—
In midst of isolation, quarantine,
My grass still goes to work and it does thrive.
This morning while I mowed it ere the rain,
To turn around the mail”man” used my drive.
And smiling, I waved, and she waved at me;
Both glad to see another one alive.
In this new world of caution lest we die,
Smoke signals or a distant wave must do
(Replacing handshakes or heartwarming hugs)
For each brave kayak with a lonely crew.
When one’s a Crusoe on his private isle,
His inner strength and God must see him through.
———————————————————————————
photo by Kevin Tuck at https://www.rgbstock.com/photo/ply57HE/Lofoten+Islands
———————————————————————————
© Dennis Allen Lange, 2020.
The Bard on the Hill 
Good one. Hope you are weathering the storm okay Bard.
Since experts have learned more and now say that those without symptoms don’t spread the disease as much and it isn’t as viable and contagious on surfaces as they first thought, I feel a bit safer when I go out with my mask and practice social distancing. So life is pretty much back to normal as far as doctor’s visits, eating fast food from a drive-thru or restaurant meals by having it delivered. I still have groceries delivered and try to cut down on unnecessary trips. Still haven’t gone back to church (last was March 15) even though ours has started again. Our elders are recommending that those who are 60+ still stay away which definitely includes me. 🙂
It’s a very unhappy way to live, isn’t it? And your words brought me back to a thought I had back in April that caused me to laugh at myself. I live in a neighborhood that is mostly people 50 or older. But there’s a young couple with two very small children across from me, and one day I caught myself at the window and then my front door just watching them coming and going. They still go a whole lot, and I didn’t even realize I was doing it until it struck me suddenly that what I was really doing was trying to just ‘connect’ with real live people for a few minutes. I laughed at myself and thought that I hoped they didn’t think I was just a “nosy old woman.” In truth I was just trying to get a look at other living human beings.
Things have loosened up a little here, but life is still VERY strange. I probably take more precautions than I normally would because my sister has some serious health concerns that caused her doctors to almost completely isolate her. So in order to be able to interact with her, I need to be sure I wear masks everywhere and stay at a distance from others. That way she and her doctors don’t consider me a threat to her. I’m really praying for the Lord to get this brought to an end so we can get back to reaching out to the world face-to-face and be able to actually touch them. That’s still the best way to get people brought to the Lord. And not having any hands-on fellowship with other believers really takes a toll.
It is a weird year, perhaps the strangest that anyone alive has seen. I’ve not seen my mother since Christmas. She’s 95. Nor have I seen our sons and their families since then, except by face time on Facebook. My daughter and granddaughter live here in the house and she works. Otherwise, we’re staying in except for drive-through food and doctor’s appointments – with a few exceptions. My wife’s two best friends have been over a few times for a visit and the three of them sat on the front porch with social distancing spacing and talked. I’ve made a porch visit as well. My wife is definitely in the at-risk category because of a pre-existing condition and I am, too, because of age. So we’ve not been back to church yet and have our worship with my congregation through streaming.
We’ll have to see what the vaccines do and perhaps Spring.
A btw – I’ve used up all my free space at this site (pictures take up a lot of bytes) and so I’ll move to wordpress.org sometime fairly soon. Good to hear from you