Going Within: Part ―Writing

For all of us, whether we realize it or not, this COVID 19 has caused us to "go within" to discover new and interesting things about ourselves, our environment, our existence.

For me, part of the isolation has led me to revisit and strengthen some of my writing abilities, my collecting talents, and my love of solitude. In this blog, I will discuss my writing. In the next blog, I will discuss my collecting. In a third blog, I will look at solitude.

I just completed a short memoir called, Counting Down the Yardstick: A Reincarnation Memoir in which I talk about an experience I had many years ago with past life regression, visiting who I was in previous lives. Some won't believe in this possibility and many will have their doubts.

I experienced it and totally believe in reincarnation, the ability to visit these lives, and that who I am today consists not only of everything I have experienced in this life but also in many others. The book will soon be available on amazon.com, barnesandnobel.com, and lulu.com. I will post their availability.

It was fun putting the experience into words. Every morning I spend a minimum of one and a maximum of three hours writing. Some time is spent writing these blogs. I didn't count the number of hours it took to complete Yardstick bet I'll bet it took days and days.

The book jacket description is as follows: In Counting Down the Yardstick, a Creative Non-Fiction Memoir, Michael takes you on a romp that begins in the1600s and continues to the present. He visits five past lives, with the help of David a Past Life Regressionist. The lives include: Italian Baker, Carmelite Nun, Midway Carny, Towheaded Boy, and a Midwestern Farmer’s Wife. A sixth story, a sort of autobiography, is about Michael’s current life, his current incarnation.

The next project I picked up what something that was begun in 2011. Chris, a nephew of friend John, and I picked up a correspondence via e-mail which lasted two years. He was in college at the time and we would see each other on and off over the years at holiday functions at John's house. Our relationship strengthened if only because at the time I was a poet/writer and he was doing a lot of writing as well. Should I call him "an aspiring" writer? 

Anyway, in the way of a book by Rainer Maria Rilke, Conversation With a Young Poet, I got the idea to compile Chris' and my two-year communication into book form. 

This is the book jacket description: This book is a compilation of e-mails, conversations between two writers seeking comfort, solace, and safety in sharing their work, ideas about writing, and life philosophies (and aren’t those really all about the same thing?) 

One of the writers is younger, developing his personhood, studying for his undergraduate degree, trying to discover and/or determine who he is in relationship to the world. Between studies and social life, precious time must be eked out to write. Self-confidence is being developed and at times dashed. He doesn’t want to be told what to do or when to do it and in some ways thinks he knows everything.

The other writer is older, experienced, no longer trying to discover but is rather trying to refine who he is. Degrees and professional experiences and successes are in place, free time is more than available to write. Life experiences have helped him develop his attitudes and beliefs. Day to day life still gets in the way but for the most part, life is settled and he has plenty of time to write. Being older, however, he does wonder if he is becoming a curmudgeon, getting set in his ways, unwilling to bend, not wanting to change or learn something new, becoming lazy.

I expect Relationship to be ready before Christmas. Meanwhile, I have been motivated to pick up on a number of writing projects which have been collecting dust on the metaphorical shelf. 

I have at least a dozen children's picture book stories completed. I am not an illustrator so if (when) I find an agent or publisher, it is their job to assign one of their illustrators to the project. The work for this project is not in "the writing of it," but rather in "the promotion of it."

That job is a tedious one including finding who might be interested in my kind of children's stories, writing inquiry letters, waiting for replies (which often do not come,)  and promotion of the writing to convince a publisher or agent to pick me as a client. 

When I spent my two-week residency at the Ragdale Foundation, having won a juried application scholarship in Creative Non-Fiction Writing, I created a project called, The Museum of Michael's Mind. It consisted of spending the two weeks organizing previous writing and doing some new writing as well which included short stories, essays, dream interpretation, life observations, experiences, poetry, etc. 

Subsequently, I pulled all of the Dementia/ Alzheimer's writing dealing with my walking alongside my life partner, Gregory, on his path with the disease and began a memoir called Gyroscope: An Alzheimer's Love Story. Need to get back to that.

Also, need to look at the rest of the "Museum of Michael's Mind" and see if any of that work might do well in another form of personal memoir.

Not necessarily a "writing project" per se but other projects include getting back to already existing works: "ALZHEIMER'S: A Musical Love Story", "ALZHEIMER'S: An Opera Love Story", "ALZHEIMER'S: The Dialogues", and a few others.

