On Tuesday mornings, I have been meeting one of my neighbors for coffee and a walk. The coffee is picked up from Peet’s and we have been hiking around various streets and neighborhoods here in the Berkeley Hills. The variety of houses is just amazing. Many of the streets are winding and, as you might have guessed from the name – it can be pretty hilly. Not as in up and down but as in UP or DOWN.

When you get to the other side of Marin from where we live, it gets interesting  from a geological perspective. I will insert some pictures of Indian Rock (huge rock formation) probably next week since I don’t have any good ones from today. But back to the terrain. There are a lot of huge chucks of rock. As in protruding from the ground in front of people’s houses taking out a large chunk of their front garden. Large enough to obstruct the view from main floor windows.

I don’t think today that the city would even permit to build in this area, but the first half of the last century, I don’t think any one was quite as fussy.

The residents of one house have a sense of humor. What do you do when you have a huge outcropping in your front yard?

actually, not doing a dumpster dive

why, you place a statue of a golden bear. Not a small one nor light weight being solid metal and bolted on.

This is what the world looks like this morning

The time is 0844 on US Pacific Daylight Savings Time. Right now, that “daylight” is an obvious misnomer. Traffic is light, there is ash on everything. The photos were captured on my Cannon 5-D. Cell phones, as it turns out, even the new ones, are not equipped to capture orange sky secondary to reflected sunlight off ash.

The high heat of the last few days obviously has resulted in new wildfires as well as hampering CALFIRE as they desperately attempt to control multiple extensive burning areas.

So far, we are physically safe, but I am making sure that we have everything prepared for a sudden evacuation.

This is the current map –

current fire map from FireTracker

As I am sure that just about all of us know by now that there are no universities holding actual, physical graduation ceremonies.

So, enter the Minecraft World – visit Blockley – and watch today’s Cal Graduation on Twitch.

The story behind the project is perhaps best captured by NBC (link here).  There is also an extensive description here –  complete with interviewers.

If you want to explore the campus – log into your Minecraft account – the specific server is mc.blockley.com

East Bay cut off….

I am deriving this from the old English headline (1930’s?) which declared – Fog rolls in – Continent cut Off….

from the living room

where most days I can easily see the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin headlands

even in closeup

I can barely see the Berkeley marina and parkland which stretches out a short way into the bay.

The traffic report this morning, and yes, public radio reports on traffic on Saturday as well, noted the Golden Gate full of fog, and high winds on the Bay Bridge. Also, at different locations – old furniture in the road, a bicycle in the road, and a multi-car fender bender. The road construction slow downs make complete sense. CalTrans is very sensibly using their budget early in the year to make critical road repairs and upgrades while traffic is at a minimum. 

So, I am still hanging out at home while attending various webinars, conferences and social get togethers. Over Zoom for the most part with the occasional drift into GoToMeeting. 

Still safe, still relatively healthy.

Seems to be one of the few positive contributions that I am making around here.

I can stop for a coffee when dropping someone off. I can pick up coffee and bring it back to anyone who I would like to see vertical, rather than hanging out in bed, in a chair or on a couch. (I will include tea drinks for the non-coffee people in my household).

And it is not that I can’t make a pot of coffee. That happens regularly. I even have a small steamer to which I can add milk in order to make my own cafe-au-laits. Or non-dairy flavorer additives (probably complete with a full set of chemical additives and preservatives) should I want to create an imitation of flavored beverage.

But there is something nice, and perhaps comforting about picking up a coffee on my way somewhere.

It isn’t as nice as going out for an afternoon tea in England. Or a morning coffee in a German or French Cafe in spring.

But it will have to do for now.

As someone wisely pointed out this week, the absence of toilet paper is not solely the result of toilet paper holders.

In the normal way of things, most adults spend at least part of their day out of the house related to employment. Children spend time at school. People go to restaurants, concerts, sporting events. In all of those situations, the toilet paper used is supplied by the location as it is not the custom in the US to supply your own no matter where you are.

