10 tips for safe walking

Special items I purchased for pandemic walking include a lightweight mask and a hip belt that holds my phone, hand sanitizer and water.

If you like to walk or walk because what else can you do in the middle of a pandemic or you must walk in order to get where you’re going, my guess is you probably want to live through it. With potentially contagious neighbors out and about, bigger cars, distracted drivers and pedestrian fatalities on the rise, negotiating the streets or trails on foot is risky.

Although I’m retired now and walk for pleasure, I commuted by bus and foot to my job in Silicon Valley. I walked to the Caltrain station from my home to catch the bus and then hopped off a mile or so from my work location to get some exercise, repeating the route at the end of the day. I left my home in darkness, and in the winter months, I returned in darkness.

Safety was and is my number one priority. As a two-time cancer survivor, I’m tough to kill, but I am not going to make it easy for anyone. I live in a suburban area and average about five miles a day on routes that include sidewalks, crosswalks and off-road trails.

Here are my 10 tips for safe walking:

  1. You never know what’s going to happen out there. Wear some sort of a pack, if possible, so you can keep your hands free and eyes on the road. I wear a FlipBelt that holds my phone, hand sanitizer and a small bottle of water.
  2. Current evidence suggests you don’t need to wear a mask when exercising outdoors as long as you keep a proper social distance. While six feet is the standard, I double that during exercise. When it’s crowded out there, I wear a mask. I like the ExerMask from Happi Mask Co. If you don’t wear the mask, keep one in your pack in case you encounter an unusual situation requiring extra protection.
  3. Pay attention. Observe your surroundings. See who is coming ahead of you, and turn around periodically to see who is coming in from behind. Give people, dogs and snakes a wide berth. Stand to the side as far as is safe and let everyone pass. Wait until they’ve gone at least 12 feet before getting back on the path.
  4. Assume cars have the right-of-way no matter what. Sure, the law says cars must yield to pedestrians, but you can’t assume they will, even if you have the signal to go. Look both ways before crossing. Pay special attention to cars on your side of the street, to your left, making a right turn in front of you.
  5. Do not assume drivers see you. Make eye contact with drivers before crossing. Wave to get their attention. I do not recommend thumping the hood of their cars. People do not take kindly to such gestures.
  6. Cross only when the signal indicates. Use your elbow to push the pedestrian button and avoid crossing on a “stale green.” That’s when the clock is counting down, and you may not have enough time to cross safely. Even if you’re super fit, you never know. You might trip or stumble.
  7. Don’t wear ear buds or headphones. Practice situational awareness. Pay attention to the sounds of the street. Cyclists who ride on the sidewalk are a particular nuisance for walkers and runners, but it’s hard to be mad when they’re just trying to have fun and be safe. Listen for them and get out of the way.
  8. Don’t use your cell phone unless it’s an emergency or you’ve stopped in a safe place. Walking and talking is not a good idea, especially when you’re crossing the street.
  9. Wear well-fitting walking shoes (not flip flops or high heels) and add reflective gear at dawn, dusk or at night. If you’re on a budget, orange safety vests and reflective straps are inexpensive. When I was commuting, I wore a full front-and-back vest with blinking LED lights that went over the outside of my pack.
  10. Don’t yell or use hand gestures to express your frustration with bad drivers. You goal is to stay safe and healthy, and you just never know how people will react. Smile and wave when drivers do the right thing.

Even though I am super-vigilant, I’ve had a couple of close calls out there and find that taking precautions and giving up ear buds isn’t all that bad when you consider the alternative.

Happy walking!

Note to self: buy more cheese

Appetizer-size cheese.

My husband, Dale, a retired military logistician and foodie-in-residence, was always in charge of groceries, but he didn’t want to deal with online shopping, so we had a little change of command ceremony, and I took over the supply chain.

He’s going to want it back, damn it, and I guess I’ll be ready to hand it over, but I’ve actually enjoyed my new role. We’ve always taken different approaches to menu planning, and this arrangement gave me an advantage. Pre-pandemic, Dale wakes up and thinks, “What do I want to eat for dinner tonight?” Then after persuading me that I want it, too, he would go to the store to buy anything we were missing.

