It was the best of time, it was the worst of times

Mike and I were home by 5:30pm yesterday - this is almost unheard of.  We had just finished a nice walk down Old Henry's Road, temperature 48 degrees and sunshine.  The dogs were along and our family had a very nice time!

We opened a bottle of Heart & Hands sparkling wine.  We poured the lovely beverage, the afternoon sun streaming in through the window making the wine a light pink color so beautiful in the tall stemmed glasses.  A ting of glasses and a toast, "here's to today, here's to living in the moment, here's to you".  It was cold, just out of the refrigerator, and the bubbles sang on one's tongue.  I worked on my new bread recipe and continued to sip the nectar of the gods.  A WHO video played on my phone, the World Health Organization talking about this pandemic.  As I paused, leaned over, one elbow on the counter, one arm holding my wine glass as I sipped, the lovely afternoon sun dipping to Munger Mountain's ridge line, for a brief moment I felt like this whole thing was a dream.  It was a moment I shall non-too-soon forget.  Eerie and surreal, it made me take measure.  "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."  A line I keep saying in my mind from Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities.

January 2020 we brought in the new year with hope and optimism for continued well being and prosperity.  It was the best of times.  Suddenly, in what history would certainly consider a blink of an eye, our future is shaky and unknown.  Every day, every hour there is new news.  Last night at midnight a report of 7 more positive COVID cases in Wyoming.  A retirement home in Lander has been hit hard.  Today, the governor is reported to announce all non-essential businesses be closed.

Mike and I are close to being out of toilet paper and flour.  I refuse to go grousing around looking for these things either.  The hoarding of products is out of control.  Out of control.  I don't have to be part of it (because I've been so good at it all along - that's what Mike would say!!  You may recall, I am a self-confessed food hoarder.  This is without a pandemic!)

Crisis makes us look inward.  Optimism and outward-looking thinking will help us all get through this, what is sure to be, marathon event.  It's not going to be a sprint.  This could take all summer.  A recession (depression?) will most certainly follow.  This is not pessimistic, is it realistic.  Be prepared and plan accordingly.  Not a good time to go into debt, for example.

My bread.  My lovely sourdough bread!!