Monthly Archives: April 2020

the gratitude jar…2020

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A few years ago I started a gratitude jar. It’s about positive affirmations. It’s about being grateful.

It’s nothing complicated. You write down little things in your life you’re grateful for onto little pieces of paper and you put it in the jar. Some people empty out the jar on an annual basis and start fresh, others let the little slips of paper accumulate. I don’t add to it as often as I should, but I have let all my little slips of paper accumulate and once in a while I read them.

“Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”
—Lao Tzu

Feeling grateful as a powerful emotion. An hours a time where as hard as it is we also have to be grateful. Grateful that we are alive. Coronavirus and COVID-19 is separating so many people from their families. Coronavirus and COVID-19 are killing people in our communities every day.

Our new decade has started with a global pandemic and that has a lot of negatives to it. But if we’re doing our part and we’re staying home and we’re with our loved ones, that’s something to be grateful for. Even if we’re all separated and we’re all OK it’s still something to be grateful for.

Small things matter. Giving thanks matters. Do you keep a gratitude jar?

coronavirus breeds hate

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I actually think angels are weeping over the behavior of humans. Some days in this land of coronavirus in which we live it is hard to be anything but repulsed by fellow human beings. People keep saying over and over that this virus brings out the best and worst in people. Over the weekend I saw the worst again.

NextDoor is a social media platform that a lot of people who are on it for some reason don’t think it’s actually a social media platform. The end result are things that you wouldn’t even see on Facebook at times. Sociologically and psychologically it’s fascinating even when it’s terribly sad.

A conversation thread went up over the weekend of someone looking for literally Chinese takeout food. A lot of the restaurants are closed, one in particular may have lost their lease but no one is sure, and because of the horrible nickname COVID-19/coronavirus has been given, I think a lot of these places are closed because they’re scared of peoples’ reactions to their nationality.

The thread was humming along with people posting restaurants open and closed here and there and then boom! All of a sudden up pops this one woman who says something to the effect of she couldn’t believe anyone would want to patronize Chinese restaurants. this person goes on to write other things that can only be described as both prejudiced and racist.

Then a separate post pops up. From a gentleman who ironically claims to have an Asian descended wife. And it’s basically why would anyone want to have Chinese food they caused the virus and my Asian wife agrees with me. I am paraphrasing, but that was the gist of their post.

I sort of sat there gob smacked looking at it because this is a person whom I know to be intelligent and can be quite thoughtful. But sometimes they go off the rails and I guess this is one of those occasions. But to take an entire nationality to task over a virus that may or may not have originated in a particular country is just repugnant. I say originated because I don’t think anyone has determined the ultimate point of origin for coronavirus/COVID-19. And I think starting and originating are two different things.

It’s also the whole sick argument of if people look different so they must be different, therefore they must be bad and I just can’t stand it. And I just am amazed at the hate that is fomenting in this country even more so than before the virus took over our lives.

I am descended from people who were discriminated against in this country because of their nationality. Irish, Italian, and German. And don’t forget the religion – I’m Catholic. That’s been a huge problem here and there in this country as well. And not just today because of the issue of pedophile priests.

I have a step sister-in-law who is Taiwanese by birth. I have another good friend who is Taiwanese by birth. I have an honorary Chinese mother who is also actually Taiwanese by birth. These three women are all important to me and I feel very lucky to have them in my life.

I have other friends who are Indonesian and others who are Korean and Vietnamese. I do not look at any of these people with descriptive tags attached. Their cultures are unique and beautiful and they share them openly and generously with all of us. Just like my friends of other cultures like Poland, Romania, the UK and Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Latin America, and so on and so forth. My friends come in many different races and nationalities and isn’t that part of what being an American is about?

We are a country born of immigrants and founded of immigrants. Yet we seem to be devolving into a country of pig ignorant people. Racism and prejudice seems to be rampant right now. And why can’t we just take a breath and pause? Why do we have to be so hateful to one another? We are all affected by what is happening because of COVID-19/Coronavirus.

I also know people who have adopted children of different nationalities and even different skin colors than their own. These sentiments for lack of a better description terrify them. They worry how it will affect their children, if their children will be safe in this world in which we live. And can you really blame them?

We (again) are a nation born of immigrants. It’s our literal history. This country was formed because people wanted a better life and less persecution and religious freedoms.

