Sure. It mostly sucked. But what were the bright parts?


1). The boy has done exceptionally well with staying at home and distance learning. I realize I'm pretty lucky, not every parent of an 11 year old can say that.

2) We walked/rode together a lot. My son put over 600mi on his bike.

3) The thee of us still get along despite spending all this time together.

4) No one in my household or extended family got sick.

5) I got more involved with the Foundation for my disease, joining the board in July and the grant review committee in October.

6) We did some local day trips that we never would have thought about before. Like walking around cute towns in the Hudson valley.

7) Went swimming with my son almost every day for 6 weeks. In a normal year he would have been in camp and gotten his fill of swimming there.

8). Played a lot of piano. I would have even w/o Covid, but still it remains a highlight.

9). Rented a fast car (2019 Corvette) with my son for a day here locally. A 'staycation'. It was nice and it was a convertible.

10). Got a 'boys trip' in before the buzzer. In February, the boy and I went to south Florida and Universal Studios. The boy flew home by himself as I stayed back for a board meeting.

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I got more involved with the Foundation for my disease, joining the board in July and the grant review committee in October

That's wonderful Jon!

Mr SK and I were talking about this at lunch today, talking about what went well, what we're thankful for. Each other, piano, being able to stay home and not to lose our minds were among the top candidates!

1. So thankful for a solid marriage. Can't underestimate how that has helped make COVID-time pass with much less stress.

2. Like Jon, got a great "last trip" in to Arizona just before the buzzer in February. Subsequent trips have been by car.

3. I figured out the "online delivery" of classroom content!! No apparent degradation of quality in the classes I teach. Lessons learned will carry over once we're back to sort of normal.

4. Thankful for stable finances, and so cognizant that others need financial help from private and public sources.

5. Thrilled to be rid of ....

1. Mr wtg had successful hip replacement and his bladder cancer is in remission.

2. We both managed to avoid catching the virus.

3. We became shareholders in a CSA farm and enjoyed a bunch of great veggies; we've signed up again for next year. Plus had a bountiful home garden. You can never have enough tomatoes, peppers, and cukes.

4. Sold our vacation home literally a couple of weeks before the COVID poop hit the fan. It was great not to have that hanging over our heads.

5. Breathed a literal sigh of relief after the presidential election results were in.

6. Started to get out for much more regular exercise. Didn't lose weight, but felt a whole heck of a lot better.

7. Saw lots of examples of people helping each other during these trying times. Made me more hopeful that humanity will survive.

Nothing as sparkling as you three, but I'm still counting my blessings such as they are.

I'm grateful for my gym quality stairstepper allowing me to stay (relatively) in shape, at least cardio-wise. I DO miss the gym weight machines I had just worked myself up on before shutdowns. Bye-bye deltoids! Trying to learn how to use the theraband set (and other pieces) one son gifted me with.

Glad the other son changed jobs, in what for him is a step up even though it involves more exposure to COVID.

Meanwhile, the younger son is within days of collecting (choosing, to the degree possible) his long awaited CORGI pup. Has to drive to and from Oregon from the Bay Area, but he's excited to smithereens . Took loads of research on breeders (and them on him) and a long wait. Now I feel tickled to be on the point of finally getting a grand-pup! A silver lining to the COVID mess as working from home indefinitely is the best time to adopt a new puppy.

You're right. There were bright parts.

1. Quirt and I have told each other many times that we are so grateful to have each other. There is nothing better than having a partner in life on whom you can depend and whose company you enjoy.

2. We are grateful to have both been able to work from home, so that we can do pretty extensive social distancing.

3. Officially, none of our children or extended family have had COVID and we are grateful for that. We do think that one of the Quirtlets had it, despite negative tests, so we are grateful that she is fully recovered and apparently fully healthy, since she has finished a semester of her MBA with excellent grades while working three jobs, maintaining a good relationship, and caring for a dog.

4. We had just seen all of our children and grandchildren except for one Quirtlet at Thanksgiving 2019. We saw Muffin in early January 2020 and I saw Muffin's brother and his family in late January. In March, I was in the middle of a trip from DC to Muffin's house in NYC to my sister's house in Boston when the pandemic hit. I bailed and came home from DC. Since then, contact with all outside-the-house family and friends has been by video chat. Thank God for video chat.

5. And thank God for my little garden, which got me outside the house. And for Quirt's insistence that we needed home exercise equipment, because I would otherwise have devolved into a puddle of goo by now.

