Coronavirus: Sheltering in Place Installment #1 Grocery Stores & The Farmers Market

March 13, 2020- Friday the 13th- was my last day of in-person work. It was also the first day my friend in LA started posting Lockdown Day # updates. I can't say what exactly was happening in LA, but SF and other bay area towns closed restaurants and bars. A Google search indicates that was March 14. Chris Mann posed My Corona on March 15. A Google search seems to indicate that Governor Gavin Newsom's shelter-in-place order was March 19, 2020.

I've been collecting examples of life in my town here in central California during this global pandemic. I had thought that our shelter-in-place order would be a couple of weeks, but 11 weeks in, I'd say, I was wrong. I remember when Chris Mann posted Hello on March 26 and said the shelter-in-place order was going to be until July and I thought it was a tad funny, a bit of exaggeration, but now that July is approaching, it doesn't feel that way at all.

So we made masks.

Here are examples of my first foray into mask making.
I've given some to others, some for ourselves.

Here's me in one of our kitty masks.


















On March 20 my friend sent me this video of a Costco.

My grocery store on March 25, 2020.
No tortillas.

 No bacon, no sausages

 No tofu cuz I live in central California!

 Almost no flour, no yeast, no baking powder.

 No paper towels, no toilet paper, no tissues, no cleaning supplies.

On March 28, my grocery store installed plexiglas shields for the cashiers. So good job them!

On March 28, Safeway had no limit on paper towels but maybe the price seems high....

















That was March; here's June 6 at my local grocery store.
You can see through the shelves because the canned tomatoes on this side and whatever on the other side are gone- sold out.

 Some canned fruits gone.

Rice... not here

Canned chili? Canned beans? Packaged Mac and Cheese? Not certain brands!

Pasta! There's some but...

Flour? Yeast? Not a brand you've ever bought before or even heard of so...

I forgot to take a picture because I didn't go by the dairy department- my husband did. We divide the shopping list up and meet up together later.

You can get paper towels but only in 12 roll packages... so you need storage options.

Some tissues but...

Some cleaning supplies...


















I haven't taken any photos from inside the Co-op in town but I have some pictures of the outside.

 June 13

 June 13

This photo was taken June 13 but the Co-op was doing this from the start!












The Farmer's Market

Farmers Market signage and new spacing

I love shopping at the farmers market during the pandemic. There's so much more spacing and you feel like you're giving your money much more directly to the people growing your food.








All customers must wear a face covering!

This sign is further from the center of the farmers market.

No mask, no service

We've got our masks on! 

 None of the playgrounds are open including, or especially?, the one at the farmers market. (And yeah, surfaces may be hot is on all the playgrounds in town because we regularly have days over 100!)

Gandhi has been at the farmers market for awhile (2016?) but seemed worth reminding people of.


UPDATE!!
So two days after I took this photo (Monday June 8, 2020) the Gandhi statue was vandalized/defaced. Here is part of what the local newspaper, The Enterprise, said:

The vandal or vandals used red and black spray paint to deface the 6-foot-tall bronze statue of the social activist and its concrete base, located near the park’s main playground, with expletives and words such as “rapist.”

And there are reports that on June 4 that a Gandhi statue in DC was also defaced.



UPDATE:!!! June 13 Gandhi has been cleaned up but you can see some of the signs that this happened.

Books of 2020- Installment #9

41. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson and read by Bernadette Dunne

 This is such a famous story and the last one ever published by Shirley Jackson. It had been on my TBR for a billion years but didn't get bumped up to my currently reading list until my friend said she just finished it and wanted someone to talk to about it. Well, sign me up! The library had the audiobook, so that's what I did. First of all, the kitty on the cover looks like my baby and that was a huge plus!

42. The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa
This is a sweet romp through a wedding planner's love life. In the acknowledgments Mia Sosa talks about how hard it is to write a romantic comedy when the world is on fire. Yes.I imagine that's true. It's certainly hard to find that thing you want to read when the world is on fire. This book helped. That's a great compliment.

43. Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel and read by a full cast
This is the second in a trilogy that I started in 2018. When I saw the audiobook was available I decided to continue the series. I have to say, it was a great way to go! This book is written in the form of documents/transcripts, but listening to it as dialogues and audio files really brought it alive and I think kept me focused when I don't think I could have if I were reading it.

44. Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth
The premise of this book is what happens to the Chosen One after the apocalypse is averted. Of course, is the apocalypse ever really averted? Maybe it's just delayed.... I want to say more but the things I really want to talk about don't happen until about halfway through the book and that seems unfair to talk about here. So if a book about what a chosen one or rather 5 chosen ones go through after defeating the big bad sounds good to you, pick this up!

45. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and read by David Warner 
Shirley Jackson has been having quite the moment and I've jumped on the bandwagon in great part because a friend has been reading some, so why not read them together? This is a time for doing things together and reading is a great social-distancing-appropriate activity! There are things that I loved about this book. The creepy house being central. There are things I hated about this book namely the way people teased each other in this book. Unfortunately I think it was fairly accurate teasing. I'm glad I don't hear much teasing like that these days... From the get-go it's clear the house is alive in its own way and will have its own way... (BTW if you've watched the Amazon TV series- it bears very little resemblance to the book....)

I've read 45 books and 37 were by woman, 6 were by men, 1 was an anthology by both women and men, 1 was by a nonbinary author, and 3 were translations. My year of reading lots of women and at least 12 translations is going well in that I've read mostly female authors, but the world is going through a pandemic and state sanctioned murders in the form of police brutality with a horrible man still at the helm and supported by horrible men in the Congress. In short this year has been really rough. What will this global health crisis leave us with? What changes will we make, not only in terms of the huge inequities of our health system where people of color and the poor (which let's face it- the system works really hard to ensure that people of color, especially black people, are poor) are more than extremely disadvantaged, but also all the other ways in which our society, our systems, actively damage people of color? Only time will tell. But I hope it is a greater sense of community, a need to care for one and another and support each other, not just people with the same colored skin as ourselves, not just people with the same sized wallet as ours. I hope all of this isolation leaves us wanting to lift each other up and not hold others down.

2020: A Recap and it's only June

It has been a rough year. Wildfires destroying Australia and possibly leading to the extinction of kola bears. A global pandemic that has those of us lucky enough to sheltering in place. People risking their health to vote because mail-in ballots have become some political football kicked around. And still police violence against people of color continues. There is a long history of police violence against black people in the US. It predates Rodney King's vicious beating, but that was my first time to see footage of cops mercilessly beating a person up. It was my first time watching a city burn somewhat metaphorically because of this kind of police violence. Well, cell phones have made it easier to record events in the moment by regular people, and we have learned about how common this violence actually is. In the past it was very easy for people to pretend it wasn't happening. It was happening. It is happening. If you are like me, you can't really understand it. If you are like me, you can't believe in the middle of a global pandemic, there are people killing other people for such confusing reasons. If you are like me, it scares you to see police killing people, unarmed people, people who are no threat. If you are like me, you can't understand because these actions are horrible. And people who are protesting are doing so at the risk of their health and their lives and they are doing it because they have been denied so much and had so much taken from them.

Books of 2020- Installment #8

36. A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones
This is a new series by Darynda Jones, and I love it!! The main character is a newly elected sheriff in her hometown of Del Sol, New Mexico. She was abducted and impregnated as a teen. Despite all that trauma she is an amazing funny woman who is bent on finding her abductor and bringing him to justice. But man oh man does she have a rough first day at work!!

37. Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold
Oh, wow!!! What a book!! So fairy tales are very interesting and they say something about society and culture but Little Red Riding Hood is the fairy tale that fascinates me. In particular it is the references or portrayals of this fairy tale in culture. Does Little Red Riding Hood get portrayed as a child? An adult? Innocent? Sexual? Violent? Empowered? Victimized? Because in the end this story is so much about how females interact with the world. This book is definitely about how females interact with the world.

38. A Phoenix First Must Burn edited by Patrice Caldwell
This is a great YA science fiction and fantasy anthology featuring authors of color. You get all kinds of stories in this collection from the past to the future. And in everyone of them protagonist is a deeply relatable girl or woman, making her way through the world. I think I was a little older than the target audience but I really enjoyed it!! I love reading science fiction and fantasy by people-not-white men! So thank you for that!!!! And as an interesting side note, I think my favorite story in the book (though that's a tough call to make) is the one by the editor, Patrice Caldwell- hello vampire story!!!

