He’s on salary, so he’s paid, but would have to get permission to visit with us and then take two-plus weeks of leave to cover both the visit and the quarantine which is not worth it. Nor would it work for us to quarantine elsewhere (his friend’s house will be unoccupied in November, so we suggested renting it) because he is also not allowed to potentially infect us (other rules apply in this order) and would still have to quarantine before returning to work which he can’t do. It just doesn’t work. We have to wait until the order is modified or lifted, and his intel says not likely before T-day. It just stinks. Thank heaven for FaceTime.
Did a lot of online searching for school supplies in bulk for our program to help students in need. We had a huge increase in requests over the last week once the school decided to go virtual.
Talked with D who is getting cold feet about going back to the dorm for senior year. She is really looking forward to her room but is increasingly worried about sharing common areas with people who are not as careful as she. Plus weekly COVID tests that can take up to an hour or more are not something she wants to deal with. So today she set up a whole desk/study area in our basement in case she elects to go online from home 
Made a nice dinner for S and I. Tried to have a conversation that did not include politics or COVID but it is getting harder and harder to do these days :).
We invited two couples over for an evening swim and chat. Each couple provided snacks, and we drank and talked. It was a nice evening, but no one actually swam because it was a bit cool and breezy.
All our evening socializing is now post-dinner, except for the daring all day bbq I had for July 4th. For that, I put food well away from people and spaced it all out. I put out a couple of big bottles of hand sanitizer and left paper towels in the bathroom. I warned all in advance that it was weather dependent, and luckily the heavens cooperated. In all, there were about 16 of us. I had enough room for people to spread out. It was overall a very normal July 4th gathering.
I actually like the post-dinner gatherings. I enjoy not having the stress and hassle of doing a mega clean of the house and preparing dinner for usually 6-8 additional people. The main point in inviting people over is the chatting. Yes, when we get through the worst of this, I will plan dinner parties again.
I am dreading the colder weather that’s coming. It’s going to be hard to socialize. Zoom book club is boring. Anyway, we have a fire pit and hubby just ordered an outdoor patio heater. We plan to invite people to bundle up and hang out outdoors as long as possible. And btw, the selection was already getting picked over. Order one now if this is something that appeals to you.
We hosted a send off for our son who left today for an army post to take an officer’s leadership course. He will be driving for 3 days to get there. We are thankful that he will be staying with family and friends along the way.
I can commiserate with you @ChoatieMom - we don’t know when we will be able to visit him. As far as I know, all BOLC graduations are virtual now. But maybe by the time he graduates, things will be different. I can only hope.
We were at our cabin in the Maine mountains. Two friends drove up with us on Friday (in separate cars, since we’re socially distancing) Beautiful, sparkling night. DH made dinner. Then we sat around a campfire, looking at Flagstaff Lake and Bigelow Mountain. We looked at stars and ate s’mores. Then my husband gave me a foot massage. I read in bed before I fell asleep. Life is good!
I watched re-runs of “Searching for Bigfoot”.
Some day they’ll catch him (there’s no her that ugly)
Last night. Husband played golf, I enjoyed the quiet house. Ordered a pizza for dinner.
Tonight played golf, sat on neighbors patio, had too much wine. Watching the US Amateur on tv. Grilled hamburgers for dinner.
Really want to have a dinner that I don’t cook and isn’t fast food. Not going to a restaurant is getting to me.
Yesterday was my birthday, and my husband and I went over to my daughter’s apartment to have dinner with her and her boyfriend. We usually visit every 2 or 3 weeks. We usually just order sandwiches but last night we ordered from the Cheesecake Factory, so it was special. Then we watched Hamilton, my husband and me for the third time, and the first time for her and her boyfriend. It was one of the most pleasant days I’ve had in a while. Back to staying in and distancing!
That sounds spectacular, @MaineLonghorn .
Last night I was doing woodworking, varnishing, repairing veneer, etc. Tonight I’m texting with my D who I can’t cross borders to visit. Sad.
Last night was wonderful - spaghetti squash “spaghetti” dinner plus zucchini bread with almost all ingredients for the dinner coming from our farm, watched an Aerial America TV episode, nice walk and chat with the “kids” in gorgeous weather.
Then BIL called… I wrote about that on another thread. (sigh)
Pretty dull in an okay kind of way. I worked on syllabus, assignments, and class LMS all day–a pleasantly fall-like rainy blustery one. Then made dinner with the veggies from the garden and worked some more, then read a book. I did sneak in a half an hour bike ride along the bay between raindrops.
@MaineLonghorn I’d ‘social distance’ with you, anytime!
@smdur1970 Happy Birthday!
