Covid Confessionals – Isolation

Mother’s day – May 10, 2020

I just came home from a driveway visit at my brother’s house with the family to have a gathering for mother’s day. My mom asked me last week if would could have a bbq and eat in my brother’s garage. No, we are not there yet. I think whether you are in 70’s, 40’s or youth or young person, we are all feeling the impact of isolation. 

If you are an introvert, there are many aspects of isolation you may be perfectly okay with and even when life opens up to the new normal, you may be content to let everyone else go out for a while before you join in on the new way of living in this Covid-19 world we are now in.

I am the president of my condo board. We used to have monthly meetings and with our shared board, quarterly meetings in our party room. Last week we had our first zoom meeting as a group. Moving forward we are going to have meetings this way. The condominium associate of Ontario is also moving towards virtual Annual General Meetings.

When I worked in the office, we had weekly team meetings. Those of us in the office would head down to the basement to one of our training rooms while those on the west coast or working from home would call into the meeting. Now we are all remote so we are all calling into our zoom meeting weekly. (post to follow regarding office work).

I made two stop today en route to my brother’s house. First stop was the What a Bagel near my condo. A very small take out area to begin with, and even with mindfulness of space, I feel it was hard to maintain a 2 metre distance between patrons. The staff have really adapted to the new way of ordering, which is involves them to take the bakery orders verbally and bag the bagels or any other bakery item you would like. Waiting in the small area of the store for folks to put lox or tuna on their bagels and then waiting to pay that was a little too close and not quite 2 metres. When I left, the line was out the door and down the sidewalk. Good timing.

Second stop was Centre Street Deli. I was placing orders for three houses. There were two lines, those for pick up (already ordered) and those like me for walk in ordering. It was very civilized but you can tell that they were very busy. Again, it was hard to find a place that was 2 metres apart from the next person. I am finding in stores that have it clearly marked people obey, where it is not clearly marked, people seem to make their own 2 metre calculations.

After a couple of phone calls to try to make a few in person socially distant visits (not successful) I am back at home and tucked in for the night. I have been thinking about all the lessons we are learning and have yet to learn about this time on our lives.

I just looked up synonyms for Isolation in Merriam Webster – Aloneness, insulation, privacy, secludeness, solitariness, solitude, seclusion. I think all of them are true.If you in a home with a family you may not find this time a period of solitude. If you are alone during this time, you may find this time full of seclusion.

Wherever you are on this journey, we are all in this together. We are still very much in it, no matter when the government tells us it is “okay” to dip our toes in the water. If you are not ready, don’t. We need to stay on guard for our personal safety and the safety of the ones we love.

Until next time,

 

May Flowers

It’s May 2020.

For those reading this in the future, let’s just say that what you may have read in the history books about the first quarter of 2020 is all true. For many of us in Canada, we are almost finished our second month in isolation. The month of April is now behind us and I can honestly say, there is very little that I will remember about April 2020 moving forward. (What I do remember, I will leave for another time and place).

But I do have very strong memories about April 2014. That was when I had the windincredible wanderlust opportunity to go on a Viking River Cruise through Holland and Belgium to see the tulips and windmills.

For those who may not know about tulips, they are only in season for a short time, from March to May each year. Tulips of Holland are world famous and the best time to see them in bloom is April and May each year.  You may have been seeing beautiful aerial shots of the tulip fields recently with messages of staying safe and see you next year.

KukThis brings me to the Keukenhof Gardens of Holland. It is a magical wonderland for botanists and flower lovers that come from all over the world to view them in their glory. Over 7 million flower bulbs are planted each year. All to peak during the short season of the garden park. Collections of tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, orchids, roses, carnations, irises and many more.

For the first time in its 71 years, the Keukenhof did not open this year. In March the Dutch government made the decision to ban all large gatherings to prevent the spread of Covid-19, which meant that the gardens could not open for 2020.

Our visit to Keukenhof was on the last day of our cruise. We woke up to rain that morning, which of course isn’t ideal when going to an outdoor park the size of a small city (79 acres), but off we went, raincoats, umbrellas and cameras in hand.

