Some hard days at the Mansion, half of the residents and aides are sick, the Mansion is under quarantine, Thursday’s Christmas party was canceled, and most of the decorations we got for them can’t be put up now.

The bug swept through the place, and the aides are exhausted and working extra shifts to make up for their sick colleagues. The aides always work hard, but these are the days when they really earn their money.

They canceled Friday’s bingo game and I broke through to drop off some cookies and pie and stayed away.

There are face masks just inside the door. Today, I popped in with some more cookies and some socks for the aides that someone sent me for them – they loved them, cats and animal socks – and the only residents moving around were Nancy and Georgianna, of course, and Ellen.

Nancy and Georgianna begged me for some cigarettes, something I don’t feel comfortable doing regularly- they are too expensive. But I relented, they were really missing them.

I made sure they have warm clothes to sit outside in – they do now – and went and got four packs. My philosophy is that it’s not for me to tell grown adults whether they should smoke or not, but I don’t like spending much of the fund money on cigarettes, there other things that last longer that people need.

I was glad to be of some help to somebody today, my good deed of the day. The aides are very grateful for the Christmas support we’ve offered them, many thanks to you.

I thought the Christmas tree looked a little sad out there, no presents underneath. Maybe next week.

We are accepting donations for the Mansion/Refugee Fund. You can contribute via paypal, [email protected] or by check, Jon Katz, Mansion/Refugee Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. Thanks.