Dating during Covid19 is like dating in Jane Austen novel

Yes, I think there is something to this.  And I've felt that if I need to read something comforting in these times, I can always read Jane Austen.

As all the commercials solemnly inform me, we are living in An Uncertain Time. If it is not Uncertain, it is definitely A Trying Time. Or nothing short of An Unprecedented Time. 

Apologies to all the brands, but I do not think this is an unprecedented time. I’d say it is very precedented indeed. It reminds me of a place I never really wanted to go but was forced to venture often as an English major. It reminds me of a Jane Austen novel.

In a Jane Austen novel, there’s always a young woman on the cusp of adulthood, right at that giddy, exhilarating stretch when your life really starts to happen. But instead of getting to travel the world, galavant about with friends, go to a university, maybe get a job so her entire financial future doesn’t hinge on her fiancé’s estate situation, our heroine just…hangs out at home. With her parents. And her siblings. And then: She waits. Her life is constrained by an endless list of things she is not allowed to do, like go literally anywhere without it being a whole production, or enjoy so much as a friendly hug with a potential love interest.

Rest of the article:
https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/a32699248/dating-during-covid19-jane-austen-novel/?fbclid=IwAR2Uotk2ZMLFO2ePGJXU2C2Ob2UWifwp4y7pQM_hCk09qZ9L74f0xzZlQWA

Susan K.'s lovely sketch of my Mother's Day flowers

I may even get inspired to do something myself...

Afternoon tea with Donna and a great sunset

A lovely afternoon with Donna and then Jim cooked dinner and then a great sunset...

Itty Bitty Book Review: A Start in Life

A Start in Life by Anita Brookner

Susan Carr has been reading Anita Brookner in Yorkshire while under lockdown. I'm quite sure Susan introduced me to Brookner many years ago when we were both living in Victoria.  I did read quite a few of her novels but haven't read anything by her for a long time. Susan mentioned this one but I didn't realize it was actually her first novel. Wow...it's pretty impressive for a first attempt at novel writing. I think I will wait until libraries get pick up service to read more. I really feel I need a real book for her writing as it's difficult with a Kindle to go back and relook at passages.

Linda and Cec didn't waste time getting back to a favourite local restaurant

I would love to have this restaurant close to us. I'm jealous of that wonderful mushroom soup! Linda made me even more jealous by adding this comment by email.  I don't think Campbell's Cream of Mushroom is going to cut it...not that it ever did.

"The only other soup that came close was on a Silver Sea cruise ship"

"This picture doesn't do the soup justice.  It's the best cream of mushroom soup I've ever eaten.  Today, it was the soup of the day!  We love all their home made soups.  The burgers are fantastic and their dinners are excellent.  On the weekends in the evening, they have wonderful entertainment.  

It's family owned and been in business for 23 years.  It's a great place for a home made breakfast, lunch or dinner."

Some humour

An oldie that always remains funny to me!

Corny but I laughed. Here is one I heard on CBC. Tom Powers told it I think. So a slug goes into a bar and the bartender says "Get out of here!" He picks the slug off the counter, goes to the door and throws it across the street. Ten years later the slug returns. It looks at the bartender and says "what did you do that for?

Wildlife taking over Mexican beaches

I was talking to Maureen yesterday and she said The Sylvia's bar and pub areas were open for business so that's great for people. We will probably wait a bit before venturing into a restaurant.

She mentioned she has a friend who has a place in Puerto Escondido and seems to be stuck there for the time being. The beaches are all closed and heavily patrolled by police and apparently the crocodiles have taken over.  

I wouldn't want to meet one of these fellows!

The crocodiles of La Ventanilla, Oaxaca, have taken to the beach for the first time in decades in the absence of human activity during the Covid-19 emergency.

The popular ecotourism destination is home to a lagoon in which the crocodiles normally spend most of their time, avoiding visitors who come from nearby Mazunte, Zipolite, Puerto Escondido and other destinations to snap photos of them from tour boats.

But when the tourists are away, the crocs will play, and a photo of five large reptiles enjoying the otherwise empty beach made the rounds on social media on Sunday.

We had a wonderful time at Donna's last night...

It was so wonderful to see each other and we shared many, many funny stories.  We kept our distance and enjoyed our favourites from Minerva's....fabulous as always.

Thanks so much, Donna. The evening gave us all a lift we all needed.

Donna looking very lovely...she got a hairdressing appointment Friday.

Jim got a real haircut too.

I cut my bangs myself LOL!

