This is Post #500

It's a rear-window decal. When the windshield wiper is on, the dog
seems to wag its tail. Humans made this. Humans thought this was a good idea.

When I noted, with some sense of accomplishment, that I made my 100th post, it was July 12, 2014. I was two years away from a hip replacement that I was then unaware I would need. I had not gone to Lima or Paris as part of the global negotiations on climate change. Bruce's mom was brightly alive and Kevan, my brother-in-law, was three years away from a stroke that tried to, but didn't, slow him down.

And I was still working.

My project of serial, broadcast, autobiography started in 2004, when our little Jack Russel terrier Molly was no longer a young dog, but had another seven years in her. Back then I sent out weekly emails with a picture attached, almost always a photo of the dog. I'd miss a week or two here and there, but once I switched to blogging, I posted regularly. Every. Single. Saturday.

I'd expand production by travel blogging as a service both to my readers and myself. I wanted to remember.

I wrote about my hip surgery and the adventures of convalescence. Invisible others from around the world still read those posts.

And I took a stab at fiction, because, why not?

This blog has never had a future plan, no ultimate goal, no end date. I do put thought into it every week. Sometimes I know what I'm going to write. Sometimes I even do research. Sometimes, like this time, I just come to the blank Blogger screen and see what happens. 

That my weekly conjuring act has grown a long tail can't be surprising, and yet it does surprise me. I'm surprised I've created something so public in the course of doing something which in its essence is so private.

I am grateful to all of my readers. This blog is my long-winded, one-sided conversation with all of you. It says, Who-like, that I am here. 

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen

Damage

The force of a storm burst asunder the 100+ year old silver maple at the southeast corner of the Allan Gardens last Wednesday. A quarter of its mass fell on the walkway.

With that, the tree's fate was sealed.

First, the tree got the dread "red spot." 

Then a guy with a wood chipper cut up and rendered the smallest parts of the big branches that fell.

The branches still not fallen were the next to go. Another rough COVID haircut.

Now there's just a stump. Soon that will be gone, too.

In the meantime, an enterprising rat/squirrel/raccoon tried as hard as it could to find the tasty part of the insulation on our air conditioner line.

It never did find it, but you can see the little blighter tried his best.

I gave the insulation two weeks to heal itself. When that didn't work out, I searched online to see if there was a less magical solution. I learned self sealing pipe insulation is a thing, readily available at most hardware stores. 

Voila. 

I feel so handy.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen

Still standing:
the Allan Gardens'
White Sycamore

(M)ask Me Anything

Wearing a mask indoors in public areas became mandatory in Toronto on July 7, 2020.

Bruce and I have been wearing masks indoors in public since the third week of April. Some people have been wearing them much longer than that. Remember the Great Mask Famine of February 2020? 

That was when selfish people were the ones who overreacted to the threat of the virus and secured PPE for themselves, forcing frontline workers to work without proper equipment.

In April, public health sources started tentatively suggesting that wearing a non-medical mask might keep contagious people from spreading the virus. But Theresa Tam, the federal Medical Officer of Health, wasn't sure that meant we should all wear one.

By May, she felt she finally had enough evidence to recommend, in a nice way, that, as locked down jurisdictions opened up, people should wear masks when they left their homes. 

And, sure enough, more and more medical research showed that containing ones' breath served, along with other measures like social distancing and hand washing, to curtail the spread.*

So, by mid-June, important rhetorical questions were being asked about whether or not mask wearing in public should be mandatory. 

Next came a game of political hot potato between Ontario cities and the province about which order of government should do the filthy business of regulation.

"You do it," said the municipalities to the province.

"No, you do it," said the province to the municipalities.

"We're just going to go ahead and do it," said the Toronto Transit Commission, which announced in June that masks would be mandatory on the TTC by July 2.

"OK, you win," said Toronto Mayor John Tory, and now we have a mask by-law.

Following fast on the TTC by-law was news coverage of people opposing mandatory masks.

Welcome to the human race, where people still smoke cigarettes (230,000 Canadian deaths a year), drink alcohol (15,000 Canadian deaths, 90,000 hospital admissions and 240,000 years of life lost) and take myriad other avoidable risks. 

But, you may be thinking, these are not analogous. Wearing a mask is not, like smoking and selfie-taking, a matter of personal choice. Masks are about collective action. OK. Maybe I should put it this way:

Welcome to the human race, where failures of collective action are commonplace. Some humans drink and drive, litter, and prefer to drink water out of disposable plastic bottles when there's no need to. 

They drive fossil-fuel-burning cars, too.

Because, freedom.

Thanks for reading!

Wear that mask!

Karen

A storm came out of nowhere on Wednesday and took down another 
chunk of the silver maple at the south east corner of the Allan Gardens. 
Not the first time that's happened.

