So How Are Y'All Doin'?

So... How is everybody out there?  Things 'round these parts are a little tense (it sucks having a close family member who works in healthcare, these days) but in general we're all hangin' in.

I have a little company on Wednesdays... we're trying to give Miri a break from spending 100% of her time with Grandma & Grandpa so she's with me on Wednesdays.  The local school system is doing online virtual classes, so today was a schoolday...

The Pipsqueak also took a few minutes of time on her own to write a special letter, which AJ has taken in to work for the entire crew to see.  It's something we'd all like to see more of...

The only other "news" 'round here is that this past weekend we celebrated our folks' 66th(!) wedding anniversary.  AJ & I had planned on piling everyone into her van and visiting Gettysburg again (it was one of the main stops on Mom & Dad's honeymoon) but -- as you may have noticed -- travel, and visiting tourist sites, and being in close proximity to groups of people are rather severely discouraged these days (as, unfortunately, they should be).  Also, since my sister is currently unable to tell in advance if she'll be able to leave work at 6:30 or 8:45, we elected to push the family Passover seder back to the weekend, where the two events overlapped.

(Before everyone starts yelling at me about social distancing, we are all in close proximity to each other on a regular basis out of absolute necessity... so being together for a smaller-than-usual seder and anniversary celebration was no worse than any standard day.)

First, Miri frosted & decorated the cake she'd made with Mommy (and according to AJ, the Pipsqueak did most of the prep & baking)... Those pesky hearts gave her a bit of a problem but all in all it turned out well:

We then prepared for the seder...

And after it was all over, we celebrated 66 years for dessert!

When I'd originally arrived at Mom & Dad's house, I lugged in a ridiculously heavy box of cat food that AJ had ordered from Chewy but had delivered to my house (covered porch + me at home during the day). As we were getting ready to head to our respective homes, I pulled the bags out of the box to make it easier to lift them, whereupon Tigger decided the box looked (and probably smelled) reeeeeaaaallllll interesting...

We all enjoyed a short game of (purely visual) "Whack-A-Mole" as his head popped up & down inside the box, then said our goodnights and headed out to our respective beds.

And on that note, I'll take leave of you again for at least a few days... Ten years ago, April was a very quiet, very anxious month with practically no news from China, so there isn't much "ten years ago today" material to post now, but I'll check in again at least once this month just to keep things here lively and make sure y'all aren't going slowly insane with cabin fever. (And let that be the worst disease you suffer from!)

I hope everyone had a great Passover and/or Easter... until next time...!

Perhaps A Short Respite Would Be Appreciated...?

Hi, all -- I hope you & yours are all healthy and haven't gone stir-crazy from being locked down.  This post is gonna be a bit different from my usual content.

Looking back 10 years, there really wasn't anything going on... unless, of course, you consider stressing daily over everything coming out of China (Dude, what goes around, comes around!) and wondering if they'd ever get to AJ's LID.  But there sure as all heck seems to be a lot going on NOW...

Along those lines, of late there have been many photographs disseminated online, on TV, and in print that look a lot like this:

Now, I don't know about you, but those photos, and the whole crazy situation surrounding them, is stressing Yours Truly out to a level perhaps never before achieved in this life.  Reading the news & talking to people (whilst practicing the fine art of safe social distancing[1]), it's obvious that I'm not the only one who's stressing out...

...so I will use the rest of this post to provide one and all with a short respite from our daily (over)dose of disease-related stress by presenting some peaceful, calming photos taken during a couple of walks around my & my folks' neighborhoods with the Pipsqueak.

You're welcome, LOL.

I hope this mini-excursion into the rapidly-blooming Spring weather has helped calm a few ragged nerves, or at least reminded you of some of the good stuff that's still out there. :-)  I'll be back in a while with a new (more on-topic) post soon... until then (NOT joking) practice safe social distancing, wash your hands, avoid staying in places with other people (e.g., stores) any longer than absolutely necessary, and stay healthy. (Please.)

Happy Passover, Happy Easter, and I'll see y'all again soon!

[1] I'm old enough to remember things like "Duck and Cover" and Civil Defense sirens... but in all my years I never thought I'd see the day when the term, "Minimum Safe Distance" was applied to people instead of nuclear explosions!