Yum, yum, yum

California approves re-opening of restaurants and malls

That's good news for business owners and I really hope things go well. I'm not comfortable going to a restaurant or mall at the moment. We're loving Doordash and we don't shop much in malls anyway.

One of our favourite places in PS reopened prematurely and got a fine but it was cancelled. So glad for them!

My post yesterday initiated an enormous amount of support from literally thousands of people. I want you all to know how grateful I am and that the City of Palm Springs reached out to me and ultimately cancelled the $1000 citation. An hour later, they announced that restaurants could open again - so, we’re back friends! We’re offering a limited menu until we get the kitchen fully pumping again, and this time of year, the patio is just awesome. Thanks again and come visit!

I got this email from Maureen today in Germany:

Breaking news to-day,   a church service in Frankfurt beginning of May (after lock-down) most of the members are now infected with corona.................... a restaurant North Germany,  all guests  are now under quarantine   CORONA .   people don`t understand Corona is still with us,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,..

  

Keep alert and safe.  maureen  xx

A few fleurs on our walk yesterday....

Librarians do have a sense of humour....

Ding Ho

Today is going to be a Doordash dinner. We may go with Chinese food. Probably the very first Chinese food I had was picking up at the Ding Ho. I believe this was when my brother got his driver's licence so it was possible. It seemed very exotic to us but of course it was Chinese food that appealed to Canadians. You couldn't beat the price for what you got at the time but at our local food court (now closed) we would share a 4 item como for $10.  Pizza took quite a while to come to town. I don't think either my parents or Jim's parents ever had pizza or Chinese food in their lives and they all lived a farily long time. 

Jim's parents loved going to Seto's which was close to them when they lived on Killarney Street. It was a Chinese restaurant but had a huge Western menu. Their favourite was liver and onions for $1.95. This was in the 70's and they would take us out to dinner there when we were in town from Victoria. I always got the Chinese Buffet (well, buffets will be a thing of the past). Jim usually got a T-bone steak which was only about $7. These Chinese restaurants certainly knew how to give value. I wonder how they did it. 

Deserted London at night

This fellow has taken some wonderful photos and has a good idea for artists helping each other. Good on him!

On 23 March, the evening the lockdown was announced here in the UK, photographer Jan Enkelmann was on his bike, cycling through an already deserted London, experiencing the city as he'd never seen it in the 20 years of living there.

A few days later, Jan decided that taking his camera with him on his nightly cycling excursions – his chosen form of daily exercise – was a safe way to document different parts of the city without endangering himself or others. Thus creating a Lockdown London series. "Like many others, I felt compelled to document the empty usually crowded locations," he tells Creative Boom. "But looking at the set of images I have made over the last weeks, I feel this project has taken on a life of its own. Maybe these photos are less about the lack of human presence and rather about the stillness of a city being allowed a breather to reveal a beauty that often goes unnoticed."

With Jan being one of the many creatives to be currently out of work, he's got involved with a campaign by artist Matthew Burrows called #artistsupportpledge to sell prints from his Lockdown London photo project to support himself and other artists. "The concept is a simple one," adds Jan, "you post images of your work to sell for no more than £200 each (not including shipping) and every time you reach £1,000 of sales you pledge to buy another artist's work for £200."

Jan is offering signed A3 prints for £45 each from his website. Take a look at just some of his recent shots, including an empty Camden High Street, the eery but quiet beauty of a deserted Oxford Street, and Piccadilly Circus like we never thought possible.

ShafesburyAvenue. The "theatre district:...we've seen a lot of plays here. We had a funny thing happen once. Jim was rather astounded a woman came up to him and said "No sex please, we're British" but then we saw there was a play of that name so I guess she was asking him if he knew where the theatre was.

Regent Street. Iwonder if they'll put up all the Christmas lights in November. It was very magical when we were there one year.

Full post here:
https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/lockdown-london/

And this a a video of Vancouver before sunset in these non busy times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=156&v=qlVNzczTjDA&feature=emb_title

A wonderful day yesterday...

 We decided to get a saucage breakfast sandwich and hash browns from A & W to begin our day. We got Doordash to support them and it was good!

 This was the bag it came in...someone had fun doing some artwork.

We went to Trimble Park and was really pleased to see the tennis courts open and even the washrooms.

There are the  guidelines.

As you can see, there was lots of space here.

We played some Bocce and I had my matching shoes.  My Mondrian shoes now become Bocce shoes!

 I let Jim win since it was our anniversary...

