dawn at Lake Ella

4/21/2020 – Tuesday

Lots of brown leaves were beaten down off trees by the rain and winds of yesterday’s storms, signaling the end of winter in Florida. Here, the leaves fall at last, not at first — they hang on with the last big of living cells until the bitter end, which for us is symbolized by the start of Hurricane Season (officially on June 1st; unofficially “anytime in May”).

Given this accursed year, I’m not taking any bets on hurricanes, yay or nay. Just. Leave us be. I beg.

It was a bright cool morning again, due to those rain storms yesterday. Mostly the water has dried up but some was sparkling here and there, and a nice clean atmosphere all around.

Keely, as is her wont after a rainstorm, kept to the outside of the sidewalk the whole time. We did a regular work-day run around Lake Ella despite the fact it is not, actually, a work day for me as I remain on vacation (aka staycation, as the only difference is that I’m not signing on to the work productivity apps). More people where out than have been in the past few weeks, even at the late hour of 8 am. However, about half were wearing masks, and while you can debate the effectiveness of that it at least shows some consideration and concern to the freakin’ global pandemic going on around us.

There is one thing I know about traumatic change in life: the world keeps spinning. If if your life is crumbling or in lockdown or in a hospital ward, somewhere children are laughing or crying and it is raining or not and there people cooking their loved ones dinner. With or without you, it all keeps going. I felt that keenly this morning as now I’ve been in “isolation” for over a month, and only now do I feel like it is significantly different than my normal life.

I mean, there is the psychological toll of all the stress around me. But today I was reminded that yes, here is my life, as I’m living it, taking a walk with my dog.