This morning’s email brought news from Delta that they were changing their schedules and our flight home from Boston (via Atlanta) was one of the victims. They booked us on the next available flight using the same itinerary, which would have gotten us home about 10pm Pacific – much later than we wanted.

I was steeling myself to call them and beg them to let us switch to an earlier flight even though it would cost more miles but decided to see what I could do with self-service. When I clicked on the “Change Flight” button, I was shocked – every flight from Boston to San Jose was available at no additional cost, even the ones with “Delta One” service (lie-flat beds!) which would normally have cost three times as many miles as we’d paid for our original flight. Sadly, the “Delta One” flights weren’t at convenient times, but we were able to book a nice flight through Seattle that will get us home around 8pm Pacific – and I didn’t have to wait on hold at all.

We decided to believe the CDC and went for neighborhood walks several times today without bringing masks with us! It was easy to distance ourselves from the few people we saw – but it did feel strange not to have a mask at hand. Tomorrow, we’ll definitely have a mask for the Farmers’ Market whether or not they are requiring one.

Shir Hadash’s Rabbi Emertia, Rabbi Aron, is leaving town for a couple of years; she and her husband are moving to Washington, DC, to be closer to their grandchild and two of their children. There was a “drive-by” goodbye this afternoon, which gave us a chance to talk with her for a while; she also led Shir Shabbat services this morning.

I wasn’t able to attend most of the service, though, because I was competing in the District 101 Toastmasters Table Topics contest – there were six contestants, all division champions. The question was “When is the time to stop calculating the risks and rewards and just do what you know is right?” I had given several speeches in the past about the danger of analysis paralysis and the need to make a decision and act on it, so it was right up my alley. I even quoted Yoda at the end! And I won. The speech was recorded; I am looking forward to watching the recording and finding out what I said.

We celebrated by going to Burrell School and picking up our latest shipment and doing a tasting – it was a cool day, so I was glad to be able to sit inside. We wore masks until we started tasting, of course.

We have a very kind friend who has given us a “Fruit-of-the-Month” club membership for the last few years. Most of the time, the fruit is something we buy regularly, like apples, pears, peaches, and oranges – the only challenging part is eating it all. But this month’s shipment included something new to me: a whole pineapple.

We eat pineapples, of course, but I’d never had to cut one up myself. It was easier than I expected – I should have taken a photo of it before cutting it, but I didn’t think of it. I did get a photo of the “after”, though!

Our trip to Iceland is looking more and more likely – we got an email from the travel company today, complete with information, forms to fill out, and the dreaded final invoice. In normal times, that package comes in the physical mail and I fill out the forms with a pen – it takes a couple of minutes.

This time around, I didn’t want to waste my paper, so I loaded up the PDF and used annotation tools to fill out the forms – it probably took 20 minutes – perhaps printing would have been easier after all.

Shabbat Shalom!

This morning was a typical Thursday: Toastmasters, walking, and grocery shopping – nothing terribly interesting to write about.

This afternoon, I worked on my workflow for moving pictures between Photos and Lightroom – again, nothing terribly interesting to write about.

We took a walk after the CDC announcement, but we carried our masks anyway – we didn’t get close enough to anyone to even consider wearing them, but I think it’s going to be a while before I’m willing to leave the house without one.

We went to the Legion of Honor to see the special exhibit, Last Supper in Pompeii: From the Table to the Grave – it was worth the trip. The frescos, like this one, were wonderful to see.

I was fascinated by seeing some of the everyday items that were preserved by the eruption – even some food was carbonized and then preserved.

I was amused by seeing this mosaic:

The label describing it says “The fish-sauce maker Scaurus made a fortune from his sauce and became one of the richest people in Pompeii. He bought a mansion and set four of these panels into the floor of its entrance hall””a sign of the pride he took in his trade!”

There was an amphora on display with Scaurus’s label on it – unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of it and can’t find a good one online. But clearly, it paid to advertise!

My favorite mosaic in the show was this one:

The label says, “The skeleton is death himself, and the message is very clear: Carpe diem ”” seize the day. Enjoy the delights of the banquet while you can.” We took that advice to heart and had lunch in the Museum Cafe.