I’ve always treated the kitchen like a Chopped basket. I love digging things out of the freezer and using up whatever we have before it goes bad. Now that we’re shopping less frequently and guessing what we might want to eat weeks down the road, Dale is more amenable to my approach. Food is a precious commodity.

We were discussing options for tonight, and I said we have a ripe avocado, fresh cilantro that won’t last long and queso fresco. We also have chicken tortilla soup in the freezer. In the old days, he might have gone along with my idea but probably would have said something like, “Yeah, that sounds good, but I was thinking burgers.”

And then I would remind him we don’t have any buns, and he’d jump for joy at the prospect of going to the store to buy some. That time is gone. Now, it’s all about using what we have. I even convinced him to help me defrost and reorganize the chest freezer out in the garage so we can find stuff.

Dale uses a visual filing system, and his argument against the reorg was that he knew where everything was. But I didn’t! And now that I’m in charge of replenishing supplies, he went along with it. With all this new-found power, I took the opportunity to “bundle” like items. I don’t see this as neurotic COVID-19 tidying but maximizing the return on our biggest expense and our biggest interest – food.

Rather than miscellaneous pieces of pork scattered throughout, there’s now a large plastic bag for all the pork. There’s a bag for chicken thighs. A nut and spice bag. A special basket for leftovers. I think he was hyperventilating, and I thought if the virus doesn’t get him, this will.

Now that I am monitoring our stock, I have been astonished by how much cheese we consume. And you know what? This is not a reckoning of any kind. I will not be joining the legions of people who don’t eat dairy. It just means I need to buy more cheese.

We love and eat all kinds of cheese, but we hit the cheddar pretty hard. With our last online order, I accidentally selected an 8-ounce package instead of the usual pounder. We started calling it appetizer-size cheese. Seriously, you dip into that, and next thing you know it’s gone. Kind of like box wine.

Here’s another strange but true cheese story. We stopped using grated mozzarella cheese in the package a couple of years ago in favor of whole milk mozzarella in chunks. Somehow, we forgot about one package in the back of the cheese drawer. The “sell by” date was March 2018. It was unopened.

Dale gently and carefully opened it. I stood by for emergency assistance, should it be required. He did a sniff test and looked for mold or other unsightly additions. All looked and smelled good. Then he did a taste test, and declared the two-year-old cheese was great!

Yes, we ate it and bought another one to keep around in case of a pandemic.

Masks as a fashion statement

I’m gathering quite a collection of masks, and a friend suggested I start posting pictures of them as a fashion statement … to show it’s not such a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Dale and I went to the grocery store today, so I thought I’d make an effort to look stylish.

That’s my hair up in a big sock bun, along with the gorgeous turquoise earrings I bought in Texas. Back when I had cash flow. My sister made the mask. There’s a pocket for a coffee filter. I added a rouge glow to the photo for artistic effect.

It is weird to capture an image of the face without seeing the mouth. Eyes alone can look quite menacing. I tried smiling underneath, but it didn’t seem to make a difference.

It’s funny. I spent years trying to figure out how to smile for the camera, and now I guess I’ll have to figure out how to make expressions with my eyes. My glasses look almost boring, but maybe a minimalist canvas is a good place to start.

Those who wear contact lenses could have fun with decorative eyewear. Perhaps a contrasting scarf tied around the neck almost like a choker? So many things to think about!

I’m prepared to wear a mask in public as long as necessary. I understand fashion designers are getting on board, and there will be lots of choices! I actually enjoyed trying to accessorize with the mask in mind and am looking forward to my next photo shoot.

Home is where my heart is

As a retiree and semi-recluse, the “stay at home” mandate has not been much of a problem. I don’t even have to create excuses anymore. Years ago, I might have said, “I have to wash my hair.” Now I would probably say, “I have to cut my hair.” Not so different after all.

While the weight of the pandemic hits me at odd moments and leaves me feeling sad and angry, most of the time I’m pretty chill. I don’t have a big agenda and don’t monitor my productivity. Aside from chores, I pretty much focus on the simple pleasures that make me happy … reading, walking, cooking, movies and TV.

