I Know you shared my grief

when See's Candies closed just when I was at the end of my little bag of goodies. "Order online," they cruelly yelled at me through the locked glass doors of their Santa Monica store on that fateful day. I went online, looked up a few choice collections, but decided not to be so self indulgent so soon. After all, I wasn't totally out, and a few days off would do my avoirdupois some good.

Applauding myself, it turns out prematurely, for rare self-restraint, I closed the site, leaving some dark chocolate items tantalizingly in the basket, unpurchased.

I'm sure you know where this is going

Later that week I made do with a bag of dark Ghirardelli's I found early one morning at the supermarket--perfectly okay, delicious, in fact, but too many solids--I like soft centers the best. A few days ago, I say, I went back to the inviting website. 

No longer doing business.

Closed for the duration. 

Shopping cart empty!

Yikes!

You feel me, right? So, biting a lot of bullets these days, I bit.

I really bit!

I went to GODIVA.

Yes, Godiva.com. I messed around there for a few days, at first not wanting to spend so much money, working on various justifications, how little money I was otherwise spending, how chocolate is actually good for you, how keeping myself in good spirits was an important think to do in the Time of Corona. Yeah, right.

I selected a few items, and took the plunge. A few days later, this box arrived. Dimensions,
10x28x15 inches.

I let the carton sit by the door a couple days, just in case an infected person had sneezed on it. 

I opened it:

You see what's inside. An insulated Styrofoam cooler, same dimensions as above.

I opened it.

Inside, this gorgeous golden-lettered Godiva tissue paper floated up. I opened that. 

Underneath, bubble-wrapped boxes, carefully ensconced as if they were nuclear warheads. I lifted out my precious cargo. The carton was still heavy. Did they include gifts? So many? At least five pounds. I searched below the plastic to find...

Under the beautiful dark brown (for dark chocolate, my fave) boxes were six ice packs.

I opened it. Carefully removing the cardboard sleeve (they only do that for exquisite items) I lifted the cover. I slid away some delicate tissue paper.

Aah!

AT LAST!

A housekeeping note...

I do not yet understand all the subtleties of using blogger. A recurring issue is friends who comment whose comments do not appear. I have no idea what's going on.

I Fought the Law...

Social Distancing by Car

Today, husband and I thought we'd drive around and see our friends and family--from a safe distance, of course. We'd been stuck in for a long time and figured everyone could use a little socializing. It was a beautiful day, the first warm one in weeks and it felt good to be outside. We put the top down and basked in the sun. 

First stop, to drop off a book for someone. Husband dropped the book on his friend's doorstep. As we left, he came out of his house, and we waved. That errand took us to a very pretty, old neighborhood. Less than a mile from where I live, but I'd never been on those streets before. We had fun ending up in cul de sacs, enjoying the near-empty streets. Until we remembered why. I had made us some masks from scarves, oh, you know about that already. We had them ready in case we needed to go into a store or ran into a crowd.

We stopped by and saw our buddy on her balcony. She will be 96 in a month, still thrives, living alone. She could only give us 3 minutes.

After dropping off the book and some wandering, I called a friend so we could see her in her beautiful garden of a front lawn. I figured she'd be glad of a little company, from six feet away. 

She wasn't home, nor did she pick up the phone. I called another, figuring how could they also be busy in the time of Corona. No answer.

Then we went to our daughter's house. She was there with the two boys. But they were "in school" on their computers, and barely could wave to us. The youngest, 6, was even doing PE on Zoom.  Red Light/Green Light, or something. 

The older one was doing math. Then our daughter had to go because she had a conference call in a few minutes and had to gather her wits, or thoughts or something. It was very pleasant in her beautiful backyard, for the few minutes we were there.

Then we called our son. He was on an important call, but our daughter-in-law would come out with our littlest grandson. We got there and walked around their neighborhood for a bit. When she came out, alone, she waved apologetically and devoted herself to an obviously important and lengthy business call. 

After about 15 minutes, our son and the baby came out, and we chatted and watched Mr. Adorable coo and laugh and even try walk (he's 8 mo. old). Then Dad had to go back inside for 

another business call and Mom's phone rang. 

I was hungry. We'd pick up something from a local restaurant and sit on the grass somewhere. I was jonesin' for a salad. I looked at the online menus. No salads.

I was feeling quite a bit of social distance.

Is everyone busy but me?

NO WHINING ON THE YACHT

(thanks Al Franken via Jody)

I remember being in Miama, on the water by the Epic Hotel.

I was standing by a yacht with armed guards. The boat itself was several stories high and shiny black all over, at least as far as I could see. It was as big as an ocean liner, to my, admittedly, very short, perspective. Sometimes I wonder about these people, but not often. I figured that if I did anything the owners took exception to, I would disappear. I scurried on by.

At any rate, I have been having my groceries delivered. In the spirit of no whining, I have come to look at these deliveries as an adventure. I am always surprised. For my pot roast tonight, I got much less meat than I wanted and an odd cut, bottom round, acceptable but not optimal. We'll see how it is, but I must say its been smelling good all day. We got two packs of turkey bacon (is that an oxymoron?) instead of regular. One would have been more than enough. Accidentally we got two large bunches of celery the other day, so that has been a constant garnish, even at breakfast. I can barely zip my jeans (obviously not the fault of the celery), while husband is losing weight.

I didn't get milk, or any of a variety of cleaning products. And the delivery, supposed to come Sat., only came today after a lengthy "chat" with Jessica at Instacart.

I had to open a bottle of wine for the recipe. I didn't use too much because the rest will come in handy in  about an hour.

Please stay safe.

MOST FRIDAYS ARE GOOD FRIDAYS TO ME

Like the Dowager Countess in Dowwnton Abbey, I know not of weekends. As I mentioned before, this enforced idleness plays to my strengths. Yesterday I finished a new story for a murder mystery short story contest. I submitted it also for an anthology of New England short stories, since I set it in Boston, where I grew up. While the story is totally fiction, I used some characteristics of my parents and a house we all lived in. It totally freaked my siblings out.

I had the idea for an OUTRAGEOUS NECKLACE PARTY with wine and cheese, because Zoom, where the party would be, only gives a little square to each participant. Just enough of a view for some good lipstick and a necklace. 

We were supposed to have it, tonight right about now (6pm, Pacific) but Tuesday I whacked myself in the face on a metal chairback while organizing things for recycling. No good deed, right? When I Face Timed with one of my friends, she was so shocked. "I thought you were just vain," she said, admiring my racoonish visage. I had no idea that I bent over with such velocity. I have new respect for my own strength. 

A SOLUTION