It's a weird time to be alive, and social isolation is very real. Seattle has long been known for it's "Freeze", or that social frigidness that can plague and frustrate new arrivals looking to make connections, but apparently that anti-social tendency might be playing an active role in saving our city right now. On March 23rd Governor Inslee officially issued an order mandating that all residents stay-home or risk facing up to a year in prison or a $5,000 fine, though the mandate allows for gardening, strolling or jogging for exercise, and even going to parks...with some recent provisions. Initially, most of the city's parks stayed open as long as people were practicing proper social distancing measures, but this past weekend (April 11th and 12th) major parks were closed to the public, and even the Friday prior we witnessed people being given tickets for parking along the perimeter of Greenlake park, the parking lots of which have been closed to discourage crowding. To be fair, as of April 10th, there were roughly 10,000 cases of coronavirus infection reported in King County and surrounding areas, and many people have been violating the social distancing guidelines. I can understand why people are drawn to these places though, as spring has descended upon Seattle and the patches of greenery scattered throughout the city are bursting into bloom and bud, with blue skies becoming more reliable and the singing of birds and skittering of squirrels to add to the flurry of vitality. Make no mistake, spring has been stunning so far this year, and while we've enjoyed many strolls around our neighborhood these past 3 weeks, we too have fallen victim to the desire to go to our local parks to participate in nature's yearly awakening from its' slumber. No funerals, weddings, or church gatherings are allowed, so a lot of life's biggest rituals have been stymied by the need to maintain proper social awareness and prevention, but nature will never bend to our wishes and carries on uninterrupted. In these uncertain times, there's a very real comfort to finding some familiarity, some routine, to ground ourselves with, but with so many other options gone many of the parks have been overflowing with people...and then being closed to the public as a result...
Simultaneously, many of the streets are barren, especially at night time. We've been surprised and amused by the sheer volume of walkers we've witnessed in our neighborhood, with some of the intersections becoming a maze of maintaining 6 feet while dodging joggers, carriages, cyclists, and dog walkers from all directions all at once. Our local grocery stores have maintained a moderate sense of normalcy, with most of their stock still fully loaded and available, but then you round a corner to find half of an aisle completely wiped out. First, all the toilet paper and hand sanitizer were gone, then the dry beans, and now all the flour, too. On one visit to Target, we marveled at the fact people were panic buying ALL the menstrual products. Flour and beans are still hard to come by, and I've found that even some luxury heirloom bean sites are selling out of products like mad. Many stores are putting up plexiglass barricades between customers and employees, and the aisles are becoming one-way. Our weekly order from Imperfect Produce has become complicated by an influx of new shoppers depleting their inventory and overloading their system, leading to all sorts of complications with our deliveries over the last few weeks- whether it be an entirely missed week of food or skipped items, or simply a lack of options by the time my day to order rolls around. We're not hurting for anything, and had built up a small supply of emergency preparedness supplies, but it's startling and surreal to see these signs of panic and chaos creeping into the mundane aspects of life. For most of my life, grocery shopping has been easy and abundant, with reliable availability, and now not so much. I've heard rumors that there may be a meat shortage coming, but I've also heard that due to all the sporting events being canceled there's an overabundance of chicken wings, so who knows. There's so much fear, and so many theories floating around the internet, and a lot of ignorance proliferating. I'm not a scientist, and I'm not here to tell anyone how to go about their life, but personally, I think we all need to take a deep breath and try to ride it out without letting our anxieties get the best of us. That's what I'm trying to do... I'm out of work for the time being, as my job was not considered an essential business in this pandemic, and as a result, I've been at home with my thoughts, my partner, and our pets to process for weeks now. Getting exercise, even a brief walk around the block has been huge in helping me to stay sane. When I can, I try to order from small local businesses to support them, though my income has been drastically impacted by this situation. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get scared, or anxious, from time to time, but there's not much I can do other than maintain proper distancing and staying home, so try to make the most of all this free time. I, for one, am excited to make a whole new batch of candles soon!
These photos are of Cal Anderson park, in Capitol Hill, from a time before the pandemic. It was still a quiet, mostly empty day at the park, though, and I felt the photos kind of captured the weird post apocalyptic vibe of the times. Enjoy!
