cooler by the lake

Cooler by the lake, I remember hearing that all the time.  Right as the weatherman was wrapping up his prognostication he would add, like an unnecessary afterthought, cooler by the lake.  Didn't mean much to me growing up seven miles west of the lake, and actually sounded like kind of a benefit when I moved into my tower with the splendid lake view.  I love air conditioning when like on a sweaty day I burst into the Walgreens and it is like diving into an arctic pool, but I don't like it at home because then I have to shut my door and I can no longer feel the breezes wafting in my front room and out my bedroom.  So it was nice living by the lake where it is cooler in the summer and sometimes I go the whole year without having to turn the air conditioning on.

But while it's not so hot, in a good way, in the summer; it is also not so hot in a bad way come spring when prevailing weather patterns bring the winds from the north and the northeast, from the lake, that long finger of winter, slow to warm, as is the way with water, and the already cool winds that caress Canada get cooler as they travel three hundred miles over cold, cold water, and spring, that fair, slim maiden in the green gold gown is held hostage by that troll Old Man Winter, as he slowly, ever so slowly retreats to the north.

So for about a month when further inland daffodils are tossing their tow-headed heads in balmy breezes and the air rings with the laughter of little kids at play, the lakeside days are cold, windy, wet, raw.  We are still allowed, as long as we don't go near any park, and do not travel in packs, to walk the streets of the city.  I was looking forward to this at least, when the weather warmed just to walk downtown, admire the architecture, feel the fresh breeze on my face, get out of the fucking house Man.  If it was merely cold I could weather it, but the rain, the wind, I just can't hit my stride with that.

And it's strange out there.  Though not as many as before, there are still cars, and busses, so many busses, those big flex busses that go on and on, and nobody is in them.  I should get on one, just to ride and look out the window.  I should just pick one at random, not even look at that little sign above the driver's window just to see where it takes me,  At the end of the line I could just get on one coming back.  Plenty of time to kill, kind of an adventure, any kind of adventure is welcome in my housebound existence, but I am strangely afraid, just because nobody else is getting on them.


Not that much warmer today.  But the sun was out a little bit and that makes a big difference.  I went out for provisions.  I didn't carry my tote bag, because I read in the paper that the stores don't want to handle them.  I'm not sure if it's a law, but I want to be a good citizen.  Eight tall green Goose Island IPAs at that Wa;greens that had the stacks of toilet paper a couple weeks ago.  Blue tape marking off the path to the cash registers in six foot increments.  Took that home and washed my hands.

Then I had to see to the needs of my roommates.  The Jewel is closer than the Whole Foods, but the Jewel no longer carries Brown Cow yogurt which Buddy gets a little taste of from the foil wrapper every morning. and if it is any other brand, well he doesn't say anything, but the look on his face is heartbreaking.  Eighteen little cartons of that.

I'm well enough stocked that I don't worry about toilet paper, but last time I was at the Jewel they were out of kitty litter.  Not Buddy and Sweetie's favorite brand, but we all have to make sacrifices.  Before the corona the political correct thing was not to use those check-yourself-out machines so as to save a clerk a job, but now you are endangering the clerk, but still aren't they grateful to have a job?  I endangered the clerk,

Home again home again.  Two weeks ago today all the stores and bars were ordered closed.  Well that's two weeks down.

when kids ruled the world

I remember visiting Sadie and Gumbah when their kids were little and they were living on I think it was Alamo Street, and it was indeed child-centric.  Life indeed seemed to revolve around the kids, and then there were the friends of their kids, and by extension the parents of the friends of the kids.

I remember thinking way back when I was a kid that maybe the adults had the streets but the sidewalks were the kids' world.  To an adult the sidewalk was just something you walked on to get somewhere else, but to a kid it's where you met your friends and played your games.  It was where it was happening.  I remember that Alamo street was ruled by some tomcat and all the kids, and by extension the parents of the kids knew all about his latest comings and goings.


We moved into our bungalow in Chicago when I was four years old.  The houses were built all at once sometime in the twenties, and the people who had moved in then, raised their kids and now were empty nesters seemed awfully old.  We were the new generation, the Schadts, the Violas, the Chrones's, the Schroeders and we kids gathered every summer night when the days were long to play Red Light. Green Light, Paddy Cake, The Fox ain't here.  We all knew each other's parents, but those older people were like shadows to us.

Membership

Well now I see that we have everybody but Mickey and he has been out of our loop for sometime.  He is invited though.  I also asked Mies, because he used to be a part of this and knows a lot about CU history, and I figure like everybody else he has a lot of time on his hands.  Also asked Art Maddox and haven't heard from him.

