Well, here we are. We're just coming into spring, maple season and (hopefully) nice weather when people want to be out and about celebrating the end of winter and we have this Coronavirus thing to contend with. I expect it will be subsiding within a few weeks, but in the meantime, life has changed for a lot of us. At our age, Fred and I don't have jobs to worry about and we aren't inclined to seek entertainment in crowded situations or traveling - just not our thing. But we do enjoy eating out and on occasion attend some functions related to our granddaughters that require us to be in a crowd. That requires second thoughts these days and as this thing gets a little worse every day, we are thinking we'd best stay away from all of that. We're at a "vulnerable age," both being over 70.

The nation is in a pickle in so many ways. Even politicians are having to rethink their campaigns and our legislators are rearranging their lives to accommodate the risks of getting infected or infecting others. We're all having to learn new ways to interact with others - at a distance. No more handshakes or hugs, at least for the unforeseeable future. Some television shows will no longer have live audiences, and schools around the nation are closing or extending spring breaks. Who would have guessed this could happen in this age of advance medicine and science and there would be no vaccine and no antibiotic specific to dealing with this virus?

On the other hand, life goes on. I've been corresponding with a woman who is interested in purchasing property in the area of Joe's Pond - not necessarily on the pond, just nearby. Then today I had a call from a friend in the Burlington area asking questions about a mutual relative from long ago. I also had an email from a friend looking for information on the Willey Building in Cabot. People are purchasing Ice-Out tickets on line and in person at local outlets - just like any other year. All normal stuff. It's good to know that some of us can still be "normal" while all around us the world seems to be going off the rails.