Now, with everyone home, those extra 8-12 hours of toilet use – and prime awake time at that – are transferred to the home. This results in the increased use of home toilet paper.

In addition, if you are suffering from seasonal allergies (unfortunately extremely common right now in the Northern Hemisphere) you are also pushing fluids. Or if you are coughing, drinking a lot of fluids improves your health. In any case – this results in more trips to the loo.

If every person who normally buys toilet paper bought just one extra package in a two week period, the shelves would be empty. Well, duh! The shelves are empty! Also of interest is that the commercial supply (restaurants, hotels, convention centers, schools….) is a completely different supply chain than that for the home market. Since most of us don’t want to buy 100-1000 rolls at a time (nor can we even get accounts) it isn’t easy to shift between the systems.

So before you look askance at the person who has bought a package of 12 rolls of toilet paper, they may not be hoarding. In fact, they may be like this household where we buy once for three locations (upstairs, downstairs, Richmond) from one package.

At least that was one thought, not that there aren’t those who have years supply in their garage in case of the apocalypse.

he would be a dead ringer for Santa. Instead, above the round, smiling face which almost disappears into an exuberantly full white beard sits a slouch hat. Black shirt, open sturdy blazer, heavy work boots, and a large silver cross hangs around his neck.

We are standing that 2 meters apart outside Peet’s waiting on our mobile coffee orders. There are several whose faces I recognize, but other than Joe (Berkeley Police and wearing both uniform and name tag) I can’t call anyone by name. Peet’s has adjusted to an 0700 opening time, and mobile ordering only.

Meanwhile, J. gets his coffee, checks in with one of our homeless regulars who sits bundled up in his electric chair, and heads back to his blue van. It doesn’t look like a sleigh. But as part of Night on the Street – Catholic Worker, he has been collecting and delivering meals, sleeping bags, essentials for several decades.

The numbers of ill and deaths are continuing to climb. Part of the challenge for all of us on a daily basis is to remember that cases showing up now are from people infected 2-14 days ago (average 5-6 days) which means that social distancing doesn’t show a drop in new cases until 28 days after restrictions are instituted. In that middle time, everyone who has already been infected has a chance to get sick and spread their joy. To this point, the “average” person landing critically ill in the hospital survives several days in the ICU. So fatalities lag several days behind increased numbers of cases. The better the health system, the longer that lag time is, until the health care system becomes totally overwhelmed. Once it is overwhelmed, the challenges mount. There was a great article in the NYT yesterday discussing triage, priority setting and the burden it places on staff and hospitals, not just on family and patients.

Reality? I would forgo a respirator if it meant that someone younger would have a chance at long term survival. But not everyone of those over 65, 70, 85 would make that choice. Perhaps it is because I feel I am already living on borrowed time and have had the gift of the last two decades and these past couple of years to spend with my family.

But it is Monday – one on-line Zoom class I think is actually not happening this week due to a previously scheduled spring break. Back to my regularly scheduled procrastination and stitching….

on Spruce St

Underneath it all is this almost gargoyle appearing monkey. Dressed differently according to the season, I just noticed this version the other day. Walking down the hill with Miriam and Angel, I took them this route on purpose.

I met her at the Safeway just down the hill from our house. An slightly bent-over woman with a walker who didn’t appear that much older than me. We exchanged comments at the cheese counter about getting an education, then that education didn’t guarantee common sense. And, that occasionally, being a woman meant that you just had to work harder.

She also remarked that, long ago in Tokyo, wearing her USA team clothing didn’t get her a seat in a restaurant. Apparently being Black was more important than being courteous to a visitor. We introduced ourselves, chatted a few minutes longer, then went on our ways.  And I am thinking – Olympics?

Finding information on the male athletes from 1964? No problem. Finding one of the women? A bit more of a challenge. But starting with the name Rosie and assuming California – I found her.  Rosie competed in the 80 meter hurdles, coming in 8th overall. There are other athletes in her family, she doesn’t capitalize on them. For years, she has been quietly supporting various athletic clinics along with other Olympians. She is a tireless advocate for seniors. None of this she told me, and it took a while to dig it out.