Ladybugs

 We are having a nice warmup this weekend. As we exited the front door late this afternoon to take a walk, we had to dodge ladybugs. Dozens of them on the porch cement, the gliders, the outside walls, and a few on the front door. When we returned there were fewer of them and fortunately none on the door so we kept them from coming inside.

Our fall foliage has peaked. There are still some pretty trees, but lots of fallen leaves. The town of Winona Lake has a collection truck that "sucks up" the leaves that have been raked to the road edge. We saw several residences where the leaves were waiting. I don't know what the city does with them. At least we seldom see smoke from leaf burning these days. That does tend to aggravate my asthma.

We should have several nice days early in the week, then about a 20 degree plunge by next weekend.

The Grace Village choir is slated to sing in chapel Wednesday morning. Our director has COVID. Supposedly the pianist is to direct us. Since when we face the congregation we can't even see the pianist, I don't know how this is going to work out. We will find out at practice Tuesday.

My husband and I got our Moderna boosters last Friday. Because of high transmission in our county, the CDC recommends wearing a mask in public gatherings. I mostly do online grocery shopping with pickup. Friday I went into the store to pick out some produce and buy a get-well card. All of the Kroger employees are required to wear masks; about half a dozen customers wore them including me. I wear a KN95 at church, too, but it is rare for me to see anybody else with a mask. I am thinking of doing internet streaming of the worship service at home once Thanksgiving rolls around. We already have an increase in COVID cases; after people travel and mingle with relatives it is likely going to be worse.

I am enjoying my cozy home. The last few days we have been working on a jigsaw puzzle my husband made from a poster he bought at the Old North Church gift shop in Boston. There are about a dozen figurals (see the little duck). It was fun to reminisce about our visit to Boston decades ago, part of a sabbatical.

What's New With You?

We do cautiously go out with masks on. Yesterday I went to Menard's to buy some flowers. I was a little irked that the gardening center door was "locked" and a sign said I had to use the main entrance. Once inside, I realized why. There was a huge sign saying all customers had to wear a mask and an employee monitoring the customers entering. I only saw one man turn around and leave because he had no mask. In the store I saw a person who had taken her sweater off and put it around her neck with the sleeves tied across her mouth and nose. I wish more stores required masks. This morning my husband went to his barber. The shop only reopened on the 11th. The barber wore a mask as did my husband. But the man leaving when my husband arrived and the man who came after had no masks. Today in the local newspaper the Warsaw mayor was lamenting that not more people were wearing masks. It is disconcerting. Unless it is a N45 mask, the mask protects people around the mask wearer, not the person wearing the mask. Where is the reciprocity? 

People in our community are sewing masks and taking them to a central donation site, the fire department on Center Street. We have a mask sewn by a lady in our church, but we hoped we might have a second one so we don't have to launder the masks so often. We had checked the fire department twice, but the outside sign said no masks today. Yesterday on my way to Menards I stopped at the fire department. They did have about 10 masks. These weren't exactly what I wanted since the ear loops are easier to use than the over-the-head kind, but in these times one has to be flexible. None of the fabric was masculine, but I told my husband he could use the "lining" side of the "fish" mask instead.

We are actively looking for things to do outside our home that we consider low-risk. Yesterday morning we went to a huge antique store in North Webster wearing our masks. The two clerks had no masks, however. We were the only two customers in the store. We didn't buy anything, but it was nice to browse. Afterward, we drove north of the town to a large nursery/greenhouse establishment. We were asked to wear masks but nobody enforced it. I bought a basket of ruffled impatiens, something I had not seen before.

The plants at this nursery are kind of expensive. That's why I went to Menards in the afternoon to look there.

I was thinking a geranium would be nice, but I ended up buying this combination which was half the price of the impatiens I bought in the morning. Obviously petunias. I think the pink flowers are verbena. Don't know what the little purple flowers are. I will probably kill it within 2 months; I don't have a green thumb.
Our fothergilla bush is finally blooming. We will have warm weather by the end of next week. The colorful plants will make sitting on the porch pleasant.

I went to Meijer Tuesday morning. Between 7 to 8 a.m. is the senior shopping time, but it is too early for me. I arrived at 8:30. I was glad to see most of the customers wearing masks. One benefit of the virus is that I am looking at food products/brands that I had ignored before. Last night we had grilled shrimp.

There were 6 skewers in the bag. The frozen shrimp were sort of little but so tasty when grilled with a sprinkling of St. Elmo's seasoning. 

I bought a new top from Land's End last week. Actually I bought two tops, but one was too long and looked strange. I had to pay to return it. I am trying to order online more because I don't think department stores are going to survive much longer. Right now, online stores have some good sales.

One of my projects has been going through my closet getting rid of older items that are worn out. I needed a long-sleeved top after getting rid of two. 

Today we signed up for the New York Times crossword puzzles. We subscribe digitally to the newspaper, but the crossword is an extra charge. One of our routines was for my husband to photocopy the Sunday puzzle at the public library for us to work on together Sunday evenings. We did the last one several weeks ago. Our library is closed to the public though they just started curb-side pickup of items this week. Now we will access and print the crossword puzzle online. It is worth the $20 annual fee to restore a routine and some normalcy to our lives. 

A new habit is eating peanuts. At $2.99 for a large bag, they are a cheap snack and relatively healthy. It uses up time to shell the nuts. Yesterday I sat on the front porch eating them; I could be messy since I just had to sweep up anything that flew out of the container.

So we are busy trying to make a new life for ourselves. This new life has some strange aspects, but it helps to make some effort to shape it into our preferences. What new things are you trying?