My three day weekend has stretched into a fourth and looks good for a fifth due to weather conditions. I believe it was Oscar Wilde who said ”Everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it”. It’s bitterly cold outside with temps in the teens and there was a light dusting of snow earlier. All of that can be dealt with by dressing appropriately- the issue is icy roads. By several reports the hill onto which my garage exits resembles a ski jump with cars sliding down it as if in preparation to leap over temple Beth-El down at the bottom. Both the VA and UAB have cancelled everything today and for at least tomorrow morning which sits fine with me. I was supposed to be doing rural house calls today and the idea of spinning into a ditch in a VA car miles from anywhere in freezing temperatures is not my idea of a good time.
It may be a bit of an over reaction but it’s only been ten years since the great insta-ice storm of 2014 when every road in the metro area turned from asphalt to skating rink in about twenty minutes and people got stuck on freeways and in Walmarts and at school for several days. Memories of that will eventually fade and we’ll become a bit more blase to extreme weather but that process will probably take another decade or so. I didn’t have that much going on today and tomorrow so having a couple of extra days to putter around the house and play catch up isn’t really putting my life out of joint in any significant way. My guest suite is currently occupied by the pianist for Opera Birmingham’s production of the world premiere of Touch, an operatic treatment of the later lives of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan and the cancelling of rehearsals is causing more trouble for them as they’re losing a good deal of their tech time. It’s supposed to warm up starting tomorrow afternoon so there shouldn’t be any issues with performance but the lights may not be as focused as they should be and a set piece may come in the wrong way round due to lack of rehearsal.
Judging by the messages coming in to my electronic in boxes at both UAB and the VA, viral illness remains rampant in the community. The JN.1 strain of omicron variant Covid continues to spread like crazy and we’re losing about 250 people a day nationwide to infection. I remain more concerned about the unknown number falling ill and moving into the long Covid category and who will require significant health care resources going forward, not to mention the disruption in their personal and family lives. I still don’t think we have a very good handle on that one yet. I’ve been trying to track down estimates on costs of care, lost wages, impact on GDP and other such things but haven’t been able to find that data in an easily understandable format. Maybe nobody is really looking at it as they’re scared of what they’ll find. I’ve remained healthy despite my travels, rehearsals, and working in a health care environment. I wash my hands and I’ve had all my boosters. And I keep a mask in my back pocket and slip it on if I feel it’s warranted.
I’m in the middle of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon while lounging around the condo and working my way through my to do list. I had read the book several years ago and found it fascinating. Yet another story of the ugly underbelly of American history that has been kept from public view and which continues to have ripple effects today. (The Koch brothers’ fortune has its roots in exploitation of the Osage petrochemical dollars). I don’t know that Scorsese managed to really find a cinematic way in which to treat the material and it’s certainly way too long but I’ll try to find some energy to let MNM weigh in on it as she returns to her post. I figure if I can get that written and a brief assignment from my publisher regarding the possibility of a new book completed by the end of the week, then this enforced quietude due to arctic temperatures will have been a good thing in general.
Someone turned me on to a Substack entitled ‘Last Week in Collapse’ which is a news digest of all the horrible things going on world wide socially, politically and environmentally and which, when added up, seem to be pointing to the inevitable decline and fall of western civilization. I read through it out of curiosity as I have reached an age where I know there is little that I can do as an individual about any of it. I have a little bit of influence in the elder health area in some quarters but that’s about it. Empires rise, empires fall as George III sings. Maybe we’re in the unenviable position of living through a fall or interesting times as the old proverb/curse puts it. I sometimes wonder where the historians of the future will date the end of the American experiment to. The obvious answer would seem to be Trump but I think it’s earlier than that. I would go back to January 2001 when SCOTUS handed the presidency to Bush over Gore despite all evidence that Gore had actually won the Florida vote count. It’s been an accelerating downhill roll ever since other than a brief breather during some of the Obama years.
Going to go raid the pantry and rustle up something to eat. As I haven’t been cooking much recently, it’s likely to be an odd combination. As long as it’s vaguely nutritious and filling.
Life, The Universe, and Everything 