I’ve started to play a little golf and have fielded a few invitations. This was my response to the latest:

I’m erring on the side of caution and only playing on courses I know reasonably well, where I can walk and where they have documented procedures for reduced touch points, increased social distancing, modified rules, etc. Since I haven’t played that course before, I’ll have to pass this time around. But thanks for thinking of me! I’m open to other courses.

I’ve got my cannabis plant to nurse along, and I have been doing some light handheld weights since the gym closed, but it’s not like I’m not learning to speak Swahili or alphabetizing the appliance manuals. Most of our groceries we order online for curbside pick-up, but we have started to go into the store about every two weeks. We wear masks and try to get in and out of there quickly without any close encounters of the worst kind.

In some ways I feel more peaceful, living day-to-day and trying not to think about the future. Honestly, our highest priority is food and booze, so we do have to plan ahead, but I’ve actually become fond of online shopping. We eat just about everything … nothing diet, not too much and we make almost everything from scratch.

I read where the NY Times health columnist Jane Brody treats herself to ¼ cup of light ice cream, and possibly a graham cracker, and I just can’t get that out of my head. How miserable is that?

People are itchy to go back to normal. I will go out on a limb and suggest some people have different ideas about how this virus behaves, they don’t believe it’s as bad as all that or they are willing to take their chances. Others absolutely need to get back out there and earn a living.

Even as economies open, Dale and I have decided we’re not going to be the guinea pigs. Being retired is a privilege, an earned privilege for sure, but we have the ability to stay home and will continue to do our best to ride this out in safety.

My new Scrabble mask!

Sporting my new Scrabble-themed mask as I head to the library for curbside pick-up.

Thanks to my exceptionally kind and talented sister, I am feeling quite stylish in my new Scrabble mask. I thought it would be fun to wear as I go to the library today for curbside pick-up of a book I had on reserve.

I don’t have a problem wearing a mask for my personal safety and the safety of others, and I have a hard time understanding those who do. Whatever it takes … that’s my thinking. Embrace reality and try not to disrespect the people who are trying to save us.

It seems like I’ve mentioned this before, but I will share it again. When I had cancer the first time, my chemotherapy regime was hard on the kidneys. My medical team said to drink a lot of water. So, you know what I did? I drank a lot of water.

When I talked with other women in the infusion room, I’d ask if they were drinking their water. It shocked me how many said no. One common response was, “I don’t like water.”

I wanted to scream, “This is your life! Who cares if you don’t like water?”

Anyway, pardon the commercial interruption. Be safe. May you continue to find joy in simple pleasures … even if it’s just a Scrabble mask.

Signs of a new normal?

Yes, we did snag some ground lamb at the grocery store, but the real treat was backup to the backup peanut butter for these easy and addictive cookies.

It’s definitely not business as usual where I live in northern California, but there are signs we may be able to safely enjoy some of our favorite activities as long as we accept conditions of the new normal. I love how businesses are adapting.

Golf

I played golf this week for the first time since early March. It varies from course to course, but significant changes have been made to eliminate touch points and accommodate social distancing.

My club, a modest public golf course, has done a great job on the things they can control, but I observed some sloppy behavior among the guests. I felt safe only because I took extra effort to stay safe.

Although I didn’t wear a mask while playing, I had several masks in my bag and put on a clean one whenever I approached anything resembling a crowd. I was careful to keep my distance but had to dance around my playing partners, who seemed oblivious to social distancing.

All in all, it was good day. I played well, and that surprised me. Sometimes they say a break in golf is good because you forget all the bad habits you developed. I had two birdies on the back nine! As for Dale, it was a good day for him, too. He liked having the house to himself.

Grocery Store

We went inside our favorite grocery store, which now requires that all associates and shoppers wear masks. An employee at the entrance checks for masks and wipes down a cart for you. People were well-behaved, and with some exceptions, the shelves were full. Plenty of produce and dairy but a little short on some kinds of meat. We got everything we needed.

The check-out lanes were marked to help people stay six feet apart, and there was a plastic shield between you and the cashier. Hand sanitizer stations by the doors. Unless something changes, I think we could do this every couple of weeks.

