White Flower

Yesterday, I crowed about Dan’s involvement in his newly released movie, Blow the Man Down and how great I thought that it was. I still do. In this movie, the protagonists are the two Connolly sisters. Coincidently, weeks ago, I had agreed to host a pair of real world Connolly sisters for a night, on their journey from Chicago to points further west. Saint Louis is always on your way to somewhere west. I guess that’s why we call ourselves the gateway to the west. I had become increasingly concerned about this rendezvous, as the epidemic continued to grow. Today, the Illinois governor issued a statewide shelter-in-place edict and I reached out to one of these sisters, to see if she still hoped to travel. Fortunately, through a miscommunication, they had abandoned this trip long ago and we just were not informed. I will sleep much better now tonight. Thank you, very much.

This cancelation pretty much clears our schedule. All of our outstanding theater tickets are well on their way to cancelation. We are free and clear to shelter in place. I’ll shop until I feel that it is too dangerous, then I’ll switch to delivery.

Anne and I spent hours on the phone today, speaking with Harry, Dan & Britt, my Dad and Alice & Chris. The big news of the day came from NYC. Move over Seattle, the Big Apple is now #1, the national Coronavirus hotspot. Dan and Britt might have already come down with and then survived the virus. Both of them were ill this last week, but with only mild flu-like symptoms. They have both recovered and are now self-quarantining themselves. Some co-workers were more seriously ill, but now also appear to be on the road to recovery. They won’t likely know for sure, for quite some time. This is because New York is now limiting testing to only healthcare workers and people who have been hospitalized. So much for anybody who wants a test can have one and all of the other bullshit that is being spewed daily from the Whitehouse.

On the left coast, my Dad and brother Chris are sheltering in place and because they had stocked up on enough food in anticipation of our visiting them, they have not had to go shopping for some time. We both agreed that our cancelling of our trip out there was the right thing to do, especially since the governor shut the state down only hours after we would have flown out. Talk about the last flight out. Frank, my other brother is a county supervisor and is very busy these days. Even though his rural county has reported no Coronavirus cases yet, he is working seven days a week preparing for their arrival. 

We offer you this nine minute diversion from all this. Anne loved it as did I. Her testimonial carries more weight though, with this video being about a first grade teacher and Anne having just completed an extended stint in that grade. I might also tout her expertise in teaching math, but that would just be piling on. Enjoy!