Yet here we are.

Every time something goes wrong in this country instead of dealing with it you have some faction that goes off and place the blame game with races and religions.

My wish, heck my prayer for this country, is we stop and pause and use this time out of our control to better our country, to stop the hate.

Yes it’s a tall order. But we never seem to learn from our history how to deal with our mistakes. And among those that are the most grievous are racism and prejudice.

I’m far from perfect, you all are far from perfect. To be human is to be imperfect. But we just have to try to do better.

Please. We are stronger together than apart. And that is a big component of why things are so agitated right now. You have the whole economic fallout from coronavirus/COVID-19 and then there’s the emotional component. But we have to stay the course.

Pay it forward when you can. If you can’t just do your part and stay home. And try not to blame other races and nationalities for something that is beyond the world’s control at this point.

I wish you all peace this week.

coronovirus emotions are high…can we pause a moment?

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Gardens in the Rain : abstract serene rainy garden painting ...

 

We are ALL struggling to varying degrees on some days because this is not an easy thing we are going through.

The world of Coronovirus / COVID19 sucks.  There is no other word for it. We all need to be able to hit the pause button, or should hit the pause button, but so many aren’t, are they? And so many can’t.  Their head is stuck on a loop of uncertainty.

I have not cried at all over this thing we’re all stuck in… until this morning.  CBS This Morning honored some of the dead. Yes, those who died from Coronovirus.  A young firefighter from Chicago.  And the one that really got me? A mom who was my age who died and her son with Down’s Syndrome a few days later.

Did I know any of these people? No, but I cried just the same.  This could be any of us right now.

This crapola is real, people.  And no, Lysol isn’t going to save us so for God’s sake ignore that suggestion from our President to inject disinfectants.  And no, it’s not fake news. Just the verbal meanderings of an utter narcissist.

I know people are delaminating, and rainy days don’t help.  But there are people with real troubles so I have a problem with the attention seekers.  These people are popping up on social media.  They are freaking out friends and acquaintances.

Suffice it to say, things I do not respect include people threatening to harm themselves… just for attention.

Please do NOT cry wolf for attention.

Why? Because it means when someone is truly in crisis, help might not get there in time.

I have seen it happening and the other day someone who is not someone I personally know freaked a lot of people out.  Not very nice. And very, very selfish.

 

 

Maybe I sound hard-hearted here.  I am not.  I think this person probably really needs help.  I hope they get help.  But I have lost people in my life who were friends to suicide.  They didn’t warn us.  They didn’t announce anything on social media or elsewhere. They just did it.  And left lots of people to pick up the pieces.  It’s a heartbreaking thing that haunts those left behind.  But I think in a time like this to cry wolf is perhaps even more awful.

 

 

So again, please don’t cry wolf.  Please.  We are all having good and bad days right now.   I have a friend who is living with a man whom I know is delaminating.  This person has been completely irrational and I am worried about my friend.  Part of me wishes he would just pack up and leave.  He is creating a verbal and emotional reign of terror.

Whether we have families we are home with or even if we are living alone, this COVID19 existence is lonely.  I for example hate the hashtag #TogetherApart because in my head it’s #TogetherAlone, which is so depressing.

 

 

Even a homebody like me wants to get out of the house. But I know I have to stay home. I miss my friends and my family.  I miss my routine.  I miss normalcy.

Except I can’t help but wonder what normal will mean and what normal will become when restrictions are lifted?  What will be our new normal going forward? Going back in time to the last global pandemic, don’t you wish we had some survivors of that to talk to?  To learn what their lives were like and what changed?  What became their new normal?

 

History seems to go on a loop.  Just when we think we’ve learned, history repeats itself.  How can we actually learn from history so it sticks?

A friend of mine said today that her emotions are very close to the surface these days.  That resonates.  We all are living a heightened emotional existence to an extent  because nothing much is normal.  And some days I think we all do have to dig deep to stay positive and to be present.

I wish personally some days I could turn my head off.  But I have to remind myself we don’t know what is next, and not to borrow trouble.  We have to believe. I am grateful my family is alright near and far.  I am grateful I have a garden I can tend and a home I can nest in.

The song videos? Just songs I have listened to this week on Spotify playlists. You have to have music in your life. No particular underlying meaning.  Just songs I like that appeared on playlists this week.