Winery

One of our favorite local wineries closed its tasting room, but you can order wine online and pick it up. They’re allowing one person in the tasting room at a time to purchase wine, or they’ll bring it to your car. Even if we can’t taste, it’s a lovely drive and will give us something to do.

Library

And yet another great innovation from the library! Prior to the lockdown, I had reserved a couple of books. One of them arrived – The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich – and I got an email with a link, where I could make an appointment to have the book delivered to my car! Isn’t that cool?

The notice also included this message, “All materials have undergone an established waiting period and have been handled only by staff whose hands have been sanitized and who wear fabric face coverings.”

Backup to the Backup Peanut Butter

When we went to the store, I got backup peanut butter even though we already had backup peanut butter. I’m not hoarding, but I wanted to make peanut butter cookies, and the recipe calls for a cup of peanut butter. That’s actually quite a lot, and I didn’t want to raid our supply.

With the pantry fully loaded, I made the cookies. I like chocolate as much as the next person, but I lean toward anything made with brown sugar and nuts. These have got to be the easiest cookies ever, and I love them so much, I might never make them again.

We store the cookies in the freezer, so theoretically you’re not tempted. But that time is gone. Once frozen, they’re like peanut butter candy bars.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Few ingredients, easy and delicious to eat straight from the freezer.
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Cup Peanut butter Not the natural kind that must be stirred … but any regular peanut butter is good, either crunchy or creamy.
  • 1 Cup Dark brown sugar My preference. White sugar or light brown sugar also works.
  • 1 Large Egg
  • Coarse sea salt Optional, but yum!

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Beat everything together until smooth. Drop by spoon or scoop onto an ungreased parchment-lined cookie sheet. Press each cookie slightly with fork or other tool. My dough was soft and the fork press wasn’t precise, but it did the job. You can also refrigerate the unbaked cookies for 20 minutes so you get a better press. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Bake for about 10 minutes, until just golden. Let cool completely. They’re soft if left at room temperature but crisp up in the freezer.
  • If you must have chocolate, take three or four chocolate chips and press them into the cookie before baking. They're delicious this way, too.

Not bored but boring?

Bored. You say that like it’s a bad thing.

Are you bored yet? I’m not, but it’s worse.

I’m boring.

Sometimes it feels like my range of thoughts and emotions is increasingly smaller, less invigorating, numbing.

It’s not as though my life was filled with a cornucopia of exciting activities before the lockdown began, but that was by design. I don’t want an action-packed life. Still, the simple things I used to do with my time and micro-interactions with people kept me interested and interesting. I had lots of things to write about.

My brain can only hold so much, and my “interested and interesting” brain cells went on idle to make room for COVID-19, a bad tenant trashing the cheap real estate in my head. I want to evict him and make room for happy and creative thoughts.

Sadly, COVID-19, in some form or fashion, is most likely here for the long haul … which means I can’t completely evict him from my brain. My goal is to lock him in the basement and only let him out when I need critical information.

Perhaps we can all free up happy space in our brains as we get closer to a new normal that in some way approximates how we used to live. I feel like we’re on the cusp of getting some of it back.

Social animals may not find the new normal acceptable, but I can see how it might work for us. Dale and I don’t do large gatherings anyway. Our “normal” includes trips to the grocery store, golf, wine tasting. The occasional road trip.

Seriously, I could wear a mask and be socially distant forever if I have to. Masks are cool. Have you noticed the anti-aging effects? It’s like wrinkles be gone. You’ll look 10 years younger!

Exercising with a mask

Taking a walk with a homemade mask.

I’ve been dodging walkers, runners, bicyclists and even a snake while taking my daily walk. The snake was just crossing the sidewalk and wasn’t threatening, but he was big. I mentioned the snake to Dale, and he asked what kind of snake it was.

Dude, you know I’m bad at nature identification. All I know is snake, snaky?

Six feet of social distancing didn’t seem like enough what with all the huffing and puffing going on, so I doubled that. Sometimes that meant going out in the street, which is dangerous in its own right.

Today I decided to try wearing a homemade mask on my 5-mile loop. This one is a no-sew made from a cut up t-shirt and rubber bands over the ears. Guess what? I love it!