*A short list of recent research:

Rothe C, Schunk M, Sothmann P, et al. Transmission of 2019-nCoV Infection from an Asymptomatic Contact in Germany. The New England journal of medicine. 2020;382(10):970-971. PMID: 32003551

Zou L, Ruan F, Huang M, et al. SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load in Upper Respiratory Specimens of Infected Patients. The New England journal of medicine. 2020;382(12):1177-1179. PMID: 32074444

Pan X, Chen D, Xia Y, et al. Asymptomatic cases in a family cluster with SARS-CoV-2 infection. The Lancet Infectious diseases. 2020. PMID: 32087116

Bai Y, Yao L, Wei T, et al. Presumed Asymptomatic Carrier Transmission of COVID-19. Jama. 2020. PMID: 32083643

Kimball A HK, Arons M, et al. Asymptomatic and Presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Residents of a Long-Term Care Skilled Nursing Facility — King County, Washington, March 2020. MMWR Morbidity and mortality weekly report. 2020; ePub: 27 March 2020. PMID: 32240128

Wei WE LZ, Chiew CJ, Yong SE, Toh MP, Lee VJ. Presymptomatic Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 — Singapore, January 23–March 16, 2020. MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2020;ePub: 1 April 2020. PMID: 32271722

Li R, Pei S, Chen B, et al. Substantial undocumented infection facilitates the rapid dissemination of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2). Science (New York, NY). 2020. PMID: 32179701

Furukawa NW, Brooks JT, Sobel J. Evidence Supporting Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 While Presymptomatic or Asymptomatic [published online ahead of print, 2020 May 4]. Emerg Infect Dis. 2020;26(7):10.3201/eid2607.201595.

Oran DP, Topol Prevalence of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Narrative Review [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 3]. Ann Intern Med. 2020;M20-3012. PMID: 32491919

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Rapid Expert Consultation on the Possibility of Bioaerosol Spread of SARS-CoV-2 for the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 1, 2020). Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25769

Schwartz KL, Murti M, Finkelstein M, et al. Lack of COVID-19 transmission on an international flight. CMAJ. 2020;192(15):E410. PMID: 32392504

Anfinrud P, Stadnytskyi V, Bax CE, Bax A. Visualizing Speech-Generated Oral Fluid Droplets with Laser Light Scattering. N Engl J Med. 2020 Apr 15. doi:10.1056/NEJMc2007800. PMID: 32294341

Davies A, Thompson KA, Giri K, Kafatos G, Walker J, Bennett A. Testing the efficacy of homemade masks: would they protect in an influenza pandemic? Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2013;7(4):413-8. PMID: 24229526

Konda A, Prakash A, Moss GA, Schmoldt M, Grant GD, Guha S. Aerosol Filtration Efficiency of Common Fabrics Used in Respiratory Cloth Masks. ACS Nano. 2020 Apr 24. PMID: 32329337

Aydin O, Emon B, Saif MTA. Performance of fabrics for home-made masks against spread of respiratory infection through droplets: a quantitative mechanistic study. medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.19.20071779, posted April 24, 2020.

Ma QX, Shan H, Zhang HL, Li GM, Yang RM, Chen JM. Potential utilities of mask-wearing and instant hand hygiene for fighting SARS-CoV-2. J Med Virol. 2020. PMID: 32232986

Leung, N.H.L., Chu, D.K.W., Shiu, E.Y.C. et al.Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks. Nat Med. 2020. PMID: 32371934

Canada Day

Socially distanced masked Canada Day celebrants lined up for the Toronto Island Ferry.

I've forgotten why I restarted my subscription to the Globe and Mail. Between the CBC, the Toronto Star, the National Observer and all the myriad other publications pushed to me by my newsfeed, I really do get more news than I can -- or should rationally want to -- read in a day.

I do want to remember, though, why I cancelled my subscription this week. What's driving this decision is not the Globe's half-hearted stab at noticing climate change, or its kludgy journalism, or the fact that it employs plagiarists. It's this, from its Canada Day editorial:

As we have written many times before, Canada is not just a fact. It is an act – a perpetual act of creation, maintenance and improvement. Canada was created by people of many faiths and races who had to find a way to bridge their differences and create a transcendent, common citizenship. That’s what the Fathers of Confederation did in the 19th century, when the gap that threatened violence and dissolution was French-English and Catholic-Protestant. In different forms, it is something that every generation since has had to wrestle with, as old fissures close and new fault lines are revealed. [emphasis added] 

To resort to "founding father" jingoistic bullshit in the age of reconciliation with First Nations is at best tone deaf and at worst an affirmation that we should celebrate that Canada was founded on genocide.

I'm sure that this latter thought never crossed the minds of the editors of the Globe and Mail when they wrote their editorial.

And that's why I cancelled my subscription.

Thanks for reading!

Stay safe and stay cool!

Karen

A national monument to the real heroes

Onomatopoeia

Thursday June 25 2020: Bruce at the Hotel Isabella: it's ridiculous how happy we were.

On Wednesday, June 24, 2020, Toronto reopened with a *crk* *fitz* - either like a tall cold can of beer, or a survivalist's can of Brazilian corned beef.

It's hard to say.

Things are not "normal." For example, I've never before had a bar waitress cheerfully request my name and phone number. Never before would I have just as cheerfully given them to her.

