Monday, July 6
Oregon Health Authority: deaths 215 (+0) cases 10,395 (+165)
E did some grocery shopping today and mostly had a good experience–sensible procedures and few other shoppers. She found everything we wanted except one. It seems that the entire Adams natural peanut butter selection has gone missing. There was no creamy, no crunchy, no you stir, no pre-stirred. There was plenty of Jiff, which is sold by the same company as Adams, and plenty of Skippy, but none of the good stuff. Hardly a critical moment in world history, but it’s the kind of thing that’s been happening around here. Last week E was looking for low-sugar recipe pectin. We ended up checking every store in town. They all had regular pectin in the yellow box, but the pink boxes of the low sugar type were nowhere. How about online? Well yes it was there, but at three times the usual price. Bleh. Very annoying at berry picking time.
Speaking of shopping, we remember back at the beginning–oh so many months ago–we were all told to stay home and to minimize our trips to the grocery store, especially if we were over sixty. We were supposed to grocery shop just once every two weeks.. We have to confess that we never managed that. We did stop going shopping together as we used to. Now we take turns going alone. But the longest we ever lasted between store visits was a week and now we’re much worse. It seems to us, however, that around here it’s not just about how often you go, it’s also about when and where. A crowded store seems like an outbreak waiting to happen even if you go into it only once. A well-managed store when it’s mostly empty seems very different and doesn’t really scare us. E’s experience today was typical. She went at ten in the morning on a Monday, got in and out quickly, and was never closer than eight or ten feet to anyone except the checker who was behind a barrier.
Tuesday, July 7
Oregon Health Authority: deaths 220 (+5) cases 10,605 (+210)
Today was M’s turn to go grocery shopping. Both TJ’s and Mother of Markets were almost empty between 9:00 and 10:00 and everyone he saw was masked. The haul? Wine and dried fruit from Trader Joe’s, fresh vegetables, canned soup and two take-and-bake baguettes from the other place.
Later M also had to go to the hardware place–again–because it turns out that when he went the first time he had not bought enough cedar for his footstool project. He realized this only when he was staining the component pieces that he had cut out and sanded. During that process he was able to determine, by means of counting, that he had not provided his stool with a sufficient number of legs. Kuçuk problem vardı. E, with her unreasonably high standards, would likely object to using a two-legged stool.
In the evening, there was more Turkish TV. Remember how Umut jumped off the jetty and everyone–except for a few million television viewers–thought he was dead? The writers brought him back in the very next episode. Jeez.
Wednesday, July 8
Oregon Health Authority: deaths 224 (+4) cases 10,817 (+212)
We met J and R for tertulia this morning at the coffee shop. We sat at a table outside. It was a lovely morning, mild and partly cloudy. What an odd time this is. Everyone puts on a mask just before entering a shop, and then, instead of robbing the place, they pull out credit cards!
Later M worked on his wood project and E spread bark mulch and planted Zinnias. There was leftover paella for dinner. Deluxe.
Thursday, July 9
Oregon Health Authority: deaths 230 (+6) cases 11,188 (+371)
All bad news today from OHA, lots of new cases, high rate of positives, and the day’s death toll was among the highest ever.
M had two medical appointments in the AM, then went for a drive in the country to unwind. Best driving music of the day was Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory. Loud enough to hear at speed with the top down.
E’s Zoom enabled exercise class did drumming today. Improvised equipment consisted of a drum made from a large cardboard box set up on an upside-down laundry basket. Two wooden spoons served as drumsticks. Great fun. Afterward, Eve, the laundry basket and the spoons were all fine, but the cardboard box–which had underlying health issues–did not survive.
That was in the morning; later she had her first session of Laughter Yoga. She says that it was pretty easy. Just sit in a chair and laugh.
Friday, July 10
Oregon Health Authority: deaths 232 (+2) cases 11,454 (+266)
Saturday, July 11
Oregon Health Authority: deaths 232 (+0) cases 11,851 (+397)
Take-out from Tacovore for dinner. Tacovore is one of the best restaurants for these times: online ordering and curbside pickup. Other good places that we know of include Pastini’s and Burgerville in Corvallis, plus Sybaris and Ba’s in Albany.
Sunday, July 12
Oregon Health Authority: deaths 234 (+2) cases 12,170 (+319)
E and M have both been re-reading West With the Night by Beryl Markham. It’s a wonderful book that is filled with love for and insight into some of her favorite things: Africa, dogs, horses, and airplanes. The book does not deal much with men, but apparently she loved them too. She was married at least three times, though one source reports six. Husband #2 was Mansfield Markham, whose name she took and stuck with. Husband #3 was a journalist who at one point claimed to have written most of West with the Night. Beryl Markham’s biographer, Mary Lovell, is unconvinced. If anyone inspired the book, says Lovell, it would most likely be Antoine de Saint Exupèry, to whom Markham was not married, though they did spend some quality time together. Markham also idled away a certain number of hours in the company of the Duke of Gloucester, the son of King George the 5th. This relationship, so it is said, was broken up by the Windsor family who were so eager for her departure from the scene that they granted Markham an annuity. A few years before that, Beryl had stolen Robert Redford away from Meryl Streep. How many women can say that? Or was it Denys Finch Hatton that she stole from Karen Blixen? Or did she take up with Hatton only after Blixen was done with him? Hard to say from here. The only thing we know for sure is that while Blixen was played by Meryl Streep in Out of Africa, Markham was played by Stephanie Powers in a TV movie called In the Shadow of the Sun. Score one for Blixen there.
But never mind all that. Beryl Markham was, for years, a pioneering aviator in Africa, flying in primitive, and radio-less, machines over uncharted expanses. She was the first person to fly west from Europe to North America–a more difficult feat than Lindbergh’s because she had to fly against the wind. When not flying, she was a successful race horse trainer.