New blog

Ok. All seems to be working here fine.
Was noticing that our small town was just back to its normal isolated, business as usual, routines. Yesterday was beautiful, sunny and warm so we sat on the back porch. I saw the usual dog walkers crossing the street when another dog walker approached. Just as they always have done. Neighbors out on their back porches too. Not even acknowledging their neighbors. Same as always. People here are natural isolationists and are happy to be that way.
Pretty hard not to go back to the socializing group in the pub, but we have definitely had to adjust to the attitude of the town before we had that pub. A bit harder now that we have developed a nice group of friends who seem to be perfectly at ease isolating themselves again.

welcome

This is the blog I was talking about in the emails. The first entry is a recap of the emails that went before.  It's pretty easy to use.  To post you go to the upper left and click on new post.  Then you can type your post into the box.  There are editing symbols above, bold, italacize, etc.  To add a picture click on the little picture in the frame in the middle.  When you are done with your post click on Publish.  If you don't like the way it came out you can always edit it by clicking on the little pencil and when you are done you can click on Update.

The address is cuecj.blogspot.com

Any questions you can ask me.

The first emails, the seeding of the blog.

I think the reason C-U was so welcoming of newcomers was that it was a small city (small cities) totally dominated by a huge university that was always bringing in new and diverse people from all over the world. A large portion of the population was from somewhere else. Transplants,either temporary or semi-permanent, without long established relationships to rely on will tend to go out and mingle. The university provided all kinds of cultural stimulation and people were open to new ideas and new acquaintances.

When we moved to St Louis, Tony and I found that everyone was already entrenched, for generations, in their small circles. It was a really weird sensation to live somewhere that did not ebb and flow around the semester schedule or summers. C-U in the summer was glorious!

Our social lives turned to completely revolving around our kids, their schools and sports. Our identities became Ann and Jim's mom and dad. As the kids took less of our time, we had work acquaintances and work happy hours. But I think KJ is on to something with his theory about our genetic timetable for forming friendships.

Good luck on your walk, KJ. Our park playgrounds and restrooms are closed, but it is specifically stipulated that we can walk for exercise as long as we keep our social distance from others. I don't know if we are allowed to sit on the benches. On Wednesday a neighbor and I took an appropriately social distanced walk and sat on opposite ends of a park bench to chat for a while. I think the bench was at least 6 feet long. I'll take my tape measure when I walk Peanut this morning.

BTW, I like your blog idea.

On Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 8:12 AM Ken Schadt <kenschadt@gmail.com> wrote:

When I left the land of milk and honey for Texas at the beginning of 1985, I thought I would just plunk myself down at some barstool and before long I would have a circle of beer drinking buddies just like in Champaign.  That never happened.  I think we are genetically engineered to make friends until maybe sometime around 25, and after that, not so much.  Additionally I had my whole life in Champaign, my friends, my stories, I kind of didn't even know who I was anymore.  And though I can be pretty extroverted among my friends among strangers I clam up.  I just don't make the casual conversation that leads to deeper conversation.

It wasn't much better when I moved to Chicago a couple years later.  It is just in the last ten years that I have found a Friday night bar, and taken improv, and taken to being Santa Claus that I have what I think of as an acceptable number of friends. 

I like reading and writing emails, but I have never liked phone calls.


They just closed all the parks last night.  I think it is still ok to just take a walk alone, but the powers are not expressly saying that it is.  Kind of warm today and I plan on taking a walk around the empty downtown, we'll see if I get arrested.  Pretty sure I will get off with a warning if it comes to that.  The busses and trains are running a regular schedule last I heard.  Out my window I can see the long flex busses glide down Wacker Drive, almost all of them empty.


Oh we did have a big house where we all lived together, it was called 501.  Oh I know you guys didn't actually live there, but you know what I mean.  I think me and JC are the only ones who are still alive.  Gerard maybe, geez I wonder if he is out now.


If they show game 7 again, and I'm sure they will, I'd like to see it.  I didn't intend to go down to the bar that day to watch it before the 4th inning or so because, well I didn't want to get too drunk.  Then a friend of mine in the building called me from the bar in the first inning and I thought, well, I will nurse my beers.  Oh yeah, that always worked.  But even so I was doing sort of ok, but then who expects a rain delay and then extra innings?  The end of the game is still pretty foggy to me.


Anybody interested in setting up a corona blog?  That way we won't have these long letters that end up just going poof, but something you can look back on.  You can post photos and make posts and it's pretty easy.  I will do all the setting up if you are interested.

On 3/26/2020 8:19 PM, S Fitzpatrick wrote:

Fox sports is showing game 7 of the 2016 World Series. I usually don't like to watch replays of games, but this one is an exciting gem, even though I know the ending. 

On Thu, Mar 26, 2020, 7:34 PM Nancy Flom <nflom1@gmail.com> wrote:

We were very social when we first moved out here.  Larry and I both made friends at our respective places of work, and we went to softball games with beer and pizza after, whale watching, movies and dinner on Friday nights, concerts, parties, etc. 

Quite the social butterflies.  Then, slowly but surely it started to taper off.  One couple we spent a lot of time with broke up.  Then people were laid off, and Larry's company moved to Utah and many of his friends went with them.  I still have a group of girlfriends from Fireman's Fund that I get together with and we occasionally have outings, like the county fair or the redwoods,  but Larry and I really don't get out like we used to.  We still do things, like that concert this summer, but not like before.  I find I don't mind so much, especially since I stopped drinking.  There's no place like home.

