Category: Pandemic 2020 Writing

The Empty Hanger

Photo – K Nowosad

Yuck! That’s the first word that came to mind when I saw this picture. I can’t believe how yucky my front of the house container area looks right now. But the empty hanger is so representative of life during the pandemic. Things that I was used to be able to get easily are not so easy to get anymore. I always have a begonia plant hanging from that iron stand. This year, I found one hanging basket for purchase which I put back when I noticed that it was already starting to go into problem growing.

Photo K Nowosad

So why not get a few begonias and make my own? I cannot find a hanging plastic planter to buy. And I can’t find reasonably sized bags of dirt. I really don’t need a full truckload delivered for one plant.

I went to Farms View market which normally has tons of hanging baskets to buy. There were about 6 left for sale none of which was what I wanted. They did have flats of begonias but nothing to plant them in.

It took me well over a month to find the hose connectors that I needed so I could clean up the deck and outside furniture. People working at Lowe’s and Home Depot told me that with people being home, everyone was working on their lawns and plants. And yes, my own house does look better than usual this year because of work I’ve done. Except for this darn empty hanger.

Today I’m heading out to try to find tissues, paper towels, and Lysol. These items are hard to get right now. Yes, basics that were never a problem even before a snow storm now are. So maybe I will be lucky and find a hanging begonia plant to finally hang on that darned empty hanger.

Why Not Start Now?

Maybe it is appropriate to open like this being that this blog is being started as I am in the 4th month of the fallout from CoVid-19 which has turned the entire world upside down. Things that used to be a part of my life are no longer. Some are gone for good and some may return. Some will be tossed out purposely by me since I don’t think they work very well anymore for me.

I’ve started a few blogs in my life, but this is probably the strangest way I have ever opened one up. The photo of the Bailey’s Irish Cream sitting on my kitchen counter is probably not the best picture I have ever posted. First off, the subject of the photo isn’t well presented. Do you really need to see the knobs of the counters or the K on the counter mug? Probably not. And why show liquor to open a blog?

When we first started in March, we here in New Jersey went into full lockdown. Looking back at my calendar, I wrote “Gov. Murphy issued ‘stay at home’ order” on March 21. Earlier that week, I had been to George Street Playhouse to see a live show, Conscience, and then had a small medical procedure done at Morristown Memorial Hospital. And that was it.

From then on, all of my in person college classes went fully online using the college’s Blackboard system and ZOOM. I have done classes remotely but not in this fashion with video so there was a lot to learn.

But to relax, I started to learn more about the amazing world of Netflix. I had just subscribed about a month before and was enjoying the Outlander series. So the inclusion of a small bit of Bailey’s at the end of the day while watching Jamie and Clare seemed pretty appropriate. Until I saw them sipping the scotch. Then I got intrigued with that. Always having been a scotch whiskey fan, I would rotate the Bailey’s and the Johnny Walker Red on alternate evenings.

But I’m the kind of person who learns to adapt and eventually the new life became a little easier. And the Bailey’s bottle emptied out. And it went out on a recycling day. And the Johnny Walker (which I had for probably 4 years) also eventually emptied out and went to recycling.

I wanted to do a blog about my life during the pandemic, but never could seem to get the time needed to up this site. So here I am now finally doing it. Better late than never.

We don’t know when life will go back to normal or what normal will be. So I’ll take time to write about things I’m doing during this time period using this blog. The urge to write my own experiences has surfaced heavily during the past few months.

Let’s see what I can do.