The New Normal

Many of you know we had planned to travel to Iceland in early April to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. We had made the trip reservation back in September 2019 with our long-time friends of more than 50 years. As COVID-19 became a more serious concern here in the US, it looked like canceling the trip would be the smart thing to do. Luckily and finally, the tour company contacted us on Tuesday of this week, saying all tours (except to the Channel Islands) were canceled through April 30th. Disappointing? Yes. But there will be another trip at another time when traveling among countries becomes safer, once again. It is what it is!

In the meantime, we had planned to leave AZ today (Thursday) as I had wanted a few days at home in SD to acclimate from winter in AZ to winter in SD to winter in Iceland. Plans had been made to get a haircut, meet for bookclub, meet friends, watch Miss W play volleyball...you know, life as it was before COVID-19. Once we knew the Iceland trip was canceled, we decided to stay put in AZ where the temps would be warmer (except for the 50º of today) and we could practice social distancing outside on the deck or in the desert looking for geocaches. We have enough food and TP to make it through to April 1. We will re-access at that time. In preparation to leaving, some of the cleaning has been done. Some of the packing has been done. And the jeep was put on blocks and tarped, ready for the hot AZ summer.

So, not much is happening. I canceled my last writing classes on Monday (social distancing) although the class size would have been less than 10. We did not attend the St. Patrick's Day geocaching event in Fountain Hills. The water was NOT green this year as the city had canceled their St. Patrick's Day celebration. We did have friends over Monday evening, but we stayed outside and practiced the recommended 6 feet for social distancing. No hugs. No handshakes. Hand sanitizer was available.

Here are my photos of life in the New Normal.

a motorized glider over the desert near the resort

the baby hummingbird a neighbor has been watching and 

protecting since it and its sibling (which died) fell from the nest

some new yard decor

purchase recommended by OFD while 

Mesa Market shopping last month

to add to the collection of mostly saguaros

speaking of saguaros...

look at all the buds on the neighbor's saguaro

there will be flowers before we leave!

and an update on the baby hummingbird

I checked on it just before posting

I wondered how it fared in the rain, graupel and strong winds

at first I did not see it...but it moved its head...

still around and looking green in today's sunlight

our local lake after the 1.4 inches of rain yesterday and this morning

(hummingbird's rock fortress is just up the bank under the tree's shadow)

since the resort's pools are closed, maybe we could use this spot???

if only I wore a swimsuit in public... or used the resort's pools

Stay safe. Practice the 5.