You might say that I have been making good use of my months of being in semi-self-quarantine due to the COVID 19 pandemic!

We Can Eliminate Covid-19

We are always four to six weeks from being able to do what countries around the world have done

Andy Slavitt

https://coronavirus.medium.com/we-can-eliminate-covid-19-if-we-want-to-64abc91ccc1c

Unable to Fathom What's On The Other Side of the Window

This is yet another essay on COVID 19. Sitting here at my computer writing this essay, for the most part I am not affected by what is going on outside the windows of my condo. I am enjoying my empty days filling with peace and quiet without obligations to anyone but myself. But I also carry a heavy heart for those not as fortunate as I. This is what prompted my writing.

In bed early last night, after yet another fairly empty day, afternoon, and night; I had room to think about our current life situation with COVID 19 and I was blown away by the statistics and their implications.

Today, I did a little COVID 19 research to see what the current figures might be since February 2020. 

The population of the world is +/- 8 billion. There +/- 5 million cases of COVID 19 worldwide with +/- 315 thousand deaths. 0.0039%

The population of the U.S. is +/- 328 million. There are +/- 1.5 million cases of COVID 19 nationwide with +/- 90 thousand deaths. .027%

The population of Illinois is +/- 13 million. There are +/- 95 thousand cases statewide with +/- 5 thousand deaths. 0.038%

The numbers boggle my mind. While the number of deaths, when compared to the populations, amounts to .038% of the population of people living in Illinois, my thinking went this way.

Where does one bury or cremate close to five thousand people in three and a half months?

How does one console four thousand families for their tragic losses, especially when you cannot attend the funeral and cannot offer a hug let alone a greeting handshake?

How many doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers, businessmen, artists, business owners, etc have died?

How many grandparents, parents, children, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins have we lost and do families mourn?

Moving away for a while from just the deaths; how many jobs are dormant or ended with the close-downs, how many businesses have closed temporarily, and possibly forever at what loss financially to the owners let alone the economy?

How many conventions, concerts, plays, musicals, theme parks, shopping malls, movie theaters, shopping trips, and vacations are not happening, putting more people out of work and more venues in jeopardy? 

How many people are not able to pay their rent, other bills, medical costs, food bills, etc? How many people do not have a place for their family to self-isolate comfortably? How many people, before COVID 19 arrived were already ill, medically in need, financially in need, mentally ill, handicapped, homeless, hungry?

The latest statistics say that +/- 30 million people in the United States have filed for unemployment support.

With the protests against self-isolation, with people refusing social distancing, and refusing to wear masks; what further repercussions will happen when the virus picks up again and increases the speed of transmission and death in its wake? 

Some lessons learned are that we are almost totally dependent on each other not only at the family level but also the neighborhood, state, nation, and world levels. Food chains, manufacturing of goods, economies and more are all connected.

Another lesson we have learned in the United States is that a disproportionate number of blacks and Latinx and working-class poor have contracted the disease, have lost more jobs, and therefore are having a more difficult time with the aftershock and continuing shock of COVID 19.

As human beings, I believe that we are not able mentally and/or emotionally to think in large visual or sound bites and if able, often we choose to not. We live in our home, in our city, in our state, in our country but cannot comprehend the nature of the huge population of which we are part and how that affects us, our families, our social groups, our community, our world.

We can imagine what it is like to be stuck in a rush hour, creeping inch by inch on the highway home, but rarely are we able to think of the 6 million vehicles on the road in Illinois, 254 million vehicles on the road in the U.S., and 9.9 billion vehicles on the road worldwide.

This overwhelming example can be used with almost every statistic: meals consumed, gallons of milk purchased, dollars spent, McDonald's and Starbucks visited, people who catch a cold or the flu, motor vehicle accidents, movies watched, people murdered, people who die of old age, and on and on and on.

One way to visualize the toll of COVID 19 is to look think of school busses. Depending on specifications, those familiar yellow school buses we know are currently designed with a seating capacity with up to 90 passengers. Can you imagine the State of Illinois needing +/- 55 buses to transport those who have died from the virus, the U.S. taking +/- 1,000 busses to transport people, and in the world +/- 3,500 busses filled with people who have died from COVID 19!

