COVID-19 and Social Distancing

We all have our stories by now, surely.  I've decided it's time to share some of ours, as follows:

This past Saturday morning the phone rang and Jeannette said, "Come to the balcony."

There they were, Jeannette and Femke, our two best friends who live a 5-min. walk from us.

They, like us, are married and don't need to distance themselves from each other...only from us.

For 15 minutes we caught up on each other and, as you can see, SMILED.

I'm still smiling about it!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Yesterday our senior community here celebrated the life of Lena, age 79, who lived beneath us.

After a totally unexpected heart attack, followed by a cerebral hemorrhage last week,
she died in less than 2 days.

Because none of us could attend a funeral service, if there even was one in today's lockdown,

we made a collective decision to hold a memorial service in our courtyard yesterday.

We all were totally aware of needing to distance ourselves from each other,

especially since there were 18 of us.

We were told to bring a flower with us,

which we placed in the vase outside her apartment following the service.

Afterwards, we headed to our commons room for koffie and cookies,

a common practice at funeral/memorial services here in the Netherlands.

Again, we kept our distance but grieved and communed together.
No one cared we had to use paper, disposable cups. 
It was what we all needed.

I was pleased that my collage was printed for the community,

for all those who didn't attend.

I had played Rummikub for my first 7 years here with Lena.

We all knew her and are still in shock about her passing, even though not caused by COVID-19.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

How many things have you had to cancel or postpone, I wonder?

Doctors appointments, teeth cleaning at the dentist, etc., etc.

Our biggest postponement is our 2-week trip to Croatia starting at the end of April,

now rescheduled for a year from now.

We also have a trip to England in July, which may also need postponement.

And so it is that we are now living in a new normal.

As daughter Amy says, things will never again be the same.

Will even climate change be affected positively...less smog in China, cleaner water in Venice....

A tear and a smile.

Astrid's "Grand Finale" Gorinchem Citadel Run

For the past 10 years, living inside the citadel center of our city, Gorinchem, Astrid has run the 5 km citadel wall hundreds of times.  It's been one of her exhilarating joys in life (think endorphins).

Yes, that's it, and lucky for us, that's where we live!

[credit:  DeStadGorinchem.nl]

Since buying her new race bike a year ago, however, her thrill of exercise has moved more to long-distance rides out into the boonies around where we live, to the point of making a decision to no longer run the citadel wall.

It was still in the back of her mind to stop when she found out there would be an organized event for a 5 km run of 5 citadel walls here in the Netherlands, of which Gorinchem was one, and all with medals.  It became a no-brainer for her to make that her "grand finale" Gorinchem citadel run.

It happened this past Sunday, and because it was her last 5 km run, I made sure I was there to document it..."for the record," as I always say.

The Gorinchem race started and ended at our water port, where the water taxis are,

and where our city's war memorial stands (woman with child).

The water bottles provided include the names of the 5 cities cooperating in the 2020 citadel race.

Each race has it's own medal but if you do all 5 throughout the year, you also receive a GRAND medal.

All Astrid cared  about was the Gorinchem medal.

As you can see, it was a misty, rainy, overcast day,

but it was easy to find Astrid in the crowd because of her orange jacket!

These 4 images were captured by online/Facebook photographers for the event.
And online she found her official time:  38 min. 19 sec.
Not bad for a 65-year-old, right?!

This is the medal Astrid wanted.

The shape is of Gorinchem's citadel wall, including its major landmark, the Grote Kerk (big church).

Do you notice how she's smiling in every capture of her?
That's how she always looks when she returns home after a run or bike ride, seriously.
It's called HAPPINESS and ENDORPHINS!

So, the long citadel runs are done.  However, she'll continue with short runs to the water port
where she does an exercise regimen on the beach with their jungle-gym equipment.
In other words, it won't all be just long-distance bike rides, she says.  She wants to stay fit.

