Now, Stella happens to be a victim of Coronaphobia and since the alarm went out six months ago, has hardly had her mask off. I've asked her several times if she'd like to meet somewhere, but she always begged off, since CO-VID was lying in wait for her and only her. Naturally, I immediately agreed and we met at the Mexican restaurant next to The Coalition. I never know what to order when I go Mexican, so (along with my Modelo beer, of course), I got a rice and bean burrito. Good grief, talk about carb overkill! I could eat only half and that was probably six thousand calories itself.
Some smaller tables were occupied and the longer one had just one woman there. It was in a nice shady spot, so we asked if we could sit there, too. Yes, indeed, and we fell into conversation. In a nutshell: Phyllis is in her sixties, she lives in Ojai and used to own two coffee houses there, along with another business. She thinks the virus thing is way, way overblown and, as I do, that the cure (closing schools and businesses, isolating people, and so on) will probably prove worse than the disease. She's also--wow!--a committed pacifist (she' s Jehovah's Witness). The three of us talked and talked; I gave her my card and hope she calls me.
After we parted, I told Stella I was going to the Fairgrounds where they were conducting COVID tests. She drove me there, but she didn't go in; she said she wanted to look into Food Share, which was being run on the other side of the building.
When I got out of the testing site (it was so quick and easy, I could hardly believe it), I walked around and got into Stella's car, waiting at the Food Share line. We were then each given a big box of packaged food, plus fresh spinach and a number of pears. There were lots of bags of dried beans, pasta, and oats, plus canned goods and so on. Now, I often eat beans--they're an excellent source of vegetarian protein--but I couldn't eat that much in a year.
Stella drove me home and helped me carry the food to my front path. I separated out the things I could use, left the rest in the box, and put it in on the chair in the front. I then left for the mall, went to Target for "Cuties" (small tangerines, one of which I eat every morning with breakfast), then bused back. I called Suzanne to give her the foodstuff I couldn't use and we sat outside for a half hour and chatted. She'll use some of the food and will take the rest to the food-for-the-poor program at her church. So-o-o, a good, active day, and a little different from most.
I had almost forgotten about my puzzle mania--could it have been only a month or so ago?--but yesterday evening, I did one. I've always been fascinated by the Day of the Dead thing--it seems to me both attractive and frightening. I especially like representatives like the following. I don't remember where I took the picture, but I think in the park near the museum in Ventura:
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