A great idea for masks for dog lovers....

Now....maybe there would be a cocker spaniel one. I would wear it in honour of my old friend, Rusty.

Well, of course I should have reazlisd someone would have done this already.  Pretty much everybreed seems available.

And I suppose really clever people could take a photo of their dog;s face and make a matching mask. This one looks like it is from a photo.

Lockdown in a 256 sq ft apartment in Paris

I don't actually read a a lot of blogs but I have been enjoying this one. She has a neat video of her apartment in this one.

https://myparttimeparislife.com/2020/04/22/lockdown-in-paris-day-37/

Lots of fun seeing Gretel...

Richard and Grace have been posting lots of photos and videos of Gretel.  Looks like she enjoys an ocean and mountain view too!  She's looking pretty peaceful here but she is pretty lively.

Social distancing and socializing,,,wow!

My dear friend, Linda, is always up for everything and knowing how much we love C-Lovers for fish and chips, shrimp with cocktail sauce, onion rings and mushy peas, she invited us to a "social distancing" lunch at their place.

Cec and Linda and loads and loads of food she picked up from C-Lovers.

Donna joined us too and this is in their back yard. With everything going on I didn't get a lot of photos.

And to top it all off, Linda had a friend sewing masks so we all got one. We can't find masks any where so these were a wonderful gift.

It was tremendous fun and will be a highlight of these pandemic times.

Thanks, guys!

Bookclub meeting yesterday on Zoom

This was my first experience with Zoom and I liked it better than the Skype format. The person hosting knew the author and she was going to come to our face to face meeting but she joined us on Zoom and it was really great to hear her answers to our questions. She was delighted to be there as well and mentioned a number of times what a gift it was to get all these thoughtful reactions to her novel. It looks like she is going to do some more writing with some of the characters and we will all look forward to that.

Well, no food and this bookclub is really into their food. We did have some chat after and it was interesting to catch up on what people and their families are doing.  It seems the police in England don't have enough to do to the point of telling people they shouldn't be sitting on a bench.

The next book is going to be "Where the Crawdads" sing which I've read and it is also a future choice for my Brock House bookclub.  I have it on kindle so will read it again. It's worth two reads and two discussions. I decided to read it when all the current situation began as I felt I wanted something to really engage me and it certainly!

Skype and Jane Austen...

Today we had our Jane Austen Association meeting on Skype. Well, it certainly isn't like meeting face-to-face but good on Michelle to organise it. I wonder what Jane Austen would have had to say about it all.

Donna and I talked on Skype the other day just to try it. I know now that I need to "hang up" because there was this buzzing from my computer for about a half hour even though I turned it off and rebooted it.

It was pretty easy...just clicked on the link.

Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well and keeping safe. I've just completed a test run for an online video chat and have hope that we are ready for the real thing! 

I'd like to invite you to our new JA Day meeting on 

April 18, Saturday at 10:30am to 11:30am.

Location: online!

On the schedule will be Devoney Looser's presentation, "The Words and Wisdom of Northanger Abbey" (which you may recall was originally our March presentation). 

For our meeting we will be using Meet Now https://join.skype.com/GBMWnV6fPzak

When the time comes, return to this email to click on the link above to join the video conference. 

For more info about Skype Meet Now: https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA34926/what-is-meet-now-and-how-do-i-use-it-in-skype

** if you DO NOT have skype, open the link on your laptop or computer (with webcam) and you don't need to download the app. The link will open on your computer in Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

if you have skype already, clicking the link will open up the app on your computer or smartphone. I can add you to the group if you tell me your skype ID. 

I encourage you to test the Meet Now link above in advance of the meeting. 

Speaker info

"The Words and Wisdom of Northanger Abbey" - Devoney Looser
Northanger Abbey was famously first titled Susan, but did you know it was labeled romance? Or that it and Persuasion were mistaken for one long work? Learn more about Austen’s genius by single word and witty sentence with this image-filled presentation, plus “nice” discussion of women, history, romance, and reading.

I hope to see you on April 18th!

Yours in Jane, 

Michelle

Things people found while quarantine cleaning...

From Bored Panda

Trading sunsets...

Richard and I are trading sunsets these days...sort of a hug.

From Richard...from their pocket park...

