Zinnia and I walked on the road today, not too far from the farm. Maria and Fate came with us, and Zinnia stayed close to Fate for much of the walk, breaking off to explore the marsh along the road.

Zinnia has another urinary tract infection, more pills, and water. The vet thinks her vulva is curved is collecting water and urine, and she may grow out of that when she’s spayed in a few months.

It was a chilly, cloudy; I am adjusting to be a socially distant, almost self-quarantined, at-risk person. I do notice that my friends seem to want little to do with me, and nobody wants to have lunch with me.

And my work is going well. I’m raising money for food for the refugee families and computers for the refugee students.

Maria appreciates my decision to stay away from people, and I am grateful she is less worried. She’s going for a walk with a friend in a park tomorrow, and that took some thinking and discussion.

I’m setting up a new schedule for this quite strange period when our world is shrinking into quiet. I get up early, drive to the post office to check my p.o. Box – that is a personal thing, I’m not comfortable in farming it out.

I do wipe my hands going in and going out. I come home, write until lunchtime, then do some chores (I used to go to the Mansion then.) I do some more writing, sometimes take a nap, then go for a walk with Zinnia. Sometimes I read for a bit, or meditate.

I’ve come to value this quiet time in solitude. It is grounding for me. Around dinnertime, I start preparing dinner. We are eating around 7; tonight, we danced to some Leonard Cohen songs.

Right now, I need to step back for a part of every day and ground myself, settle and think, digest all of the things I think I ought to know.

Then I usually write in the evenings until bedtime, when I read some more and try to watch a British mystery that isn’t too shockingly violent.

Except for my trips to Bishop Maginn or the Mansion, my time of socializing isn’t all that different from my time of Social Distancing. I just don’t have a lot of friends.

I watch the news once in the morning, and once in the evening, not all day. It helps.