Hit the pause button. Listen to some music.  Remember the blessings we do have all around us even in a world full of turmoil and uncertainty.

I will close with a quote a friend of mine put up:

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in His arms, holding them close to his heart.
Isaiah 40:11a

 

 

pandemic rescheduling: billboard hearing postponement in east whiteland township

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One good thing we can thank coronavirus or COVID-19 for is the postponement of unpleasant land and other development plans.

Accordingly, because the expanded Pennsylvania “stay at home“ orders now run through May 8, the billboard hearings scheduled in East Whiteland Township for April 27 and April 29, 2020 have been canceled. And rescheduled.

Today from East Whiteland Township I received the updated legal notice containing the rescheduled hearing date and other relevant details regarding the proceedings. The new date is May 26, 2020 and that will replace the previously scheduled and subsequently canceled hearing dates noted.

The hearing information is as follows:

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Beginning at 7 PM in the East Whiteland Township Building

209 Conestoga Road

Frazer PA 19355

Please monitor the township website if you were interested in this or other issues in East Whiteland Township. The township website is www.eastwhiteland.org

I applaud the township for putting residents first and their health during a global pandemic. I also can’t help but wonder is this God’s way of telling us we don’t need giant electronically lit double sided billboards on Route 30 in East Whiteland, neighboring Tredyffrin, or other places like Haverford Township or Lower Merion’s parts of Bryn Mawr?

#NoBillboards

can’t stand the social media and other covid-19 stupidity, so might as well bake.

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Bread.

A baking art form I have never mastered.  Well I am going to give it a whirl.  My childhood friend Martha made that beautiful loaf you see above.  (And no, I am NOT sitting in her kitchen in Philadelphia, I borrowed the photo from her Facebook page.)

It’s No-Knead Bread and it is a New York Times recipe:

INGREDIENTS
3 cups/385 grams all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran, as needed

PREPARATION
In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K.

Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

And why am I conquering my fear of bread making? Well among other things, I have a friend who owns a restaurant who is teaching everyone the fun of baking sourdough bread with her sourdough starter.  So baby steps.

But baking and gardening and cooking distracts me from the idiots on social media.  And it keeps me from looking at the Chester County COVID19 maps. Both of which are good things.

Off to start my dough!

Have a good evening!

our new normal is anything but normal…and yes it’s stressful

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Today’s blog post has images of front pages from coast to coast. The thing about our new not normal is it makes one feel as if we are living in a bubble. We forget everyone is living a version of this bubble.

We get up and we move about our houses. Maybe we take a walk or a bike ride solo or go for a run. A lot of us are working from home. A lot of us have been laid off or furloughed. Others are on the front lines and work in grocery stores or as medical professionals, first responders, police, and fire.

People are dying. People are separated from their families. People who have lost family members can’t have funerals or memorial services.

And people are delaminating because they can’t cope. It’s insane. You see even more flare-ups on social media. You see the normally politically kooky going completely off the rails. People are bickering who never bicker. Domestic violence is being reported to be on the rise. This coronavirus life is stressful. In the good old days you could maybe walk away from stress for a little while. But we are all on stay at home orders so for some, where can they go?

Occasionally I have days as I have mentioned where I just miss normal life. I don’t mind being at home with my family. But I miss seeing my friends face to face. I miss seeing my mother and stepfather and father in law. I miss being able to talk to my neighbors less than six feet apart. It’s about missing normalcy.

We are all missing normalcy. Only not everyone can process that for what it is. Processing is hard some days, but people we have to stick to it and keep on keeping on. Come on we ALL wonder what comes next and what the world will be like. We are living the great unknown.

And then there are all the media reports coming from reporters homes. I am fascinated at the backdrops some choose. Some people strip the personal out of their at home TV “studios”, some do not. I am also impressed how all of these reporters are so professional and human delivering the news in scenarios they didn’t teach them when they were pursuing their journalism degrees.

And the medical professionals. They are just so fabulous. Every time I see people cheering them on the news, I cheer a little too. Like first responders they are on the front lines.

So we need to keep on doing our parts. I know it’s hard. But the alternative is more grim than our current unreal reality. And to be honest, the people who swear their freedoms are in peril freak me out.