Interesting what is going on in Japan

View over Tokyo 

Well, these are certainly interesting times and quite fascinating to hear about how some other countries are doing things.

This from "My Part Time Paris Life" from her friend in Tokyo:

So, what’s lockdown like in Tokyo? “It’s interesting,” Matthew says. “The Japanese have a distaste for fascism after two world wars, so there’s no legal structure for the government to enforce a “lockdown” in the post-WW2 constitution.” They use the word “jishuku,” which means “self-restraint” to encourage the general population to honor quarantine, and they apply local business laws to restrict business hours for bars and restaurants.

“You can go to the park with friends, but the police might ask you to stand further apart from each other. They do not have the right to arrest or fine us.”

Despite the dense population of Japan, their numbers remain much lower than Europe or the U.S., and have only just recently adopted a nationwide quarantine. But the rules seem more lax than here in France. Matthew can go to a restaurant anytime before 8 p.m. and have a (seemingly) normal meal sitting at normal distances. And the metro can still be crowded during rush hour, though nothing like what it was on a normal day. Schools have been closed, and Matthew has been teaching from home for the past three weeks. His work keeps him busy, but for someone who is as social as Matthew is, used to entertaining regularly, lockdown is especially hard. “And with my family in another country, I feel quite isolated.”

https://myparttimeparislife.com/2020/04/14/lockdown-in-paris-day-29/

Life turned upside down....

From My Part Time Paris Life blog:

In a city where people live in tiny apartments, cafés serve as our living rooms, our offices, and our connection to the larger world. They are unpretentious and affordable, and anyone who can pay for the price of a cup of coffee has a rightful seat for as long as they want it.

We have many happy memories sitting in these typical Paris bistro chairs. The Huxley Symposium would have begun today in the south of France.

Thinking about the beaches of Mourrillon in Toulon and all the cafes there. Many wonderful lunches of moules/frites. Jim was determined to take a dip even though the Mediterraneam would have been pretty cool mid-April .

Different things to be excited about....

When I came in from shopping from Save-on,  Jim was really pleased with all the great stuff he's getting for various projects he's working on.

Now, I was excited to find TP and Kleenex and they were even on sale.  Swiffer liquid and dishwasher detergent...only one of each left so I bought them. And canned green beans which I haven't seen since this all began. There was even flour but I have some and the bag was a bit big. And paper towels but I have quite a few and I have seen them around.

And I was really thrilled to get Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit mix.  I don't think I've ever seen
that before!

And this was our lamb dinner from Stephos the other day. There was so much lamb we not only both had a big helping for dinner but had leftovers for lunch.  This must be the best deal going....roast lamb dinner for $17.95. We only need one!

Linda was really happy with what she got from White Spot the other day. I think we'll try their halibut and chips soon. After cooking constantly, I think we will start to do more pick up and delivery.

Great sunset tonight

Very red and orange on this side...

And very mauve just to the left...

Introducing Gretel

This is the cat that Richard and Grace are fostering at the moment. She's about a year old and really lively and sweet! It would be great if someone adopted her.

Spring is springing....

At Benjamin's in Palm Springs...

At Susan and Alan's in Yorkshire...

And the University Golf Course in Vancouver where we've been taking our walks lately...no problem keeping a safe distance. They're really keeping up the fairway and greens even though no one can play at the moment.

Lock down in Paris....day 27

* I've been reading this blog regularly and find it quite interesting to read about how things are working out in Paris for people.  I thought I would share her blog from yesterday with you.

For those celebrating Easter and Passover, this post is for you. I’m thinking especially of those who have lost someone recently. We all feel some of that weight today. It’s a lonely Easter Sunday for a lot of people, like me, confined and unable to be with family. The longing is palpable.

I do love Easter, almost more than Christmas, maybe because of the idea of rebirth, of resurrection. Starting anew. I told myself I would not be sad today, and took a walk out in the sun and spring. My local church, Saint-Jean-Bosco, a glorious Art Deco cathedral, did not have mass today, but I sat on the steps for a moment, in the sun, and said a prayer anyway.   

