No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on April 23, 2020

Aka Day 39 of the Homebound Saga

Today is when Shakespeare’s Birthday is celebrated.

Tonight, the Social Distancing Players are doing a reading of Romeo and Juliet: the Flying Implements of Doom Edition. You can find more information at http://www.shakespeareapproves.com/upcoming-events-1/2020/4/23/romeo-amp-juliet-the-flying-implement-of-doom-edition-live-and-online. Before that they are doing a discussion about Shakespeare beforehand.

If you care to see my coffee break with Shakespeare, you can find it https://www.facebook.com/78112791722/videos/367273010859687/. We had a lot of silly fun with puppets.

My first encounter with Shakespeare was reading Romeo and Juliet in school and then seeing the Zeffirelli film. I watched the entire BBC run of Shakespeare when it was originally aired. There were a lot of solid performances in there. I loved Branagh’s Henry the Fifth. 

I saw Shakespeare performed live around Atlanta and in London.

Once I became a stage manager, I started to collect my Shakespeare plays. Looking back, I find it interesting that I have more tragedies and historical plays under my belt than the comedies. I have completed my War of the Roses over 20 years. 

I love stage managing Shakespeare. There are challenges with each play, and it can be fascinating to see the actors and directors figure out how they are going to approach those. The audience has some idea what to expect because the text is out there. I have seen people bring the play with them and follow along with the actors. 

The Folger Library editions are my preferred reading for the plays of Shakespeare. I love the annotation in them. 

So, today’s toast is to the Bard.

I am grateful for the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern and Jeff Watkins.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 22, 2020

Wednesday April 21, 2020 aka Day 38 of the Homebound Saga

Funny thing, the stay at home orders for the globe has probably done more to heal the planet than anything else we have done at any time. I mean keep recycling and your carbon footprint as small as you can, however it is nice to know that we are not so far gone that our planet can recover from our silliness. 

This year we celebrate the bee and all it does for our planet. I plant flowers that bees like to help them. Today’s Google Doodle has lots of information about bees and it is very soothing to watch.

We had a freeze warning for last night and it did go below freezing. It was still very nippy this morning, but it should warm up this afternoon. The wind will determine how comfortable it will be outside today.

Yesterday was a series of ups and downs with a big downer at the end of the day that makes life that much more difficult. This morning is re-group and try to figure out how we are going to get through this. 

And that is what a majority of Americans are going through right now. The stability that existed before the virus is gone. People are trying to navigate the unemployment system only to find all kinds of roadblocks to money that they are counting on. The small business loans are both a fiasco and a joke since large publicly traded companies got most of the money by claiming each location is one business so they could apply for the funds.

I had fun yesterday with my Coffee Break with Shakespeare Approves. We played with puppets and told stories. I will post when it is up on his site. It is things like this that helps mentally.

Today I have to stock the larder. I have pushed the envelope as far as I can so I need to go out in the world and get stuff along with a few errands.

Then I am going to clean up from mask making and pull out the puppets that are half-way done and get them to all the way done while doing laundry.

Caroline is dealing with feast or famine for her schoolwork. She either has an insane amount of work to do or next to nothing. I really wish that the teachers would communicate with each other or at least have a master board showing how much is being assigned each day. Today is an insane day that would not have been assigned if she had been in school.

The winds knocked a lot of tree parts all over the yard which have to be dealt with. Nothing really big but a lot of little stuff. The property that touches the back of our yard had two trees fall to either side of their tool shed. They are feeling lucky right now.

So that’s what is happening here. How you?

I am grateful for the planet Earth.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 21, 2020

I worked on creating rag masks for the past week. They have armature wire in the nose area so they can be fitted to the face properly. There is fused interface in the middle to work as a filter. They are machine washable. They are a bit labor intensive and, the first batch I made, I managed to place part of the pattern backwards and cut the face part wrong. 

(For the VI: This is my coffee table covered with rag masks of all kinds of colors of cotton cloth including solids and prints. In the lower right corner is my fabric turner, needle nose plyers, armature wire and my tape measure. On the left side are some pieces half way done.)

This afternoon I am having a coffee break with Shakespeare Approves on his page on Facebook at 3:15. Come on by for some Facebook silliness. 

