After the lovely double digit weather we had earlier in March, 17C one day, the thermometer plummeted. One night it went down to -18C. Last night the temperature fell to -10C. This afternoon though, it is warmer, almost 6C. I think we have seen the last of truly frigid temperatures until next November. I had washed and put away my towel collection, that I use to wet and hang, to humidify the house. Out they came again. I am eyeing them right now, as they hang around me, considering if it would be tempting fate to wash and store them away once again.
These are quiet, quiet days. This is how the race between the vaccines and the third wave of the Pandemic are playing out at our house. The Variants of Concern are spreading rapidly in Ontario, and Canada. The news is perused daily, to ascertain if there is any chance of a vaccination. Monday saw the very first vaccination of an over 80 year old recipient in this area, a person who lives independently and not in a communal living situation. All of our long-term-care home, and communal living seniors and staff have had an opportunity to be vaccinated. Over 95% of those seniors have had two shots of either the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine. Many of the front line workers have chosen not to have the vaccine, which I find shocking. So at last the available vaccines have been extended to seniors living independently. I am not over 80, so my turn will hopefully arrive sometime in mid-April to May. The delivery of vaccines from foreign countries is supposed to ramp up in Canada in the next few weeks, but we are still in very short supply, and will be for quite some time.
I will take any vaccine I can get! Four have been approved for use in Canada, Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson. I’ve checked them all carefully, I can safely receive any of them, no worries about my allergy.
I’ve been visiting with some of my old books. I have a lot of books. Right now the last few pages of The World Is Not Enough, by Zoe Oldenbourg, are being read slowly, the final days of the experience savoured page by page. Then it will time to peruse the shelves for another book, which is another kind of pleasure.
Two Christmases ago, Attila gave me a short subscription to Audible. The books I chose are still available to me, although the subscription ended quite some time ago. The current listen is Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen. This Jane Austen novel is my least favourite. It is but one of the novels in the set of complete works that I purchased originally. Good listening.
There is one small patch of snow left in the yard. Every so often the window is attended, in hopes that this tiresome spectacle will have melted into the earth. It is quite the spring for watching the snow melt. But even considering complete year-long isolation due to the Pandemic, waiting for spring here at Mist Cottage could never seem so endless and lonely as those long March days alone at the Country House.
Our new vehicle, Blue is over two months old, and I have sat in her only twice, once for the test drive, and once to go the hospital to see the specialist. Attila needs the vehicle to get back and forth to work, and to pickup our food. Other than that, she sits in the driveway, waiting for her humans to lighten up and enjoy the ride.
Our finances are beginning to recover from last year’s lock down, Attila’s medical leave, and having to buy a new vehicle. These financial situations have been very challenging. Thankfully, the ability to pay bills on time has returned, and it is such a big relief. So many challenges over the past year: isolation; fear of catching Covid from Attila’s workplace; concerns about dying; rigours of isolation for me; financial issues; grief for family members lost to Covid; fear for loved ones; distressing world events, and much more. I am not pushing myself to complete this list, the more I’ve forgotten the better off I will be.
We seem to be frozen in place, as time quietly flows by, as we wait and hope.
Worldly
Weather
Updated on Wed, Mar 17, 2:15 PM
6 °C
FEELS LIKE 4
Overcast
Wind 11 S km/h
Humidity 54 %
Visibility 24 km
Sunrise 7:17 AM
Wind gust 16 km/h
Pressure 101.8 kPa
Ceiling 9100 m
Sunset 7:16 PM
Quote
“We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery.”
H. G. Wells
1866 – 1946
We saw the PBS/BBC version of “Sense and Sensibility” last week, and enjoyed it very much. If you are able to borrow or stream that, you’d enjoy it, too. Also, “Persuasion” was very good. I hope you won’t be “frozen in place”, figuratively and literally, very soon!
Joan, I think we would enjoy those programs! We watch anything going we can find, in the way of British historical/literature based programming.
I think this feeling of being frozen in place is temporary, waiting for May to have the vaccine is the big thing. So often Canada has fallen through the cracks and the vaccines have failed to arrive, mid-April/May is an optimistic timeline for my vaccination. We have been stuck in this limbo of Attila risking all to go to work, that is risking both our lives. It is getting more and more difficult as time goes on to maintain a balanced outlook on the situation, so frozen into numbness may be the best way forward for us for now.
I hope you have had a chance to be vaccinated! I know people in the US have a lot of vaccines and are vaccinating people as fast as possible.
Julia got her first shot, Moderna brand. Next month, she’ll get the following shot. I don’t know when 62 year olds will qualify. I know in the bigger counties, they do. First Phoenix, then Tucson, then Flagstaff, then Yuma, then the counties which have mostly Native populations. They always get the shortest stick.
So glad that Julia got her first shot, that will prevent hospitalization and death, the second shot they say will provide good immunity to covid, perhaps not the variants so much, yet to be seen. Interesting about the native populations there being shoved to the back of the line! Here in Canada remote native populations received enough of our scant vaccines to innoculate around 30% of their entire population, which means most adults would get the shot. Those communities don’t have health care facilities capable of dealing with an outbreak, so they need those shots. Here in Ontario aboriginal peoples are in the first phase, vaccinated before the general population under 80 years old. I think we have done OK for our native population. I hope that is what all the news and statistics and hype mean. anyway. I would love to know when you have your vaccination, I feel concern for my friends!