Link for the rest:

https://myparttimeparislife.com/2020/04/12/lockdown-in-paris-day-27/

The local church she attends. Saint-Jean Bosco is quite an amazing example of Art Deco architecture.
https://www.unjourdeplusaparis.com/en/paris-culture/eglise-saint-jean-bosco

And in case you missed it...Andrea Bocelli: Music for Hope
Live from Duomo di Milano

On Easter Sunday (April 12, 2020), by invitation of the City and of the Duomo cathedral of Milan, Italian global music icon Andrea Bocelli gave a solo performance representing a message of love, healing and hope to Italy and the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huTUOek4LgU&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3aAXSUltbBCQCXGw552dLHt1p6u-PHVXprAVol3-f-ElZ57GGQj6khYQQ

This was in the New York Times yesterday...

I love that she was criticized in basic training in the Navy for not yelling loud enough!
From Behind the Scenes to the Forefront: Canada’s Public Health Officers

by Catherine Porter

This week I had the opportunity to speak to Dr. Bonnie Henry. Before coronavirus and Covid-19 had entered my vocabulary, I had never heard of British Columbia’s provincial health officer.

Now, it feels like she has become one of the most famous and beloved people in Canada.

She has inspired fan clubs, musical tributes, T-shirts and street art. Musician and lawyer Phil Dwyer wrote a ballad about her that his friends and son helped him record and mix remotely. Two days after it was uploaded to SoundCloud, the song had been listened to 20,000 times.

“We all share this person who comes and talks to us every day. The interesting thing is she is delivering, for the most part, really awful news: more people sick, more people dead, more people going to die. But somehow, the way she does it and the level of empathy she shows, it just seems like she is the right person for us at this time,” Mr. Dwyer, who lives on Vancouver Island, told me. “She is who we needed.”

Dr. Henry is not alone. Public health officials across Canada have become veritable folk heroes. In Quebec, Dr. Horacio Arruda’s animated face has appeared on loaves of bread, coffee cups, coloring books, windows and tattoo designs. After he announced he planned to spend the weekend inside, baking Portuguese tarts, his local fan club hosted two Facebook live session on “how to bake natas.”

In Calgary, clothing designers hooked up with a local artist to make 1,100 T-shirts featuring the face of Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, and three other newly famous female health officers. They quickly sold out. “She’s someone we trust, because there is no political layer,” said Emma May, a designer on the project who normally makes women’s business attire. “She has no agenda. Her agenda is science.”

The public health doctor as hero phenomenon is not unique to Canada but it’s certainly pronounced here. It’s a particular contrast to the polarized reception Dr. Anthony Fauci has faced across the border. There, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease has garnered devout fans but also so many public enemies he’s had to beef up his personal security.

I called a few people to get their take on why this was happening.

Josh Greenberg, a professor of communication who focuses on public health at Carleton University in Ottawa, said that Canada’s public health doctors were filling a void created by “preening” celebrities.

“Ordinary people don’t have time for celebrity peacocks when the world is burning,” he said. “There is a void created because there is so much mistrust in politicians, mistrust in traditional institutions like journalism, that we go to these figures who were largely up until now backstage players and we are putting them onstage by making them celebrities,” he said.

Jeremy Frimer is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Winnipeg who studies moral heroes. He told me that whether consciously done or not, the creation of moral heroes during times like these is an “advantageous social strategy.” They lead by example, convincing rule breakers to fall in line.

“They mobilize the masses to do their part,” he told me. “That’s the difference between social distancing and washing our hands and not.”

There is something both intimate and collective about the role they play right now, speaking directly to each of us from the television or livestream.

They are also very relatable. This week, Dr. Henry admitted during her regular update that she had been forced to cut her hair herself.

Dr. Henry told me the surge of adulation has been “scary, embarrassing almost” and “really, really touching.”

“I’m an introvert — it’s not my nature to be the face of things,” she said from her office in Victoria where she’s received flowers, home-baked cookies and cards.

“In doing our jobs as best we can most of the time, you don’t see us, because there aren’t major outbreaks,” she said, adding: “We are doing things like putting in no smoking bylaws.”

She told me that she came by her calm delivery — lauded by many as anxiety reducing — naturally. Her first job as a physician was in the Navy, where she worked on a ship in Esquimalt. “I remember basic training,” she said, “I was criticized because I don’t yell loud enough.”

She has deep experience working in epidemics, from contact tracing ebola patients in Uganda in the early 2000s to helping quarterback Toronto’s response to SARS in 2003. “I’ve been working in outbreaks around world for 30 years,” said Dr. Henry, 54. “I never ever thought we’d be in pandemic like this.”

