COVID19 and Self-Quarantining

[Ria Stone]

Just as the COVID19 flu was discovered in the U.S., I made the difficult decision to take a cruise I had planned for over a year.

After taking two air flights, three shuttles, staying two nights at a hotel, and a cruise with people from around the world, when I returned home, I choose to self-quarantine. I felt I could be infected, was asymptomatic and could infect others. While I keep changing the number of days I would self-quarantine, I changed the number of days from 27 to 14 based on information from various medical websites like CDC.gov, WebMed.gov, and NIH.gov.

As a writer, this is an opportunity to focus on various writing projects. After a few days of following news, unpacking and cleaning up etc., I am now working on a new cookbook, Down the Rabbit Hole - More Recipes from the Kitchen of the Frugal Non-Cook. I hope to include essays in the cookbook. It may sound odd but some cookbook authors are revolutionizing the format of cookbooks not just by choosing unique themes but also by including personal stories and essays, like Jack Monroe, @bootstrapcook.

I also intend to followup on some other writing projects.

I would love to hear stories from others about their COVID19 experiences.

Hope everyone is well, take care.

[Ria Stone]

it seems, for the moment, that I am using Paris on the Yucatán forum as a blog.

I do not know how you all are handling your self-quarantine or shelter-in-place situation.

I do hope everyone is well and has what they need to weather the weeks ahead.

While I am usied to being alone, my daily schedule has deteriorated.

My weekly errands, coffee with friends and other tasks, that took me into the city were important in helping me schedule my time, get exercise and socialize.

My to-do lists seem meaningless, now.

Now, I sleeping too much. I am glued to Twitter, online radio programs and various video conferences. I am not cooking or writing. I seem overwhelmed with concern for the world, strangers, and my family and friends.

I am scarfing down jars of candy.

I do appreciate that friends and family keep in touch but I do miss face-to-face conversations about our daily lives, the jokes and stories that flowed from recalled memories or recent "adventures."

[Ria Stone]

I spent many, many years trying to learn how to cook healthy on a budget.

Casseroles and crock pot dishes dominated as meal choices for a lot of those years.

As I extended my recipe research, I found mug recipes and toast toppings and threw myself into making many of these recipes.

I developed my own trend of "crazy salads", salads often without lettuce that contained a wide range of items, onions, beets, olives, cheese, artichokes, cabbage, beans, almost anything you could find went into these salads.

Then, I found Jack, Cooking on a Bootstrap, and spent months making a variety of her recipes. She introduced me to various ways to use anchovies as well as several oat dishes like "Worts", which I adapted into a mug recipe, "Microwave: Mug O'Hot Oats with Spinach."

By now, I had begun adapting recipes to make them GERD-friendly.

Then, I got the "Star Trek Cookbook" and had loads of fun reading the cookbook and trying (or adapting) several of the recipes. For example: Hotplate: Wagon Wheel Pasta with Chicken, Spinach & DIY Pesto and Sweet Iced Neth with Spices (Faux Mango Lassi) are two recipes I enjoy making and consuming.

But, now during the COVID-19 pandemic, my eating habits have changed. I keep re-examining the contents of my pantry to try and determine how long the food will last. Also, I have started making vegetable broths (more broth than vegetables) to stretch the supples. I am also eating a lot less.

But, then I get cravings for junk food!

I hope everyone and their family and friends are doing well.

[Ria Stone]

Today, Sunday, March 29, 2020, Mexico shut down the whole country for a month and asked citizens and residents to #QuédateEnCasa (Stay at home).

It's hard to know what day it is. Without a schedule or errands or planned visits or outings, time runs together. one day can seem like days.

Maybe with an end in sight, I can find the willpower to tackle some projects.

I keep meaning to clean out the closet and some boxes of items I have collected over time.

It is so quiet, not even the rooster is crowing in the morning.

The "car washer" who uses the apartment parking lot to wash his client's cars isn't sloshing water at 8am anymore.

There is a faint sound of traffic, occasionally, where before buses rumbled past my window all day long.

On my Calle, we are an older lot, no families within the block but there are schools in the area but they are closed.