39. The Sound of Stars by Alecia Dow and read by Joy Sunday and Christian Barillas
Listening to audiobooks is not my favorite way to read. I am a too easily distracted person. Actually sitting down with a book is the best way for me to still myself enough for a story. Still, when the library only has certain options... well, audio it is. This is a really nice YA sci-fi/romance book, and let's be honest, sci-fi could use a little more romance as well as authors/protagonists of color, especially of the non-male variety, which this book has!! So yay!!! And the fact that the main alien is purple didn't hurt at all!! No, semi-sentient hair though....

40. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying by Grady Hendrix
I love vampire books and Grady Hendrix so this was a no-brainer! Luckily my pandemic reading lethargy was not a factor in this book!! I devoured it!! Scared sure! But that's to be expected!!! Some moms in a little southern town- Old Village- form a not-really-a-book-club book club and read all the classic true crime books!! Then a stranger moves in and bad things start to happen. Are they going to be like one of the people in their true crime novels who ignore all the signs and say nothing bad could happen here? Or are they going to Miss Marple his ass?

I've read 40 books and 33 were by woman, 5 were by men, 1 was an anthology by both women and men, 1 was by a nonbinary author, and 3 were translations. My year of reading lots of women and at least 12 translations is going well in that I've read mostly female authors, but as the world is going through a pandemic, it's not going that well. I can't complain about my personal situation, but it is rough going out there. And I look forward to the day that people stop hoarding, but maybe that day won't come again. I don't know. I think of all the people in the US that have a fridge with a freezer and another fridge and how they are always full. It seems like a leftover of the Great Depression.What will this global health crisis leave us with? Only time will tell. But I hope it is a greater sense of community. I hope all of this isolation leaves us wanting to reach out more.

Books of 2020- Installment #7

31. The Return by Rachel Harrison
This was such an engrossing thrilling book!! I devoured it!!! A group of college friends go through some upheaval when one of them goes missing. Our narrator believes she's just doing this for attention but the others believe she's passed. And that's just the first couple of pages. What happens next kept be gripped and reading!!

32. To Be Taught if Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Becky Chambers does so amazing science fiction and this novella is no different. This book follows a group of astronauts explore a handful of planets and that was interesting in of itself, but Becky Chambers manages to take this somewhere I didn't foresee and loved and by the end when the title suddenly becomes clear, I was in tears! So moving!

33. Finna by Nino Cipri
This novella shares some DNA with Grady Hendrix's Horrorstor, but it is not the same. It was a delightful portal story. A grandma disappears into a wormhole that opened up in a IKEA-esque store and two employees, the least senior employees, are required to go through and try to bring her back!!! What follows is a great adventure with some commentary on our society in general and capitalism in particular! Loved this!!

34. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune & read by Daniel Henning
This story was a delight and since I finished it, I have missed the characters!! This is the highest compliment I can give a book!! I'm missing them so!! This is a novel follows a case worker for a bureaucratic group that overseas magical youth and he's assignment to investigate a specific orphanage for a small group of extremely unique magical youth. It starts out pretty dystopian since it's in this depressingly bureaucratic organization that reminded me of the movie Brazil, but once he's out of the office and with the magical youth, it is magical! A delightful breath of fresh air and hope!! And I loooooooooooooooved how Daniel Henning read it!!

35. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
This is an amazing nonfiction book about our relationship with nature. The author is an indigenous scientist, mother, and American citizen, so she draws on these aspects of her identity to address these issues. It's deeply interesting and thought provoking. I had to take this book out from the library twice in order to be able to finish it because I needed to sit with her thoughts. I couldn't zoom through it. But it is a fantastic read and I have been recommending it to people. I think it is especially beautiful to read now during the pandemic. She talks about caring for each other (and by each other so most definitely also means the other inhabitants of the Earth both large and small, both mobile and seemingly immobile.

I've read 35 books and 29 were by woman, 4 were by men, 1 was an anthology by both women and men, 1 was by a nonbinary author, and 3 were translations. My year of reading lots of women and at least 12 translations is going well in that I've read mostly female authors, but as the world is going through a pandemic, it's not going that well. I can't complain about my personal situation, but it is rough going out there. And I look forward to the day that people stop hoarding, but maybe that day won't come again. I don't know. I think of all the people in the US that have a fridge with a freezer and another fridge and how they are always full. It seems like a leftover of the Great Depression.What will this global health crisis leave us with? Only time will tell. But I hope it is a greater sense of community. I hope all of this isolation leaves us wanting to reach out more.

Books of 2020- Installment #6

26. West of the Moon by Annie Bellet
I love Annie Bellet, so when I saw that this novella was available and I had to snatch it up!