My glasses did fog slightly on the inhale, but they cleared completely on the exhale. Yes, it was a little sweaty in there, but it didn’t bother me at all. The sweat that might have dripped down my face got absorbed by the mask. And there’s yet another bonus …

Normally my nose runs constantly. Even with all the warnings about not touching your face, I had to keep a stash of tissues in my pocket and blow quietly when no one was around. While wearing the mask, my nose did not run! I couldn’t believe it.

I also liked the psychological aspects of wearing a mask. Not that I believe it will save me under the wrong conditions, but it feels more assertive. As in, I’m not just a scared victim. I’m paying attention and doing whatever it takes to avoid getting this virus.

It reminds me of when I had cancer and chose not to wear a wig when all my hair fell out from chemo. I thought, this is what cancer looks like. This virus is our reality, just as cancer was mine, and I believe there are some behaviors that scream, “I want to survive!”

In other positive news, for 30 years or more we’ve been mixing an imported brand of pre-ground coffee with what local beans we can find. We used up the imported coffee and can’t get anymore, so we made a pot with just the beans.

The coffee is delicious! We’re ruined and can’t go back to the other stuff … just another unexpected perk when you’re living the COVID-19 lifestyle.

The only problem is we’re a little loopy after more than a month in lockdown. This morning I turned on the the pot, went back to get a cup and realized we hadn’t put the water in. I put the water in and sat back down.

Then I went back to get a cup, and there was a pot of hot water sitting there. I guess we forgot to put the coffee in. Third time was the charm. I’m not sure who was in charge of setting up the pot, but I still wondered if Dale was annoyed.

I asked, “Are you mad at me?”

He said, “No, not at all! I haven’t been mad at you in … well … days.”

We both thought that was hilarious. But we’re in the giddy phase of grief now, so pretty much everything is funny.

The big picture is too big

On the right, my fat little jar of home-ground cinnamon.

As the pandemic wears on, I’ve been contemplating the big picture and coming to terms with the idea there is no big picture. Or if there is, it’s too big for me to figure out, so I’d rather just ignore it.

Deep thinkers and perhaps those with strong spiritual beliefs might take issue with that sentiment, but it’s the little picture that keeps me reasonably sane … taking care of my mind and body, tending to relationships and living as well as I possibly can.

I’m not sure what the future will bring, but that’s nothing new. My guess is lockdown and semi-lockdown will continue for months and months. We have enough money to get what we need, and so far, we’ve been able to get pretty much everything we need without going inside a store.

If that’s reality for the foreseeable future, we’ll call ourselves lucky. And grateful. In the meantime, I’m focusing on simple pleasures.

I’ve been walking almost every day. In fact, I just got back from a nice walk and spent much of it thinking about social distancing on the road and other pedestrian safety tips, which I will share in an upcoming post. Remind me to mention the snake!

Much of life seems to revolve around food, but then it always did. We spend a good bit of time shopping for it online, going to pick it up and preparing it. As always, different stores have different things, and we are fortunate to have multiple options. We’re buying more pantry items, so I tidied up that area, and Dale started calling me Marie, as in Kondo. He said all the little cans were dress right dress, which is a military term that refers to being parallel.

Yeah, man. Nothing like parallel cans to settle your soul.

I’m more careful not to waste food. I froze milk in two-cup portions. They say the texture changes, but I only use it for cooking anyway. We used to buy ripe avocados and eat them the same day. You probably knew this, but you can buy them firm and let them ripen on the counter. It turns out avocados keep at least a week in the refrigerator once they’re ripe. A semi-gnarly apple is greatly enhanced when microwaved with cinnamon and brown sugar. A dollop of yogurt on warm apples is delicious!

There seems to be a cinnamon shortage with all the baking going on, but I had plenty of sticks, so I let them roll around in a dry frying pan on low heat to get some of the moisture out and then buzzed them up in a coffee grinder we reserve for spices. I added a smidgen of brown sugar because I read somewhere it helps the process along.

Oh, and you can freeze parsley and cilantro.

I wash the herbs well and spread them out on a bath towel, so as not to squander my precious paper towels. I pat the herbs dry and remove any thick stems. Divvy them up into smaller portions, put them in a zip lock, label and freeze. The texture changes a bit, so you might not have a pretty garnish, but the taste is great.

