Statistics

Yes, I know this isn't a very good iPhone shot of a television screen but it will serve as an illustration for my frustration with the "statistics" that the news channels keep posting about the pandemic. They like to post total numbers. I'd be more interested in what is the percentage of the population who have been diagnosed with the Coronavirus. The USA number is alarming as compared to Spain, Italy, France, and Germany. On the other hand, when you look at the percentage of the population that have had the disease, we still have the second-highest percentage but it is a more relative number in how we rank with other countries. 

• USA 328.2 million - 3%
• Spain 46.8 million - 4.9%
• Italy 60.36 million - 1.9%
• France 66.99 million - 2.4%
• Germany 83.02 million - 1.9%

I'm still alarmed. Why doesn't the USA have the lowest percentage? We are more transparent? We have tested more of our population? Are we comparing apples to oranges due to testing procedures in these countries? 

Nesting in Houston

One morning recently on my morning walk I found this plant on the sidewalk where it had fallen from a big old oak tree. I've seen it before both here in Houston and in San Miguel. I looked through pages and pages of tree parasite images but never saw it although I think it is a common one like mistletoe. I love the color and look of this plant. It reminds me of bird nests. So I picked it up and brought it home. Now it is sitting on the counter between the kitchen sink and the dining room.

I didn't really need a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment but that was what was available when I needed a place. It is roomy, with lots of storage, light and close to grocery and drug stores. My furniture is rented except for the dining room table and chairs. which belonged to my mother. Seeing it all day helps to ground me since I am surrounded by so much that is temporary. 

The bedroom is really big with two large walk-in closets but minimal furniture.

The kitchen is well arranged and with adequate storage but I hate the flat-top electric stove. I've cooked on electric stoves for many years but I don't like this one at all.

And, here is the office/gym. 

So now you have seen my temporary nest. If I have to hunker down in Houston, this is a comfortable place.

Wearing a Mask

I left San Miguel four weeks ago and I never thought I would be wearing a mask four weeks later but a lot of things have happened in those four weeks that are beyond anything I could have imagined. Looking back, how naive I was.

I understood that the coronavirus was going to affect many people and that medical systems would be  stressed but I thought that the United States could handle the virus better than Mexico. So I could go to Houston, get an apartment for six months. The complex where Ned and I had lived for two years was next door to an HEB, Krogers and Walgreens were across the street. When I arrived I was renting a car for a week to gather up what I needed for an apartment and then I wouldn't need a car. I could walk and if I wanted to go somewhere too far to walk, I'd get an Uber. Within about one day after arriving in Houston it dawned on me that "staying in place," or isolation, or quarantine, or whatever you want to call it was happening NOW. There was no time to settle-in. There was no time to see most of my family. So, I look forward to talking with them and long to hug them.

Services like Instacart, Curbside pickup, Whole Foods, Krogers, and HEB delivery all sound great but the demand is so huge that the delivery times are out about 10 days and they are so overloaded that the 20 items you ordered may be down to 10 items available when they are delivered. Although if I walk to the grocery store I can find the things I ordered except for cleaning supplies, toilet paper and paper towels.  Toilet paper can sometimes be found but I have not seen paper towels since the day after I arrived. Thank God, there is no shortage of food.

Naive? Yes! A few months in Houston. The emergency would be over. I'd go home but everyday brings more knowledge about this disease. To get it fully under control, we need a vaccine and that is probably 18 months down the road.

Although this is a rather stylish one that a friend brought to me, I hope that wearing a mask doesn't become the new normal.

Refugio en el Norte - Day 15

It is hard to believe that I’ve been in this apartment as of today for 15 days. I’ve settled in and developed little routines with breakfast and at my desk, just making myself a home in Houston. One of the things that I do every morning is go walking. Across the street from the apartment complex is a lovely, tree-shaded neighborhood called West University Place. It’s mailing address is Houston but it is actually a small city within Houston. When I go out at 7 AM, it is just before sunrise. The air is cool and so far the humidity has not set in for Houston. I lived here for years and I know that before long I will be peeling off sweaty clothes as soon as I return from my early morning walk. But it is lovely now.