The Cafe next door has closed.

But, I hear a popular pub about six city blocks away will deliver takeout orders. I will give that a try next week.

One month, four weeks, maybe if I schedule some kind of activity or project online or something once a week, I will feel some progress.

So many others have it harder or worse. But, Mexico made the right choice and I hope to celebrate that choice in 30 days with a glass of champagne with friends!

[Ria Stone]

Connecting to the world.

Use of various text and videos apps on cell phones and the internet are being maxed out. Providers are working to offer the needed services.

i constantly feel pressure to learn new apps and processes. At the same time I feel vulnerable as vendors require personal data.

Twiitter, a microblogging app, as well as FB, Instagram, and other social media apps are often the main source of information for some.

Personally, I like Twiitter. One new feature is the notification of live videos of news conferences or radio shows, etc. I am watching the Mexican government's daily COVID press conferences even though my Spanish is limited. They even have  sign language interpreters.

Then there are the funny Youtube videos people are making while they Shelter-in-Place.

Here are some I found:

Wash your hands Dance


Wash your hands song
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=RDBtulL3oArQw&feature=share&playnext=1

Sock puppet


Homemade treadmill


Jim Mann Vogue


My Corona


Hello


Simon & Garfinkel parody


Rhapsody parody


Take care #QuedateEnCasa

[Ria Stone]

My eating habits while Sheltering-in-Place have reduced to 1 or two snack-size portions a day using simple basics:

PB&J sandwiches
Microwave cheese quesadillas
Chicken or vegetable broths
Beans on toast
Overnight oats with canned fruit
Pasta or rice with this or that
Worts
Juice coolers
Fruit spritzers
Sardine mash on toast or crackers
Corn and vegetable salsa
PB mousse
An occasional Mug O'Denver scrambled eggs on toast
Treats: Popcorn, Peinguinos cupcakes or chips
and lots of coffee

While I still have a few cans of salmon and chicken, I am trying to stretch them out by using them in soups or as mixtures for toast toppings.

#QuedateEnCasa

[Ria Stone]

Sheltering in Place is a challenge in many ways.

It is economically challenging.
Billions don't have the economic resources to survive four weeks without work.
Availability of food and medical supplies in some regions are shrinking.

It is psychologically challenging.
For families and groups, overcoming boredom and fear requires planning. But, who among us has the experience or knowledge of surviving a disaster.
Negative news can be overwhelming.

It is physically challenging.
We each need to move, walk, run, jog, bike, swim, or do the exercise of our choice on a regular basis. Some have yards or nearby parks to maintain our health, but some are faced with limited space confinements and access to facilities.

It is informationally challenging.
Where do we go to get the information we need?
Many lack access to news, cable and the internet.

I have family who are on the frontlines of the #COVID19Crisis and I am scared for them, their family and friends.

This is why we need to #QuedateEnCasa. We need to Shelter-in-Place so we don't help spread #COVID19.

Jim Mann - Thank you

[Ria Stone]

No routine
No morning
No coffee

[Ria Stone]

I have seen reports that the Shelter-in-Place orders could be extended for months.

When this is over, how will our lives be different?

[Ria Stone]

I read the US is entering a depression with high unemployment and millions are without healthcare.

Also read, the US has stopped issuing passports.

In addition, the US has begun making cuts to medicare and social security.

I have ODed on news. So, I live in the world of "Rosemary and Thyme" mystery reruns and sleep odd hours, so that breakfast is at 1am and any other "meals" are when I remember to eat.

I am not taking advantage of the ability to go out because I get confused, am I infectious?, did I get infected?

I spend a lot of time dreaming of what life will be like after this COVID19 pandemic has passed.

While I am a realist, I am also an optimist.

I believe Merida will begin to recover by June but as the October hurricane and flu seasons approach we will need to be cautious.

[Ria Stone]

I don't go out often, about every two weeks during this Shelter-in-Place.

I never know what to expect.

Today, I ventured out early for some essential errands. Very few people were out and most were wearing masks and maintaining social distance.

