As usual, we went for a walk this morning (it was a beautiful day, sunny and pleasant). We didn’t plan to do any shopping, but we brought two bags with us anyway – and we filled them at Lunardi’s, where we found plenty of whole wheat spaghetti, something we hadn’t seen for a while. It wasn’t until after we were on the way home that I realized that both brands we bought were from Italy (but I’m sure they’ve been en route long enough to predate the outbreak). We also bought fruit and a jar of garlic.

In our continuing attempt to keep local businesses afloat, we bought a dozen bagels from Saratoga Bagels and a foil cutter and a couple of bottles of wine from BevMo.

Amazon doesn’t have to feel left out, though; I ordered a replacement toaster oven from them for delivery on Tuesday. I was hoping to repair our old one, but the part has been back-ordered since mid-January, and somehow, I don’t think it’s coming any time soon.

After one more walk (successfully avoiding stores), we spent the rest of the day at home. Diane caught up on reading and I caught up on Quicken – I think she had more fun.

Shabbat dinner was salmon and sautéed vegetables, and then we watched the Shabbat Evening service from Shir Hadash. We’re taking a break from the news tonight; Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell will be on the TiVo waiting when we’re ready for them.

Shabbat Shalom!

We’re not really quarantined (or anything close to it), but we are sheltering in place, so I’ve changed the title for this and subsequent entries.

I had two online Toastmasters meetings today; the first was my home club, Silver Tongued Cats, which usually meets at the JCC. We had pretty good attendance (15 or so people) for our first online meeting – we even had a guest! Technology wasn’t much of a problem (a few teething pains, of course), so I’m hopeful.

The other was a club I’m mentoring at Citrix – they, naturally, used GoToMeeting, which I didn’t find quite as smooth as Zoom, but it worked fine, too. Their attendance was hurt by how many members were handling customer situations, but I think everyone who was able to join gained from the experience.

We did our usual rounds of walking and shopping (actually, we drove to Whole Foods to buy milk – that’s just a little too much to schlep home).

We managed to do some weeding in the xeriscape – it looks better, but I know the weeds are just waiting to return.

TV was the usual – Colbert, Maddow, MSNBC Coronavirus Update, and Whose Line is It Anyway; the last was the funniest.

Things are beginning to feel routine, even if they’re also surreal.