The Routine Continues

Monday, 23 March, 2020

By this fifteenth day of our National Lockdown, I've definitely settled into a simplistic routine.

It all starts with

The Prime Directive

Hopefully, we will soon start seeing the positive effects of our Lockdown.

With that in mind, I started my usual search of the internet and found this bit of good news.

 We had a significant dip in the

number of new Coronavirus

cases in Italy on Sunday

Hopefully, this is the start of a trend.

As you probably know, the Coronavirus' incubation period is about two weeks. Thus, in the next week to ten days, we should see how well our Lockdown has impacted the slowing down of this disease's spread.

I got a shout-out from the

Stings Guadalajara American

football team in Spain

I helped coach them a few years ago and it was one of the best experiences of my career working with a team at a grassroots level.

One of the things that has made this Lockdown bearable has been so many of my friends via FaceTime phone calls and sending e-mails and messages by way of FaceBook and WhatsApp to bolster my spirits.

Thank You, Grazie, Tack Så Mycket, Danke, Merci and Gracias to all of you!

All of your encouragement is greatly appreciated.

Man's Greatest Invention?

After a much needed cleaning of The Bunker today using one of these wonders of modern mankind, I vote YES!

The Bunker cleaner, it was back to the internet . . .

In New Orleans, someone is

actually driving a Coronavirus bug

Our Los Angeles Rams unveiled

their new logos

I don't like it.

I wish that they would go back

to their 1951-1969 logo

that I grew up loving

And I'm definitely OK with the 1970-1982 logo as well.

A fashion conscious look

at the Italian flag

China, Cuba and now Russia have all sent lots of medical aid and supplies to Italy to help us in our battle with the Coronavirus.

Do you remember the days when the USA was the country that generously gave to other countries in the time of trouble?

Then there are internet movies.

This 1943 classic had me

on the edge of my seat!

Sophie Johnson in self-imposed

quaratine back in the state of Washington

Sophie is working on her PhD at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. She is the oldest daughter of my college chum Mark and his wife Susie.

Because of the University's closure for an unspecified amount of time due to the Coronavirus, she finally decided to fly home to Seattle on Sunday.

It was good talking with her both before and after her escape from the British Isles.

She let me know that her direct flight from London to Seattle was, at best, only half full so social distancing was not a problem.

Also, once in Seattle, they disembarked slowly, a few rows at a time, in order to eliminate the huge crowds jammed together at the airport screening area that we saw in pictures last week.

She is spending her 14 days of mandatory, self-imposed isolation in the family's cabin on Camano Island in Washington's Puget Sound with the family's killer watchdog as her lone companion.

In the evening, I got a FaceTime call from Jacob.

Mary put your tongue away!

It was good to talk to both of them and see them in action.

The Nardi Family strikes again!

In the evening, while I was talking to Sophie, my doorbell rang.

It was Federica and Raffaele from next door who handed me this cold, wondrous bundle of a chocolate dessert.

It was as delicious as it looked but I only ate about a quarter of it tonight as its richness filled me up quickly.

It was the perfect dessert pairing with my main entrée, an incredible pasta with flavorful wild boar's meat sauce.

I'm sure that Santa Barbara's hand was in this dietary treat somehow as well.

I wonder if the last 3/4s of this tasty dessert will make it to the end of Tuesday.

Don't bet on it.