Catching Up On The Travel Blog - 2020, Year 1 of the Great Masking

Has it really been a year and nine months since I posted anything on the Travel Blog?  I guess so.

It's not that we gave up traveling, we just didn't return to Egypt last year because of so many hassles associated with international travel.  And, we stayed pretty close to home for the start of the pandemic panic.  That meant we had opportunities for more domestic activity than usual. 

When we finally made it home from Cairo (April 2020), we landed with a suitcase of toilet paper.  It was prominently on display in the Egyptian markets so we stocked up in anticipation of a much-publicized shortage at home.

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Tom took up a much desired (by Linda) project that involved adding about a foot of space in each of two directions to the walk-in closet in our bedroom.  It might not sound like a lot of space but it sure was a lot of work!  A view into the closet, before and after, doesn't show much difference - but we both love it. 

   

 

 

To complement the closet, Linda took on the project of updating of her armoire.  The ideas was to take the armoire from the 20th century and give it an 18th century look. This involved a lot of refinishing work by her over the summer. For more pictures of the closet and armoire updates, click here to see the Flickr album.

We spent more time than usual out on the back deck watching the birds as they migrated some to Minnesota as a destination and others just passing through.  For more bird pictures, click here to go to the Flickr album.

 

 

Linda had plenty of time to organize and scan family photographs from her mother's collection.  This added considerable height to her family tree.

Another remodeling opportunity presented itself when our townhouse homeowner's association (yes, the dreaded HOA!) decided that our front deck was traveling away from our townhouse.  Not very far away, I thought, but definitely on the move.

 

This was going to involve some heavy work including some fancy sheet metal preservation and matching for our front planters.  This was definitely beyond "do-it-yourself" scope.  We finally found a contractor who was willing to take on the task to our satisfaction.  They did a nice job of repair rather than replace.

But just as the final sheet metal siding work was underway, our HOA's landscape contractor, 1-2-Tree (you have to love the name) showed up to plant a replacement tree right in the middle of the work area.  Our contractors never missed a beat.

 

 

Of course, we watched Covid news over the year intently.  We were delighted with the early news from our very best government health officials that the risk of Coronavirus in the U.S. was minuscule!

 

By May, visiting with friends called for masks and social distancing.  Sometimes, this even called for a drive-by visit.  We were very thankful that the virus doesn't spread when people are seated in a restaurant, only when they are standing; we were able to celebrate Terry's birthday in November.

 

  

 

 

What a summer.  Money was falling from the sky.  We used some of ours to add another camera to the collection - this one has a 24 to 2000mm zoom lens that brings the birds across the pond right up onto the back deck with us.  All things considered, we still live in the best of times.