The day she decided schools would have to close, she said she was in shock.

“It felt like a bad dream, like the movie ‘Contagion.’ It wasn’t real.”

Daily briefings by public health officers across the country have turned them into celebrities and prompted songs, T-shirts, street art and fan clubs.

A new reading project

It was fun to read some "Anne" but I think I need something more adult.  Jim suggested (although he hasn't read it himself) "Remembrance of Things Past" by Marcel Proust. So I started that and will see how it goes. This is the first volume of seven.

 I haven't read much but can certainly see his influence on Virginia Woolf and James Joyce. I just might read Joyce's Dubliners again.  And as much as I have really liked Woolf, I realise I haven't read her first novel, "The Voyage Out". Jim thought it was really quite good so I may read that if this doesn't appeal.

Now this is a bit of serendipity:

The novels portray the world in which Proust grew up. His father was one of the most successful doctors in France, honoured for his work. He invented the "cordon sanitaire" - the quarantined ring around an infected area - that helped prevent the spread of cholera, a curse in all European cities in the late 19th century. He was a prominent pathologist and epidemiologist, studying cholera in Europe and Asia. He wrote numerous articles and books on medicine and hygiene.

In 1869, Adrien Proust (father of novelist Marcel Proust) proposed the use of an international cordon sanitaire to control the spread of cholera, which had emerged from India and was threatening Europe and Africa. Proust proposed that all ships bound for Europe from India and Southeast Asia be quarantined at Suez, however his ideas were not generally embraced.

Easter Baskets 2020

Ah...what to read in these difficult times?

I'm reminded of a friend saying she just wasn't up to watching The Sopranos since there were lots of difficult things going on in her life at the time. I was rather puzzled that a really excellent series like that wouldn't still appeal and take her mind off things. I now really get it after all these years. I keep thinking I really should read something serious but I find I pick up something and think, "well, that's a bit depressing".  

I always read a lot as a kid although I can't really seem to remember that much of what I read in elementary school....Freddy the Pig, Bobbsey Twins.  As a teenager I read Gone With the Wind, Rebecca, Little Women, my mother's Reader's Digest condensed books, the sagas of Irving Stone and James Mitchener, and of course the magazines like True Confessions. 

But I didn't read Anne of Green Gables and don't recall anyone else reading it. I've started it and it seems to be doing the trick as a distraction. I got it free for my kindle.

Wisdom from Carl Jung

Memorabilia Collage

There's quite a combination of stuff here. We're probably the only ones that will recognize the snippets but I'll mention a few. It's fun to see this stuff again and I'm amazed what I saved.

Eurostar tickets 2007
Seattle Mariners vs Montreal Expos June 12, 2003
Dame Edna performance San Francisco Dec 27, 1998
Boarding Pass Vancouver to Puerto Vallarta
Bolen Books in Victoria author reading Salmon Rushdie
Union Bank of Hong Kong currency exchange receipt

But now I realize that the memorabilia won't really work as the binders I have are mainly letters and cards that I wouldn't want to break up. I guess I had these tickets and stuff all together. I have lots of postcards and photos for paintings that I can use for more collages and I'm finding all sorts of stuff I had forgotten about and it's a way to get rid of a lot of junk and still sort of keep it at the same time.

Sunet and the moon....

Good advice for these times...

And while listening I realized I needed some new projects. Being a rather random abstract type of person I could always organize drawers, cupboards, closets, etc. but that also means I get distracted easily from practical tasks so I thought I would take a look at old postcards I bought mainly to use as painting subjects at some point. It did start out with the idea of organizing them. So, I came up with this ideas of putting them college like on the backs of paintings I have hanging up. I mainly used scotch tape.

I also have lots of memorabilia type stuff that could also be used this way. We never look at this stuff so eventually we'll just have to turn over a painting. This should keep me busy for quite a while and it brings back memories of happier times.

From the blog of Seth Godin

I really liked this post he made recently. It certainly is a time to be thankful for all these people who are keeping things going.

Acknowledgements 2020

Authors get to put a page in their book thanking people who have quietly and persistently and generously helped.

But the page is rarely read, and it comes out infrequently and it’s not so timely.

