Change of Scene...

The Yelland's house and our "change of scene"....

          

               Wednesday morning, Art and I drove to the Department of Health in Hendersonville, just South of Asheville, for our 10 a.m. drive-up appointment to have a Covid19 test.  We were quiet most of the 25 minute drive.  Both of us  a little nervous about this unknown even though we were certain we did not have the virus  Still, I kept thinking, “what if my test comes out positive?”  I couldn’t imagine why it would since I had to invent some symptoms to be allowed to get the test.  

             “Yes, I sometimes feel fatigued and achy,” I said to the woman on the phone scheduling appointments. This is true but not because I am sick but probably because I’ve hiked a long way and am tired.  It was a “white lie” that got me the appointment.  My worry didn’t come from imagining I might be sick but from not wanting anything to derail the plan to go to Vermont in a week.  This was to be our opportunity for a “change of scene”.

            Three hours later I had a phone call with our test results.  “Negative for both Arthur and Kristina.”  

            Now we have the official paper with our negative result from the Department of Health.  We’ve given ourselves a week to look forward to going away from home, which translates into quarantining at home for 7 days….a requirement to enter Vermont.  Quarantining at home is all we’ve done for nearly six months anyway and has become our way of life. 

 

            “You should take advantage of the Vermont house offer and get away for a while,” Hayden said to us on the phone last weekend.

            “My parents took a three day trip up to Saratoga Springs and had a great time…I just hope they are OK,” Jessica added trying not to sound too concerned.

            “Yeah, we felt so much better coming home after we’d been in Asheville for a few weeks,” Hayden said.

            That was the push we needed.  It didn’t take much to convince me, since my world of projects, reading, daily walks, cooking the same meals, and socializing by phone or text has begun to feel like it’s closing in on me. The prospect of more of the same this fall and all winter seems daunting without going somewhere to experience something different.  But where?

 

            The Yelland’s (old friends from where we used to live) house at Gt. Hawk  in Vermont is there for us to use as it has every summer since we moved from Vermont to Asheville. Janice and Ken take a break from the ski season and  Vermont  to enjoy Cape Cod and their boat in the summer. In June, we cancelled going to Vermont this summer due to Covid19, but last weekend it seemed like the answer to everything.  We’ve also had more time to feel comfortable with the thought of venturing out into the world again.  

            As I sit and write this post with the office window open to the fresh air, I hear the loud buzzing of the crickets which is always a sign of the end of summer .  Nights have cooled down and the green of leaves and grass are starting to slightly brown. If we have our “change of scene” now perhaps we’ll be content and patient about settling back to our stay-at-home lives for the rest of this year.  Everyone is waiting to see how the pandemic evolves and it’s all a big unknown.

 

            Vermont has few Covid19 cases but has strict restrictions for out-of-staters especially from the South.  That’s us…from North Carolina. 

          “Nothing is like it used to be!  So be prepared, ” my friend Heidja wrote to me about their stay in Rochester so far this summer.

            I’d rather focus on what my friend Susan, who lives in Bethel, wrote me last week, “Vermont is really beautiful, as you know, and it has become even more precious during this pandemic.  There are many places in our neck of the woods that are perfect for a picnic or a walk.”

                                    "Socially distancing" in Vermont where it comes naturally...

 

            A week from today we’ll be on the road taking provisions with us, using caution along the way, armed with a box of disposable masks and gloves, ready to bask in the beauty of quiet Vermont where social distancing in most places is the norm rather than the exception. 

 

            We have our Covid test results in hand, and the resolve to adapt to the changes this summer.

            “We’ll make this visit one of picnics and hikes in places we haven’t explored before,” I said to Art.

            I think about a recent Op Ed piece in the New York Times, “What’s Your Risk Tolerance?” which reminded us that the Corona19 virus is not going away and even with a vaccine there is always a risk of catching it.  “In those places where governments, businesses and administration have set the stage properly, we can – with sensible precautions – begin to live again.”

            

 

 

            

 

              

 

            

 

            

 

 

            

 

              

 

             

Pandemic Times

      The other day, I went to the Asheville Mall for the first time in six months.  In normal times, the Asheville Mall was nothing special but for certain things, it served the purpose. The truth is, I needed some new bras because the ones ordered online I had to return.  From the moment I drove into the empty parking lot, I sensed this was a mistake. 

            Inside, the mall was a ghost town with most of the kiosks closed and few shoppers.  I would only go to the lingerie department of two stores. At the first store, there was no salesperson visible in Lingerie and the dressing room I had used before wasn’t there.  Closed up, perhaps? Or maybe customers were expected to buy and try on later?  I left,, while in the second store there was a helpful employee and a Fitting Room that was open.  However, the lack of choices was apparent unless I wanted the sales person to order online for me. No…I already do that. 

