Monday, December 14 Deaths 1,161 (+35) New cases 1,180
M went shopping at Market of Choice while Eve waited for word from the Co-op about when her order would be ready. Before lunch we took Pepper for a longish walk in the forest, something he doesn’t often get to do. He was happy on the trail and mostly quiet at home all afternoon.
We’re both working on homework for the Turkish class. There’s a lot to look at this week, including everyday vocabulary like seasons, months, days of the weeks, colors, numbers, and household items. All very useful. In case anyone is curious: Bugün ondört aralık pazartesi. (Today is Monday the fourteenth of December and the days of the week and the names of months are not capitalized in Turkish–I think.)
Eve’s grocery order was ready by around three in the afternoon. She paid over the phone, including the $5 service fee and then went over to the shop to pick it up.
Tuesday, December 15 Deaths 1,214 (+54) New cases 1,129
A very high number of deaths reported today, but the Oregon Health Authority reports that this is partly due to the fact that there was a sizable backlog of death certificates that needed final processing by the CDC before the results could be announced. The backlog was cleared today.
Speaking of the pandemic, it seems that the Post Office has issued some COVID-19 commemoratives just in time for the holiday season. E got this sheet today when she asked for international forever stamps.
Wednesday, December 16 Deaths 1,262 (+48) New cases 1,562
An eventful morning for E, who had to prepare breakfast for both herself and our guest and also take the guest for a walk, all of this before 9:00 when our Zoom Turkish lesson started. M helped by making breakfast for himself and enough coffee for two, but was otherwise mostly useless all day. Pepper was picked up by another member of the care team before lunch, which left us once again dogless–and ready to relax a little. But E went right to work on some Christmas letters and cookie making.
Rainy, cold, and dark today, typical December. In Turkish today we practiced adjective clauses by saying things like “Is August the month you like the best?” and “No, August is the month I hate the most.” In theory, then, we should be able to say something like “What’s the name of the president that you liked so much?” Actually that pushing things a bit, but let’s try anyway. How about this: O çok sevdiğin başkanın adı ne? (Literally, “He much that you like president’s name what is?) For the grammarians among you, one interesting thing here is that the verb in the clause is not marked for tense as it would be in English. Also, in English, the use of “that” as a clause marker is optional in this kind of clause, whereas in Turkish the “diği” part is required.
And speaking of things that people like or don’t like, we got a card yesterday that included a Christmas letter. Here are the first few lines of the letter:
2020, what a dismal year. China virus, grandchildren not in school, extra-curricular sports cancelled or very limited, shelter in place, travel bans, quarantines, unnecessary political investigations, a vindictive impeachment process, and the radical left will be in the White House.
So yeah, it’s been that kind of year.
It strikes us that this letter could serve as a template. For that to work, we could just blank out a few words here and there and then people could fill in the blanks according to personal preference:
2020, what a dismal year. _____________ virus, grandchildren not in school, extra-curricular sports cancelled or very limited, shelter in place, travel bans, quarantines, ______________ investigations, a _______________ impeachment process, and the __________________ in the White House.
Thursday, December 17 Deaths 1,2830 (+21) New cases 1,339
Tertulia today with R and J. We compared notes about Christmas dinner plans. We’re all of us thinking of salmon. J is going to bake hers in phyllo dough with rice and kale. She plans to make a lot so as to have some to share with her kids and their families who all live here in town. Our plans are not fixed, but I suspect our salmon will be simpler.
We drove over to the coast today, a lovely hour or so featuring periods of bright sun with lots of clouds and showers in between. We stopped in Newport for a coffee and then went south to Ona Beach. We walked across the bridge and onto the wide, flat beach that was littered with foam. It was windy and cold out there, but it was nice to see the far horizon away beyond the chaotic breakers. Just a few minutes after we turned back toward the parking lot, the rains came. We stayed comfortable in our hooded coats with the wind at our backs. When we arrived back in Corvallis a little after 4:30, it was already early evening. It made us remember that the winter solstice is not so far away.
Friday, December 18 Deaths 1,304 (+21) New cases 1,390
The sun is low on the horizon these days, but at least it was shining today all morning and into the afternoon. That was long enough to dry off our outdoor table–the last thing left for us to winterize. We’re leaving it out again this year, so it just needed to be covered. M gave it two layers, inner green and outer beige. The only question now is how soon they will blow loose. As if on cue, the rain came back strong in the early evening. The table was fine, but we got kind of wet on our before dinner walk.
Saturday, December 19 Deaths 1,340 (+36) New cases 1,542
More rain is expected today and tomorrow, lots of it apparently, as we’ve been getting flood warnings. They expect the rivers to rise. Well, that happens a lot here this time of year.
We’ve been planning for Christmas. Looks like we’ll see the Andees at least briefly to exchange gifts and greetings on Christmas day. Before that we’re hoping to get in a snowshoe trip on Monday or Tuesday. And we have been thinking, just a little, now and again, about food: salmon, coffee cake, chocolate pecan pie, things like that. Dinner today is take-out from Ba’s Vietnamese, large portions that we can stretch to make two meals.
COVID vaccine is now being administered to local health care workers. There is some confusion about how many doses will be available and how soon, but at least it has begun. The bad news is that the death rate is higher than ever and still growing. Oregon marked its 1,000th COVID death on December 4, about nine months after the pandemic began. Since then there have been 340 additional deaths in just 15 days.
Sunday, December 20 Deaths 1,341 (+1) New cases 1,153
We made an emergency trip to the grocery store this morning. Just had to buy some jam for cookie making. Was this really essential? Hard to say. It was relatively quick and painless. We walked over to MofC, then E went in while M hung around outside sheltering from the rain in the doorway of frozen yogurt place, which happened to be closed. Lots of rain these days with temps pushing 50.
E organized a Zoom birthday celebration in the early afternoon. Beside the two of us and Andrea, guests included our old friend Helen as well as her daughter and her son, his partner, and one of Helen’s grandchildren. It was fun to catch up with this group and see how everyone is doing. Three different members of this crowd have birthdays in December, hence the need for a celebration. Eve prepared a three-candled birthday cake–which resembled half a bagel– and we all sang Happy Birthday.
Once that was done, E got right into cookie making. M did a little email, a little Merleau-Ponty, and a little sampling of cookie dough. Dinner comes from the freezer today–leftovers from Thanksgiving.