Sylvia's Journal

Yesterday we went on an outing to Tessa in NH, to get eggs. And so, we broke the seal.  We were careful. Axel pumped gas with gloves on at a roadside country store. I stayed in the car and watched the comings and goings in and out of the store. I noticed very little protection. No masks, no gloves and no 6 feet separation, as if nothing big was happening around them.  Our local newspaper gives us the daily numbers. NH is lagging behind, with only one half of a percent of the confirmed cases in MA and 9 deaths. We now know these numbers mean nothing if people are not tested or believe that they have the flu or allergies, and do not end up in a hospital; they simply get better but will have infected others, unknowingly. It’s like a balloon mortgage – suddenly there is the reckoning (which is by the way the title of another great Superintendent Gamache adventure written by Louise Penny).

It’s strange to go see your kid and not being able to embrace, and everyone with masks on, however cute the fabric. Tessa is using her top of the line sewing machine that makes me green with envy (she has a friend who has a sewing machine store) and is making masks for people out of vacuum cleaner bags and cute materials. While we were there she made Axel one with a bug fabric cover. He liked it better than the one I had made which was of a more subdued light blue fabric.  

We went for a long walk through the backwoods adjacent to their 7-acre land. Spring is not quite there but the woods are waking up. The three dogs were busy chasing anything that was foraging.

After our walk we sat on their deck, two pairs 6 feet apart, drinking G&Ts. Tessa was reluctant to take us into her house but when it started to drizzle it was either ending the visit or sharing the meal of smokehouse meats, beans and rice that we had picked up at a roadside stand on our way to Tessa.

And now we will go back into a 14 day quarantine. No one is visible sick but we play safe. We are learning more and more about this virus that can keep shedding before or after people have been sick. We were after all in contact, albeit from a distance, with Tessa’s husband who is the shopper in their house and has had more exposure in this State where people love their freedom to death.  And so, the seal is back on.