I am grateful I got all this done in a week.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 20, 2020

Aka Day 36 of the Homebound Saga

Last week was really rough. 

People I know died. People I have broken bread with and laughed and even performed with. People I know lost loved ones. One lost three family members in four days leaving them bereft of close family. They are recovering and wondering why they are still alive. 

Meanwhile there are people who still don’t get how serious this situation really is. The reduced number of deaths is a good thing and shows that we are doing what we should be doing to keep the numbers down not that the virus is not that bad. Look at Italy and tell me it is not that bad. 

Because we are social distancing, the pandemic is slowing down or flatting but it is not gone by a long shot. It’s not going to vanish one day. It is part of our lives forever and our children’s lives. Until we have a vaccine, we are vulnerable. 

The small vocal group that has decided that they know better is going to kill more people. Those who have decided that we have over-reacted and they know better are wanting life to get back to normal. The numbers that scared them into social distancing are not happening because of social distancing so they believe they have been hosed and we should open everything back up. Their selfishness and self-importance is putting death ahead of their comfort. 

They are helping put us back behind our doors for a longer and longer time. The 1918 flu is a prime example of letting social interact again. They had a second wave that was worse than the first one and many more people died.

Yes, it is scary that many people are out of work. Yes, there is a lot of unknowns here. This is the new normal for now and will affect how the world will work when we can take the next step.

Not that it was all bad last week. I am seeing a lot of empathy and kindness out there. 

We, as a whole, seem to care more for our fellow citizens of Planet Earth than we have in a while. People are helping others. I know neighbors who are shopping for other neighbors who really need to stay away from the public. People have been doing all kinds of silly things to keep other people amused. People have been checking in on people to make sure they are OK.

We are all in this together and we need to be there for each other even at a distance.

I am hanging in there. I have my good days and my bad days. I even had a ‘curl up in a ball’ day where I just couldn’t do anything. The day we heard that the new date to re-evaluate was May 17th which was on April 17^th, it was a mixed bag of emotions for me. It was a case of I knew it was going to happen, but I was hoping I might be wrong. But even if we had a date for lifting this quarantine, I am not out of the woods since I will probably be one of the last to be released to go back into public.

Again, it is a little different for me because I am use to being around the house and working because I have been doing it for a number of years. So, Peter and I have our dynamics worked out. We add Caroline to the mix and there are adjustments, however I think it is a greater adjustment for her than for us.

I hope to be productive today. I have no idea if I will be, but I will try my best.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 19, 2020

Aka Sunday April 18, 2020

Last night we watched the One World Together at Home special which was being broadcast just about everywhere. I like that they weren’t asking for money but given people the opportunity to help the people where they live. It was a balance of artists, so everyone knew at least one person singing. It made us smile and laugh at times.

The other night we watched the Disney Family Sing-a-long and sang along to the songs we knew. Our friend James sang “Friend like me” with the Aladdin cast as his backup singers. Donny Osmond and his grandchildren singing “Make a Man out of you” from Mulan was just too cute. Again, a bit of escapism that entertained us. 

I was thinking what this would have been like if the pandemic had been 30 years ago or even 20 years ago. 

Facetime didn’t exist 20 years ago. The iPhone was seven years away. YouTube was five years down the road. Netflix was DVD based. 

30 years ago, the Internet as we know it now did not exist. We did have dial-up Internet and AOL. DVRs did not exist nor did any streaming service. We had VCRs and Blockbuster which would probably be closed. We had handheld video game systems as well as gaming consoles to play. 

We would find ways to entertain ourselves because we are human and have imagination.

20 years ago, I was here with Peter and the girls and we were engaged. I was working at Del Rey and could work from home on manuscripts I had on hand. 

30 years ago, I was in my final year at the Yale School of Drama so I would be in Atlanta at my parents’ house right now. My thesis would have been in by this point and accepted. I think I would have graduated.

Now we have enough to keep us entertained and connected. I like that I can talk to my family all at the same time. I like that I can perform and educate others through various platforms. I like participating in virtual conventions. We are social distance but not social disconnected.

I am grateful for the ability to socially connect.

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