6 feet outside our sunroom door. Like the spring there was still a rhythm to life.
“Outside the Window”.
One of our favourite Niagara wineries organized a virtual tasting. The Wine Club offerings were poured into serving size bottles and delivered. Food pairing options were recommended (we didn’t try everything). Very decadent.
A selection of hard cheese with fruit compotes (Heritage cheddar from Upper Canada Cheese Company) is beautiful with the Chardonnays. Brie with warm mushrooms for the Nuit Blanche. Crab cakes with the Chardonnays. A charcuterie board will always work with many options. Duck confit bites with the Locust Lane Pinot. Shaved Roast Beef with plum compote for the Terroir Cache.
Then we were shut down again. All non-essential businesses limited to curbside or delivery. The Club closed again. So what could we do to “celebrate” the Forest City Wordwrights.
“Virtual” Christmas Lunch. With London now in a red zone we have to face the reality that Forest City Wordwrights annual Christmas lunch at the RiverBend Clubhouse is not going to happen in 2020. So it seems like the best substitute would be a wander down memory lane. https://www.forestcitywordwrights.com/2020/12/13/virtual-christmas-lunch
Christmas
I couldn’t bring myself to put up a tree. I did put the wreath on the door, lit the candle in the lantern of a ceramic snowman and put Queen Bear in her place on the piano. We cooked a prime rib for our Christmas dinner. Too much turkey still in the freezer. Lots of email greetings, a couple of phone calls.
Then on Boxing Day, the stay-at-home direction – unless absolutely essential!
New Year’s Eve
New Years’ Eve a delivered dinner from the Club. A single malt scotch for me, a martini for Howard and a nice bottle of wine. The traditional Campbell dress tartan. Good omens!
A toast to 2021 and prayers for a respite from the pandemic.
