Almost....Christmas, 2021, a new administration in charge

 Oh, 2020 - You can be gone and the sooner the better. COVID-19 cases are soaring everywhere. Here in Maine we have hit new record highs several times in just the past 2 weeks - new cases, deaths, positivity rates. By comparison we are still far behind many many states but after months of being so far behind it appears we are doing our best to catch up in a hurry. I have reverted to behaviors last used in March and April - staying home except for grocery store trips and essential appointments. I'm highly aware of what I touch when out and about and gel up when I get back in the car. It's what I feel just might keep me from getting this virus, along with my ever-present mask.

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday here at home, small turkey dinner and will do the same for Christmas day. In truth, we have done this before by choice at times, not wanting to travel to spend the day with family or friends. We can spend the day in our jammies if we want, although I have not done that since the last time I was sick. 

No idea when we will be eligible to receive the vaccine. We are both "elderly" (a term I rail against!), and have at least one qualifying health risk, so we should be near the top of that list, but with the government pulling back on shipments of vaccine this week, who knows? (And just what is that about, huh, Operation Warp Speed?)

Looking forward to 2021 and hopefully being able to return to in person artisan shows. The online virtual show format does not work well for my creations. People really need to see and in some cases feel the fabrics and the quilting. And I love being able to talk to people about my craft. I did have one sale through my newly-created webstore this Fall so I will be leaving it up in case anyone happens upon it. 

2021 will also be the year I return to the ski slopes. I was less interested in skiing in the early 2010s because of the cost and the seeming hassle. Then in 2015 our "home" area, Saddleback, closed and went looking for a new owner. After a couple of false starts, an impact fund out of Boston put together a deal and closed early in January. Since then, it's been full speed ahead to catch up on deferred maintenance, to replace the aging lift that prompted the closure, to reinvent the lodge and to develop protocols for skiing in the age of COVID. We purchased test drive passes for 3 days anytime in the season. My skis are currently being tuned and checked. I'd like to put off my return until 2021 so that I can choose a day mid-week to avoid the weekend crowds.

As for politics, it was been such a bumpy ride since the election, as I suspected it would be. No one ever said Trump would go quietly, although he has limited his communication to his Twitter machine for the most part and let his surrogates do the talking. I'll be so happy when he is gone and the lying stops. And the drifting. I find it so hard to believe that all his 70+ million followers really don't care that he is playing them all for suckers, grifting them out of their hard-earned money so he can continue to live his lavish lifestyle. And today comes a report that his son-in-law, the equally unlikeable Jared, created a shell corporation to funnel campaign funds to family members and away from the campaign, all highly illegal. But, because he's the golden boy son-in-law he will receive a presidential pardon along with anyone else who is deemed loyal and they all will skate away scott free. And that really cranks me. There somehow has to be some accountability here. Otherwise we lose hope, and that's sad.

 Another entrant in the Sidney, Maine sign game:

My thanks to a friend who sent me this and allowed me to share. In my opinion, better poetry than the previous entrant.

In other news, I actually had to delete some items from my online store yesterday because a good friend came over to shop - we both wore masks and socially distanced - and she shopped like I was going out of business! Thanks to her for supporting this small business during these tough times. Now I guess I need to start making more things.

 A few weeks later and there has been one more sign incident - a series of 3 signs, all negative and bordering on slanderous of one party's nominees for the highest elected offices of our country. These signs always appear on Saturday and are gone by mid-day Monday which leads me to believe the people posting them know that the DOT will not be checking on the weekend and that the DOT are the ones removing them. (Thank you, Maine DOT!) 

We are just about 2 weeks out from election day - I've already voted and have no fear that anything will change my mind, especially any "surprises" pushed out by the incumbent's party. They did this in 2016 and again earlier this month. This year, no one fell for it! (The old "Fool me once..." thing.) I'm very encouraged by the early turnouts across the country and especially acknowledge the extreme sacrifices some have to make to vote - taking a day off from work, standing in lines for many hours. I'm sure there is some intimidation and harassment going on as well. You people rock! My own experience was fairly painless. I had requested an Absentee Ballot, which I received 2 days after it was mailed, I filled it out and returned it in person to my town office the next day. I had to wait maybe 10 minutes while the clerks finished with some early voters and while they checked off my name on the list and pulled my paperwork. It took no longer than voting in person and was much less crowded. And Maine's online system of tracking Absentee Ballots recorded that it had been accepted within a day. Now to just wait.

Well, of course, for entertainment, we'll have another debate, which likely means that we'll be treated to an hour + of one candidate talking over the other, because he's a rude boor of a person. I don't have much faith in the moderator - any moderator, for that matter - ever being able to rein him in. He is what he is. And that is why he did not get my vote...he would never have gotten my vote. He and his family of grifters have shown the rest of the world the ugliest part of our country and while there are some nations that see nothing wrong their behavior, this is NOT what we are about in the United States. 

I've seen a myriad of posts on Twitter lately from people who are reading Dan Rather's excellent book What Unites Us. I read it when it was first published in late 2017 and it provided a welcome relief from the negativity coming from the White House. I can understand why it might be more of a balm today and hope that everyone will read it. Throughout this wild ride on the Trump Train, Mr. Rather has provided rays of hope, sparks of humor, and much needed sanity. 

Personally, my latest accomplishment has been creating a website for my little craft quilting business. It's nothing fancy, as it's hosted for free by the concern that I have trusted to handle my financial transactions. But I hope it will provide some bit of a shopping experience.

