Readathon and daily questions

Report on the Social Distancing Readathon

I haven't actually done much reading, though I did finish the book Talk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg (1994, fiction, 9/10).  I've added it to my list for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge as a book I have read from my own "to be read" shelves.

Now I've started on Rambam's Ladder by Julie Salamon, 2003.  It's short enough that I may finish it before the end of the day tomorrow.

My daily questions for the new state of our world

1.  What am I grateful for today?

It's been a lazy sort of day, so I'm grateful I did not need to be anywhere.  No obligations, except to stay isolated from people, especially in crowds.

2.  Who am I checking in on or connecting with today?

Besides online and texting with a few folks, Sharon and I met at the elevator area of our floor to "practice social distancing" by pulling a couple of chairs ten feet apart to talk and catch up.  She still hasn't found toilet paper, so I gave her a roll and she offered me a couple of fresh lemons she had bought.

3.  What expectations of "normal" am I letting go of today?

I am sort of already in "new normal" mode, getting used to staying in my apartment.  Hmm, I just remembered I haven't gone down to check my mail today.

4.  How am I getting outside today?

I didn't, unless we count opening the window for Clawdia to sniff that wonderful fresh air, even if it is cold out there.  When I asked, "Do you want me to open the window?" and started putting aside my laptop, she ran straight there before I even got up.  She had understood me.

5.  How am I moving my body today?

I moved along with some of the SilverSneakers videos that pop up on my Facebook page.  Not a lot, but enough to say I actually did move my body today.

The Social Distancing Readathon

Here's a cool idea for those of us practicing social distancing and feeling rather stuck in our homes.  I found this on Readerbuzz and wondered what's involved.

Q:  How does 24 in 48 work?  Do I have to read 24 books in 48 hours?
A:  24 is for the number of hours, not the number of books.  Over the course of 48 hours, you challenge yourself to read for 24 of those hours.  This can mean reading 12 hours each day, 20 hours one day and 4 hours the next, or 24 hours straight.  However the scheduling works best for you!

So this isn't about trying to read the most or hoping to win prizes, as in other readathons.  Nope, it's just a time for reading when we are having to keep our distance from each other.

Stay home,

wash your hands.

read books.

It's planned for the two days of this weekend, March 21-22, from midnight to midnight Eastern Time, though we can adjust it to make the 48 hours work for us.  Start at a time you decide, and end 48 hours later.  Deb of Readerbuzz has her own ideas:

"I plan to start today, Thursday, and read for what I hope will be a total of 24 hours over the next few days."

I'm trying to read books from my own shelves for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge and the library books that will be due back whenever my library opens again.  (It's shut down because of the Coronavirus threat, with all books we've checked out having their due date extended.)

I may choose from some of these I bought years ago, all on one day.

Many of the books on my shelves come from these four "shopping trips" where I loaded up on books in February 2015 and in February 2017 and in August 2017 and in February 2018.  I never got around to reading all those books.  I pulled some of these off the shelves to choose what I want to read starting at midnight Eastern Time (11:00 pm Central Time).  Yikes!  That's right now.

The point of this readathon is to dedicate a weekend to reading, while still allowing time for sleep and exercising, and whatever else you need to do. You’re free to customize the readathon to fit your life.  Sign up if you plan to participate in any way, even if you know you won’t be able to fit in a full 24 hours.  Here's where to sign up, if you are interested.

Friday update ~ the state of things around here

1.  What am I grateful for today?

Neighborhood links — do you have one?  Years ago, I was on an email list sharing community news.  Now I'm on Nextdoor (a neighborhood email link).  One thread this morning:  "I'd be interested in knowing how it looks in the grocery stores, from those who've shopped in the last few days.  Is there fresh produce?  Are stores restocking?  Is 'senior hour' worth taking advantage of?"

**One comment (about MY store):  "Good morning — I was at the Ladue Schnucks on Wednesday morning at 6:45 a.m.   Store was not crowded and there was plenty on the shelves, in the produce area and the meet [meat?] area."

**Another comment:  "Also, if you'd like to avoid going to the store, you can down-load the instacart app and order from Schnucks for home delivery.  The prices are the same as in store and the delivery fee is $3.99.  If your order is more than $35, delivery is free."  (Donna and I use Instacart, which will now leave your order at your door to avoid contact.)

**A third comment:  "I was at Dollar Tree on Olive yesterday about 4:30pm.  Plenty of cleaning supplies available, and they had toilet paper, and vitamins, too.  Since the signs went up to stop hoard buying, I think it's really helped slow panic shopping."

**Another comment:  "I ran to CVS at Clayton and Brentwood to pick up prescriptions.  Only a few people there.  They had toilet paper for those without.  I heard from a neighbor that Schnucks on Ladue Rd was very crowded and USBank had lines.  Just FYI."

