Covid Summertime in the TaylorBaker World! By Many Cousins Far and Near

 

I put out the call for Summertime Covid Stories to our family:

Hello Family!

Some of us are gardening more, some of us are baking more bread, some of us are camping more. As we all know, this is a summer like no other. Care to share your stories for the Cousins Blog?

Glenn and I are gardening more and so, learning to pickle cukes and use zucchini in all sorts of ways. When my bread does not rise, Glenn looks forward to my bread pudding with raisins and chocolate chips.

A trip to the transfer station (we once called these dumps), or the grocery store becomes the highlight of our days. Well, until the Zoom sessions kick in. On them, we get to see our granddaughters eat dinner with us, have “Show and Tell’ discussions and ‘Happy Hour’ with our family....

Here are some of our stories:

From Dorothy Maffei:

Please send my greetings to all. Wow this Covid is tough. Some of the time, it was wonderful. After all we are retired and all of a sudden have ample time for gardening and lawns and weeds etc.

I have been practicing my Italian with Duolingo and Jim is working on Japanese.

And I am re- learning how to knit. Here are my Covid projects:

 

Hope everyone is safe and well.

Thanks for keeping us all in touch.

From Harold Spencer:

Local sweet corn and veggies have appeared on farm stands within this past week, and the corn is delicious; especially the corn. And that probably is the most significant news item that I can recall.

Hope everyone has had a good summer, and we hope you all enjoy what remains of the summer. (It’ll be snowing before ya know it!!)

From the Lochner Clan:

The Covid-19 Pandemic has pushed us all towards a new way of living in just a few short months, and it’s been no different for any of the Lochners.

David has been staying home with Anna who’s been carefully and cautiously collecting the bounties of the season.  She’s an avid cook.  And Dave, ever since we were kids, has been glued to the kitchen table helping her prepare the latest garden vegetables and fruits for canning.  In the spring they had an elevated covered deck installed behind their house in Syracuse.  Whenever it hasn’t been too hot or rainy to enjoy it, they’ve practically lived outside.  Dave has also taken this opportunity to catch up on his collection of DVDs, CDs, and is finally learning a little bit about the advantages of technology.  Now that libraries are closed, he’s reading books on Kindle.  Since he and Anna were avid recreation center attendees on a daily basis, they now have various gym equipment at home which Dave uses three times a day for 45 minutes before and after his naptime.

 

 

Rick, who has been practicing for this occasion for years continues to work on his apartments in Rochester, but with a little less diligence than before the pandemic since building inspectors aren’t knocking on his doors these days.  However, he may be facing an onslaught once they start up their ruthless inspections again.  So he spends portions of each day contemplating that reality and is now seriously considering decreasing his inventory.  He kind of likes these partial work days he spends socially distanced.

 

Ted on the other hand bought a used camping trailer in the spring when they appeared to still be available.  He and Judy have taken several trips including to the Adirondacks with Chris and Jen Kinsella where he managed to tear the awning off the side of the camper trying to squeeze between the trees into a camping site.  They also have been to the Berkshires, Plymouth Harbor and some Massachusetts State Parks.  As for home projects, Ted and Judy cleaned out their basement (major project!).  Ted purchased a used bucket truck to trim trees in his yard, whereupon he managed to land one on his fence.  One project completed; another added to the list.

 

Julie has been staying close to home completing home projects with Wes when time has allowed.  Their construction business slowed down only to the extent that initially during the pandemic when everyone was trying to figure out how to proceed.  They were working on a major renovation of the Community Shelter in Durango and had to take two full weeks off.  During that time they constructed the fireplace area in their new home, poured a concrete patio and Julie managed to get a small vegetable garden and flower bed built and planted.  Since then Wes has been back at work and Julie keeps things going at home on the bookkeeping and the home front.  Since Durango was once a very active area for orchards, Julie has been seeking out apricots, peaches, corn, tomatoes and apples for applesauce to can or freeze.  Just like with David, she’s been glued (and Wes on occasion) to the kitchen table and thinking a lot about her mother.  They also bought a used jeep in February and have taken a few four wheel drive roads into the high country of Colorado.

 

From our daughter Alison’s garden in sunny Maryland:

 

 And from our backyard garden:

 

 

My sister Susan has been busy moving and unpacking in the midst of all of this. But, that is a story for another blog posting!

 

Stay safe and healthy everyone!