What do you do when you’re home alone and told not to stray?
You might read a book, clean the cupboards, pick a flower, watch an opera, or share a Zoom meeting, and more.
Several UUCP homebodies recently agreed to talk about their responses to our Pandemic dilemma.
Carol Michalski rises early, greets the 6 a.m. daylight and walks a one-mile loop around her neighborhood, every day. “I carry a face mask in case I see anyone out,” says Carol. Once home again, she’s likely to be cleaning out drawers in a big hutch, sorting its collection of saved papers, cards, publication contents and more, and “categorizing the throwaways with the saves.” Among them is a poem by UUCP member, Jill Cicero, called Seven Principles – “Really a keeper,” Carol exclaims. (Jill’s poem was written to help our RE students learn our Seven Principles. You can read it on the next page. — Ed.) And there’s more: “I’m writing memories, in a table of notes, a gift from my son.” And there’s always a book to read, currently one of some 20 Pickett novels by C.J. Box.
Two down, 18 to go for Marianne Kelly, who’s begun spending afternoons tuned to operas, classical gems in a generous supply loaned by her friend, UUCP member Hannelore Musial, who has a vast operatic library. Enjoyed equally so far: “Andrea Lecouvreur” by Francesco Cilea, and “La Favorite” by Gaetano Donizetti. “Those long afternoons of beautiful music are the next best thing to being at Hannelore’s house watching with her and Hedwig Anderson,” says Marianne.
Marcy Moreland found a way to share Florida’s beauty with relatives in snow-blown New York, as described during Sunday’s Zoom UU Coffee Hour virtual get-together. What Marcy does: Goes out every morning and takes photos of the flowers blooming in her yard and sends a picture to her northern relatives.
Thanks to Thom Botsford, our church will resume adult education soon with an online discussion of “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz – a book with chilling details, says Thom. The miracle that allows us to have a discussion like this during a pandemic? Zoom. Says Thom: “And it’s not hard to use. I’m teaching an English composition class at Pensacola State this term on Zoom – something that neither I nor the students expected. It took only a few minutes to adjust to the new medium.”
See you on screen.
And here’s what some of our UU young’uns are doing in these hard times: graduating from high school.
Trista Blouin’s daughter Liliana, 18, will graduate from West Florida High School of Advanced Technology, where she focused on the agricultural technology program. She plans to attend UWF. As for commencement ceremony, due to Pandemic restrictions, Trista says the school’s principal is talking of setting a date, possibly later this year. The school is using social media to put together on Instagram photos of graduates, with symbols of college plans and future majors.
Lisa Hudson’s son Logan Talley will graduate from Tate High School. While the date set originally was May 26th, at the Civic Center, that may be changed – the school currently has two later dates set aside, in June or July, in case a change becomes fact, says Lisa. The 26th date, by the way, is also Logan’s birthday – he will turn 19 – and Lisa already had a double celebration cookout planned — also now on hold.
“This is the strangest thing happening” for these graduates, Lisa reminds us. “They were born the year of 9-11, and now it’s the year of Covid-19.”
And here’s a thought from your UU reporter.
Did someone mention that when shopping’s a chore, best to eat what you got and make the cupboard your store? With that in mind, one day I decided to use up the long-stocked whole wheat flour in the fridge and yeast in the cupboard to create a couple loaves of bread. Yum!
That, however, led to curiosity about what else might be useful. Among cupboard gems – “sort of” — were three cans of condensed milk, one with a buy-by date of 2017, another 2018, and the third 2006!
Cook’s-19 lesson? Check the shelf occasionally.
Charlotte Crane