Chatty Pandemic Post

[dreamshark]

Friday was a nice day. I was emptying trash out back when I heard off-key warbling coming from the street in front of the house. Went out there and found quite a few of the neighbors out on their front lawns singing a shaky rendition of You've Got a Friend.*  Apparently MPR had announced a neighborhood singalong at 5 pm. I got out there just in time to catch the last stanza of the song, but since we now had members of 10 or 12 households out in the street it evolved into an impromptu "safe distance" block party. That was lovely.

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Saturday was Richard's birthday. That was nice too. We made fancy blue-green tropical drinks and took them outside at 5:30, as we've been doing. None of the neighbors we had seen the day before were out, but the guy who owns the big red and beige triplex across 40th Street happened by with his teenage daughter and we had a great conversation. Turns out he's lived across the street from us for 17 years. He knew Richard's name because he's the Halloween Guy, but had never said more than a quick hello before. I'm meeting so many people now that we are all in semi-isolation. Then we ordered roast beef dinners from George and the Dragon and the 3 of us played Ingenious (one of the very few games that we have been able to identify that both Richard and I enjoy). Richard seemed satisfied with that as a birthday. 

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Sunday was even warmer than Saturday, so we sat outside again and shared a coffee-flavored Blue Moon beer. One of the neighbors we'd connected with on Friday happened by with her two small children and we had a nice chat. 

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* The name of the singalong song rang absolutely no bells in my head. I found it on YouTube later and it does sound vaguely familiar. I'm pretty sure that no matter how many times I hear it, it will never be more than vaguely familiar. It's the type of song that I find inoffensive but so uninteresting that I barely hear it when it plays, even when I am trying to listen to it. If it's one of your favorite songs, I apologize for dissing it. There are an amazing number of songs that just go in one ear and out the other for me no matter how often I hear them. That song from Frozen that everybody loved so much for instance. It sounds exactly like this Carole King song to me, which is to say pretty much like nothing. 

Comments

[quadong]

"I'm meeting so many people now that we are all in semi-isolation."

+1

[pameladean]

I keep meaning to come by around 5:30 and have a distanced conversation with you guys, but my sense of time is completely wrecked, so I veer from thinking I should set out at four o'clock and suddenly realizing it's nearly eight. P.

[minnehaha]

Me also. Maybe today? It looks pretty nice out.

K.

[pameladean]

It looks like I have a phone date over the relevant time period. Maybe next week when it's supposed to be in the sixties.

P.

[dreamshark]

I'd love to see you! If you're planning to stop by, I suggest texting before you leave to make sure we're out there. We do usually go out at 5:30 whenever the weather is reasonable, but occasionally forget. Even when there is nobody out there but us, it's so pleasant sitting out on our front lawn with practically no traffic on 40th and almost no airplane traffic. I hadn't realized just how noisy our neighborhood used to be until it wasn't. It's really quite lovely.

[pameladean]

Whenever I do get it together, I'll text you before setting out. I think when it's a bit warmer I'll be in a less scattered mental state.

Blaisdell is quieter too, aside from the periodic eruptions of people standing six feet apart, sometimes wearing masks, and raising their voices to accommodate these facts. Fortunately they don't do it too early in the day and it's really rather cheerful.

P.

[laramie]

A belated 'happy birthday!' to Richard!

The socially-distanced block party sounds like fun.

I know what you mean about songs that go in one ear and out the other. I don't count 'You've Got a Friend' as one of them, but I really only remember the refrain on that one. I tend to remember strong melody lines best, and songs that hit the right emotional chords.