Eva Pasco's Blog - Posts Tagged "pandemic"
Eva’s Byte #256: That One Saving Grace
For the times they are a-changin' (Bob Dylan)
Under siege during these changin’ times, it’s more important than ever to embrace one saving grace.
Throughout the COVID – 19 global pandemic, our life situation changes daily!
Most of us have been reduced to foraging for basic necessities by hoofing it in sneakers on the ground and/or searching online. The psychological and economic devastations in themselves provide plenty of fodder for writers of Sci-Fi or Dystopian literature.
One consistency amidst these constantly changin’ times—truth is stranger than fiction:
Trying to survive as best we can by stockpiling essentials for the inevitable mandate of sheltering-in-place—the scarcity of toilet paper has increased our anxiety—3-ply. Guilty as charged! Oh…but, the unmitigated joy in being able to replenish—a saving grace!
As for my own personal saving grace during these changin’ times—flowers.
They’re still plentiful in the florist section of the supermarket, an oasis in the surrounding desert of empty shelves. Carnations are my favorite. I’m in the habit of picking up a bunch every week without fail. Arranged in vases, I enjoy their beauty in my dining room and entryway. Nature’s bounty has been especially comforting during self-isolation.
As the number of those infected with the virus keeps escalating in my state, it will no longer be feasible for anyone to hoof it on foot to forage for staples, let alone, one saving grace that makes a profound difference during these changin’ times.
If you’ve read this far, thank you! Stay safe and be well.
Eva’s Authors Den Page: https://tinyurl.com/yycm7d2w
Under siege during these changin’ times, it’s more important than ever to embrace one saving grace.
Throughout the COVID – 19 global pandemic, our life situation changes daily!
Most of us have been reduced to foraging for basic necessities by hoofing it in sneakers on the ground and/or searching online. The psychological and economic devastations in themselves provide plenty of fodder for writers of Sci-Fi or Dystopian literature.
One consistency amidst these constantly changin’ times—truth is stranger than fiction:
Trying to survive as best we can by stockpiling essentials for the inevitable mandate of sheltering-in-place—the scarcity of toilet paper has increased our anxiety—3-ply. Guilty as charged! Oh…but, the unmitigated joy in being able to replenish—a saving grace!
As for my own personal saving grace during these changin’ times—flowers.
They’re still plentiful in the florist section of the supermarket, an oasis in the surrounding desert of empty shelves. Carnations are my favorite. I’m in the habit of picking up a bunch every week without fail. Arranged in vases, I enjoy their beauty in my dining room and entryway. Nature’s bounty has been especially comforting during self-isolation.
As the number of those infected with the virus keeps escalating in my state, it will no longer be feasible for anyone to hoof it on foot to forage for staples, let alone, one saving grace that makes a profound difference during these changin’ times.
If you’ve read this far, thank you! Stay safe and be well.
Eva’s Authors Den Page: https://tinyurl.com/yycm7d2w
Eva’s Byte #259: Keeping the Distance
Not to be confused with keeping the faith, a separate strain for surviving the COVID-19 pandemic, beyond not becoming infected with the potentially lethal coronavirus. The live update as of 5:50 p.m., April 15th: 2, 073,555 cases; 134,020 deaths. Recovered: 509,038.
So, venturing forth in public, mandated for essential purposes only, that of surviving—we keep our social-distance: 6 feet asunder as opposed to 6 feet under, the depth of a freshly dug grave.
Keeping the faith that we’ll get past this crisis, it’s already a given that social-distancing and other Checkpoint-Charlie protocol will become a way of life as we slowly matriculate back into society.
Par for the course in following extreme measures to keep one’s distance, there are ill-effects from going too far:
For over month and counting, I’ve not been able to visit my elderly mother where she resides in an assisted living facility. In retrospect, it might seem a small price to pay for keeping those in a vulnerable age bracket institutionalized in their own home without physical contact from loved ones.
In a different light, deprivation of life as she knew it—and for how much longer—is an exorbitant price to pay when you’re 89 years old. She said as much herself.