Seriously you want to go protest? Can you all please get a grip. Government doesn’t want to be your babysitter but too many people won’t stay home. And they aren’t doing the basics we just have to do, like it or not.

And the pontificating politicians in Washington DC including the Tweeter in Chief? They talk a good game but they don’t walk in our shoes and never will. Chief Tweeter sounds like he’s part of the Twilight Zone in press conferences and then seems to wish to incite riots and anarchy via Twitter? If the politicians can’t keep it together it makes it tougher for the rest of us, doesn’t it?

I saw again today driving home from a necessary outing people not even trying. People not social distancing at all. It was a group of 6 or 8 adults. Older than me, so theoretically old enough to know better. No masks, no gloves, no nothing. Sitting together on benches. If they were just six feet apart. But they weren’t. And it’s because of stuff like this we are still at home. That and the people who seem to need to cause a ruckus and put people at risk in a Main Line grocery store.

For real.

Read it here in Philadelphia Magazine and be appalled. I admit I do wonder every day what people are doing with all the toilet paper, canola oil, garlic powder, chicken, and Lysol products. But I am not going to go to the grocery store and behave like some hideous diva if something I buy is a different brand than normal. I am just grateful when I can get what I need to buy.

Please. We can do this. We have to. We need to remember the blessings. They exist. Good things still exist. Love one and other, love your neighbors. WE.CAN.DO.THIS (if we want to)

Thanks for stopping by and have a good weekend.

it’s getting to me a little bit today

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I’m going to admit that all this coronavirus/COVID-19 is getting to me a little bit today. I am grateful that I am safe and I have a home and my family is safe and well, but this is insane.

My one stepbrother lives in England. He and his wife are medical professionals. Their children are safe at home, but physicians and surgeons like nurses and other emergency personnel are on the front lines. I think of them all of the time. England has massive shortages of safety gear and other things…much like this country. I have childhood friends in other parts of Europe. I think of them a lot too. Our family is all safe thus far, and I am grateful for these blessings. But still it’s hard some days.

I have greatly reduced my news watching. It’s stressful and often contradictory. And when news conferences that are supposed to be about how we as a country are faring but keep turning into little political pimping moments it’s even MORE depressing. And scary. We need our government to lead and the dictatorship imitations complete with propaganda is too much.

And it’s like death is all around us. My friend’s mother passed away from COVID19 away from her family alone in a nursing home. And the stories on the news of nursing homes not reporting virus cases and also not telling relatives of residents what is going on.

Where has our humanity gone? Some days I wonder.

And a couple of weeks ago a friend from high school died. Not from COVID19 but because of COVID19, no service.

And then there are the people who every day want to tell whomever will listen that coronavirus isn’t really happening. That it’s just government trying to control us. That’s crazy town.

Friends who have to go out are almost having panic attacks. This virus, this life we are living is anything but normal. Many I know have lost their jobs. And with layoffs comes COBRA healthcare pricing. We are all worried about money if we’re honest aren’t we?

And then there are my friends who are alone. People used to being alone, but the isolation caused by trying to fight this virus together apart gets hard. It’s hard for my little family unit and we are definitely homebodies. We all just miss our people. Friends, family, co-workers, business owners of businesses we all patronize. We just miss our lives.

So I swear I heard my late father’s voice today. He said “this too shall pass.” He used to say that.

So yes, this too shall pass. And in the meantime we will all keep on keeping on. Together. Apart.

Stay well. Stay home. Thanks for stopping by.

one of my last true newspaper guys is retiring.

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This. It’s a miserable and rainy Monday morning. Here we are in the midst of a global pandemic known as COVID19 or coronavirus, and one of my most favorite, true, and steady voices of local journalism has announced his retirement.

I am just super bummed. Phil Heron thank you for everything and your friendship. I know why this makes me sad. Phil is an old school paper and ink newspaper guy. “Stop the presses.” (Only I don’t know if Phil ever said that!) These are our heroes of local journalism.

As a citizen journalist (well we bloggers are called that even if some of you don’t like that term), true journalists don’t always give you the time of day. Phil Heron is one of those newspaper guys who always has had the time. A true professional in his industry.

I got to know Phil in part not just because of my community activism days back with the original Save Ardmore Coalition over issues including eminent domain, and when the billboards saga started in Bryn Mawr, Haverford Township. I also have to say my friend, the late Tom Murray, another true paper and ink newspaper guy, deserve credit here. Tom liked connecting people.