Finally, yes if you compare daily deaths at the state, nation, and world levels to those from COVID 19, the latter pale by comparison but that does not make the impact of the virus any less. If anything the deaths from COVID 19 are worse because of the insidious nature of how the virus spreads, being passed invisibly by sick people as well as those showing no symptoms and the hideous, painful death that the virus brings to its victims!

Recently, AMAZON PRIME released a movie called "Samsara," which takes us to sacred grounds, natural wonders, disaster zones, cities, towns, and countrysides in the world, visiting 25 countries and taking five years to complete. I watched the documentary eyes not blinking and attention riveted to the screen for one hour and 42 minutes. The documentary gave me the ability to see the magnitude of life, the plight of fellow human beings, and made me realize how small I, one person, really am in the total picture of life!

This too shall pass. We shall overcome. But at what expense and who will we be and what will our world, local and worldwide, be like on the other side of COVID 19?

COVID 19 or ALLERGIES?

Tree Pollen? Grass Allergies? RagWeed?

I had already been experiencing some mild COVID 19 “symptoms” and was working at not worrying myself to death (literally.) The last two nights were difficult with a mild sore throat and some tickle and cough. Other times feeling heavy in the chest.

This morning it dawned on me that I might be experiencing allergies and sure enough, this article shows up. I am much relieved. So while one must be viligent, also take into account your usual bodily ailments and reactions. I do not want to think how it might feel to have a cold or the flu and to differentiate! 

As far as I can see, the main factor is the fever!

The article can be seen at this link:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-chicago-allergies-pollen-coronavirus-symptoms-20200423-xanp4vup25b2jft4fre6etwyua-story.html

Getting Through COVID 19

A Beautiful Message from White Eagle Hopi Indigenous Person 03/16/2020 “This moment humanity is going through can now be seen as a portal and as a hole. The decision to fall into the hole or go through the portal is up to you. If they repent of the problem and consume the news 24 hours a day, with little energy, nervous all the time, with pessimism, they will fall into the hole. But if you take this opportunity to look at yourself, rethink life and death, take care of yourself and others, you will cross the portal. Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with the middle body of your spiritual House. Connect to the egregor of your spiritual home. Body, house, medium body, spiritual house, all this is synonymous, that is to say the same. When you are taking care of one, you are taking care of everything else. Do not lose the spiritual dimension of this crisis, have the aspect of the eagle, which from above, sees the whole, sees more widely. There is a social demand in this crisis, but there is also a spiritual demand. The two go hand in hand. Without the social dimension, we fall into fanaticism. But without the spiritual dimension, we fall into pessimism and lack of meaning. You were prepared to go through this crisis. Take your toolbox and use all the tools at your disposal. Learn about resistance with indigenous and African peoples: we have always been and continue to be exterminated. But we still haven't stopped singing, dancing, lighting a fire and having fun. Don't feel guilty about being happy during this difficult time. You don't help at all by being sad and without energy. It helps if good things emanate from the Universe now. It is through joy that one resists. Also, when the storm passes, you will be very important in the reconstruction of this new world. You need to be well and strong. And, for that, there is no other way than to maintain a beautiful, happy and bright vibration. This has nothing to do with alienation. This is a resistance strategy. In shamanism, there is a rite of passage called the quest for vision. You spend a few days alone in the forest, without water, without food, without protection. When you go through this portal, you get a new vision of the world, because you have faced your fears, your difficulties ... This is what is asked of you. Let them take advantage of this time to perform their vision seeking rituals. What world do you want to build for yourself? For now, this is what you can do: serenity in the storm. Calm down and pray. Everyday. Establish a routine to meet the sacred every day. Good things emanate, what you emanate now is the most important thing. And sing, dance, resist through art, joy, faith and love.

The World Today

In its most basic terms, Enso is the Japanese word for ‘circle’ or ‘circular form’. Think of a regular circle. You could choose to see it as a representation of nothing (that is zero)

On the other hand, the circle could be a form that encompasses everything within it. Perhaps you see it as both. In a way, that is the epitome of a Zen state of mind, where nothing and everything exists. Form is void and void is form.

I wrote this to a friend on Facebook in response to his difficulties in facing the "world" every morning even though he has so much to be grateful for:

• • • • •

So beautifully and heartfully articulated. You could be accused of being too emotional or sentimental, but I believe that is your strength. You have the right to your tears, they are well earned during today's battles.

I do believe, and I'll mention his name, Mr. tRUMP has done us a service by making all the difficulties of the times so transparent. I believe that the destruction of America has been ongoing, we just have not been aware or have avoided awareness.