Pheasant under glass comes to mind.
In the meantime, keeping my distance through self-isolation, unless heading out to the supermarket, I’ve gone the distance along my Contemporary WIP. This week, having finished drafting chapter 45, I’m in the throes of writing chapter 46.
*If you’ve read this far, thank you! While keeping the distance, may you find a way to reach out to loved ones from afar.
Eva’s Authors Den Page: https://tinyurl.com/yycm7d2w
So, venturing forth in public, mandated for essential purposes only, that of surviving—we keep our social-distance: 6 feet asunder as opposed to 6 feet under, the depth of a freshly dug grave.
Keeping the faith that we’ll get past this crisis, it’s already a given that social-distancing and other Checkpoint-Charlie protocol will become a way of life as we slowly matriculate back into society.
Par for the course in following extreme measures to keep one’s distance, there are ill-effects from going too far:
For over month and counting, I’ve not been able to visit my elderly mother where she resides in an assisted living facility. In retrospect, it might seem a small price to pay for keeping those in a vulnerable age bracket institutionalized in their own home without physical contact from loved ones.
In a different light, deprivation of life as she knew it—and for how much longer—is an exorbitant price to pay when you’re 89 years old. She said as much herself.
Pheasant under glass comes to mind.
In the meantime, keeping my distance through self-isolation, unless heading out to the supermarket, I’ve gone the distance along my Contemporary WIP. This week, having finished drafting chapter 45, I’m in the throes of writing chapter 46.
*If you’ve read this far, thank you! While keeping the distance, may you find a way to reach out to loved ones from afar.
Eva’s Authors Den Page: https://tinyurl.com/yycm7d2w
Eva’s Byte #261 - Consumed by Food
This week, anyway.
What consumes you, lately?
As each of us strive to survive and thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic, we adopt a new lifestyle, whether we like it or not.
Not liking to leave the sanctuary of my home to forage at the local supermarket, as the number of cases in my area surpasses 8000, I did so anyway.
Smoked out of my own home, consumed by food:
Since my last trip there, the latest standard procedure implemented involves one-way travel down the aisles, clearly designated by arrows strategically placed at the end of each intersection. As if that’s not enough, the voice projected from a loud speaker reminds everyone to follow protocol.
A few shoppers blatantly ignore the safety measure, compromising social-distancing, while cross-contaminating.
Civil Disobedience—Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” (1969) comes to mind.
Even if these nonconformists hadn’t given the slightest thought to jeopardizing others, you’d think they’d be concerned for their own well-being. Apparently not.
Once more, back home unless driven out by primordial needs, I’ve battened down the hatches, resuming my online quests to better accommodate a lifestyle imposed by the pandemic.
In that regard, I signed up for a weekly, meal-delivery service:
Good-for-you-food— less sugar, less processed ingredients, more nutrients, and 500 calories or less. Freshly chef-prepared. Ready to consume in minutes after heating in the microwave.
Also consumed with writing in my capacity as an author, this week I’m rounding the bend to completing the draft of chapter 47 in my Contemporary WIP.
*My sincere appreciation if you’ve read this far. May whatever consumes you for the time being, enable a healthier lifestyle.
Eva’s Authors Den Page: https://tinyurl.com/yycm7d2w
What consumes you, lately?
As each of us strive to survive and thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic, we adopt a new lifestyle, whether we like it or not.
Not liking to leave the sanctuary of my home to forage at the local supermarket, as the number of cases in my area surpasses 8000, I did so anyway.
Smoked out of my own home, consumed by food:
Since my last trip there, the latest standard procedure implemented involves one-way travel down the aisles, clearly designated by arrows strategically placed at the end of each intersection. As if that’s not enough, the voice projected from a loud speaker reminds everyone to follow protocol.
A few shoppers blatantly ignore the safety measure, compromising social-distancing, while cross-contaminating.
Civil Disobedience—Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” (1969) comes to mind.
Even if these nonconformists hadn’t given the slightest thought to jeopardizing others, you’d think they’d be concerned for their own well-being. Apparently not.
