Thursday, April 02, 2020

The Floors And Futility

Reluctantly, I texted Gail about 8:30 that I wouldn't be joining her for our walk. She wrote back immediately to say she was already here (outside the gate at Hill Street). I called her and said my daughter was concerned about us meeting, so I thought we'd better not, at least for a time. She was okay with that. The truth is that I'd just as soon walk in the afternoon, but maybe later, I'll contact Gail and ask if we could resume.
Maybe later. What's going to happen "later"? I hope before too long, things will go back to normal, whatever "normal" is.
Made up my little newsletter packets for Betty and my brothers and walked to the P.O. to mail them. Met up with Suzanne as I was going out. She was coming back from Von's and we chatted a bit. I was surprised to see she wasn't wearing a mask or gloves; didn't think to ask if she wanted me to give her some of the latter.
I cleaned the hard floors with the Bona process and washed the bathtub mat and bath rugs and so on. Rather than putting them in the dryer, I laid them out in the sun. I know the sun is a germicide and besides, I remembered Wilfred Owen's "Futility":

Move him into the sun—
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields half-sown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.

Think how it wakes the seeds—
Woke once the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides
Full-nerved, still warm, too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
—O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?

The operative phrase, "Was it for this the clay grew tall?" makes me think of the present situation and its dire ending for some. I was in a a reflective mood, I guess. 
After lunch, I oiled and seasoned two chicken leg quarters and put them in the oven to roast. I then tidied up a bit until Ellen and I zoomed at 3:30.
It makes such a difference to me that we were able to see each other and not just hear ourselves. She showed me her newly-arranged guest room, now her office and it looks great.  After that, I walked the footpath--my new fave walking place, but didn't go more than about two, as it was getting a little cool. Betty called while I was walking to tell me about various word games Carolyn had devised and brought her.
Had one of the legs, plus spinach and zucchini for dinner. I put on Wall Street, but lost interest after a half-hour and turned on the television for Dateline about a grisly murder in Miami.  I had forgotten there were so many commercials, but was mildly interested because it's been so long since I watched television, I had never seen them before. Several of them were quite informative, as I learned how very altruistic, civically enlightened, and wonderfully compassionate these big corporations are as they react to the crisis. They care only about their customers, not dirty money, of course, and so does FPI Management, which just raised my rent.
Are these new times? You'd better believe it. Here's the 101 from the footpath over it, yesterday. It was Wednesday, April 1, 2020, at 5:14--that is, rush hour:
Well, I'm rambling on, so now I'll just ramble away...


1 comment:

Mimi said...

Actually, it's the 126.

Wednesday

It was quite an enjoyable day after all the must-do-this, can't-find-that of the last few.  Changed the bed, washed the sheets, and jump...