Maria and I spent the day either in Social Isolation, Lockdown, or Sheltering-in-Place. All these new names for being alone, like I was so often when I was young. We called it being weird then.

I didn’t even walk the dogs today. It was a gloomy day, windy, cold, raining. I read for a few hours, watched two more hours of “Tiger King” on Netflix with Maria.

She worked for a few hours in her studio, and so did I in my study.

Zinnia seems to know when to settle down, she sat alongside me in my office all day, followed me into the living room to read, and even into the bathroom. I am always glad to have her company.

Towards the end of another strange day of social and voluntary confinement – I hope I never get used to it.

I wonder if the people ordering the elderly to stay inside for a month or two have given much thought to what that would do to their health if they are that still for that long. I am fortunate, I can walk all over the place and I will. (I did pick a bunch of ticks off my face and pants yesterday.)

People cross the road when they see me, one child asked me the other day if I was one of those people “at risk.” I said I was one.  He looked like he had seen a ghost.

New York City rich people are not especially welcome here these days, I sometimes feel like I did when I was a reporter driving through the South to cover the civil rights movement.

They didn’t like New Yorkers coming into their towns then, either.

When you are me,  you are never local. I am getting some stares when I go out, which is rare. For the first time in a while, I didn’t even go to Jean’s Place.

I want to get a sign and put it in on the back of my car: “I am not a rich person from New York City. I live here!” But that would be too conspicuous.

At the end of the day, we both decided we need to get out of the house. We called around to some restaurants to see who was open and we found a Thai place in Williamstown, Mass. doing take-out.  We called and placed an order – Steamed Dumplings, Shrimp and Chicken Fried Rice, sliced Tofu.

We got right into the car with Zinnia in the back seat. We got there in 45 minutes and Williamstown, one of our regular haunts, was eerily shut down. Williams College was close, so was their museum. And the library bookstore we love.

Our favorite Mexican restaurant was closed, so was our favorite movie theater, Images. There was no one in the street, we could park anywhere. I stayed in the car as ordered.

The food was delicious, we had a good talk in the car.

Under my new orders from  Governor Wulf, I stay in the car. She is concerned about me and is also concerned about getting me sick. I am following orders from her and various governmental authorities, and not reluctantly. This needs to be done.

I can come along, but I have to stay in the car, and there is considerable hand wiping (I got some hand sanitizing lotion from China, of all places) I believe we have enough toilet paper to get us to summer.

I stopped once to take the above photo of a beautiful old abandoned farmhouse.

I love windy, gloomy days like this.

We brought the food home and ate it by candlelight dinner. We’ll be back there.

We are both blogging right now. It was a good weekend, peaceful, quiet, productive, with a few bursts of fear.

Tonight we might catch another hour of “Tiger King,” I find it hypnotic, I loved stories about Weird America. Tomorrow, another day unlike any other. We will be up and moving early, determined to keep our usual routines and rhythms.

I am grateful to my blog and the people who read it. I love writing, especially now, I feel like my writing matters.

I have a sense of some coherence now, a sense it will all be okay if we can just be disciplined and patient for a few weeks.