2021
It is April 15. The National Weather Service is predicting snow for tonight, and I am dusting off the snow shovel. Looking back a year, the most important thing was to avoid and survive COVID, both physically and mentally, and eventually to receive two jabs of Moderna. The psychological, even emotional, relief of receiving the second jab was as real as it was surprising. Benefiting from the jabs, I am slowly coming out of COVID hibernation and look forward to resuming social contacts and shorting Zoom time, TV news time, newspaper reading time, and brooding time about the pandemic and the overall health of the country and the world. Hopefully, my camera club and book club will resume meeting in person and it will be possible to swat some tennis balls in the near future. Actually “playing tennis” may now be beyond me, but I like to think I can still hit a few in a gentle rally. Last summer's drought required me to spend a lot of time watering newly planted trees, a very boring exercise which gave me plenty of time to appreciate the low level of the O-to-HS ratio in my life; that is the ratio of Opera to Horse Sense — the lower the O-to-HS ratio, the better. Unfortunately, there will be a lot of tree watering in the summer of 2021, all the more time to assess the O-to-HS ratio. I have volunteered to teach English as a second language in Connecticut. Teaching ESL was very rewarding for the 10 years I did so when we lived in New York. As far as I know, there is not much difference between Connecticut English and New York English (putting Baltimore English aside); so for the moment, I feel fully qualified. For a more complete update, see my website (fotobs.com) and my Facebook page (GA Mudge). Importantly, photography continues as a wonderful hobby. This reminds me: Beware the dandelions; they are on the prowl despite the prediction of snow tonight. Stay Safe, Moby
2020
Moby Mudge and Sis (wife) and Lark (German shepherd) have finished upsizing the kennel in Sharon, Conn., to which they downsized in 2018. Moby’s crate is in the cellar and has room for a desk, bookcases, computer, printers, camera gear, and an old lacrosse stick from days of yore. In the pre-corona era, Moby spent time on a book club and a camera club whose meetings have been converted to Zoom events. Moby has yet to learn how to Zoom. We are lucky to live in a rural area (perfect for walks with Lark) and to be able to order food by phone for delivery to the house. Walking Lark and following the news consume most of each day. Recent books include “The Boys in the Boat,” “All Quiet on the Western Front,” and “The Plague.” I recommend all three, particularly “The Boys in the Boat.” In these sobering times, it is hard not to think about my paternal grandmother who died in the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and about my mother, who in June will turn 103 in a nursing home, which wisely prohibits visitors. I may drive to New Hampshire in June to wave happy birthday through a window to my mother on her birthday.
