May 11, 2021 First actual handshake in fourteen months? Check, and it felt great. Unmasked conversations with other vaccinated people? Check. Go face-naked outdoors? Check. Feel a lot less paranoid about doorknobs, mail, packages, keypads, and waiting-room furniture? Double-check! Toss the hand sanitizer altogether? Nuh-uh, not for me, not just yet. This also goes for… Continue reading A pandemic diary: Small, slow steps
Category: Florida
A pandemic diary: All roads lead nowhere
December 15, 2020 It means very little in the big scheme of things, but my wife and I have had to postpone something we'd been looking forward to: a visit to Florida. We'd planned to head down to Cape Coral, far enough south to have balmy winters yet only a day's drive from Atlanta. It's… Continue reading A pandemic diary: All roads lead nowhere
A pandemic diary: Of times and lives
November 13, 2020 Genealogy is fascinating for a lot of reasons, and I don't mean finding out that your ancestor stood with the embattled farmers at Lexington. (If all the people who claim their relatives were there on that day are telling the truth, the farmers would've outnumbered the redcoats by about a million to… Continue reading A pandemic diary: Of times and lives
A pandemic diary: My new short story
September 1, 2020 While this blog keeps me busy and helps me cope with the pandemic, I also write fiction. I recently turned out a story called "High Tide," which is about the virus, beaches, life, and most of all, love. It's just been published by the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. Click on… Continue reading A pandemic diary: My new short story
A pandemic diary: Independence
July 7, 2020 You had the perfect Fourth. Everything was great – the beach, the weather, the fireworks, and most of all, just hanging out and being normal again. You’d almost gotten used to the six-foot bullshit, and the mask when you absolutely had to, but no more. From now on you're free. Just like… Continue reading A pandemic diary: Independence
A pandemic diary: I didn’t say I told you so, but…
June 17, 2020 Because my wife and I used to own a beach home in Florida, I'm keeping a close and worried watch on the pandemic there, especially the deluge that started when the state reopened. Doctors, scientists, everyone with a few active brain cells warned it was too soon. Now they're setting records for… Continue reading A pandemic diary: I didn’t say I told you so, but…