**A recent comment:  "Not too crowded at 11:00 at Schnucks at Spoede.  Out of tp and tissues."

2.  Who am I checking in on or connecting with today?

I'm connecting with YOU today, connecting virtually and sending a hug.  Let me know when you get it by leaving a comment.  See?  We're connecting.  While I was checking my blood pressure, Tiny called.  When I called back, she must have been talking to someone else.  Donna texted and emailed me, and I've been sharing with friends on Facebook.  Last night, I texted with Sharon.

3.  What expectations of "normal" am I letting go of today?

Normal is greeting people in the hallways and eating together in the Circle@Crown Café.  Normal is taking trips on the Crown Center bus and exercising in our Fitness Center.  To let go of exercising with friends, I can exercise with a video (see #5).

4.  How am I getting outside today?

I think I'll bundle up (it's 41° here, feels like 37°) and take a walk to the far end of my curving street and back.  Maybe I'll even go on around the block and back from the other direction.

5.  How am I moving my body today?

SilverSneakers plans to do another online exercise class on Monday.  In the meantime, I can repeat what's in yesterday's video and take a walk (see #4).

Self-isolating and staying fit

Self-Isolating Questions

1.  What am I grateful for today?

It's raining, so "I will define the rainy day as a cozy day," as my friend Joy wrote.  I'm grateful for a cozy day.  I'm grateful for all the Crown Center is doing for its residents, like cleaning doorknobs (see #3 below).

2.  Who am I checking in on or connecting with today?

Sandy called to check on me this morning, and I later talked to Donna when an ambulance pulled up at our entrance.  It happens often here, but it seems more ominous now.  The ambulance left within ten minutes, meaning they didn't have anyone on board, no lights, no sirens.  Dora hates staying in her apartment, so she was glad to hear about the SilverSneakers exercises online (see #5 below) when we talked on the phone.  I saw Scott in the hallway earlier; he's doing fine.  Dorothy came to the door of the laundry room when I was there, and she's okay.  I got texts from Donna's sister Jane and from Sharon down the hall, and both are well.

3.  What expectations of "normal" am I letting go of today?

I had thought, as people fought over toilet paper, that I could always go downstairs.  So far, the public restrooms in my building are still open.  (I confirmed it with Scott, who was cleaning the doorknobs in my hallway as I typed this, another good thing the Crown Center is doing for us.)  I took this photo of the closed signs yesterday, when I went to Donna's apartment in the other building to pick up the groceries she had ordered for me along with hers.

4.  How am I getting outside today?

It's raining here today, so the only thing I plan to do "outside my apartment" is go to the laundry room.

5.  How am I moving my body today?

I managed to get up in time to do the SilverSneakers exercises that were live-streamed.  The instructor went very fast and bouncy, so maybe I'll look for their YouTube programs instead, next time.  They have now posted a video of what was live-streamed this morning, so click here to watch it and maybe actually do it yourself.

6.  What beauty am I either creating, cultivating, or inviting in today?

Here's our bulletin board.  Compare this "before" photo with the "after" that I took today (at the top).  You can see how we are coloring our world, maybe brightening it a bit for others as well as ourselves.  I love it.  Okay, I'll sit down this afternoon and finish coloring one of the pages myself.

Comfort food ~ and Self-Isolating Questions

Write about comfort food.

When I ate lunch in the Circle@Crown Café last week, I bought an extra item.  Everyone's been raving about their homemade biscuits, so I got one to eat later at home.  What is it about certain foods that comforts us?  In my case, food reminds me of my mother.  She was a school cafeteria manager and loved to feed people.

The biscuit, of course, wasn't as good as my mother's biscuits.  Nothing ever is, since in our minds what we remember was so perfect.  This week, the Café is not open at all, and that day last week when I gathered with friends around a table to eat and talk and laugh feels like a distant memory.  This week, nothing is normal.  This week, the world feels strange, as I reported last night in "the reality around here."

Sorry, there's nothing "comforting" in this line of thought, so I'll answer the questions I posed earlier.  Let's see if I can be positive.

Quarantine Questions ~ now Self-Isolating Questions
On Thursday, I learned the latest terminology is "self-isolating," leaving "quarantined" to those who have been been officially quarantined.

1.  What am I grateful for today?

I'm grateful for friends at the retirement center where I live, and that includes staff as well as residents.  The staff is going above and beyond to make us safe and take care of us during this pandemic, and that includes getting meals delivered to our doors so we don't have to leave our apartments unnecessarily.

2.  Who am I checking in on or connecting with today?

When my BFF Donna ordered groceries, she added a few things I needed.  So I went to her apartment to pick up food for Clawdia and me.  Along the way, I spoke to Margaret, Iva, Karl, and Miriam in the hallways.  I talked on the phone with the Donna who is on staff, BFF Donna (several times), Sheila, Nancy, and Judy.  I replied to Donna Rae Jones, our yoga instructor (yes, a third Donna today), by comments on this blog and by email, as she attempts to set up a virtual yoga group, since "Gentle Chair Yoga" has been suspended for now.  While Judy and I were talking by phone in our own apartments, we waved to each other from building to building across the entrance and patio below.

