This blog is inspired by my wife Joanne who I overheard riffing “I used to hug my grandchildren” (see photo) and on and on and on...I asked her to Guest Blog, but if you know Jo you know that was not in the cards.

I was waiting in line for the farmer’s market in Great Barrington when a woman nearby said that she liked my T Shirt. I was wearing a T Shirt from Hawaii featuring the Rainbow Drive-In Diner in Honolulu. A big smile appeared on her face as she told me that her grandmother lived a few blocks from the Diner.

One of my favorite broadway musicals is Mary Poppins. An enchanting story about a nanny to an English family, who creates fun through structure and imagination. Practically perfect in every way. As I go through the painstaking efforts of moving into our new home, I’m reminded to find the fun in all of this chaos, “In the most delightful way”. “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun, soon you find that snap, the job is a game.” Maybe I’m just born a positive Mary Poppins type, or maybe I’m completely entertained through routine experiences.

  I really did not enjoy walking – but now I do. When COVID started, like all of us we tried to find activities that checked off a few boxes – safe, out of the house, healthy. For a long time, checking those boxes was not easy.

We spent my entire Weight Watcher meeting this morning discussing one topic, breakfast. We discussed the facts and the reality regarding  the adage, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”  We also discussed the pros and cons concerning the different ways people choose to eat breakfast.  

President Obama, during the DNC, tweeted his “summer” playlist see pic at left).

More observations from my unexpected COVID life...   I'm so used to my mask that sometimes I wear it while driving alone in my car.   Most of the customers in Whole Foolds are now Prime buisness people shopping to deliver.   I'm getting better at reading people even though I only see their eyes.   Supporting the small buinesses in my neighborhood is harder when a lot of them are closed.   Social distancing is an oxymoron.  

I came up when Mayor LaGuardia read the comics on the radio, before TV test patterns and Uncle Miltie and listened in on a telephone Party Line. So a lot of communication progress has occurred in my life span, but I was never so much in the dark as I have been since the August 4th storm.