Given the current pandemic situation, we were happy to have a home to return to where we could hunker down safely and be in control of our own environment. As the weeks unfolded, we learned as much as we could about the Covid-19 virus, trying to make sense of it, reading the latest information, and understanding how best to avoid catching this virus that was sending the entire world into a tailspin. We are now after all in that 60-and-older at-risk category!
We certainly did not feel deprived or hard done by remaining isolated in our home. The biggest disappointment was that we had planned a trip to Poland to visit Michelle and family to meet our newest little granddaughter, Nadia. We were also planning a stop in Maryland to see my 91-year-old Dad and meet my newest baby niece, Melissa. Covid unfortunately halted those plans.
Nor could we look forward to Kathleen, Aaron and Aidan's visit to us this summer. One microscopic yet lethal virus had the whole world in turmoil and in lockdown.
I began keeping track of the numbers of cases in our state and specifically in our county. Compared to other regions in the country, our county in the far northwest corner seemed to be faring better with a lower incidence of virus transmission. As the months passed, this changed yet there were still no reported Covid deaths in Anacortes, and compared to other areas, we continue to have a relatively low number of cases.
We were happy to be hermits at home on our hill.
Following the CDC guidelines, to limit our exposure to the virus we only ventured out for the most essential reasons, like necessary doctor and dentist appointments.
For everything else, like groceries or other items we needed, on-line shopping quickly became our new norm. We ordered groceries through InstaCart and had them delivered straight into our garage within a couple of hours of placing an order. The shoppers communicated with me via text messages if there were any substitutions necessary for sold-out items and were always courteous. We then thoroughly sanitized perishable items and left the non-perishables in quarantine for at least three days. At the time those were the guidelines suggested by the CDC.
All other purchases magically arrived within a few days of placing an order, either by UPS, Fed Ex or the postal service. Amazon definitely did a brisk business from all our orders as did Costco, JoAnns, Home Depot and other stores. The trucks zoomed up and down our hill daily making deliveries in our neighborhood. Evidently we were not the only ones choosing to make purchases online.
We pondered if we would ever choose to make trips into stores ourselves once life returned to normal again. The Pandemic has closed several doors but also opened up others that quickly became a comfortable convenience, particularly at this troubling time.
The weeks slipped by as spring turned into summer. We continued to bond with and feel quite comfortable in our lovely new home. We had only been in the house a total of about 3 weeks last year since moving in. Soon we established our own daily routine. First thing each morning, I would come through into the living area to see if the Olympic Mountains were visible. Cup of morning tea in hand, I looked forward to each day, gazing out across the water to the majestic ridge of craggy peaks, still covered with snow.
The deer population on Fidalgo Island kept us entertained. Deer sightings were frequent all summer, mothers with spotted twin fawns often crossing our lawn to the other side of the road. Sometimes the fawns hung out under our neighbor's trees or jumped around chasing one another. They are unafraid of people and strut about as if they own the place.
Hummingbirds visited us daily, and often battles ensued over the feeders which Michael made sure were replenished often.
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| Happy Birthday, Dad |
We chatted with Alpine friends, and participated in our annual homeowner's association meeting virtually. I participated in several online sewing and embroidery digitizing webinars.
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| celebrating Easter Covid-style |
Even though we remained isolated, we did venture outside daily and kept up with our exercise routines. Michael continued to run the forest trails a block further up our road, always wore a mask and made a wide berth around anyone else along the the trail. Later in the spring, he had a couple of owl sightings but thankfully was not attacked! I think he must be an owl magnet.
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| Cranberry Lake along the forest trail |
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| beavers building their dam |
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| the view ahead striding down the hill |
I continued to do my yoga and tai-chi practice, and together we walked down the hill to the beach park (wearing masks and also giving any other walkers a wide berth), where we sat for a short spell on a log on the beach or on "our" bench if it wasn't occupied.
We gazed at the scenery, watched the boat traffic coming in and out of the neighborhood marina and harbor, and reflected on how truly fortunate we were to be here at this unsettling time. Natural beauty and serenity surrounded and enveloped us. Chi and karma restored we trudged back up the hill, as I huffed and puffed along the 200-foot elevation gain back home.
We never tired of our daily walks down the hill, each outing bringing a different perspective and scene.
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| spring tulips along our route |
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| our sitting and pondering log on the beach |
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| different clouds on different days |
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| another day, another view |
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| boat traffic inbound |
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| the beach to ourselves today |
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| outgoing traffic |
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| a fog bow this fine morning |
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| mysterious scenery in the fog |
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| fog over our park and marina |
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| "our" bench....if we are lucky .... |
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| a seal family peeking out at us |
We often saw seals and on a few occasions were lucky to watch dolphins leaping out of the water. Herons flew to perch on the opposite rocks. And a couple of times we caught sight of a sea otter. One morning on my walk (while Michael was running the forest trails) I watched fascinated as a large fish with a fin swam up the channel. I wondered if it could be a shark.
Tug Boat Park, the name of the beach at the bottom of our hill, is a popular spot for dog owners who gather here in the mornings while their canines play and romp either on the grassy expanse or on the beach. There is a bench dedicated to a gentleman, now passed, who was well known as was his dog. He started a tradition by giving other dogs a treat whenever he was there. His wife now continues the tradition by leaving a few dog biscuits on the bench whenever she replaces a vase of flowers on the bench. Once when "our" bench was occupied, we sat on the dog bench. The neighborhood dogs obviously know that there is a treat waiting for them because a dog came running up to us and sat looking expectantly at us. His owner eventually followed and explained that his dog was anticipating a biscuit when he saw us.
