Pandemic Journal, Day 678

The Fitness app on my phone offers a monthly challenge. I didn’t realize it was there until about a year ago, but now I make a point of looking at it and trying to win. This month’s challenge is to walk 196.7 miles during the month (an average of 6.35 miles per day), so I’ve been extra diligent about taking long walks instead of just burning calories at the gym. So far, I have 171.1 miles logged.

On Sunday, we normally take a 3-mile walk as part of our trip to the Farmers’ Market, and we usually try for at least one more long walk during the day. Today was no exception, and it was a great day to be outside.

Our second walk was in search of light miso paste. Our usual supermarket hasn’t had any for several weeks, so we tried Nob Hill, a little over a mile from home. I was unsurprised to discover that they didn’t have it either. As we walked home empty-handed, Diane suddenly pointed at something off to my right – she’d seen a monarch butterfly crossing the street. That got me to stop looking at my phone, but not for long.

I switched to the Camera app and started hunting – I took lots of useless photos, but eventually I caught the butterfly with its wings open.

And then it flew away.

Pandemic Journal, Day 677

It was a quiet Shabbat.

I was asked to make sure the Zoom room was open for Torah Study, but our transitional Rabbi had gotten the necessary information and had it open before I logged in (though I still helped a bit in admitting people).

Shir Shabbat services had a typical level of technology problems, but that didn’t stop them from being enjoyable and meaningful.

And we took a few walks and made meals, as usual.

I did try to get another HVAC company to look at the furnace, but he’s a one-man shop in Sunnyvale and Los Gatos is out of his service area. It’s a shame, because he gets wonderful reviews (and he did make a suggestion for a possible zero-cost DIY fix that I will look at). I’ve got another couple of calls out for Monday.