I do keep in touch with my brother through Facebook and e-mail, but he isn't the greatest correspondent.  I've tried to do better since we are the last two left of our nuclear family, and he is a little better now that he is retired. 

It would be fun to have a big house together, wouldn't it, with a big yard for flowers and a garden.  We would probably be bad influences on each other, though☺.

On Thu, Mar 26, 2020 at 9:09 AM James Turner <jetturner2001@gmail.com> wrote:

wow - this is an uplifting thread - thanks all - Nena 970.759.4389 - give me a call sometime and we can maybe find some more common ground for conversation.

Calling my brothers and their families is foreign to me, but always proves to be a wonderful experience, after the fact. Dysfunctional family backgrounds are difficult to abide, but what choice do we have?

calling my brother and his wife of more than 50 years today.

KJ - how did you get downtown today? is anyone still riding the "L" or buses? Still operating in Eugene, but I am reluctant to get on one. My business clients are still requesting that I go inside houses and complete interior inspections for appraisals - crazy - I think I am going to start declining those requests, but so far have not had the courage to do so.

And, besides, how long do I really want to continue to live on this earth? I am ready to look for one of those other universes.

James Turner

On Thu, Mar 26, 2020 at 8:11 AM Nena Thomas <nenathomas@gmail.com> wrote:

I can see that this may be something like the Twilight Zone, especially to those who are social animals and do not live with others. I know very few people here in Rolla in that situation.

When we moved here, we noticed an enormous difference in attitude between C-U and Rolla. There was a lot of socializing and meeting new people going  on in C-U and nothing visible here. Here, we would start by inviting someone we met and liked to dinner and, sometimes they would accept. Never would that invitation be returned. Complete strangers would smile and greet you out on the street, but nothing else. The university departments would have Christmas parties (usually at their workplace) or picnics in the park and strictly reserved for that department's faculty and staff. The bars were really sleezy and had people we would rather not socialize with. (Called "trailer trash" in private).

We met a neighbor family. Fred had started brewing beer and discovered that the man also brewed beer. Eventually, they started a brew club that met once a month. We were invited to meet some friends of our real estate agent who we liked and socialized with every so often, but not much. I met people in the library who belonged to different departments and we were friendly, but did not socialize. Finally, after 15 years, The Public House opened. It was created by one of the kids of our original brewing neighbor. All opened up again! We went, saw people we had been acquainted with before, met new people from different walks of life, and began to SOCIALIZE! Fridays at the pub! Dinners at each other's houses! Cocktail hours at one house or another! Parties! Then...this!

Here we are again, only this time not even department parties or picnics and no meeting people at work. Our friends have gone back to their anti-social lives without a blink. Every now and then I will get an email from them linking me to a meditation site or free e-books site, or reminding me to stay at home and not to panic. Some of them eagerly sheltered as soon as the corona virus began to spread.

I created my massive flower beds for company many years ago and am eagerly catching each day of spring weather to again tend to them. Went to Lowe's yesterday (yes, out into that vast desert of the world) and bought seeds, potting soil and a couple of starter plants. For those without gardens or partners or vocal, demanding pets who just want to hear a human voice, there is the telephone! You are welcome to call me (if it is too expensive, let me know and I will call you. All I need is your phone number). Call your friends in your town (maybe they will come out and meet you in a "safe" place). Call your relatives.

Wish we all could have been stuck in one house when all of this hit. We would be driving each other crazy. But crazy in a different way. Instead of wondering how to survive without our regular routines, we would be figuring out how to survive without our regular routines. HA! (and how not to kill each other).

Nena

On Thu, Mar 26, 2020 at 8:01 AM Ken Schadt <kenschadt@gmail.com> wrote:

Well in another world.  According to one cosmology theory there are not
only an infinite number of universes, but an infinite number of them
appear at every moment each one responding to a different chance
happening in each of the infinite universes existing at that moment, and
since there are an infinite number of moments in every fraction of a
second that kind of makes it like infinity to the power of infinity to
the infinite power. and maybe there is another infinity in that chain. 
Well just something to contemplate in all the free time that we now have.

In some of those universes the baseball season has begun, but not in
ours, and it's all so far away it hardly seems to matter.

I have this friend that I used to meet at a local Corner Bakery every
other week just to talk about shit.  I met him there two weeks ago,  and
this week all the Corner Bakeries are shut down. He was touting the
downtown library as a place we could meet, but now that is closed.

But Union Station is still open.  A scattering of loners, some Amish,
some cops, some railway workers.  A McDonald's and a Dunkin Donut were
open.  The sausage, cheese, and egg croissant was not up to the
standards of the Corner Bakery egg, cheddar and bacon panini,  but it
was okay.  We talked in the great hall and then we walked through
downtown a bit, a scattering of people about.  It seemed like only the
711's, McDonald's, and Dunkin Donuts were open.

But it was like three hours of conversation with another human being,
the last time I had that was thirteen days ago at the Ten Cat.

Well just reaching out for something to say

On opening day.