But, I also would not have imagined how much fun it would be to sit on an outdoor patio again and drink a beer. What did I enjoy the most? Catching snatches of the inconsequential conversations at other tables? Seeing strangers enjoy the company of their friends? Just being with other people? Two pints of Guinness on an empty stomach played a part, but we were giddy as schoolgirls, our spirits lifted, genuinely cheered by the experience.   

So the pandemic has taught us that it's more fun not to drink at home. 

What about shopping?

Here's the Eaton Centre after it opened at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday:

You can see that most, but not all, people are wearing masks. That may soon change.

The ratio of security personnel to shoppers was about 1:1. Most of the stores were still closed. Social distancing signage was more prevalent than the usual giant signs for perfume and women's underwear. 

Aveda products were 25% off, so I lined up, as planned in May, and bought some soap, lotion and hair product. 

Overall, a less energizing experience than the patio at the Hotel Isabella, but it's early days.

My Last COVID Clean-Up

Some readers are aware that, for the past decade at least, our fridge has been covered with poetry magnets. Once upon a time, Bruce would stand for hours in front of the fridge, composing. But then Bruce lost his muse, and the magnets were just stuck there, unregarded, unloved, unmoved, like large wordy particles of dust.

I took them down and for the first time in a decade saw the highly reflective surface of our fridge door.

So you can still see Bruce on the fridge - just in a different way.

Actually, There's One More COVID Clean Up

I'm not the only one who has noticed that the pandemic has become a monstrous license to turn masks and gloves into litter. 

Along with continuing to show care for one another, keeping our distance, washing our hands and expanding our bubbles safely, it would be great if we could all commit to stop being such thoughtless slobs.

A cabbie way station on Sherbourne north of Wellesley

Thanks for reading!

Tip your waitress!

Karen

Fridge selfie

Opening Up

The fledgling robins are back. 

Ontario outside the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area has moved to Stage 2, meaning people can do just about everything they used to except go to school or rock concerts. Everyone should stay six feet apart and wear a mask, though.

Toronto's still not ready to open, but it is starting to unlock.

Raccoons are the COVID spirit animal: they wear masks; they wash their little hands.

Bayview Avenue on
Sunday afternoon.

Coffee shops are open and serving customers two at a time. Restaurants have morphed into markets to sell their food. Even gyms are getting ready to help everyone shed those COVID pounds. In the meantime, thousands have taken the City up on its offer to get some exercise walking and biking along roadways closed to vehicle traffic.



COVID Litter Photo Essay

You know how you can tell more people are out and about?

 

 

 

 

Along with mask and glove litter, higher gas prices, and 'way more cars on the road, signs that we are learning to live with the virus among us are:

• Blinds to Go finally installed in the middle of June the blinds I ordered at the beginning of March.
• I have a dentist's appointment on July 6 (y-a-a-a-y).
• I have a haircut booked ... on September 8.

My hair stylist and I agreed unintentionally prophetically early in February that I should "wait a little longer than usual" for my next cut. At the moment, I'm hairier than Justin Trudeau and by September 8 I'll be a bad hair day meme.  

I May Miss the Lockdown

Another unanticipated upside of the response to the virus is I see more friends and talk more with my family than I did before the lockdown. Because no one's got anything to do, everyone has time to visit. And, when I talk with my friends in a park as opposed to a bar or restaurant, I can actually hear what they say.  

Thanks for reading!

Wear a mask!

Karen

Two new robins in the
backyard hemlock this year

  

Across the Great Divide

On the Sherbourne Side: Glen Road on the south side of Bloor.

One of our favourite COVID walks that gets us out of the house and away from people takes us up Sherbourne Street, past St. James Town, along the south end of Glen Road, through a tunnel under Bloor Street, over a footbridge spanning Rosedale Valley Road and into Rosedale proper, where big old trees shade deserted sidewalks.

On the footbridge, looking south to the tunnel

The difference between where we start and where we end is hard to miss. One of the city's poorest neighbourhoods is just a footbridge away from one of the city's wealthiest. 

St. James Town towers: looking south on the bridge 

The contrast is stark. So much wealth so close to such poverty brings out my inner socialist. We talk on our Rosedale walks about the scourge of social inequality, but we don't talk too loud. We don't want to frighten the natives. Or cause them to call the police.

The Rosedale end of the bridge: the plaque commemorates
Morley Callaghan, who lived nearby

I look at the massive homes and the manicured properties and the $85,000 cars in the driveways and I wonder how anyone could have so much and not feel compelled to share.

Rosedale Vanity Plate. It stands for "earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization," 
the things investors look for in a company. I don't think it matters that the car is from New York. It makes no difference that they want to keep Tahoe blue.

There's an answer to that question. Social science research shows that rich people lack compassion and have a strong sense that they deserve what they have. So, they are disinclined to share.

These days, people want to defund the police. Another good idea might be to defund the rich.

Thanks for reading!

Tip your delivery person!

Karen

That's rich:
gas 20 cents a litre shy 
of pre-COVID prices.