April 11th: Church
Headlines:
Kansas court to determine if state can ban large religious gatherings. Right now residents are allowed to attend Church tomorrow.
LA extends shelter in place to May 15th.
Oakland closes 74 miles of streets to through traffic to give residents the ability to get out and exercise while social distancing. Oakland Mayor announced it yesterday and today they’re shutting it down. Interested to see how this goes.
Total confirmed deaths in US surpasses Italy.
Federal prison chief defends response as infection and unrest spread behind bars.
Spain, with the world’s highest caseload after the United States, is preparing to allow some nonessential employees to return to work on Monday.
Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.
Since I wanted lemon for my tea this morning, I popped down to neighbor Barbara’s helped myself to one from her tree. I know she’s out of town, so all’s fair. I like to think she’d be fine with this, but don’t honestly know. I discussed the merits of lemon liberation with Neighbor Paul yesterday and he said it was fine. To be fair, I was confident of his answer and looking for legitimacy.
He helpfully pointed out that it could get awkward if your face gets too close to the person’s window….but is otherwise fine.
Later I decided to make a late-afternoon Target run. When I say Target, it’s really Target-lite. In recent years we’ve seen the advent of the “City Target” where you can have the glory of a HUGE Target right in the middle of the city.
Here in Berkeley we have “Target Express”which are little baby Targets. As with all the stores here, we lined up outside 6 feet apart, then were let in via the one-in/one-out method. I only waited about 5 minutes.
Things I wanted to buy, but they couldn’t: cake mix and brown sugar. Everyone is baking their asses off. It’s impressive. I was going to make Grandma’s caramel icing, but it goes on top of a cake and I need some damn cake mix.
My impulse buys: a chocolate Easter bunny, a box of Little Debbies ($1.99!?!?!), and Pepsi.
Naturally I couldn’t find hand sanitizer, gloves, or masks, but didn’t expect to. It’s like a fun little game to look for such things. We must amuse ourselves where we can!
It’s about a 15 minute walk to get there via the bike path, so quite pleasant. While in transit, I listened to a new (for the coronavirus times) podcast called “Staying in with Emily and Kumail” hosted by writer/producer Emily V. Gordon and her husband, writer/actor, Kumail Nanijani (Silicon Valley). Delightful.
Got home and dumped my bags, immediately washed my hands, then wiped all refrigerator items before before putting away. Afterwards jumped in shower to rinse off Target and the outdoors, then changed clothes. This feels both necessary and completely excessive.
For purchased non-perishables, they’ll stay on a table for 72 hours since the virus would die on cardboard in that amount of time. This obviously excludes the edible bunny and Little Debbies which have been lovingly wiped down - those will be touched very soon.
Fine, I ate one Little Debbie on the way home.
It’s now 6:12pm and I’ve fired up my DVR to watch today’s WH press conference. God help me. It doesn’t seem they had one today. Let the gods rejoice!
Winners of the Internet
-Today this is simply the book lovers of San Francisco. The call went out this week that the famous City Lights Bookstore in North Beach was in danger of closing unless they raised enough money. Apparently they sent their staff home with full pay and healthcare, and need money to turn the lights back on once able. Up went the GoFundMe requesting $300,000 and they raised $420,738 IN TWO DAYS.
REMINDER: Please support your local book store or order on Bookshop.
