Sunday 7:40 am

We all need a little humor these days.  I have always been a fan of laughter after a few words.  This play on words fits the bill.  Met with wonderful friends with a Zoom meeting yesterday and we went on for an hour and a half.  These are pals from my college days and we are all struggling with the isolation and lack of activity.  A lot of wine is consumed and we all eat to much.  Our ability to connect thru social media is a godsend.  Its not a good as being there but we have to put up with it.

Read some study of suggestions of when restrictions can be relaxed by state.  Michigan date was May 20th.  I don't know what model they used or the accuracy thereof.  We fall in the upper half of return dates, with some extending till June.

Fiddling with my phone early this morning I came upon a message from a former workmate that does her job remotely from her residence in Florida.  I messaged her during our February trip, but with no reply.  Today's message said she was sorry for missing my communication but her husband had died Tuesday and that she was heartbroken, all in a single sentence. I passed on my condolences.  My past interactions and work with her was fun and a learning experience for both of us.

She had emigrated from Germany to become a wife of a much older man.  All quite a proper arrangement with meetings, and correspondence that preceded the union. Family members from both sides approved.  Kathi grew up in East Berlin.  When she turned 19, the Berlin wall came down.  In between work projects we had many interesting discussions of her former life in a communist society.  She really did not complain much about it really.  When we talked about unemployment here, she commented that everyone worked in East Germany.  If you did not like your job, they would find you another one.  We talked about the infamous Stasi and the Trablant, the car that fell apart about when if arrived and the difficulty even obtaining one.

She had learned English in Germany and spoke it very well. Her only problem was with American colloquialisms.  "Fly by the seat of his pants" was one of those phrases.  Also she did not know what a pocket protector was. I am thinking of her and the rest of her extended family today and send kind thoughts.

In this lock down condition, cooking and food prep has been my primary time filler.  Made egg salad yesterday and will roast cauliflower today.  Had a few failures along the way.  Most recent chicken soup was not up to par and had to be pitched.

all for now
stay safe

I still miss Chinese food 

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