Saturday March 14
Off to Plaza Diner with Geoff, Kim, Julian, and Willie. Not crowded and mostly old high-risk people like Michael and me. Talked more about virus and politics, which bored Julian. He’s generation Z. I asked what defined his age group. He said Nihilism, essentially. When I was his age, I didn’t bother to vote during the Johnson/Goldwater election. Basically I was not so much nihilistic as a lazy slut hyped up on dating for the first time in my life. Geoff and family went on to the city after lunch.
Jim Dolan dropped by in the afternoon and talked at us for two hours, repeating many of the stories of his glory days as a young police chief and best pal with Mike Tyson’s trainer, with trips to Los Vegas where room and board were free.
I finally kicked him out and we went to get petitions signed by our neighbors Marc and Flory. Marc is a corporate photographer who just lost two months worth of work because of the virus and Flory manages the Roundtable Theater in New York, now blacked out. They aren’t happy, with major insecurity. It's even worth looking at our 401Ks, with the market falling over like the old whore that she is.
Sunday March 15
Cooking St Patrick’s dinner for the group. This is our last public event before we close up for quarantine for at least two weeks. Willie is here for the duration. The reality of this thing is settling in, and he needs protection as much as we do. We're all part of the vulnerable population. I’m not a good enough hand washer to be allowed on the streets. I'm not going to the army but called Darcy and offered to cook at home.
Killick on my lap and dying. We’ve decided it’s time to euthanize him. It makes me desperately sad. I wanted him to die at home.
Dinner was good. Corned beef baked with a coating of brown sugar and mustard. Colcannon — mashed potatoes, caramelized cabbage and onions, braised carrots, soda bread, and panna cotta, Liz, Geoff L, Richard Wallace, Ann, and Stuart showed up. Naturally lots of talk about the virus, the Catholic Church, and politics. Debate tonight between Biden and Bernie. Biden did well.
Monday March 16
First official day of our self-quarantine. Willie is here for the duration and can teach his students remotely.
Killick slowly died over the course of the day. I was hoping he would go at home but in the afternoon he was gasping, so we decided to take him to the vet. We put him in a regular box—not his carrier, which we feared would be associated with the vet and make him anxious. He was so frail, I thought he'd just lie the box and sleep, but instead he struggled to get out and scratched and bit Willie as he lifted him in collapsing at the end and dying. He never scratched or bit anyone during his life. His last struggle to escape was awful and horribly sad.
Willie and I gamed this afternoon, which was distracting,
Made a sheet pan with baked chicken. Cauliflower and tomatoes and mozzarella.
Watched Maisel. Exhausted and sad. Went to bed.
Tuesday March 17
Brought my seeds over to Dale Baker, our neighbor and farmer. I made a joke about the virus as I handed them over to him. He shook his head,” You don’t know who to believe.” He’s Jim Dolan's cousin, but a conservative and this made me crazy “All you have to do is look at what’s happening in Europe and Asia.” Then I resisted my harangue, because Dale is an incredibly decent good guy, whose body is ravaged by the hard work he does. Some day I hope all the good people who have been deceived by Trump will see his new clothes for what they are. Dale talked about the difficulties of keeping the farm up and told me about his valve replacement this winter. He looks better than he has in years, but his fruit trees are a mess due to his inability to prune. He said he won't be selling at the Hudson farmers market this summer but is going to use the time to assess his life.
Talked to Lee and Tom who are organizing for hikes with friends and packing lunches. Nice idea.
Michelle, Michael’s sister in law is being talked about as potential Veep, getting a lot of publicity.
Jill wrote Willie a long email today. Very pleased.
My ex-best friend Diane Ward and I have been exchanging FB messages occasionally after years of estrangement from my asinine behavior in the early eighties. I asked her how Kelly, her stepdaughter, was doing, who is living in Phoenicia, about an hour from us. Kelly had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, when the was ten. She got the news the same day that Phyllis, her six-foot 40-year old mother, sat by her bed in the hospital and announced she was leaving her kids and Geoff, Kelly's father, for Washington DC where she planned to become a country western singer. Ten years ago the doctors told Diane and Geoff that Kelly was not going to live much longer. Most of her intestines have been removed but she's still alive and Diane described her as living with a unique happiness. I’m so glad to be in touch with Diane again. Richard and Geoff were colleagues and best friends at American Heritage, and a couple years after Geoff's divorced his very tall strange wife, we introduced him to Diane, who was my best friend and visiting us but still living in Buffalo. Diane was zaftig, warm, and not Phyllis. Geoff was tall, attractive, and smart and had a great apartment in Manhattan. They both loved jazz and fell madly in love. Eventually they were married but not before I made trouble over an incident that I'm not going to write about here. Maybe later. In any case, Diane and I stopped talking for thirty years; Geoff became the author on Ken Burns' Civil War series and is now a multi-millionaire, which is great for Diane. She had grown up in extreme rural poverty in a small upstate town, with a blind father and mother who were Jehovah's witnesses. She escaped town after a disastrous first marriage to the abusive local rich boy by marrying a second time to Bill, a hapless pleasant Niagara Mohawk manager. She was living in Syracuse, when I met her during my last year as an Air force Wife. We became friends immediately and remained that way through separate moves to Buffalo (her) and New York (me). Our breakup occurred shortly before my breakup with Richard. Boy, I'd like have a redo of that decade. In spite of the end of our friendship, I always knew it was my fault and was happy years later to find her on FB and to follow their successful marriage, and those of their sons, with subsequent jolly grandchildren. Kelly is their sadness. Every once in awhile, she and I would toss each other a message. Recently, we hope to meet again in New York and have lunch if this plague ever ends. Her life is worth a novel.
Wednesday March 18
Spent most of the day trying to raise money for the Salvation Army by writing a blurb for the CCDC email list and a small one of neighbors and local democrats. They served 70 lunches today, more than double the usual amount. I talked to Darcy about possibly cooking at home. I feel helpless.
Made spaghetti for dinner. Very comforting. Watched Maisel while Michael slept and Willie worked in the other room.
Talked to Jeremy. I’m asking him to check in every day so I know he’s OK.
Thursday March 19
Deleted by mistake
Friday March 20
Listening to Cuomo's press briefing, who is being steady and frank about the grim prospects New York is facing, and then I listened to Trump, who rambled on and on about protecting our borders, as if the virus isn’t already here! He mentions drug cures for the coronavirus as if they were right around the corner and not a year away. He’s blabbing oh and on with no commitment on providing medical supplies to the states. He insists on calling it the Chinese virus, in order to give his followers a concrete enemy to hate.
Talked to Harris who had fallen out of bed and broken his nose but didn’t want to go to the emergency room. No one wants to go to the hospital now. I had an idea for Neville. Cuomo said he’d pay any business for producing masks and that the state would provide patterns. Neville and her friend Nancy are both professional seamstresses. Maybe they could build a temporary small business and make some money.
Spent afternoon calling food pantries for a list I'm developing that I'll put on social media, local FB pages, and the CCDC list. I talked to Brenda Banks who manages the pantry at the Hudson projects, and needs money and food. I'll try to reach organizers in other town pantries and see what I can do. Makes me feel mildly useful.
Willie taught some virtual classes today using the video app Zoom. We took a short walk to the mailbox this afternoon. So far nice routines. We are lucky to have this space and the outdoors available to us. I'm happy to have Willie with us.
Made chili relleno/Yorkshire pudding for dinner. My very favorite fusion food. Watched Gary Shandling’s last movie "What Planet Are You On?".
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