Phil will still be around, but it’s still sad because our local journalistic voices just become fewer and fewer. How can they not when they are bought by hedge funds and venture capitalists who don’t actually give a damn about local journalism, local issues? Phil for example has also been a leading voice on the pipeline issue. Local editors and local journalists give our issues voices, they help amplify our own personal voices.

The Heron’s Nest: After 38 years, reaching the end of the road
April 13, 2020

If you missed the note I tacked on to the bottom of today’s Letter From the Editor, allow me to make a personal note. It’s the column I always dreaded writing. Because it’s the last one.

After nearly 38 years, this will be my last week at the Daily Times. I started in 1982. June 14, Flag Day, to be exact.

I will write more about it later this week, but since the word was leaking out there already, I figured I would get ahead of the curve and formally announce here in The Heron’s Nest as well. This is my decision, at least in part. It’s probably not the way I envisioned it, but it is time. I’m not quite sure how to wrap up 38 years, but above all else what I will remember is the people – both those I worked with every day, and those loyal readers who picked up the newspaper every day, or who now visit the website.

So Phil Heron, I wish you well in retirement, and God knows you have earned it. But I think the future of local journalism got a little more grey today.

Support local and regional journalism. Please.

corona cooking the good friday edition: salmon loaf

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Yes…Salmon Loaf the finished product.

I know it’s one of those things that kind of reminds you of your grandmother. Salmon loaf. I’m told it was a big thing in the depression because canned salmon (or canned mackerel) was something that a lot of people could get a hold of and it stretched a meal.

Today in coronavirus land, I was looking to use things up. In my refrigerator, I had three foil packets of Harry and David cooked salmon. Each is about 4 to 6 ounces per packet. They came in gift baskets over the holidays. And they last forever in the refrigerator unopened but it’s not like nova or gravlax, so I’m always at a loss what to do with it. then I remembered things my mother used to make on Good Friday when we were little.

So I put Carly Simon on Alexa, and got to cooking. Yes Carly Simon. Sorry not sorry but her music is something I have always loved, along with Cat Stevens AKA Yusuf.

First preheat the oven to 350°F.

Next I made the white sauce to go with the salmon loaf after it is cooked.

White Sauce – 1/2 cup of mayonnaise, a 1/4 cup of sour cream, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 2 teaspoons of dill, a good dash of Tabasco sauce, 1 tablespoon of milk, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper. All you do is whisk it together and refrigerate it until you serve the salmon loaf.

Salmon Loaf– If you don’t have Harry and David cooked salmon to use, 1 large can of red or pink sockeye salmon will do. I would say you need a good 14 ounces of salmon. You also need 1 can of cream of celery soup, 1 cup of Panko breadcrumbs, 1 small sweet onion chopped fine, 3 ribs of fresh celery diced, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 1/2 cup of mayonnaise, 1 egg beaten, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 2 teaspoons of dill weed, 4 tablespoons of whipped cream cheese or the equivalent of block cream cheese mushed up, a little salt and pepper to taste, some potato chips, and Tabasco sauce.

Mix the cream cheese with the Tabasco sauce (just a dash or two to taste), the lemon juice, the beaten egg, the mayonnaise, the cream of celery soup, the celery, and the onion. Next incorporate the salmon which should be pre-fork mashed in its own little bowl. Finally add the breadcrumbs and a little bit of salt and pepper – about a teaspoon of salt and pepper together. I think I used less.

Take a loaf pan and grease it. I used butter because it happened to be out on the counter. I’m sure you could use olive oil. Spread the loaf mixture evenly into your prepared and greased loaf pan and crumple potato chips over the top.

I will note we rarely have potato chips in the house, we just happen to have them from a take out order a couple of days ago.

Then all you do is throw it into your preheated 350°F oven and set your timer for an hour. For those of you who don’t know the size of a loaf pan it is roughly 9“ x 5“. serve with the white sauce and a simple salad. Note that you’re not actually taking the entire loaf out of the loaf pan it will fall apart you get your servings out and refrigerate the rest in the loaf pan once it’s cooled.

Thanks for stopping by.

Salmon Loaf just before going into the oven

who has seen the wind?

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Who Has Seen the Wind?
BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by