When we were sitting on a bench, we met this really nice couple and had a fun chat with them...folks who lived in NYC. We love NYC so lots to share.

And for our special anniversary dinner we had Moroccan lamb shank...one of the things that was in my Mother's Day special delivery. I joined it with sone basmati rice from Trader Joes's that we brought back last May. It was excellent and just perfect for a no hassle dinner. Thank you, Richard!

Happy 52nd Anniversary to us

Well, in these strange times I was wondering what we were doing last year. Well, of course, we had sold our condo in PS and were back down to do the final clean out.

Little did we know then that we would be going through the pandemic together this year at UBC. Well, life continues to be pretty amazing.

From last year's blog:

"And on this day 51 years ago in Vancouver it was a wonderfully warm sunny day...a perfect day for a wedding...ours! Then to my parent's waterfront place on Gabriola Island for a cheap honeymoon since we were still students at UBC. A friend remarked when we got home that the problem with that type of honeymoon was all the cooking and cleaning. Jim looked surprised and said, "What cooking and cleaning...that wasn't a problem." Ah yes...times haven't changed very much :)

We did a day trip to Victoria one day...little did we know we would end up living there for over forty years. Little did we know we would end up living at UBC. And little did we know we would be in Palm Springs 51 years later saying goodbye to our wonderful desert paradise.

Ah life...it's been pretty amazing.

We're off to celebrate with dinner at Lord Fletcher's today. This was Frank Sinatra's favourite haunt and we got rather interested in it after seeing the film, "Frank Sinatra in Palm Springs".

It's a place for the older crowd and would you believe the couple at the next table were celebrating their 64th Anniversary.
https://janicesextonart.blogspot.com/2019/05/lord-flechers-wowwhat-great-place.html

And in 2005. We were in France.

http://janicesextonart.blogspot.com/2005/05/quel-orage.html

And my post in 2010

http://janicesextonart.blogspot.com/2010/05/42-years-ago.html

And in 2008, we were on a plane from Texas to Vancouver after spending a month in Austin. Jim was doing research at the Harry Ransom Center. Roger and Kerry joined us in Austin for the last week we were there. We had rented quite a large house. We all came back on the same plane to Calgary and they headed to Edmonton and we headed to Victoria. Initially, Jim and I couldn't get the same flight together on that leg of the trip becasue we had changed our flights to go back with Roger and Kerry because  Don Curling was very ill. We got on the same flight in the end and when they heard it was our anniversary, they upgraded us to First Class.

All of us in front of the Alamo in San Antonio.

https://janicesextonart.blogspot.com/2008/05/back-home-again.html

Today is World Baking Day

Well, it seems like every day is baking day for some folks now. I see Peninsula Pastries is open in Palm Springs. Probably the only place in North America you can get a real French baguette since they get their flour from France. It makes all the difference.

Well now, I just might try a making a baguette if someone would give me flour from France :)

History of World Baking Day

World Baking Day was created by the folks over at worldbakingday.com, who decided it was high time to spread the joy of baking all around the world, especially to those who perhaps don’t bake too often and are not particularly experienced at it. This day is meant to show people just how much fun it can be to make a cake or some cookies, and baking can be a great way to spend time with family and friends. Not to mention how much fun it is to eat what you’ve made once it’s done!

A social distancing lunch with Linda and Cec Thursday

Jim is now on the wait list for the Men's Club at the University Golf Club. He will get in next year for sure and maybe even this year. The big advantage for getting on the list is that he will be able to get some golf this year as there are cancellations.  He could have played Wednesday but no carts are available so not really on to carry a heavy set of clubs for 18 holes.

Linda offered Cec's cart which he doesn't use so we went out to their place to pick it up. I brought Chilli which they loved.

Now Jim will be able to golf.  They are planning on opening the driving range June 1. Let's hope that
happens.  It's a really nice golf cart. And Jim found his favourite golf hat while getting his gear organized.

Linda scored two boxes of medical gloves and offered me one but I didn't feel right taking them all but it's great to have some.

They served a wonderful Pinot Noir and told us about this wine that Everything Wine is selling for $5.95 at the moment. I was going to take a photo of the label to remember it and she gave me the bottle of wine. I tasted some there and it isn't bad actually but after the wonderful Pinot...

It was so nice to talk to people and get out. Thanks so much Linda and Cec for everything!

And Jim managed to get our balcony floor relatively clean so we're hoping to have lunch out there in the sunshine. Management usually power washes it but not happening at the moment.