The good that also comes out of the (pre-COVID 19) is that maybe we have learned to not only listen but to hear, to empathize, and maybe to begin to change those negative ideas around us and behaviors that maybe even the "self" has not been aware of. 

In many ways we all want security, we want our stories to have happy middles and endings, we do not really want to acknowledge how ugly people and the world can get. By really seeing that, I believe we can begin to change. When we are blind to the reality around us, nothing changes, it just accumulates and multiplies.

Also, (with COVID 19) we are in the middle of a Buddhist lesson (for which we most likely have not yet established a strong practice) EVERYTHING CHANGES. Nothing stays the same. We are not the same people we were this morning, at the cell level and at the intellectual level (hopefully.) 

I believe for a long time now (maybe since the beginning of time) we have been lulled (or allowed ourselves to be lulled) into a false sense of security that it will all end happily. Maybe some of it will but for the most part, there will be happy and there will be sad, there will be joy and there will be sorrow, there will be life and there will be death.

This is one of the great lessons Gregory taught me as we traveled together on his journey through Alzheimer's. Life just is and is the total of all the details, wanted and not! 

Love you, John, Cry if you must, but don't forget to laugh. (You do list the things for which you are grateful in your wife and children, and that is good!)

Self-Quarantine Exhibition

A truly amazing collection of photographs reflecting the self-quarantining currently underway.

Happy April Fool’s Day! Let me start off by saying a huge THANK YOU to the participating photographers from all over the globe, each of whom shared a little bit about themselves during this profound moment in history. There were hundreds and hundreds of submissions and as I uploaded each one, I thought about your life and world.  And though I corresponded only briefly with each of you, I was comforted by the connection to the greater whole as I have been in quarantine for almost three weeks. There are seven parts to this post so keep going until you get to the end. Pour yourself a big glass of wine or a big mug of coffee and enjoy the collected experience of The 2020 Lenscratch Self-Quarantining Exhibition…and share widely!  Be safe out there. See you on the other side. – Aline Smithson

http://lenscratch.com/2020/04/the-2020-self-quarantining-exhibition/?fbclid=IwAR0I9YfNBYpaElFxPFAhvfhXYbZyzKfres2SAeYJUVng5LdtABY-Un8_UTc

The Empty Feeling of the COVID 19 Pandemic

STORIES FOR THE TIMES:

Café du Monde in New Orleans

City Parking in Evanston, Il 

Condo Hallway

 

Lyric Opera of Chicago

The Diner by Edward Hopper 

Le Grand Jette by Saurat

Times Square, New York City 

St Mark's Square in Venice, Italy 

tRUMP hopefully on his way out!

The Other Side of the Glass

STORIES FOR THE TIMES:

Sitting at my computer in the condo, the east wall of my living room is almost entirely glass: three bays of floor, almost to ceiling glass.

One bay has a huge, heavy sliding glass door that goes out to the balcony, overlooking the third-floor rooftop garden. Lovely trees, bushes, and in spring and summer a variety of flowers pass through the days to cheer one up.

The second bay has two panels of fixed glass on top and two tip-in windows on the bottom with screens to keep out the bugs.

The third bay has two smaller, inoperable panels on top.

The place, on bright sunny days, is bright and sunny. A second sunrise occurs when the sun goes down behind the condo building and is reflected off the buildings to the east and into my living room.

Why did I spend all this time painting a picture of my condo living room for you?

For two reasons, first, because I love my condo; it is clean and nicely laid out with many of my collections on display on walls and table surfaces. All surfaces are covered! While there are many, many items on display, the room feels well organized and not at all chaotic but rather peaceful and welcoming.

The second reason for sharing is that as I am sitting here, looking out the windows, I am thinking about what is going on the other side of my windows, with COVID 19 looming large in other condos, on the streets, in grocery stores, in now for delivery-only restaurants, in small businesses around the state, country, and world, in the lives of so many.

I think about the people who are not as fortunate as I am to live in a safe, comfortable, supportive environment; those living on the streets or in sheltered doorways or on the train grabbing some shut-eye between stops.

I think of those who have lost their jobs or if lucky those working at home. I think about those who are in isolation, sick at home, or in hospitals. Those who are dying or who have died and the grief of their families, if they were lucky enough to not be alienated from their families.