 So, that previously mentioned element in my town that believes the pandemic is a hoax and that a certain self-professed millionaire (or is it billionaire this week?) is the second coming of Christ has reared its ugly head again, this time in a very public manner. There's an intersection just up the road from me that is the focus of all kinds of signs - political in season, yard sales, information - that this morning sports a hand-lettered entry that reads "Just say no to creepy Joe and the ___". I'll leave you to fill in the rhyming word. I truly believed my town was better than this despite all our differences. I'm disappointed and saddened to see that we are not. What has happened to civil discourse? Can we not just agree to disagree? Are we all so dead certain we are right that we can't even consider another point of view, another reality? I'll admit, there are time when watching the news that I mutter unflattering things about people but I don't post those things on Facebook to Twitter or post signs. People, show a little restraint, keep the peace and we'll all get through this crazy time. 

Well, the mask demand has definitely peaked. I can go 2 days without restocking at the town office. I broke down and BOUGHT (!) fabric for the ones I was making for the folks at Belmont park as I was out of horse-themed fabrics. (So much for the Saratoga quilt I had planned to make "sometime".) Fortunately I live less than 10 miles from a great source of quilt-shop quality fabrics at a reduced price so it wasn't hard to find more fabric. The hardest part was holding my tongue and not berating all of the people I encountered who were not social distancing or wearing a face covering. I know from a Facebook encounter last month that there is, even here in Maine, a segment of the population that thinks this is all a hoax, that they are immune and that wearing a face covering infringes on their rights. I get it - but again I plead for those people who CAN but choose not to comply, to please think of others. Imagine if you went out and about without a face covering, came in contact with someone who had the virus and before you could show symptoms - if you ever did - you infected your 80 something grandmother or your father who had heart disease. How awful would you feel?

So I posted about making masks. I've been steadily supplying free masks to the citizens of Sidney for the past month. I leave them in the town's little free library, which is located outside our town office. Any where from 10-20 per day have been taken - usually they are all gone when I go to restock in the morning. Some people on Facebook have offered to pay me but I make these available for free. I have had several people who happened to be there for masks when I restocked give me money which I did accept as I have been spending money to purchase elastic and cellophane envelopes for packaging. And I was fortunate to have relatives and a friend also send me money. But I'm not in it for the money. I'm in it to protect myself, my loved ones, and my friends and neighbors. It was so gratifying to find this note in the Library box last week when I went to restock:

This is from the town clerk and her staff who are keeping our town running while having to reinvent the wheel to do so. Every operation has changed with social distancing.

I also have been sending masks to the Race Track Chaplaincy of New York at Belmont Park. Those who know me know that I am a fan of the Thoroughbred race horse. The RTCNY takes care of the spiritual and social and other needs of the backstretch workers - the people who groom, hot walk, exercise the horses. With racing not happening at NY tracks, these people have limited resources as they are not earning any extra money from horses winning races. As of today, I have sent them 11 dozen masks. Here's a photo of a happily masked family:

My thanks to them for caring for the horses I care about!

Back to why I do this: I'm in it to protect myself, my loved ones, and my friends and neighbors. So when I see people putting me and my neighbors and my friends at risk by not wearing a mask or social distancing or insisting that not being allowed to eat in a restaurant is infringing on their rights, I have to say "What about MY rights to not get this insidious disease?" Your behavior is taking away my right to health and safety. Leave the politics out of it, please. No presidents or governors or other issues. Don't confuse the issue with politics or your agenda. Please, think about someone other than just yourself. I have friends who are immune compromised, I am in that age group that is at risk. And I'm certain you have people you care about who are in the same situations - please, think about them. I am not unsympathetic to the small business people who are hanging on by a thread - I am one of you, with now 3 shows cancelled so far. But is the risk really worth the reward?

Well, it's been years since I wrote on this blog - work, home, family, life - not in that order! - took me away. I'm still living in Maine, still quilting, retired from the Library life and loving it, and now find myself in the middle of a pandemic. Not how I thought retirement would go but it's what we've got. I'm finding it easier to shelter in place than some as I've been practicing for a couple of years now, hiding in my basement studio, sewing and quilting and creating lovely things for people to buy at a regular schedule of artisan craft shows. This year, not so much - I've already had one show cancelled this year and several others are in limbo. Who knows what the future brings? I don't pretend to know beyond some wishes, like us all.

I was musing the other day that as wide-spread as the deaths have been that someone I know had not been infected. Well, word came yesterday that the husband of a cousin I was close to in my younger years has passed away after being diagnosed with COVID-19. He was not someone I kept in touch with as his wife (my cousin) had succumbed to breast cancer in the late 80s or early 90s. So, as of yesterday, we have been touched personally by this insidious disease. It makes me even more determined to wear my mask when I must be out and about and more determined to get masks into the hands of those who need them. I have been stocking my town's little free library where people can grab one any time of the day or night. I have been mailing them to family and friends. And I have been sending them to an organization at Belmont Park racetrack in New York that tends to the social and health needs of the backstretch community there. The grooms, hot walkers and exercise riders are the ones who work most closely with the horses on a daily basis and because there is no racing at Belmont (and most other tracks) right now, they have no way to augment their limited incomes to allow for even basic necessities. This is one small way I can make a difference to someone, anyone. And I don't expect anything in return. I see folks on Facebook Marketplace selling the same masks I make and I scratch my head. I see these masks as an investment in MY good health and the good health of those I care for.

So, wear your masks, social distance, stay home and stay healthy. Wash your hands, disinfect your high-touch areas and keep us all healthy. We'll get through this. Life may not ever be like before but it will be.