Once more, back home unless driven out by primordial needs, I’ve battened down the hatches, resuming my online quests to better accommodate a lifestyle imposed by the pandemic.
In that regard, I signed up for a weekly, meal-delivery service:
Good-for-you-food— less sugar, less processed ingredients, more nutrients, and 500 calories or less. Freshly chef-prepared. Ready to consume in minutes after heating in the microwave.
Also consumed with writing in my capacity as an author, this week I’m rounding the bend to completing the draft of chapter 47 in my Contemporary WIP.
*My sincere appreciation if you’ve read this far. May whatever consumes you for the time being, enable a healthier lifestyle.
Eva’s Authors Den Page: https://tinyurl.com/yycm7d2w
Eva’s Byte #291 – Thanksgiving: Then and Now
A former third-grade teacher for sixteen out of those twenty-nine years spent in the trenches of elementary education, the theme of “Native Americans and Pilgrims” loomed large in our social studies curriculum. Striving to steer away from teaching the subject in a boring and dry-as-hardtack manner, we brought that period in history to the forefront with meaning and relevance for 8 and 9-year-olds, by relying on the book, If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern.
Certainly, major relevance gleaned from the Pilgrim settlement at Plimoth Plantation was the realization that diverse cultures of a community could live in peace and harmony. This is a history lesson worth repeating today.
Then – October of 1621:
The Pilgrims celebrated the "First Thanksgiving" after their first harvest in the New World. The celebration entailed an outdoor feast lasting three days. In attendance—90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims.
*During the Mayflower voyage, a steady sea-diet high in salt weakened their bodies. Malnutrition, disease, and the harsh weather claimed as many as 2-3 colonists per day during their first two months on land, diminishing their original fold of 102 by half.
Now – November 26, 2020:
Due to the widespread surge in the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC has urged Americans to celebrate Thanksgiving virtually, or to assemble in gatherings limited to members of the same household.
Similar to the Pilgrim voyage which gave rise to a Thanksgiving feast, this same holiday is considered the busiest travel juncture of the year in order for family and friends from afar to be together at the dinner table.
*Recent statistics cite that at least 250,000 people in the United States have died from the virus since the pandemic erupted less than a year ago, last February.
Like our Pilgrim forebears, families and friends will need to come to an agreement as to the logistics for giving thanks and counting our blessings.
More importantly, we need to pay the holiday forward by harvesting peace and harmony in our community as the Wampanoags and Pilgrims did during the First Thanksgiving.
*My sincere appreciation if you’ve read this far.
Eva’s Authors Den Page: https://tinyurl.com/yycm7d2w
Certainly, major relevance gleaned from the Pilgrim settlement at Plimoth Plantation was the realization that diverse cultures of a community could live in peace and harmony. This is a history lesson worth repeating today.
Then – October of 1621:
The Pilgrims celebrated the "First Thanksgiving" after their first harvest in the New World. The celebration entailed an outdoor feast lasting three days. In attendance—90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims.
*During the Mayflower voyage, a steady sea-diet high in salt weakened their bodies. Malnutrition, disease, and the harsh weather claimed as many as 2-3 colonists per day during their first two months on land, diminishing their original fold of 102 by half.
Now – November 26, 2020:
Due to the widespread surge in the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC has urged Americans to celebrate Thanksgiving virtually, or to assemble in gatherings limited to members of the same household.
Similar to the Pilgrim voyage which gave rise to a Thanksgiving feast, this same holiday is considered the busiest travel juncture of the year in order for family and friends from afar to be together at the dinner table.
*Recent statistics cite that at least 250,000 people in the United States have died from the virus since the pandemic erupted less than a year ago, last February.
Like our Pilgrim forebears, families and friends will need to come to an agreement as to the logistics for giving thanks and counting our blessings.
More importantly, we need to pay the holiday forward by harvesting peace and harmony in our community as the Wampanoags and Pilgrims did during the First Thanksgiving.
*My sincere appreciation if you’ve read this far.
Eva’s Authors Den Page: https://tinyurl.com/yycm7d2w
