Year End 2020

 

Year End 2020

2020 is a year to remember. This is my annual report to the world, my version of life in the big year of worldwide pandemic disease, racial disturbances following police shootings, and a presidential election campaign that seemed to last all year. For me it was a year of mostly staying at home.

Life was normal for me during January and February, with my usual activities of volunteering at the library, committee meetings at the senior center, classes with PLATO (old people’s education), church activities, and BEST OF ALL, dates with Pete, my wonderful boyfriend. Pete and I toured the Minhas brewery in Monroe, and we went to movies and restaurants. We took a trip to Oshkosh and Appleton and saw the museums. I entered artwork in the Madison part of the Wisconsin Regional Art Program. Life was filled with activity.

Then I turned the page of my pocket calendar from February to March, and suddenly most of it was gone or changed. The covid-19 pandemic had arrived. It is the disease of the century. Sometimes it has seemed to last a hundred years.

I didn’t know this disease would last the rest of the year. Suddenly instructions appeared from the city, county and state about how to avoid getting it. The politicians didn’t (and still don’t) all agree on how to deal with it. We were told to stay at home, wear masks, wash hands, not touch our faces, use hand sanitizer, and stay at least six feet apart. Essential services stayed open. I see the grocery store as essential along with my ongoing relationship with Pete. Pete and I have continued to see each other, and I have enjoyed meals with my Madison family including Sarah, John, Sherry, Laura and Ian.

Much of life went online and changed in other ways. In Madison churches and schools went virtual. Many stores stayed open. Stores installed glass or plastic or something transparent to separate customers from staff people who might breathe on one another. Restaurants turned to carry-out services. Shared transportation separated people inside buses and airplanes. Many businesses struggled to survive. Some people chose to ignore some or all the cautions. Many people got sick with covid-19. Hospitals were and are stressed. I am glad that the vaccine has arrived and is starting to be distributed.

What did we do? We discovered Zoom. Zoom lets us stay together separately. It enabled me and others to join the online world of church services, meetings, classes, social gatherings and more. This made life different but good. I was and am happy to be on the same screen with people at church and other gatherings. Being together in person is better, so I have been together several times a week with Pete, mostly in our homes playing cards or Scrabble, or watching streaming plays and movies. I have had dinner weekly with John’s family and lunch with Sarah occasionally.

Summer came to Madison with disorder about racial injustice after several killings by police in other cities. In Madison daily and nightly demonstrations centered on State Street and the capitol area. Stores and businesses were damaged and looted. I thought it was frightening. Then artists painted pictures and messages about racial injustice on the boarded-up shop windows. Pete and I went downtown a couple times and looked at them but mostly we stayed away from State Street.

I went to Washington Island a few times although pandemic rules were in effect in Door County as in the rest of the state. I enjoyed Memorial Day weekend, the last week in June and Labor Day weekend at the island campground as I have done in recent summers. I stayed in the woods and enjoyed existing. I love being there even without Pete.

 Autumn came with more staying at home. In September, by computer, I attended the annual state gathering of the Wisconsin Regional Art Program. There we heard talks on Zoom from various artists. The best part of being in this was that I won a state award for my picture of apples in colored pencil. This picture and many others in Madison didn’t get many viewings during the spring exhibit of WRAP because the pandemic caused its location to be closed. My winning picture is at the top of this post.

Countless activities and events did not happen in 2020. Most importantly, Pete and I didn’t get sick with covid-19. I didn’t attend a lot of plays, art fairs, day and multiple day trips, restaurants where we could eat on-site, PLATO classes in person, church worship in person, and times with my brothers and out-of-state daughters. I miss seeing Dori, Mary and Libby and spouses but will have more opportunities after the pandemic is under control.

Church and PLATO activities come into my home via Zoom. I don’t mind staying at home, thanks to the few people I share time with and the online meetings with others. Facebook, for all its bad publicity, has been very good for me to stay in touch with my various family members and others who have been part of my life. Life is still good.

Memorial Day Remembrance

On this Memorial Day we remember Rick Whitt, who served in the US Air Force during the Korean War and hated every minute of it. He served from 1953-1957, three years, eight months and ten days, as he often reminded us. He served in Tripoli, Libya and Roswell, New Mexico (didn't know about UFOs there), and saw no combat because the war was almost over.