3.  What expectations of "normal" am I letting go of today?

I'm letting go of the expectation that we need to face each other to talk and share.  As you can see, I talked to a lot of people today, mostly by phone.  Hearing each other's voices can bring us together without having to see each other in person.

4.  How am I getting outside today?

How about bringing "outside" in?  I opened the window for Clawdia so she could smell the fresh air, listen to sounds, and scan for any birds in the trees below our window.  It took three tries to get this photo of her, since she kept turning around to see what I was doing with that cell phone camera pointed her way.

5.  How am I moving my body today?

Other than walking from my apartment to Donna's in the other building, I haven't done much moving today.  Maybe I could do this SilverSneakers virtual exercise class on Facebook.  "Join SilverSneakers Trainer Jenny O’Callaghan for our first live-streamed SilverSneakers exercise class here on Facebook!"  Thursday, March 19, 2020 at 10:30 – 11:00 Central Time.  That's tomorrow!

6.  What beauty am I either creating, cultivating, or inviting in today?

I shared coloring pages on my bulletin board that people can take home, color, and re-post them on the board to share with any of us going by the elevators on my floor.  Several people have already taken pages and returned them on our board.  I need to put up more pages, since they are almost all colored now.  If you want to color one and don't live here, send me a photo of it, and I'll add it to our bulletin board.

Quarantine Questions (redefined as Self-Isolating Questions)

Daily Quarantine Questions (redefined as Self-Isolating Questions)

1.  What am I ... GRATEFUL ... for today?
2.  Who am I ... CHECKING IN ON ... or ... CONNECTING WITH ... today?
3.  What expectations of "normal" am I ... LETTING GO OF ... today?
4.  How am I ... GETTING OUTSIDE ... today?
5.  How am I ... MOVING MY BODY ... today?
6.  What ... BEAUTY ... am I either creating, cultivating, or inviting in today?

Donna and I have shared activities people can do inside their own apartments.  I printed out some coloring pages related to Women's History Month, which you can print out for yourself by clicking on the pictures on my next day's blog post.  Then I posted them on the bulletin board for people to take, color, and bring back to let us all see their work.  They've been doing it!

Donna bought some word search books about famous women and ran off copies of pages to give people.  Since we aren't able to meet together, she's not distributing them as widely as she had hoped to do, but I took a couple of them at random:

Liliuokalani, Queen of Hawaii ~ I have a couple of books about her on my Kindle:

1. Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen ~ by Liliuokalani, 1898 (Kindle edition published in 2016), memoir
2. Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First Imperial Adventure ~ byJulia Flynn Siler, 2012, history

Michelle Obama ~ I recently read her memoir and bought her guided journal:

1. Becoming ~ by Michelle Obama, 2018, memoir
2. Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice ~ by Michelle Obama, 2019, journal
   

I think it's interesting that I pulled out these two in particular.  Besides reading and (maybe) coloring one of my own pages from the bulletin board, I'm also writing blog posts.  THIS is what I really enjoy doing, when I'm spending lots of time alone in my apartment.  Oops!  Sorry, Clawdia.  Spending time with Clawdia in OUR apartment.  How are you spending your time?  I hope you are staying aware of social distancing.

Okay, how many of you will ask yourselves those "quarantine questions" each day?  I intend to start doing it daily, as a reminder of the good things in spite of the reality around here that I posted late last night.  Please share answers to ANY of those questions in the comments.  We'd all like to be reminded of the good things in life.

The reality around here

Two chairs, at least six feet apart, no jigsaw puzzle in process, and nowhere to congregate.  This is what I found in the lobby when I went down to check my mail in the middle of the night.  Seeing this was a shock, since we usually have sofas and groupings of chairs and tables to visit in the lobby.

"For the safety of our residents, community members and staff, all Crown Center programs have been cancelled for the month of March."

Our situation here is developing day by day.  We can't eat together or meet in groups.  Our dinner program meals will be delivered, starting yesterday, when Regina delivered mine.  Today, it was delivered by Theresa.

Wednesday update:  My meals (notice it's plural) were delivered by David about 1:20 pm under new rules saying that we'll have delivery only TWICE a week:  two meals on Monday, and three meals on Wednesday.  That covers the five days a week we normally would eat together downstairs.

Coronavirus signs were placed in at least three places last week:  (1) at the entrance near the office, (2) at the entrance at the link desk between our two buildings, and (3) near the dining room.  And now all community spaces have been locked.  We are not allowed to gather in groups and have been asked to stay in our apartments if we are ill.