Often on Sundays, Maria and I go to Jean’s Place for a cheese n’ egg on a muffin. Maria feels strongly that it is dangerous for me to be eating in a small restaurant right now with conventional air conditioning.

I respect her wishes during the virus, and I understand we need to be careful, I have two chronic conditions and I do not want Maria to be uneasy, or for me to get sick.

I also want to support Jean’s Place, it is important to me.

So our compromise is that I order takeout and we bring the food home.

She goes into the restaurant to get the food  while I wait in the car. This makes me sad but I completely understand it. I love Jean’s place and always enjoy being there. I did arrange for them to cater another Mansion lunch this coming Wednesday.

I look forward to the day when we can resume our normal lives.

But it hasn’t come yet. I want to be safe and I want her to feel secure. I scared her quite a bit at the outset of the pandemic by going out a lot, I don’t want to do that anymore.

We had a new idea. Maria suggested we go to the Bennington Battlefield (actually in Hoosick Falls) six miles from the restaurant and we did. We found some picnic tables and had a neat brunch and talk.

We walked around and I got into the signs and details of the battle, about which I knew little.

I have a fondness for historic battlefield sites and with a half-hour, I was explaining the movements of the different militia and Hessian units and the artillery emplacements.

The place was funky, it looked quite old and out of date with markers and breastworks and very old signage. We both liked being there.

It’s interesting about the pandemic, it keeps me from going many places where I want to go, but it also leads me to many places I have never been before and normally wouldn’t go at all.

It’s something of a tradeoff – lost experiences and found experiences. And the food was great, as usual. And I also learned a lot about the battle at Saratoga (these are Revolutionary War battles) that I didn’t know.