For dinner one night I made baguettes, and we just allow them to be the star of the show with good olive oil, brie and Italian cold cuts. I tossed fresh spinach with vinegar and sea salt and had that on the side.

Dale periodically freezes raw scraps of veal, pork and beef that are left over from other dishes, and yesterday he used the Kitchen Aid with the grinder attachment to turn the scraps into meatballs. We had spaghetti and meatballs, and they were the best meatballs I’ve ever had. We were going to have leftover baguettes on the side, but someone ate them all!

Tonight’s dinner is Chiapas pork from the freezer. Dale made it a month or two ago, and we had tons of leftovers. It’s basically a pork shoulder marinated, spiced and cooked in the oven until falling apart in a puddle of delicious sauce. To go with, we have fresh shredded romaine lettuce, sliced onion and homemade blue corn tortillas. We eat them like tacos.  

I did a little yard work, my least favorite simple pleasure, but the weather is lovely, and I guess it wasn’t so bad. The air quality is amazing with so many cars off the road.

Germ-free entertainment

For germ-free entertainment, I previously recommended the Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Featuring Danish police inspector Carl Mørck, the novels are excellent, but they can be dark. There are some exceptionally creepy people at the heart of the stories, so I stopped reading them.

I’m finding during this pandemic that dark is relative. It turns out reading about imaginary creepy people doing bad things is less disturbing than lying awake at night ruminating on our current reality. I jumped back in the pool, and I’m enjoying the books very much. 

The cold case investigations are detailed and suspenseful, which makes for great reading, but I especially love the character development. Carl is an interesting guy, but he is no less interesting than his current sidekicks, Assad and Rose. I peeked, and there’s another colleague arriving in a future book. They all have a back story, and I love the interaction among them.  

I downloaded the first Walt Longmire novel from the library, and it was great, but the rest were not available in digital format. While I wait for the library to re-open, I started watching the Longmire series on Netflix. There are six seasons, and I’m in the middle of Season 2.

While Walt seems the classic Wyoming sheriff, he’s a complex character … as is his deputy sheriff Vic Moretti. As a woman checking out another woman, I would say she’s tough and hot in the same breath. The stories have a strong connection to the Native American community, and that makes them all the more interesting.

The new season of Bosch has arrived on Amazon Prime! My first inclination is to binge-watch the whole thing, but I’m learning to appreciate the slow reveal. I’m watching Season 5 of Outlander on STARZ, and new episodes are delivered weekly – and then sometimes they skip a week! What? But I like the anticipation, and I certainly have plenty of time these days. I will probably alternate between Bosch and Longmire.    

I read a million good reviews of The Princess Bride, both the book and the movie. I can’t speak for the movie, but I did not get far with the book. I rarely say this, but I absolutely hated it. I hated the style of writing, the forced humor that wasn’t actually funny … even Buttercup. I found her completely unlikeable.

The good news? I downloaded it from the library!! I love not paying for a book I hated. To celebrate, I snagged a free Kindle book on Amazon. Dirty Little Secrets by Liliana Hart. It’s the first in a series featuring J.J. Graves, a small-town funeral director and coroner. I haven’t started it yet, but it sounds promising.

In my current role as director of supply chain management, I’m using a mix of Amazon and local grocery stores, depending on what we need. Although it’s working pretty well, we are talking about doing another in-store trip. I suspect the wackos are going to come out after May 1, you know, thinking this whole thing is over, so I’d like us to get there before the crush.

I got an email from Raley’s, a local chain, and they seem to have an aggressive approach to managing risk:

  • Shields at registers
  • Hand washing stations
  • Cart and hand sanitizers
  • Sanitation Marshals in each store
  • Social distancing signage and overhead messaging
  • Metered customer count

I like all that. I’ve become a wee bit obsessive about germs. As usual, Dale has adopted a more relaxed approach and does not appreciate my interventions friendly advice. I’m like the police, following him around to make sure he washes his hands a hundred times a day like the rest of us.

He suggested I apply for a job as Sanitation Marshal. Probably just to get rid of me, although he did make me a badge …