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It has been 10 months+ since we began living our lives under the shadow of the worldwide pandemic. How have our lives changed?

1.             No more travel. Very few places in the world will now let US travelers in. Even visiting friends within the US becomes difficult.

2.             Discovery of the convenience of ZOOM for family chats and for attendance of seminars.

3.             Entertain visitors (no more than 2 or three persons at a time) only on our outdoor deck. Unfortunately with the coming of cold weather even this practice has to stop.

4.             Shop for food only during special senior hours at the supermarkets or our younger friends help us with shopping.

5.             Have not eat in any restaurants except for take outs.

6.             Read more books and watch more TV. My wife watches the special NY Metropolitan Opera broadcast of all their opera production for the past 50 years. I became a political talk shows addict every night

7.             My musical tastes are much more pedestrian and low brow. But I discovered on YouTube all the popular song hits of the last half of the 20th century by the original artists. Listening endlessly to these songs brought back nostalgic memories. My favorites include: Memories, For the Good Times, My Way, Don’t cry for me Argentina, On Top of the World, Time to Say Goodbye, Sinartra’s greatest hits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydzjigoq8Ns , https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=6E2hYDIFDIU

Nat King Cole https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhbubYOd3Hw

8.             Even though my wife and I are in the highest risk group (over 80 and with pre existing conditions) for the coronavirus, we have been lucky so far. With each month of careful living, our investment become more worth preserving. Since sciences predict we won’t return to normal until late 2021 or early 2022. This mode of living may become permanent for us.

9.             But we are not complaining. Others with children at home and must work for a living have a much tougher adjustment.

10.        Early October snow scene outside our home this morning