["I declare, Woman!  You are something else!!!" says the wife sitting at home.  :)]

The House Renovation Project in Maine

For the record, this is exactly how it happened:

Sister, Ruth (and hubby Don), bought a house from 1860 in Maine a year ago.  THEY LOVE IT.  However, their son Peter always had allergic reactions when he visited them.  Long story short, they decided the culprit was the remaining carpet in the two guest bedrooms, up and down hallways and stairs.  They removed the carpet from the smaller guest room and, BINGO, they were right.

Don and Ruth knew they'd have to remove the remaining carpet.  It was a no-brainer.  But it was also a huge project for Don, since Ruth's carpal tunnel meant she'd be of little help for the grunt work.

One day here in the Netherlands, while preparing dinner in the kitchen, I had a brain fart:  Astrid would be the perfect person to help Don, if she were willing and able.  You should have seen the look on her face when I suggested it:  it was like CHRISTMAS!

When we suggested the idea to Don and Ruth, for the last two weeks of February...well, the rest is history!  In those two weeks, there were 8 work days, accomplishing the following (Ruth/Astrid sent me the pics each evening so that I could make the collages each day, making me feel part of the project):

Day 1: Carpet removal, up and down, including all the nails, staples and tacking strips.

Day 2:  Astrid worked on removing several layers of paint on the stairs...

...while Don filled the cracks and nail holes with putty in the guest room,

prepping the floor for painting.

Day 3:  That paint was so stubborn they had to order a heat gun to remove it.

Even so, the last vestiges of paint (remember, the house is from 1860) refused to budge.

Instead of Plan A, to stain the steps, they moved to Plan B, to paint them.

All this while Don painted the big guest room black!

This is a very New England look.  How stunning.

Day 4:  Astrid spent the entire day prepping the stairs for painting...

...while Don painted the first coat of white paint on the upstairs landing.

Day 5:  Both Astrid and Ruth primed the stairs for painting.

(Ruth, bless her, wanted to help so badly but realized her carpal tunnel protested, so she stopped.)

Meanwhile, Don filled cracks in the landing floors with twine before putty (a nice trick).

He realized this needed to be done (after the fact) before the second coat of paint.

Day 6:  Both Don and Astrid painted the first coat of white on the kick-boards and side panels,

plus other odd tasks for Don.

Day 7:  Don and Astrid measured, cut and painted the quarter-round molding

for the guest room as well as the landings.  And Astrid cleaned out the floor registers!

Day 8:  The Grand Finale!  Astrid painted the first coat of black paint on the stairs.

(Don painted the second coat yesterday, a week later, giving the first coat curing time.)

While Astrid did the stairs, Don used a nail gun to attach the baseboard molding 

and then painted the second coat of white paint to the downstairs entryway.

And just like that, the transformation was done!

Eight days of hard work during two weeks of collaborated blood, sweat and tears LOVE.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Lest you think it was all work and no play, look at the collages Astrid put up on Facebook

whenever she had a chance:

Feb. 16, Sun:  a walk in the neighborhood before work started the next day.

Feb. 17, Mon:  a walk in Belfast after a hard day's work.

Feb. 18, Tue:  the only day of snow falling.

Feb. 19, Wed:  on an early morning walk, captured with her 1365 mm lens.

Feb. 19, Wed:  making sourdough bread in between work.

Feb. 20, Thu:  a walk in the Searsport neighborhood.

Feb. 21, Fri:  turkeys out in the yard, through the kitchen window.

Feb. 21, Fri:  a trip with Ruth to Bangor for shopping,

while Don helped my bother, Nelson, at his own house project!

Stephen King's house (top-left) and Paul Bunyan (bottom-right).

Feb. 22, Sat:  a day out, including Nelson, to Stonington.

Feb. 23, Sun:  sourdough muffins.

Feb. 24, Mon:  another walk in the Searsport neighborhood.

Feb. 28, Fri:  the lighthouse in Portland, last day before flying back home the next day.

As you see, it was not all work and no play!
And even though I was not there, it feels as though I were part of the entire endeavor,
keeping in touch with Astrid and Ruth via Facetime, as well as the Facebook posts.

A memory to have and to hold forever.