Last night, we went for a drive along the ocean and then wended our way back home, over the mountains. At a part of the way up, the road was diverted due to road works; ‘unfortunately’ the diversion was going to add another 30m to our journey, and it was getting dark. As we were grumbling our way through the diversion, we saw lights in the distance - it was a road side biker bar, with no bikers (they are all in SD!), and beautifully spaced outside tables, and very few patrons. We ordered ‘to go’ at the take-out window, and sat completely isolated among the trees and ate! It was wonderful!!! And unexpected.
Today is back to real life…!
Last night I splurged and ordered take out sides to go with a rotisserie chicken from local store. I am so dissapointed in take out from the restaurants. I’m trying hard to support the local restaurants but I seem to always order the wrong thing that gets soggy. Last week I ordered a chef salad and very fancy scallop entree to share with D. They put them both in same bag and by the time it got home the chef salad was warm with wilted lettuce and seared scallops just were not crispy.
Last night was a burrito watermelon salad and our favorite Brussels sprouts appetizer. The Brussels sprouts just were not crispy and hot like when in the restaurant.
Then I binge watched more Million Dollar Listing shows. I have become addicted to stupid shows last 3 months, never used to even watch TV!!
Watched the Yankees beat the Red Sox again (and hopefully I’ll be able to say the same thing tomorrow)!
Watched the opening of the DNC while eating junk food pretending we were at the party. Tissue was needed several times.
Let the games begin!
Put on deet. Then we took the usual evening walk (when the sun is behind the mountains) with our dog in dry (5%) heat (90F). Zig zagged across the grass and street for social distancing and dog barking. Talked to the multiple deer and let them know that the golf course would be theirs soon. They looked relieved.
Took pictures of the orange sunset and yellow sky. Assessed the smoke and fire status from afar. Came home and inhaled juice/milk/water. Lifted weights. Watched DNC instead of Netflix.
Felt good that the usual worries were at bay- west nile, melanoma, dehydration, evacuation, bone health and of course covid.
Last night we had a send off dinner for S19 then packed up our SUV with all his stuff to move him in to his campus townhouse today. A 10 hour round trip drive as we were unable to stay overnight since we live in one of NY state’s restricted states. I wasn’t sure we’d have enough room b/c unlike last year, he has a kitchen this year so we had to buy all of kitchen supplies. Now fingers crossed, he’s not moving back out in a couple of weeks!
Was reading in bed when my oldest texted me some pictures. I realized yesterday that it was her last “first day of school” ever as she is a senior in college. She has been in her off campus apartment since January and hasn’t been able to come home. She took a selfie of her in front of her computer (her school decided to go all online a few weeks ago). But then later in the day she went to campus with her roommate and took some beautiful photos. Made me sad that her last year is not starting out the way she hoped. But the photos were awesome at least.
And now we are halfway home after a 5 hr drive to S19’s school where we unloaded all his stuff, met one set of parents and a couple of his roommates. Got carryout at our favorite Italian place then sat outside on the river for lunch before we said our goodbyes and hopped back in the car. 2.5 more hours to go. Thx to COVID no traffic on the Jersey turnpike!
The days/nights around here blend together a lot. Had poi and lomi salmon plus some deboned Costco rotisserie chicken for dinner, finished Busman’s Holiday by Dorothy Sayers, watched 2 old episodes of “The Ssint@ with Roger Moore with H, and that’s about it.
Our big exciting outing yesterday was rushing to Costco to get there shortly after 9am, for the SR hour. I returned some bad chicken (smelled very nasty), bad oatmeal (bugs), and bad slacks (showing terrible wear after only a few washings. Did our very quick shopping and we were out before the long line of regular shoppers at 10am. Everyone we saw was properly wearing masks and distancing.
Being mindful of the ‘annoying words’ thread, (D)H and (D)S played golf yesterday afternoon & evening. I had seven blissful hours, all to myself! I didn’t cook, I snarfed down anything that jumped out of the fridge, I had a glass of wine and I watched tv for two hours, with no interruption. I love my own company!
Last night youngest totally made dinner on his own - he modified a zucchini bread recipe to use red curry squash instead (it tasted great), then we had a garlic & olive oil pasta, green peas, and Brussels Sprouts. Home made mint tea was the beverage.
I’d never had (nor heard of) red curry squash before. We have a fair number in our basement right now. I’m not totally sure how many will be ours vs how many he’ll sell. Having this recipe sure seems like it will help them sell - at least - in a normal year if he could offer samples and talk with people in person.
While eating we watched an old Colombo and a Beverly Hillbillies show. Then we went for a walk watching sunset and returned to play a game of 7 Wonders which I won using a Wonder any of us rarely win with - all the cards aligned this time.
There are parts of this pandemic I wouldn’t mind keeping once life returns to normal.