A third reason I am sharing is that I am astounded at how removed I feel from all of the COVID 19 going on around me. While sheltered at home and only going out, quickly, for a grocery list or to pick up medication from CVS, my life is much the same as it was before the advent of the escalating deadly virus that is poised to destroy not only life but our economy and life as we know it!

The main difference between BC (before virus) and AD (after virus) is that during the winter I find it preferable to hibernate at home, turn inward. Being winter I only go out when I have to, enjoy working in my condo on various projects, cooking dinners, talking to friends on the phone, and watching TV or movies, reading a good book. Naps figure into my days and my kitties (really cats but I still call them kitties) keep me not only busy maintaining their lives but also cheered as they purr while being pet.

Other differences of which I am aware as affecting me, include the arrival of social distancing, not eating out (which I haven't been doing much since I got my new "Smart Oven," the absence of being with people in person, and not attending theater and opera.

But otherwise, my life is much the same.

So here I sit at my computer, in my sunny living room, enjoying my condo and kitties and dinner while staring out the window at the trees which are about to bud, the grass which is about to green, the bushes and flowers which are about to bloom and I feel joy and happiness and the COVID 19 (at least at this point) is something that seems to be on the other side of the glass and not part of my world!

A Disturbing Read

However, I prefer to know as much as I can so I can make informed decisions. 

Much of what is discussed here was addressed in a videocast I watched last night presented by a resident who lives in my condo, an infectious disease doctor, and clinical assistant professor who is involved with the COVID-19 response through the Northshore University Health Care System and the University of Chicago Medical Department.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-will-coronavirus-end/608719/

The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how it’s going to play out.

THEATLANTIC.COM

How the Pandemic Will End

The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how it’s going to play out.

Grocery Store Precautions

Shopping and Carry Out Safety

Shopping With COVID 19

STORIES FOR THE TIMES:

I arrived at the Trader Joe's near my condo at 8:45. The Internet said, "Open at 8:00." The sign in the window said, "Open at 9:00." A lot of grocery stores, which open for the first hour for seniors only, have delayed opening the doors by an hour ahead so they can get fully stocked and workers in place.

To my amazement, there was a line forming at the door, most people with their cart at the ready, six feet from each other. Instead of being grouped around the door ready to push their way in to the toilet paper aisle, this queue formed at the door and proceeded to parallel the building then double over into the parking lot.

"Very civil," I thought to myself. There must have been twenty people waiting to get in, quietly waiting, six feet +/- apart. As people walked by to get to the end of the line, they even made sure not to come too close to the people in line ahead of them.

There was a clerk at the door who welcomed in the first three patrons who were greeted by another clerk, wearing rubber gloves, with a wipe for the cart and a bottle of hand sanitizer to spray your hands. Both were cheery, smiling, welcoming. Again, "Very civil!"

After the first dozen and a half were allowed in, sanitized, and had begun their shopping the "guard" let more of us into the store as the flowers and produce area at the entrance cleared with shoppers moving deeper into the store.

The shopping experience was interesting. No carts to avoid. No children. No waiting for someone to move out of your way so you could reach a cucumber. As people walked by throughout the store, they kept their distance. Very pleasant and smiling but not closer than 6 feet. If an aisle began to get backed up, the shoppers automatically held back until they could enter and keep their distance.

The shelves were well-stocked and orderly. From what I could tell, hand sanitizer was the only missing item. I purchased one six-pack of toilet paper silently saying a prayer of thanks to the White Porcelain Goddess." I also put four boxes of Kleene into my cart.

There was a full staff of checkers and baggers. They did not cut back on the number of employees just because the store was not packed like it usually was pre-COVID 19. In many ways the experience was surreal as well as enjoyable but also pointed out "HEY PEOPLE THIS IS REAL! BE SAFE, BUT BE CONCERNED! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"

When I arrived home by 9:45, the city parking garage (also home to the condo parking) which is usually filled to capacity was frighteningly empty. "This is not a drill" as I thought, "How civil!"

The Noisy Quiet and Chaotic Stillness

STORIES FOR THE TIMES:

COVID 19 has brought so many changes on us so quietly and so quickly
People around the world are infected,  either getting better or dying
The harbingers of this change are invisible to the eye and all senses
So we can only imagine what the black-hooded creature looks like.

Restaurants, museums, stores, schools, churches, libraries all close
Events, conferences, music venues, plays, celebrations all turn off lights
Directly or indirectly; salaries, benefits, basic necessities are lost by many
Those who have been suffering before are suffering even more now.