The good part was his job in the Armed Forces Radio Service in Tripoli, and that got him started in television and radio broadcasting in Wisconsin. Hardly anyone now remembers his announcing on channel 15 television in Madison for several years. Even fewer remember him at WDOR Radio in Sturgeon Bay. After TV he became a city bus driver, which was possible because in the Air Force he drove heavy equipment. His military service served him better than he gave it credit.

After serving in the Air Force Rick attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, thanks to money from the GI Bill for veterans. He received a BS in Speech (radio and television) in 1962 and then married me. We had five children who are now splendid adults.

Rick was born and raised on a farm west of Madison in Arena, but he chose not to be a farmer. He wanted a more exciting life. Late in life he became a deacon in the Episcopal Church, where he reached out to shut-ins and occasionally preached short sermons. I wouldn’t call that exciting, but it was good service to God and others. That isn’t counting all the sermons he proclaimed to us as his family, which usually were not about God. He died in 2009 of kidney disease.

Social Distancing

Everything changed two weeks ago. The powers that be are calling it social distancing. We all were told to go home and stay there until the virus is controlled. Almost overnight many of our usual activities disappeared. I didn’t know what would be gone next.

The Covid 19, or corona virus, arrived in Wisconsin, multiplied rapidly and continues to pervade our territory. The governor told us to shelter in place, which apparently means to stop going anywhere except when necessary. The President first said it was a hoax, and then he told everyone to go home. Now he wants it to end by Easter. Hard to believe. This is a virus, not something he can order around: “Go away, virus, by Easter or you’re fired.” 

What did I do? I went to Woodman’s for groceries two weeks ago at the start of it all and was amazed at the huge crowd that Friday morning, with shopping carts full of toilet paper and soda pop. I reported it on Facebook:  “This morning I had a memorable and amazing experience. I went to Woodman's this morning at 8:30 to get ahead of the Saturday crowd. Everyone was there already. The parking lot was full. Toilet paper in abundance was in shopping carts. Still on shelves were milk, ice cream, lettuce and celery. Every five minutes someone announced on the PA system that toilet paper and water were in short supply, so people should limit purchases of them. I waited forever to check out; the waiting line stretched through a large amount of the store's lane space. It's a big grocery store. I stood in line from 9:00 a.m. until final checkout at 9:45. The panic is happening.”

That was the beginning. Many businesses closed. Essential businesses remained open. Some changed their procedures to allow picking up products or having more of them delivered to homes. We have been allowed to go to the grocery store as needed while taking a chance on inhaling or touching the virus. Well, the grocery stores are still crowded, and toilet paper still is the big item. I’m glad I have enough food for now. Television continues to broadcast information on the spread of the virus and how to deal with life in this changing circumstance. I believe that television and radio are indispensable in keeping us all informed even though the ongoing reporting doesn’t help us to relax.

Many of my usual activities ceased; no more PLATO classes, no more volunteering at the neighborhood library, no more church and church activities. Claudia, Mary Ann and I suspended our knitting group. Welcome to the new home monastery.

Wow! A new way to vote! Voting in the spring election scheduled for April 7 continued. The city of Madison offered curbside voting. I drove downtown on nearly empty streets and parked the car in line in front of City Hall, where poll workers walked around to assist us. We were to call the phone number in the clerk’s office and magically get our paper ballot, then vote with our own pen and stuff the finished ballot into the envelope, sign it and have the stuffing procedure witnessed and signed by the nearest poll worker. The poll workers gathered all the ballots and presumably took them into city hall. That was pretty good.

Social distancing is not social. Staying at home alone is not social, although for me it is not a hardship. I cheat a bit but not much. I ate dinner on two Monday nights with John, Sherry and the kids; they are family. Pete and I spend time together about three days per week watching streamed movies and playing card games and board games. While alone, I spend quite a bit of time reading and watching educational lectures from The Great Courses and The Great Courses Plus. I continue to take daily walks, mostly in the neighborhood but also on the Ice Age Trail and at Governor Nelson State Park, where some people also “socially distance” together. I have time to do some art work.

And then there is cooking. Now I have time at home to prepare food like stew and soup. I baked bread, butterscotch brownies, nut bars (not all the same day) and gave half to Pete. I made delicious lamb stew. Today I am making split pea soup.

Social Distancing and Sheltering in Place are offering time to do some of the things we haven’t had time to do in our formerly busy lives. I hope the medical people minimize the disaster that is unfolding, but in the meantime we can all be together separately.