27. The Deep by Alma Katsu
I absolutely loved The Hunger by Alma Katsu about the Donner Party, so when I heard about her new book The Deep about the Titanic, I had to read this!!

28. The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo
My husband has read several books by Zen Cho and loves her writing, so when I saw this novella was available, I just had to check it out!

29. We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
This book sounds up my alley! Teenagers in the late 80s decide to call upon the supernatural powers inherent in their town since their town is Salem Village- yes, that Salem!!!

30. Mrs. Mohr Goes Missing by Maryla Szymiczkowa & translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
This was a lovely mystery set in 1893 Cracow, modern-day Poland. Mrs. Mohr is something of a social climber and a snob but finds herself unable to leave a death alone and must investigate. I wasn't sure I was going to like her enough to follow her through the twisty trails of this mystery but it was a delight!! And I loved seeing a part of the world I've never seen and during a time I've never seen! Quite delightful and this is my second book translated from Polish and my second book translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones! So far I love Polish books!

I've read 30 books and 26 were by woman, 3 were by men, 1 was an anthology by both women and men, and 2 were translations. My year of reading lots of women and at least 12 translations is going well in that I've read mostly female authors, but as the world is going through a pandemic, it's not going that well. I can't complain about my personal situation, but it is rough going out there. And I look forward to the day that people stop hoarding, but maybe that day won't come again. I don't know. I think of all the people in the US that have a fridge with a freezer and another fridge and how they are always full. It seems like a leftover of the Great Depression.What will this global health crisis leave us with? Only time will tell. But I hope it is a greater sense of community. I hope all of this isolation leaves us wanting to reach out more.

Books of 2020- Installment #5

21.No Shit, There I Was edited by Alex Acks
I got this book ages and ages ago because I knew there was a Darcie Little Badger story in it. Okay, so it took me forever to actually pick it up after I bought it. It just sat there ignored on my kindle, and then I was like I guess I should give up on reading this. NO!! I bought it for the Darcie Little Badger story! I'm reading that if nothing else! Okay, so I read it and I looooooooooooooooved it!! Okay, so now that I've actually cracked open this digital book, I'll just look at the other stories. Turns out I loved almost all of them!!! So worth it!! Even though it took me a million years to actually read it. But you know, maybe I needed to be in the place I was to read it. I don't know but it is good!!

22. The 5th Gender by G.L. Carriger
I feel like I heard about this book in a BookRiot newsletter, perhaps the romance one Kissing Books... Wherever I learned about this book, I am sending out a thank you because I loved this book!!! It really scratched that sweet-not-end-of-the-world itch that the pandemic has enhanced! I hope there are more in this universe!! I love the two man characters and the interspecies romance!!!

23. Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi and translated by Marilyn Booth
This is the first book I've ever read about Oman. It was a very interesting and eye-opening book. I like to read books in translation to get the feel for another place, another culture, another people. This book did exactly that! I was transported to a new place and allowed to glimpse into places I've never been and to see things I never have before. And I learned a lot about Oman. This book is really a roller coaster ride and the translator's note at the beginning really helped me navigate this world.

24.The Vanishing Girl by Josephine Ruby
As I'm sure the cover gives away, this is a story about Daphne and Velma of the Scooby Doo cartoon. They solve a mystery of the vanishing girl and show that it wasn't ghosts. I'm sure all of that is obvious to you from the cover if you have any idea of who Velma and Daphne are!! What was new is their relationship to each other and to the boys in the Scooby gang! I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to the second book in the series!

25. Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by
This was a fun little romp in Massachusetts. There's a rich man who dies but makes a scavenger hunt for some of his treasure as part of the celebration of his life. But ultimately this is about relationships and coming together and supporting each other.

I've read 25 books and 22 were by woman, 2 were by men, 1 was an anthology by both women and men, and 2 were translations. My year of reading lots of women and at least 12 translations is going well in that I've read mostly female authors, but as the world is going through a pandemic, it's not going that well. I can't complain about my personal situation, but it is rough going out there. And I look forward to the day that people stop hoarding, but maybe that day won't come again. I don't know. I think of all the people in the US that have a fridge with a freezer and another fridge and how they are always full. It seems like a leftover of the Great Depression.What will this global health crisis leave us with? Only time will tell. But I hope it is a greater sense of community. I hope all of this isolation leaves us wanting to reach out more.