The Coronavirus and Spring

So much can change in one week!  Last Sunday afternoon, we were visiting Martha's aunt Lizette at Brookdale North in Raleigh on our way home, but only a day or two after that, visitors to Brookdale were being screened to prevent the spread of the coronovirus.  Assisted living facilities for Martha's three other aunts in Asheville and Clemson have also been locked down for now.  The Beaufort Picture Show, where we watched so many movies over the past two months, has closed until further notice.  Church services in Highlands were cancelled today, and Macon County schools, including Highlands School, will be closed beginning Tuesday.

In some ways we returned to Highlands at the best possible time, just days ahead of the feared spread of this pandemic.  We were able to get to the grocery stores twice this week and stock up on essentials, although the toilet paper aisle was cleaned out and there is no hand sanitizer to be found anywhere.  According to a New York Times article, one "enterprising" (or, one might say, "profiteering") man in Tennessee went out and purchased 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer, traveling some 1300 miles, hoping to sell them at inflated prices on the internet, only to find that eBay and Amazon were not permitting such activity.  I hope they sit in his garage for a long time.  Crises like these bring out the best and the worst in human nature.

Meanwhile, we are settling back into our life in Highlands.  It was a joy to show up at the park on Saturday morning and run with some old friends.  It was a warm, overcast day, perfect conditions for running, and after a week I think we have begun to acclimate to the 3850-foot altitude.  We shared stories about shortages in the grocery stores, and what has changed in the two months we have been gone.  Several friends have passed away, one only this past Friday, which is a sobering reminder of our own mortality and our gratitude for being in good enough health for a Saturday morning run.

Last night I went out onto the deck before going to bed and I could hear the spring peepers - small frogs that begin to sing this time of year.  In the uncertainty of pandemics some things never change.  This morning, I walked down the road and discovered that the flowering trees that were planted on the Westbrook property ten years ago are just starting to bloom; Martha told me that they had not been blooming only two days ago when she walked there.

In our own yard, daffodils, forsythia, and hyacinth are all blooming.  The tulips have come and gone, but our neighbor sent us some photos of them.

The first day of Spring will be Thursday, but it felt like it today.  The sun came out and it warmed up, and I washed our Mini Cooper, and then applied a coat of wax.  Then I drove up to Highlands, the top part-way down, the windows open, enjoying the beautiful day.  It was almost as relaxing as a walk on the beach.