Once we arrived the rain slowed down and we started to walk through the gardens.

The garden has more than 100 royal suppliers. They are the suppliers that provide their very best of their spring flowering bulbs for display at the park. There are landscape architects that create a special design for each supplier consulting on the colours, heights and flowering times of each bulb. The bulbs are delivered in the fall to ensure they are planted and ready for the spring.

The indoor exhibits were equally as breathtaking as the outdoor gardens. Themed buildings with rows upon rows of colour and splendour.

There was a wonderful area of the park called the “Love Garden”. They had beautiful spots set up for people to have their photos taken in beautiful settings, there was a sign suggesting different ways to express love, including “maybe asking an important question” and then there was a message heart display where you could write a mesage and attach it to the heart. Much luck the love lockets in Paris.

love

It looks at the Keukenhof they have already started thinking about next year because I can tell you know that the dates for next years Keukenhof Garden will be March 20 – May 9, 2021.

Looking ahead to travelling is hard now. I understand it. I have my own personal hopes, dreams and visions for spring 2021 and thought by now the planning and execution would be well under way.

Until then, I will just stay home and safe and get ready for the future.

Wishing you all continued good health

 

Covid Confessionals – Restaurants

Saturday March 14, 2020.

Why is this date stuck in my head? Well, it is the last time I ate out in a restaurant. That was 40 days ago. Other than ordering a pizza when Passover ended, I have not had any restaurant food in almost six weeks. It sounds insane as I typed that since I love going to restaurants and having great food experiences around our city.

I worked that Saturday. It was a crazy day as Covid-19 was exploding in Europe and the world around us was closing up shop.

It was a day full of all hands on deck, damage control, protecting our clients. As I mentioned in my previous posts, our Asia team had been going through this for a couple of months and now it was all over Europe. First Italy and then each country closing its borders and cancelling all flights.

I had made dinner plans with my friends a few weeks before and thought about cancelling during that week since it the reports of social distancing were starting but really on the cusp. I had tried to make a reservation at the restaurant, but it only allowed me to go on a wait list.

We arrived at the restaurant just after 6pm on a Saturday. I gave my name and asked if the wait list cleared (the restaurant was half empty) she said it had, but they were only seating half the tables to allow space for the patrons to maintain distance. The three of us looked at each other (the buzz words social distancing was not yet a thing) and sat at a table upstairs and began our conversation and meal.

This restaurant is my beloved brisket haven – Stack. A local establishment mid-town on Yonge Street. I was told by a local resident of the area that between Yonge and Lawrence and Yonge and Yonge Blvd there are more than 30 restaurants.

As we start to look at this pandemic and the closure orders extending again into late May, I wonder how many of these restaurants will be open when the time comes to re-open. Goway staff are regulars at several of the establishments in the ‘hood, and when we all return to the office, what will that look like.

Not just restaurants, but stores, small shops, fruit markets and more. Like any neighbourhood, these are places where the locals shop and quite often will stop in while walking their dogs, picking up their kids at dance class, grabbing a coffee after yoga.

Gives me pause to think about what restaurants will look like when they start to open. How many tables will there be? Will the menus be the same or will they be smaller and focus on a few key items to conserve food wastage and ordering from suppliers? Will you look at the glassware, plates and cutlery differently, wondering…just wondering.

I watched last week as the beach opened up in Jacksonville of the people running towards the sand and water like they had never seen it before. I am thinking that it will be an awkward start to beginning again. Much like after a big snowfall when Facebook is flooded with posts about what are the roads like, I think there will be questions, have you been here yet, or there yet? How was the seating, how many tables?

Until then I will dream about brisket with Memphis sauce and Parmesan fries. I know you are going to tell me I can have it delivered, but I will tell you it will not be the same.

For the last four days I have been craving french fries and gravy from Golden Star. A friend that is out shopping right now is going to help me indulge my craving. My mouth is watering now.

We can’t dip our toes into the water just yet, but hopefully soon.

Until then, stay home and healthy,

Lisa