            I tried on a few things which weren’t right.  I had to make sure to put all the bras back on special rack so they could be disinfected for the next person. I wondered if it was safe to be trying on clothing in a store…even an empty store. The atmosphere around me felt sinister and eerie. I couldn’t wait to get outside, into my car, and head for home.  Nothing felt real and all was depressing. It hit me that I was experiencing the “real world”  as it is now and not just hearing about it on NPR or watching it on television evening news.  Online shopping is safer, as I’ve known all along, but walking into a store (other than to buy groceries), I saw that there is little to buy and few people working.

 

            My remedy for uncomfortable and depressing during this pandemic has been going outdoors and communing with Nature.  Once at home, to eradicate the anxiety of my mall experience, I changed into cool shorts and top, and went for a long walk.   It’s hot and humid now that it’s August but being outdoors in the shady woods, breathing in real air, getting exercise, and noticing the subtle changes in the outdoor world is what sustains me. I came back feeling revived. 

Early spring in Biltmore Lake near home....

Walking Biltmore Lake trail...

 

            In the early months of Covid-19 in March, Art and I kept to the trails around Biltmore Lake, where we live.  Then, as we became more adventuresome, we explored paths in the Pisgah National Forest contiguous to our community.  We learned about many new hikes that we could access right from our front door…no driving anywhere and few people doing the same thing.

            In April and May we were uplifted by the arresting mountain laurel which came into bloom everywhere we hiked.  We didn’t ever remember seeing so much of these delicate white blooms on tall tree-like bushes that grow wild in the shady spots of the forests in Western North Carolina.  The rhododendrons bloomed in dark pinks and reds both in our garden and on our walks up in the woods.

            “Do you ever remember seeing all this mountain laurel and rhododendron?” I asked Art.

            “No…I don’t think we did” he replied.  “We were traveling, remember?”

            “Yes, walking in Brittany last spring  and the Costa Brava the year before…and the Dordogne Valley the year before that…  and the Douro Valley…“ I recalled.

            In our years in Asheville we have traveled every spring and fall never spending an entire season here as we have now.

Rhododendrom

Mountain Laurel

 

            It’s August  now, and the pandemic continues but we are venturing further from home.  The truth is we have done the same hikes for months almost every day.  Monday, our friends Ayla and Bruce asked us to their house in North Asheville to go for a hike where they live.  Like us, they have spent the pandemic exploring new trails in the mountains at the opposite end of Asheville from where we have.  They took us on a six-mile hike from their driveway up into the Blue Ridge Mountains and Cades Cove.  We were on shady narrow paths and isolated back roads where people have built large homes with views and privacy.  We were reenergized by new scenery and a place we had never been.

 

            The mountain laurel is long gone but what is eye catching now are the array of mushrooms everywhere…large, small, squat and tall, white, tan, soft yellow, gold, and even a bulbous one in red.  Some stand alone, some have been knocked over by rain or wild animals or hikers, but others sit artistically together as if they had been arranged for display. 

 

            Uplifted by our hike in North Asheville we packed a lunch and drove to the Folk Art Center yesterday with masks in hand.  We set off on the Haw Creek trail we had done a few years ago.  There were few hikers, but those we encountered politely stepped aside with “proper pandemic protocol” and we felt comfortable. The 2.5 mile trail goes up straight to a lookout point which is a massive rock boulder in the side of the mountain.  There we ate our sandwiches with a view of East Asheville and the panorama of the Blue Ridge .

Hawk Creek Overlook

   

            Yes, it’s August and it’s hot but hiking in woods provides natural shade.  Now I notice that spring and summer growth is looking more worn and unkempt as the seasons move towards autumn. There is the loud buzzing of crickets signaling summer’s end. Our hike yesterday drew me again  to mushroom sightings where I had to stop to look often at the shapes, colors and arrangement like wending my way through a museum .  (Visit a museum? That’s something I haven’t done in months.)  The woods abound with decorative designs. When Austin was here in July, we went on nature walks and he carried his kids digital camera around his neck. He stopped often to  study unusual carvings and indentations on tree bark and take photos.  What an eye that boy has for artistic design in Nature.  I now look for it more than I ever have.

Austin the photographer and naturalist...

                        

            I will not be returning to a mall anytime soon.  I have succumbed entirely to online buying these many months while staying safe at home.  While the pandemic continues, we’ll be out on the same paths until a safe vaccine is available to allow us to venture further into the world again.  Ironically, we have maintained a positive outlook by exploring the outdoors around us, while staying in the best physical shape we’ve been in for decades.