“Is it the cry of the river With the moonlight shining through…” Bruce Springsteen

 

February 22, 2021

“Is it the cry of the river
With the moonlight shining through…” Bruce Springsteen

The month of February is flying by, we are fast approaching the one-year anniversary of the start of the coronavirus pandemic next month. We are also approaching a once unthinkable horrific milestone of 500,000 deaths due to the Covid 19 virus. There are currently 28,005,535 confirmed cases with 497,148 deaths in the United States alone. Here in Monroe County we have had 5,657 cases with 2,752 of them here in Key West and are holding at 44 deaths due to the disease locally. 

The past year has been so unlike anything that any of us have ever experienced and the outbreak is continuing with new cases and new more frightening and dangerous variations and mutations of the virus seemingly popping up every day. There is some good news as the rate of new cases has slowed somewhat, especially here locally and the vaccine distribution is very slowly starting to ramp up a bit, though brutal winter storms in the North has snarled delivery of the vaccine across the country. It is going painfully slowly and who knows when the majority of the population will be able to get the vaccine. I know we can not wait to get ours.

In spite of the continued isolation and staying away from almost any public place or event, Kathy and I have managed to make it through as best we can. There have been a couple of events that were held outside that we have felt comfortable attending, and we have continued to have the few people over who we consider to be following the covid protocols and are a part of what Kathy calls our “Bubble”.

The outdoor activities that we attend are the outdoor markets that have finally resumed on a weekly basis. The Thursday afternoon farmer’s market which is held at the Truman Waterfront. We had actually forgot that it had restarted and were taking our dog Jack down to walk him and watch the sunset when we stumbled across the market. It was a beautiful evening, a fantastic sunset and great to be able to run into a few friends because we really so rarely see other people outside of our bubble.

The farmers market is going strong, with a full in-season allotment of vendors and the location right on the water during sunset is about perfect. The other event is also a returning weekly market, the Artisan Market that is held each Sunday and is now being held in a new location in the parking lot on White Street where the bocce courts and Wildlife Center are located. It was another beautiful though windy day and while I like the previous location under the trees next to the dog park across from West Martello, this one works out ok as well and again it was great to just be out and fairly safely interacting with others.

Kathy and I shared a nice Valentine’s Day at home, as we have spent so many days together since last March. It was nice and mostly uneventful as we called and checked on family and friends. I feel like we have spent an inordinate time communicating using relatively new apps such as Facetime and Zoom. All the boards that I am on have been meeting using Zoom and we use facetime to catch up with friends. As nice as that is, it still does not come close to the actual human interaction which we continue to miss. 

I also really miss being able to travel and visit family, friends and attend events such as concerts, festivals, sporting events and even simple things like eating out in restaurants and having a beer in a bar. Hopefully the next few months will bring us closer and closer to a conclusion to this strange time. Finally I want to send our deepest sympathy to the family of my friend David Cornwell who passed away last week in Indianapolis. I grew up three houses down from the Cornwell family and David was the oldest of the three brothers who I spent a huge amount of time with during my childhood. We were not terribly close, but he was part of the fabric of my life and his youngest brother John, remains one of my best friends.