This morning I passed several houses where a gardener had mulched flower beds yesterday and the smell of the mulch was pungent and earthy. The squirrels were already out looking for breakfast and they would jump to a tree trunk and peek at me from the other side to see if I was going to keep walking. Some houses had sprinkler systems that were busy spitting water on the lawn and flower beds so sometimes I felt the a light mist on my face. There were a lot of red-breasted robins on the lawns looking for the early-bird worms. One big blue jay must have had a nest somewhere close by because he spouted warning chirps at me. Of course, I knew it wasn’t were he had flown up into the tree because jays are smart and they try to distract you from finding their nest. 

Everything seems so normal at 7 AM. How could that be when we are bracing for, but hoping against, overloading our medical system and losing too many of our citizens.

Banking

Life isn’t easy in Houston. In fact, trying to stay in isolation is proving difficult, more so each day. Not the time I spend in my apartment but the part that keeps me connected with the outside world is difficult.

I need cash. Unfortunately, I find myself with large bills when what I need is small bills so that I can tip the person who delivers groceries or other door-to-door services that are available.

I’m not renting a car while I’m here, at least not yet. Using the iPhone, I looked for close by locations for my bank. Yea! One is just seven-tenths of a mile from the apartment. That isn’t a difficult walk for someone who has been walking the streets of San Miguel.

A lot of “essential” businesses have changed hours so I called to see if that location was still open 9:00 - 5:00. No, their hours are 9:30 - 4:00 but I’d have to use the ATM because the banking lobby isn’t open or I could use the drive-thru. I said that I would walk through the drive-thru because I needed smaller bills that the ATM distributed and I didn’t have a car. The banker told me that no one is allowed to walk thru the drive-thru. What? I explained that we are in the a pandemic and rules should be adjusted for this time. We discussed my problem. He finally said that I could try it if I wanted to but it was dangerous. I wanted to say, “being 83 is dangerous in this pandemic and I don’t think walking through a bank’s drive-thru is any more dangerous.” But, I didn’t say it.

So, tomorrow I’ll walk to the bank at 9:30 and walk thru the drive-thru. I’ll let you know if I live through that and if I get the cash that I want.

I have another story, a long one, about trying to enter the cyber world since I moved into the apartment, but that is for another day.

Refugio en el Norte - Day 5

I am not sure of how to start this post. It has been a long time since I wrote anything for this blog but I feel the need to write and I have the time so I’ll see how it goes. I am writing from an apartment in Houston which right now is my refuge from a dangerous world because of Covid-19. Hence, the term, Refugio en el Norte, which is a play on the name of the street I live on in San Miguel de Allende.

A planned trip to Texas to visit family, go to FotoFest, and SXSW became more than a 10 day trip because of my concern about being in Mexico alone should I become ill with Covid-19. When I had to put my sweet Carly who had been going downhill for about nine months, to sleep two days before I was scheduled to leave, I made the decision that when I arrived in Houston I would stay in Houston until I could figure out what I needed to do.

Ned and I liked the apartment we rented in Houston 10 years ago while he was sick so the first thing I did after getting the rental car was head to that complex. It is next door to an HEB/Pharmacy and across the street from a Kroger and Walgreen drug store. Also, close to a number of restaurants that I could walk to. Of course, now that the restaurants have been closed except for takeout, that doesn’t count for much. I rented one that was immediately available and took possession of the keys last Tuesday. Wednesday the furniture I rented was delivered and I moved in. I’ll be writing from my Refuge in the North. What I’ll write about I’m not sure but I do feel I need to write. It may be too personal for some or boring as hell for others but that is okay if you decide not to read it at all.

PS: I wanted to send a photograph of the sala of my apartment but for some reason something has changed since the last time I wrote on the blog. I can’t figure it out tonight but I’ll work on it tomorrow. Busy day tomorrow. LOL