25 February

Sunny again today. Yesterday was beautiful with temps in the mid 40s. I traded in my winter coat for my big sweater. I don't like that coat much and only wear it when the temps dip into the low 20s. Otherwise, the sweater does well with my layered turtle necks and flannel shirts or sweat shirts.

I am still not quite over whatever hit me Monday. I get tired with any exercise at all. But it is getting better. I got off my butt to clean out the herb shelf and get some of our storage jars sorted out. I don't know what herbs, if any, I will put in next spring. That is still in flux for a lot of it. I don't know what will come back, if anything. I do know I want to shift some of my large containers to the front where they will get full sun along with a window box type planter and a couple of my smaller pots.  All our landlords attend to is the grass and that patch looks pretty bad.

One of the bloggers I read posted this morning about the death a couple of days ago of Lawrence Ferlinghetti one of the last of the beat poets. I found this in The NY Times. I remember him mostly because I found a book of his poems when I was in mid teens. My mother and I had a bit of a disagreement because I was thrilled while she was appalled by them. She didn't even remember him and I can't remember more than his name. It was a long time ago.

26 February

Another bright sunny day but a bit colder than yesterday at this time. It should warm up a bit. I hope so because I have a couple of things to do outside.

Several times over the last couple of weeks several TV commentators have asked when things will return to normal. My responses are 1) define "normal", 2) we should remember that a sizable number of people think the pre-COVID "normal" sucked and 3) why should we think the old "normal" will ever come back? I just read this morning that New York City has found its own variant to go along with the one California found. That is in addition to the Brazilian, South African and U.K. variants that have had doctors concerned. I wondered very early in this pandemic if face masks would become a near universal fashion statement. Perhaps considering that the new variants are coming fast and furious and that the vaccines' efficacy is determined by whether they prevent mild and serious disease not that they prevent any at all. I won't knock that because the conditions COVID can cause are frightening but I would rather not have any symptoms and wearing a mask all the time from now on may be the best strategy for preventing an infection.