Outside and in, the quiet seems to feel so much more quiet than before
The stillness seems more still than usual and cities and streets are empty
The noise around us is so quiet that it deafens us in the hearing of its roar
And the stillness so great that it frightens each of us to look at its approach.

We have come to expect that things will always be and stay the same.
We expect that nothing will change or be rearranged in our lives
But in one day, all is different and unrecognizable and incomprehensible
And change is upon us, want it, like it, or not - we never expected this.

Buddhists studies say that we should accept all around us is impermanent
Knowing that every day everything around, in front and behind us changes
Even if imperceptible to the eye or ear or nose or taste or sense of feeling
Even if changes go unwanted or unnoticed, celebrated or lamented.

From the time you woke up early very early this morning on a Monday
Everything about your physical being is no longer the same later on a Tuesday
Cells have died off, sluffed off, been rearranged or renewed by Wednesday
Organs do their job pumping, breathing, breaking down components on Thursday.

What might be the same, you think, is your attitude and your belief system
You might think the same thoughts you have always had about things and life around
Your actions and reactions follow the same triggers that you have used before
But suddenly they may no longer apply, be true, be appropriate, or be necessary.

So in this time of great change for all of us in the world, young and old
If we can change with the times it could become easier to feel the air
As we vow to change our antiquated thoughts and actions and triggers
We build a new you to reflect who you have or will become with new attitudes.

Have faith in yourself to know that it is OK where you are at and that you will grow
Have faith in your fellow humans that we will survive this and come out the other side
We will experience change and seek out the good in change and become stronger
And the world will most likely be a better place for all, because it certainly needs to be.

The quiet seems more beautiful to hear, the stillness seems more beautiful to experience
The noise seems so quiet that we can hear the birds make their music, sing their songs
The fear so great it energizes one to step up to change and recognize the gift that we have
And we will continue to tell our stories of hope, and love, and compassion, and life.

Walking With Adell

STORIES FOR THE TIMES:

At the opposite end of the hall from me lives Adell, a 96-year-old neighbor. She has live-in help from Beth, a Filipina woman who is also a good cook.

Adell used to exercise in the hallway, with her walker, assisted by Beth. When we would cross paths I would slow down and gently stroll the hall with the two of them discussing issues of the day. After a short time, I realized that we had not visited in a while so I walked down and knocked on her door.

Sure enough, while still doing well, Adell (and Beth) had decided that walking the halls was becoming more and more difficult especially with the walker (tennis balls attached) and the hallway carpeting.

Since then, I try to drop by to say hello to them every several weeks. I always bring an arm full of flowers from Trader Joe's. At first, Adell asks why I was bringing flowers and I say, "I always bring flowers to my girlfriends!" She giggles.

We visit for five or ten minutes and then I excuse myself saying, "I need to get back to my apartment to put away the groceries." I plant a kiss (with permission) on Adell's cheek and take my leave.

With this friendship (Adell, Beth, and me) comes a pleasant surprise. A knock on my door every now and then reveals Beth at my door with a bowl of Filipino recipe thin noodles, Pancit: shredded chicken, scallions, mushrooms, and mixed vegetables stir fry. Always welcome to not have to cook for myself!

Recently along with the noodles come a pile of mini deep-fried spring pork rolls.

I am grateful for the people around me (and hopefully they for me!)

Condo Life Across the Threshold

STORIES FOR THE TIMES:

The Sherman Plaza Condo Association, like so many other condos I assume, has put provisions in place to protect residents and staff against the COVID 19 epidemic.

The precautions are meant to encourage social distancing and include closing the community room, stepping up the already excellent cleanliness of the buildings public spaces, installing hand sanitizer stations by elevators, requiring residents to come down to pick up food delivery instead of allowing the drivers to come through the building, and more.

Another precaution is to limit the management office walk-in traffic. The building managers are taking e-mail and telephone requests only. On my way from picking up mail, I saw that the office door was open so I dropped by, stood perfectly at the threshold, and waved. Leslie and Kellie, or building managers waved back and we all had a good laugh. I told them that I was surprised to see the door open and wondered if people were following the "no foot traffic" request. For the most part, the answer was, "Yes."

Then I suggested putting up a dog gate or yellow "crime scene" tape. We had another good laugh. "I will visit again," I told them, "but always across the threshold." That gave me the title for this story.