It is such a relief to accomplish necessary tasks. I treated myself to Pinguinos cupcakes.

I love to walk and my body was so happy to get a good walk in.

I keep trying to set up routines for cleaning, exercise and other goals.

In the back, there's a parking lot. Now, I added making curcuits around the lot to my list of @home gym exercises.

But, what really helps keep me grounded and encouraged is talking to family and friends.

Human contact is vital to us as social beings.

So far, my family and friends are safe.

[Ria Stone]

Day 12 / 35 unless the Shelter-in-Place is extended.

During these times, we have time to think about all the people and experiences that influenced us.

I am thinking about Ursula le Guin. She was a prolific, imaginative writer. I appreciated how she wove her experiences and education in cultural anthropology into her novels like Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, and A Word for the World is Forest.

In her eighties, in response to a question regarding her writing schedule, she stated that just maintaining her health routine was work enough. I understood what she meant.

When I think of working people, today, it makes me angry. Wages are kept low, working hours are long, without health benefits or sick leave.

I am a great procrastinator, it is amazing the things I find to do rather than face doing my taxes.

Or, why am I avoiding cleaning out my closet and storage bins?

My taxes, I understand, but not the closet.

[Ria Stone]

Day 15

working on new cookbook
organizing some boxes
made rice and veg stew
made some COVID19 earrings
Studying spanish
Wrote notes and postcards
immersed in 19th Century Toronto with Murdoch Mysteries
Obsessing over TP and cupcakes
Setting timer to ring every 2 hours to get off Twitter and to get up and move/exercise and to tackle another task

OK, do I make Peanut Butter fudge or No Bake cheesecake?


BTW, it's 36C / 97F today

Attachments:

[Ria Stone]

4/11/20 Day 16

I am not who I thought I was.

Been in survival mode since 1991. Shoot, I’ve been in survival mode my whole life.

Yet, it was my parents who created best haven they could against a world ready to devour you.

Time to think, to grow, to reflect is a luxury

I continue to fantasize about how I will celebrate when we are free to travel without face masks, when we can hug family and friends, when we can congregate and mingle in a crowd on the streets or at the movies, libraries, art galleries, museums and markets, when we can go to work, when we can buy TP without guilt, when we can walk together in the park, when we can go to cafes to eat, drink and listen to music, and when we can all vote.

Worked on cookbook.

Dancing, singing and drowning in songs of the past.

Dobbie bros what a fool believes
Jack Lord Alfie
Adele We could have had it all
Susan Boyle
Moody Blues
Buffalo Springfield
Mel Carter
Johnny Mathis
Nancy Wilson
Tears for Fears Everybody wants to rule the world

Watched a sheep after giving birth @herdyshepherd1.

Learned about the economics of Toilet Paper.
www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/why-toilet-paper-shortage-makes-more-sense-you-think-on-the-media

Washed a bucket of laundry.

Signed up to be part of a Zoom musical video....hmmmm.

And it’s only 11:00am.

This is a two cupcake day.

[Ria Stone]

Maybe I am getting used to living in two states of mind, 1 preparing for a global world disaster and 2 working on my new cookbook and blogging while I am #QuédateEnCasa.

#QuédateEnCasa may be extended to May 30.

I think a routine has developed.

Up at 6, work on cookbook for a couple of hours.
Blog.
Check task list.
Check email and other accounts.
Clean up and organize devices.
Cook, clean kitchen.
Set timer for 2 hours, exercise.
Do a bucket of laundry.
Plan menu.
Try to straighten, sort and clean an area in home.
Read news.
Watch TV various series and escape.

Minor problem, because I am on all my devices 24/7, they have begun to overheat. So, I have to take turns turning off the devices to conserve the battery power and innards.

When I read the news, I can not help being aghast and shocked as I watch the U.S. distintegrate.

I see no future for the U.S. in the remainder of my lifetime.

The U.S. has been purposefully turned into a third world country. This is what the rich have done around the world, destroyed democracies.

Several members of my family are hanging on by a thread.

Some of my Mexican family are suffering, too. But, I hope for them, there will be a return to normalcy soon.

Stay home, stay safe.