Since I wrote my previous blog post seventeen days and thousands of deaths have taken place. No, Donald, we’re not reopening for Easter…we’re not reopening at any time. A “stay at home” lockdown has been ordered for everyone. We’re in the third week, and we expect this to continue for at least four more. So, with everyone staying at home we held a Happy Hour Block Party on April 1st at 5:00. And in short, here are the attendees:
John and Renee Ream
John and Renee live at the end of the street with their daughter Amy. John was an Oakland policeman. When he was a boy he was captured by the Japanese and spent time in a prison camp in the Philippines. He had to surrender his POW license plate after his stroke because he can’t drive anymore, and he’s turned his new Honda over to his granddaughter who is not and never has been a POW.
Next…
Charlie Patton and Nancy Rubin
Charlie and Nancy are not an item. Charlie lives up the street with his wife Donna and their daughter Eva. They own a yoga studio in Bali and spend many months of the year there. For exercise Charlie runs up and down the seventy Maryland steps ten times in a row. Nancy is a former teacher at Berkeley High School. She is a skilled photographer who has put on several shows showing her portraits. I’m working with her on Lightroom. Nancy always brings me flowers on my birthday. (She’s four months older; I usually forget hers).
George
George lives next door to Nancy. Never married, George retired a few years ago from UCB where his work revolved around computers. I recruited George to work with me at the Berkeley Food Pantry, and after seeing the primitive way we were counting faces he quickly designed a software program that allows us to keep track of each of our clients. George is a twitcher, and after hearing about a rare bird sighting almost anywhere in the world heads off in hopes to see it, too.
Jim and Carol Patton
Our Happy Hour yesterday was possibly the largest gathering of people that Jim has ever attended. More at home camping for months in Death Valley trapping rodents, Jim has been shipwrecked five times and spends his happiest times in the mountains and deserts. His greatest work is the one thousand page volume “The Rodents of South America”, available everywhere. Carol, patiently, goes with him. They were supposed to be in the desert yesterday, but that’s out. Jim can’t even go to his office at Cal. Carol writes letters to senators and congressmen almost every day, hoping, as we all are, that things will get better. Jim and Carol have no children, but they care for an assortment of pet turtles who have the run of their house.
Maria
Maria lives by herself at the other end of the street from the Reams. Her husband Wallace died a few years ago. Her son Paul has taken care of her, but the lockdown prevents him from visiting. Her grandson Julian ran away recently to Costa Rica, his mother’s home, was found and returned home only to be quarantined for fourteen days. He was fortunate to find a flight at all. Maria has called me a couple of times to fix things I can’t fix. I smile and apologize.
Alvin, Carys, and Jen
The Lumanlans live across the street. Alvin has been trying to make a go of a photography portrait business, and Jen hosts a website called “Your parenting Mojo”. Carys is the subject of about 90% of Alvin’s images, and is a precocious five year old. The Lumanlans are adventurers, having cycled much of the Tour de France course, including the steepest hills. In the rain. Jen backpacked through the Alps with baby Carys. They hike. They cycle. And like everyone else, they struggle in these uncertain times.
Guillermo, Davi, and Nico
Guillermo fled Spain to get away from Franco. He’s an avid runner, and on weekdays he rides his bike to the BART station, then takes it on BART to San Francisco where he works as an economist. He married Davi, and together they brought Nico into the world. Davi makes exquisite jewelry. Nico will attend UC Davis next year with the hope that after graduation he will attend graduate school, eventually becoming a veterinarian. Davi loves cats. Her license plate is QAT. At any given time they have, oh about four or five or six or whatever.
This was our first Six Foot Away Happy Hour. It won’t be the last.
M.I.A. Two families sent apologies. Anthony and Farrah, Amber and Kahlil, each have two little children who wouldn’t be able to keep six feet away from anyone. And so it goes…