Occasionally other walkers passing by would stop to chat with us from a safe distance. Folks here are friendly and we got to meet a few who live along our road.
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| that bump at the water's edge is Elsie |
Our resident elephant seal returned to the beach park during molting season, generating a lot of excitement and interest. The beach is closed off during this time and a group monitors Elsie to make sure that she is not disturbed or that she ventures beyond the grassy area. She is so familiar with and unafraid of people that she tends to want to follow them. She apparently also loves dogs, who, however, do not like Elsie so dog-walkers give her a wide berth. Elsie however doesn't quite understand why that is because she tries to follow them and calls out her seal calls.
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| Elsie making her way along the grass |
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| Elsie napping in the sun |
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| Elsie down there among the logs |
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| La Merced in the distance, overgrown with trees |
So, to make sure the Jeep was driven occasionally to keep the battery charged, we found different trails to drive to. One not far from home is the Guemes Channel Trail.
In one direction we walked towards an old ship carcass, the La Merced, a four-masted auxiliary schooner that had many different adventures and purposes spanning over 5 decades.
In the opposite direction, the trail first winds through a forested wetland before ending up at the ferry and an expanse of beach with a view towards Mt Baker.
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| Mt Baker in the distance |
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| Masked Michael and Mt Baker |
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| the ferry dock in the distance |
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| ready for production |
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| design wall with rail fence blocks, and a recently completed shell wall hanging |
My first sewing project after returning home was to sew us masks. YouTube and Uncle Google became my go-to sources for finding specific sewing-related information. There were so many different options and choices for face masks posted by others that it is quite surprising how many folks share their patterns and how much information there is available online.
Next on the list was my plan to use up the left over red, black and white scraps from the quilt top I pieced in Arizona. That led to three more quilt tops with different designs, and with enough scraps left over for at least a couple more tops. The completed quilt tops were perfect to practice free motion quilting and also ruler work. These were new skills I was unfamiliar with and involved quite a lot of learning and experimenting first. I soon realized that it will take me many more months of practicing before becoming more proficient, let alone master this art. Those remaining scraps will come in handy after all!
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| love my Juki for free motion quilting |
I completed several other projects as well. There were bags, microwave bowls, and oven mitts which seem to be claimed faster than I can make them. My new Juki sews like a dream, and the embroidery machine is perfect for all those large designs that I would not be able to easily complete using the limited hoop size on my older Bernina.
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| the building of the ramps |
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| ramps all built |
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| Alpine perched and leveled |
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| buttering the white bread loaves |
Our son in law Aaron motivated Michael to try a new hobby during hibernation. It appears that because so many folks were in lockdown at home, baking became a popular pastime. Aaron shared his recipe for a simple dutch oven no-knead bread that he bakes. And thus, Michael became a bread baker. Once yeast and flour, which were in short supply earlier on, became available, he began baking bread and experimenting with different recipes.
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| dutch oven no-knead bread |
He also tinkered with various repair and maintenance items on the Alpine. Having the coach parked at home makes it so much easier to take care of these issues. He replaced the headlights with angel eye LED lights. One other addition to Alpine efficiency was the installation of this set of refrigerator fans.
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| efficiency or overkill? |
My new addition to the kitchen was an InstaPot, something I resisted ever since they first became popular. I love my new InstaPot which we use daily for many different purposes: making yogurt, proofing bread, cooking batches of porridge, soups, stews, steaming vegetables, cooking rice, cooking stuffed cabbage, and even boiling a dozen eggs at a time. We have to occasionally check with one another whether the InstaPot is available for use!
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| best cheesecake ever |
Michael celebrated his big 7-OH birthday in May. Our good friends Kasia and Dale dropped off cake (Kasia's special Polish cheesecake) and champagne at the door to honor the birthday boy.
My school pal in Italy sent Michael a virtual birthday cake, appropriately decorated during this unusual year. It certainly will remain a different if not memorable birthday.
I turned 66 in June and reached a new milestone of my own, becoming eligible to start receiving Social Security payments. Yikes!
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| a lovely arrangement from Belinda and Phil |
Sadly, Michael's mother passed away at the end of June. She was 91 and had many health issues these last few years. She died peacefully in her sleep. We will miss her and are sorry we were not able to drive back through Bend on our way home in April to see her. Covid interrupted those plans too.
We monitored the air quality daily, stayed indoors, and were thankful we had a new electronic air filter installed earlier this spring. I longed for a good dose of rain (!yes, I admit that I longed for rain!) to clear the air. Once the air quality improved and things returned to normal, Michael washed the filters. Apparently they did their job judging by the color of the water.
Although we were quite content to be home, it was disappointing not to be able to meet neighbors and get to know them better than through brief, masked exchanges. And I was disappointed not to be able to go to the Senior Center for line dancing and yoga classes. However, we know that eventually this pandemic will pass and although life as we knew it will never quite be the same, perhaps many of the previous activities will resume.
Tomorrow we plan to head out in the Alpine for a couple of weeks. Our plan is to spend a few days at our favorite Oregon beach at Cape Kiwanda while the weather is still good. We will continue from there to Bend for a few days. Michael has some estate matters to take care of and we need to pick up a couple of Mom's items that we are keeping. We also have a couple of items we will be taking to Pam. From Bend, Michael planned a route through eastern Washington taking us back home along the scenic Cascades highway where we hope to catch the remaining fall colors.
At this scary time with the virus running rampant, we can remain self-contained and isolated in the coach. And as Dr Fauci does, we will remain masked and meet with family outdoors only.
The Alpine needs a good run, and a change of scenery will be a welcome change while the weather holds.