By Lynna Clark

So, what have you been doin’? During the current pandemic, some of you are working harder than you’ve ever worked in your life. Sincere thanks to all who are keeping groceries on the shelves and vital medical services in place. If you’re like us though, you may have more time on your hands than usual. David has done all kinds of things around the house, like moving my bottle tree to a place I can see it from my writing room. He also wrapped the base of the bluebird pole with chicken wire in hopes of deterring snakes. Since he’d been hankering for a homemade banana pudding I made him one like Grandmaw Pittman used to, by cooking the pudding on top of the stove. It was awfully sweet (not me, the pudding). Even though I had my reading glasses on, apparently I mistook the 1/3 cup measure for the 1/8. So instead of having half cup of sugar, we ended up with a cup and a third. It’s really not my fault though. I had to cancel my eye appointment because of the whole social distancing thing. I was really looking forward to seeing again. But it can wait. Extra sweet banana pudding probably won’t kill us.

We also find ourselves watching stuff on television that we would have never seen. Since the Braves aren’t playing, Peter Rabbit became a viable option. It was pretty good. Or maybe we’re just desperate. All that counts is that we laughed. We also found The Zoo episodes on Animal Planet. Currently we’ve been visiting the Bronx Zoo. Now I know how a variety of exotic animals procreate. Their Komodo Dragons probably won’t be having offspring any time soon. The female nearly ripped the arm off her suitor when he got a little too friendly. Apparently they’d been shut up in the same space for too long.

But he probably didn’t move her bottle tree or fix her bluebird house.

The other pastime of choice is cooking and therefore eating. Our doctor, Caroline Adams, is not going to be very pleased with us if we ever get back in for our regular checkups. I bought David a gas flattop griddle for Christmas. He’s been trying all kinds of yumminess on that thing. Last week, he made homemade dressing, like we serve with turkey. Then he smashed small portions of it on the hot surface and fried it up crispy like savory pancakes. I found a can of cranberry sauce in the back of the cabinet and purposely ignored the expiration date. He made sausage gravy to smother the dressing and we called it supper. Happy quarantine to me!

Except for the necessary grocery run we are able to stay hunkered down. Being an introvert makes it easy for me to embrace this happy lifestyle. In fact I’m kind of loving being “non-essential.”

So, what have you been doin’?