6. Professionally, we've both had good years. He can tell you more, if he likes, but he's now associated with a Manhattan law firm that keeps him very busy. I went up for tenure and have passed the first hurdles, with a final answer yet to come in May or June 2021. I won the Oklahoma Book Award. The thirteenth Faye book was published. I also got an acceptance for my first piece of literary criticism in a peer-reviewed journal. I got a contract to edit a book that will be the first collection of literary criticism on Agatha Christie's work. And I signed a two-book contract to start a new series. I'm going to work myself to a bloody pulp over the next two years, but...well..so is Quirt and it's not like we're going anywhere for a while. I'm actually ahead of schedule (knock wood) on the two books I'm working on now, almost certainly thanks to pandemic-induced isolation.

7. I'm so, so grateful for the internet, where we can be in touch with people like you. Happy new year to all!

1) we both got sick but survived with no complications (that we are aware of).

2) lost my beloved horse, but found another.

3) first time since 2008 that we haven’t moved to another state in an even year.

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Originally posted by Piano*Dad:
1. So thankful for a solid marriage. Can't underestimate how that has helped make COVID-time pass with much less stress.

Let me give that one a huge amen.

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4. Thankful for stable finances, and so cognizant that others need financial help from private and public sources.

Let me give that one a huge amen, too.

I'm also thankful that I got a new job, in the midst of a pandemic. Doing something that, like every other job I've ever taken, I have zero experience doing, but that pays well, they seem to like me, I like them, and my darling spouse doesn't object to the hideous hours that I work.

I am also thankful that my darling spouse unflinchingly allowed me to clutter up her house with various exercise equipment.

And I am thankful that no one in our respective families has gotten sick, and that they're all smart people who respect the danger of this disease and take as many precautions as they are able to.

Mary Anna just reminded me that my daughter Rebecca MAY have had COVID. She never got a positive test, but she had many of the symptoms over the summer, and was ill for several weeks. I've gone back and forth about it ... on the one hand, it sure sounded like COVID, but on the other hand, she had negative tests for the disease and for antibodies.

So, either no one has had it, or we've had one lucky experience.

1. Peaceful, healthy family. No one in the immediate or extended family got infected with COVID-19 (that I know of), so knock on wood.

2. Stable finances, yes. Continue to knock on wood.

3. Got one long distance travel in this year before the pandemic hit - Las Vegas. Considering the number of visitors from mainland China in Vegas back then, I consider myself lucky I did not catch COVID-19 from Vegas.

4. Figured out some technical aspects of YouTube live streaming and live streamed 22 hours into YouTube this year.

5. New sizable Asian grocery store opened up near where I live. Makes snacking and meal preparation at home easier and more interesting.

6. Finally got around to finish reading Piketty’s very thick “Capital”. I actually got that book not long after it came out, but have been putting if off for various reasons.

7. More time at home means I got more time to compose something new and dust off some old compositions, will share more about these between the Gregorian New Year and the lunar Chinese New Year.

Well, we’re still alive.

We both kept our relatively well-paying jobs (despite me twice volunteering to get laid off).

My retirement accounts have recovered from their precipitous drop in the spring. So, I am getting some loose ends tied up so I can retire in a few months.

We got new kittehs. Rusty is currently draped along Mrs pj’s lap and Cocoa is doing the kitty croissant in mine.

I did a HUGE project at work that was instrumental to certification of our newest product line.

I did another huge project for and in cooperation with one our most demanding customers. They were happy with it.

I started cleaning out the basement. I unearthed my Roland digital, put it where it can be played, but then piled more stuff on and next to it. But it’s plugged in and playable.

I stuffed my face full of Ethiopian food for a week. I *love* Ethiopian food. I came home through Chicago a week before that massive crush of humanity where they were corralling people in the hallways.

I have saved a bunch of money not commuting.

I started reading BOOKS instead of the news on my phone at bedtime. I’ve actually lost count of how many I’ve finished... at least half a dozen.

I did not have to endure another week at the horrible Hilton in Huntington Beach because our annual customer conference went virtual.

I bought a new-to-me Goldwing and just today sold my tired old BMW.

We nurtured a dozen volunteer pumpkin plants and harvested about 60 miniature pumpkins. That was our entertainment all summer.

I sold my campsite and Airsteam. I sold them without advertising them or showing them to prospective buyers. I was out there to tidy up and the guy across the road asked if I was interested in selling. Done deal.

And, finally...

We voted the great orange menace out. Now we just need to get him to move out.

Nothing to speak of so far, but I’ve still got a couple hours left…

pj reminded me that, while I still do way too much doomscrolling, I have read more during the pandemic.

I haven't played more piano. I sat down now and then, but just couldn't fall in love with any pieces enough to get me back to the keyboard. However, I sat down yesterday and played through a Chopin nocturne I liked, so I think I'll play more in the new year. I wish I felt comfortable getting my tech to come tune the thing though. I was a couple of months overdue when the pandemic hit, and it's not sounding very good at the moment.

I'll just have to deal with it.

It could have been worse.