It’s worth taking a second to think about people who are doing more than expected, more than they have to do, more than we can imagine.

I’m filled with gratitude for the healthcare workers who have shown up to do the jobs that they never hoped to have to do, risking so much to help people. From docs like Jodiwho are beginning their career in the middle of this, to retired nurses who are putting on their scrubs to help out again.

And thank you to the frontline workers and volunteers in my town and yours, from the food market to the fire department, from the gas station to the police. They’re showing up and doing it with grace.

Thanks to Zoom for dealing with a 20x increase in traffic and not missing a beat. Just like so many other tech companies that are quietly doing what they said they would do.

Thank you to the non-profit leaders, entrepreneurs and project managers who have figured out how to pivot on a dime, protecting the jobs of their teams and serving their customers in new and powerful ways.

Thanks to every parent who is at home with kids, balancing competing priorities and still being there for the ones who need them. And thanks to resilient and patient therapists, teachers and spiritual leaders who are figuring out how to be there, fully present, even if it’s on a video screen.

I’m grateful for the unseen but not anonymous people who are delivering packages, maintaining webservers, fixing the things that break and showing up every single day.

And I’m glad that so many people are ignoring the charlatans who are trying to profit from panic and untested remedies, preying on the fear that comes with a pandemic. And proud of anyone who stops clicking on a media channel that’s in the business of profiting from the attention that comes with amplifying that same fear.

I’m inspired by the team at Akimbo, working remotely from dozens of locations, shipping important work and connecting our extraordinary community of tens of thousands of people.

Thanks to my colleagues at Random Penguin and the rest of the book industry, for focusing on sharing insight and wisdom, simply because they know it’s important, not because it’s lucrative. And to my friends from all over, who are sheltering in place but sharing good vibes in so many ways.

And I’m grateful to you, loyal reader, for taking the long view, for leading, for spreading ideas that matter and showing up and doing work that you’re proud of. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

If you’re leading despite/because of what’s going on around us, thank you.

[This is such a tiny fraction of the people I was hoping to be able to acknowledge. If you’ve got a list to share, I hope you’ll post it somewhere.]

Spanish Banks

We went down to Spanish Banks a couple of days ago and were wondering if those parking lots were closed too. Well, they are but there is some space to park along the beach. I don't think we've ever seen so many freighters in this area. Beaches pretty deserted and the logs piled up so people can't sit on them.

Started playing around with felt pens yesterday

I quite liked this lavender doodle with felt pens...

Richard sent this along....kind of cute.

When you start talking to the furniture, you know you are housebound...
“Just seen a news report about the stresses and strains of self isolation. It reported that people are going crazy from being in lock down!
It was strange, actually, because I had just been talking about this with the microwave and toaster and all of us agreed that things are getting bad. I didn't mention anything to the washing machine as she always has to put a different spin on everything, and certainly not to the fridge as he is acting cold and distant. In the end the iron calmed me down. She said everything will be fine, which surprised me because she’s usually the first one to apply unnecessary pressure and get steamed up over nothing !!! I think she might have been sneaking off to the medicine cabinet. 😂😂

First lines of claasic novels written for social distancing...

Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. Then she remembered the florist was closed. And the party was cancelled. Finally, some time to rest and reflect on her marital choices.

Swann’s Way
For a long time, I went to bed early. I wasn’t even that tired. It was more like, hey: here’s a good way to pass the time.

Middlemarch
Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by the same leggings and sweatshirt she has been wearing for the last five days.

Notes from Underground
I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man… I am a man who is going to McSorley’s to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day!!!

The Bell Jar
It was a queer, pandemic spring, the spring they cancelled all the orgies, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.

The Great Gatsby
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. “Whenever you feel like going to a restaurant,” he told me, “just remember there are people in this world whose immune systems haven’t had all the advantages yours has had.”

Moby-Dick
FaceTime me, Ishmael.

The Hobbit
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. He planned to stay there indefinitely in order not to make the lives of essential healthcare personnel more perilous.

Jane Eyre
There was every possibility of taking a walk that day, as long as we kept six feet between us and the others on the path.

Pride and Prejudice
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be hoarding toilet paper.

From The Literary Hub:
https://lithub.com

Art Portfolio 2002

Susan K. said she wanted to see more of these...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsexton/albums/1672874