August 24
Foggy morning, thank goodness! After 2 sizzling weeks - due to tropical storm systems south of us - the lower temps are blissful. Did my morning run on the beach, from Goleta Beach to the bluffs on campus, down to another stretch of beach and back. Found it soul nourishing. A balm for my battered spirits. Dry thunderstorm activity a week ago ignited raging wildfires across California. The northern part of the state is experiencing the worst of it, where evacuation orders complicate efforts to isolate and prevent Covid 19 spread. Our skies and air have been smoky. Firefighters from across the nation and even from Australia came over to help put out the fires.
Politics now leads the news due to the elections in just over 2 months. This week the Republicans will have their convention and Trump promises to dominate on each of the 4 days. Stomach churning.
The Postmaster General - DeJoy (a Trump appointee) - has been called for questioning by Congress. The Post Office has been taking down public mail boxes and other questionable actions are going on raising suspicions of potential problems with mail in election ballots.
Covid news has been muted. Daily case numbers and deaths in California and in the USA are continuing to trend downward. More states are showing declines than not. Europe, on the other hand, is dealing with new outbreaks and growing new daily infections. South Africa has stabilized to around 3000 new daily cases. There's still explosive numbers in Latin America and India but we aren't getting news that conveys the kind of urgency we'd been hearing about in Europe and the USA.
Cayden and Shrayen started school again today. Fingers crossed that all will go well until the end of the year.
August 28
Covid anxiety lower in the last 2 weeks as countywide, statewide and nationwide new infections trended downward. California's 14 day average for new cases is 6456 and for deaths is 124. In the USA daily new cases in the past two weeks are above 40,000 and daily deaths around 1,300. South Africa's daily case numbers have declined to around 3000 or less in the past 2 weeks. India now holds the record for highest cases on a single day when their Aug 27 count was 76,800. Latin American countries continue to have high daily infections. Europe is seeing a worrying surge, especially in Spain and France. Everyone wants to avoid another lockdown, so mask wearing is increasingly emphasized.
I'm not expecting the current situation to change much until a vaccine is available. Openings, shutdowns, restrictions, the odd lockdown somewhere, successes, concerns, failures and disrupted student lives. There's talk of rapid Covid tests and new therapies (monoclonal antibodies in particular) and these will help with some sort of stability while we ride out the pandemic.
The Republicans just had their 4 day convention. Daily circus acts where they flouted Covid safety measures and spewed out lies and took credit for successes they had no part in. Trump gave his acceptance speech in front of the White House to an unmasked crowd - a grotesque act for multiple reasons. If we're lucky these may be the final months of this despicable administration.
My book group met at West Campus hosted by Adrienne. Perfect summer evening, mild temperatures, wafts of ocean smells drifting from the beach nearby. Chairs arranged in a circle on a grassy patch, overlooked by a row of towering palms. Over brown bagged dinners we shared our personal stories and discussed The Vanishing Half, a novel about twin black sisters from a small Louisiana town. One uses her light skin and straight hair to pass as white and moves to Los Angeles where she lives the American dream. The other marries then divorces a dark skinned abusive black man and returns to her home town with her very dark skinned daughter. Themes of prejudice in all its forms run through this very engaging book.
August 31
When NPR came on at 6:00 AM and I opened my eyes I was amazed at how dark it was. The peak of summer has no doubt past. Sigh! It's been the weirdest summer of my life. I want it to be over so that we can get closer to better days. Yet, I feel my usual sadness as it wanes.
Total identified Covid cases in USA 6,170,000; total deaths 187,000. Still trending downward with 42,000 new daily cases and 1,200 daily deaths. A while to go before returning to May lows of 21,000 new daily cases and daily deaths in the lower hundreds. Perhaps that won't happen since states in the heartland are now experiencing surges. California is making progress, reporting around 6000 new daily cases and about 120 deaths in the past 2 weeks. Governor Newsom has introduced a new color coded system for counties which details where they are and what they need to do to progress to a new level. Our county, like much of the state, is purple, the most serious level and this means no schools, no indoor dining, and restricted personal services. Other than that the economy is functioning with measures in place.
South Africa, after a week of an opened up economy still showing progress with new daily infections around 2,500 and just over a 100 daily deaths. Will be watching this closely in the next weeks. Curious to see the situation in mid September.
Australia has things under control again, with small numbers of new daily infections. It's the only country that has banned its residents from traveling out of the country. Max is stuck, unable to fly to Germany to be with his family.
Meanwhile, India now tops the world in daily infections which are close to 80,000. Significant new daily infections in Peru, Colombia, Argentina and other South American countrie. Europe grappling with how to suppress new surges.
It looks certain that there won't be another massive lockdown again here, or anywhere. Local governments may impose varying degrees of restrictions. In California, we've settled into a lifestyle that allows us to get through our days reasonably well. If this is sustainable then we may struggle on with some bumps along the way until we're saved by a vaccine.
Though we've found ways to keep our spirits up, the general state of things in the USA is unsettling. Black Lives Matter protests haven't stopped in some cities and often there's been rioting along with peaceful marches. In Portland there's been ongoing unrest, a situation not easy to solve and complicated over the weekend by a caravan of Trump supporters which resulted in a fatal shooting. Since mid-August Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been wracked by demonstrations. A Black man, due to illegal drug involvement, was shot 7 times by police and is now hospitalized. Trump's erratic actions and words keep us on edge too.
We're worried about the elections and the likelihood of corruption from the Trump camp.
I so badly want this pandemic to be behind us. I want to feel free to go to stores and visit friends at their homes and entertain people properly at our home. I want to go downtown and mingle with crowds, shop at farmer's market, have a Happy Hour drink, stroll through the Funk Zone, dine at a packed restaurant.
We've had some cool weather the past few days, which I liked. Made my morning runs more pleasurable. Our weekend morning beach walks were joyful in the fog. Coal Oil Point on one morning, and More Mesa Bluffs the next where we walked farther than ever before, all the way to the many steps that led down to the delightful beach. We headed east and found ourselves at Hope Ranch Beach where people were appearing in growing numbers. Climbing up the long, long stairway on our return gave us quite a workout! We were ready to pig out on crepes filled with sweet, juicy strawberries and rhubarb.
All of August, despite the pandemic, we were blessed with summer's bounty. In our CSA weekly box we've been getting exquisite tomatoes (heirlooms and other), juicy melons, bell peppers, strawberries and other luscious vegetables. I pop over to Lane Farms stand every Saturday for their delicious sweetcorn and whatever else looks good and easy to grab. I've also been popping into Sprouts once a week for peaches (at their peak now), blueberries, grapes, and figs. We've made peach cobblers and a peach tart so our splendid meals have been ending with scrumptious peach dessert every evening for a while.
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