Monday, May 25
Statewide: 148 deaths, 3,927 cases, 112,110 tested (Deaths: +1) (Cases: +39)
It’s our 24th anniversary today. We celebrated with a dinner consisting of mixed salad with cilantro and tomato alongside canned sardines for the bride and kippered herring for the groom. Our salad dressing–as always–was the Turkish style with lots of lemon juice and just a little olive oil. Very nice. The main course was fresh baked rhubarb pie warm from the oven, with modest scoops of vanilla ice cream. Aah. Then a walk followed by a couple of episodes of our crime drama/soap.
We got mad at our show a few days ago for being too slow and depressing. But the action has picked up and we are once again reconciled to the ridiculously unlikely coincidences and etc. We were happy to see that Elif has finally been warned that the DNA test that she arranged to determine who fathered İpek’s child may have been tampered with by cunning Nedret and slimy snake Levent.
Anniversary celebrations are far from finished. Gifts have not yet been exchanged, though some have been ordered. We may also try staying a night or two at the coast, where hotels and other businesses are now somewhat opened up.
Tuesday, May 26
Statewide: 148 deaths, 3,967 cases, 115,450 tested (Deaths: +0) (Cases: +40)
A gardening and lawn mowing day. The irises are just about done; roses out in full force. The white calla lilies inherited from the previous owners are doing great. The blooms really last. Blueberries look very promising with hints of purple on the green. E spent a lot time attacking spider mite infestations, which are widespread. Worst off is a small hebe by the patio that is near death. On the up side, the little ice plant that we have dubbed ‘the sick man of Europe’ now has eleven blossoms and will have to be removed from the critical list, a better outcome than befell the Ottoman Empire a hundred and two years ago.
Got an invitation for a socially distanced Wednesday breakfast with chocolate chip scones! Sounds good to us.
Wednesday, May 27
Statewide: 148 deaths, 4,038 cases, 116,901 tested (Deaths: +0) (Cases: +71)
No new deaths, but somewhat of an upturn in number of new cases.
Started the day with good scones, good coffee and good conversation. Later on, we delivered a couple of pieces of pie to some of our old neighbors. It was nice to see B again. We talked, at a distance, just outside the garage wherein lives his newish car, a dark blue 2019 Toyota Avalon. (The color matched that of the car we arrived in.) Beautiful. Before this car, B had owned four new Cadillacs in succession. But the Cadillac dealer in Corvallis closed down and B likes to have a dealer nearby for servicing.
Had dinner at the old wooden table in our back garden. Moroccan vegetable stew over couscous plus a green salad with Ankara dressing. Delicious.
Thursday, May 28
Statewide: 151 deaths, 4,086 cases, 119,555 tested (Deaths: +3) (Cases: +48)
Hot weather today, with afternoon temps in the high 80’s. E and M did a hiking expedition, taking the little car up to Mary’s Peak, highest point in the coast range. Parked at the campground (which is closed) and hiked the Meadow’s Edge loop trail. A bit cooler up there and very lovely. Lots of yellow violets and white oxalis blooms. Also noticed a mass migration of half-inch long black beetles from an alpine meadow area downhill into a forest. Sandwiches and pineapple juice for lunch near the high point of the loop. (Some chocolate also.) Fun to give the Porsche some exercise. Top down on the way up, but on the way back, once out of the mountains the top went back up. Too hot. M seemed ill-prepared for this sudden summer and is suffering from sunburn. His night to cook; homemade pizza being the plan.
Friday, May 29
Statewide: 151 deaths, 4,131 cases, 122,579 tested (Deaths: +0) (Cases: +45)
On Thursday the 28th there were three articles on the front page of our newspaper. Two were by local reporters; the third was from the Associated Press. The first two sentences of the AP article were these: “The U.S. surpassed a jarring milestone Wednesday in the coronavirus pandemic: 100,000 deaths. That number is the best estimate and most assuredly an undercount.” That second sentence gave me pause, mostly because I had the impression that whether COVID deaths are being under-counted or over-counted has been the subject of some debate. I know that there was a controversy recently in the state of Colorado which resulted the state making revisions to its procedures and led to an announcement that the cumulative death toll was being reduced from 1150 to 878, a roughly 20% reduction.
So, what about this “most assuredly”? Where did it come from, this rather strange phrase? Is this phrase actually in common use these days? It sounds nineteenth century to me, or maybe just British English. But I digress. The real problem in the sentence is a logical one: No estimate can be both a “best” estimate and “most assuredly” a too low estimate at the same time. Aren’t best estimates, by definition, in the middle? The probability that they are too high is the same as the probability that they are too low. My feeling is that the phrase ‘most assuredly’ as used in the article is both a blatant lie (asserting that there can be no debate where debate obviously exists) and a logical contradiction. Maybe I’m crazy to worry about this. Maybe I’m getting so much logical incoherence in the stupid plot of our Turkish soap opera that I’ve become over-sensitized and gone round the bend. I don’t know.
Meanwhile, some good news from Denmark. And here are some early lilies.
Saturday, May 30
Statewide: 153 deaths, 4,185 cases, 126,693 tested (Deaths: +2) (Cases: +54)
Woke to the sound of thunder today followed by a brief shower. Then in the afternoon, a lot more rain. Good, we were tired of watering. High around 60.
The good news from Denmark, in case you missed it, was that the death toll there is relatively low. How about Sweden, you ask, the place with some of the mildest lockdown restrictions in Europe? Sweden’s toll is 42.7 per 100,000. That’s a lot higher than Denmark’s (9.8 per 100,000) or Germany’s (10.3), but lower than Italy, Spain or the United Kingdom all of which are in the mid to high 50’s. In these last three countries, all schools remain shut down. Sweden shut down its high schools at the start of the pandemic but never closed down its primary and middle schools. Denmark first shut down all schools but then reopened primary and middle schools on April 15th. What can we make of all this? Well…maybe not very much. Interesting though.
Sunday, May 31
Statewide: 153 deaths, 4,243 cases, 129,093 tested (Deaths: +0) (Cases: +58)
Nice quiet Sunday. In the morning E organized a Zoom call with her siblings. They seem to be a fairly nice group of people. Later on, M helps E with her photo album project. She plans to empty a number of old albums, pick out 600 or so pics for scanning, and then discard the remains. She has done this before. The actual scanning is done in the Philippines. She says that the whole process goes pretty well, because even if you forget where you put the CD that they sent you, it’ll turn up eventually.
In case anyone is wondering, Elif is in jail again and will soon go on trial for the murder of the man who killed her father 128 episodes ago. She remembers nothing of what happened during time that the murder occurred. She was found near the supposed crime scene in a dazed stupor, the murder weapon in her hand. The prison psychiatrist, who is in the pay of her enemies, is trying to convince her to accept the fact that she did the deed. Her enemies believe that this will cause her to either commit suicide or give a false confession, either of which would give them unbridled joy. So far this seems to be working. It is sad to see her so downcast, especially since we the audience know that the man she is supposed to have murdered isn’t even dead. Did I mention the hatchet that Fatih was holding behind his back? That’s how they set up the very damning DNA test on the body. Yup, lopped that thing right off and bribed the CSI guy to send it to the lab.