What? Is it late June already?

Yes, it is really me after a long hiatus preparing to update you (in a lengthy post) regarding all the shenanigans since February. Thinking about the present state of our world and as recently as last year,  if I'd written some of the details I'm about share, they'd be considered fiction but....as the saying goes....you can't make this stuff up! To set the scene, I'm almost at the end of my third session of 14 day self isolation in four months (details to follow) and yes...I am getting pretty good at it. Last week was a beautiful warm, sunny, breezy time here spent in the yard, by and in the pool and watching vivid sunsets over the harbour. One evening in the gazebo, we enjoyed a BBQ burger and fresh garden salad courtesy of the gentleman farmer and strawberry shortcake with sweet biscuits I baked in the afternoon. Self isolation in the country is quite enjoyable. I had last shared my six week northern stint in January/February then a two line update in March to say we'd returned from Cuba and were managing in the 'unprecedented times' and here we are catching up. Now to recap:

I did travel (rather uneventfully on the way down) in February to Cuba as planned, flying through Toronto and in to Holguin. Processed very efficiently through the terminal and noted a nurse at the baggage carousel obviously scanning the crowd of tourists for ? unwell looking travellers? I'd arranged (through my professor Cecilia) for a taxi to Santiago de Cuba vs the bus as there were fuel shortages. It took four days for the driver to rustle up enough gas 10L/day x 4= 40L required for the return trip from Holguin and I was pleased to see Nieto's smiling face and vintage small red Moscovitch waiting for me in the parking lot. He phoned Cecilia to advise I'd been safely retrieved and we were off. It was hot and breezy and I napped on the drive. We stopped at a roadside bar for a bathroom break and I offered to buy us beverages but there was nothing to drink, only rum and coffee...no pop, water, beer nada....which turned out to be a harbinger of shortages. Nieto just shrugged and we climbed back into the car. Into the city in good time where I was safely deposited at my casa in Reparto Sueno and warmly welcomed by Maria and Luis who had been alerted to my arrival by Cecilia. A quick unpack, shower and a wonderful Cuban supper ahhh. A good sleep and a great breakfast then off to class the next morning.

Quickly into the routine of class, homework, errands, catching up online, watching the Cuban news on TV with Luis at 8pm and an early bedtime as the heat was really spanking me. The shore captain was in his third week of tropical stay on the island and dropped by at the end of the week for a quick visit - we arranged for me to travel by taxi to Chivirico the following weekend as I'd brought some gifts for friends and family. This year the staples of toothpaste, soap, shampoo etc were in really short supply and even more welcome. With the first visit I was also able to explain to her father that the 32 wk prenatal daughter was fine after being rear ended in rush hour stalled traffic on her way home from work. Her car was written off but she and the baby were monitored and were okay. The two weekends I visited were a series of pleasant encounters with friends who came for supper, a pig roast, lunch with our son in law's parents, a nice chat with our daughter's 'other mother' who I could really communicate with now (a long discussion about Cuba, the special period, Canada, our daughter etc) and lots of relaxing. We had originally hoped to arrange a weekend at an all inclusive resort near the city for us and our Cuban friends, but the approaching pandemic cut our plans short and we shelved the idea for 'next year'. On the first Monday morning I was up early to catch transportation back to the city, walked to the bus stop and...waited and waited. The local buses/trucks arrived and left but nothing to the city, very strange as there'd usually be 6 or 7 in this same period when fuel wasn't a problem.  It was over 45 minutes when the first vehicle leaving for Santiago arrived so I climbed in to...a large diesel truck older than me....but being a senior foreign female I got to ride in the cab for 30 Cuban pesos or $1.50 Cdn with the stick shift between my legs next to a very intense driver and a young fellow with a child's wooden chair on his feet. Lots of stops but made the trip in 90 minutes. Out on to the street in front of the bus station and hailed a moto taxi - able to now correctly convey the address of the casa - and ready myself for class. The second weekend I made sure the taxi was available both ways as the trucks were just not an option.

My Spanish classes went well and it was good to be back into stretching my brain with studies. There was a group of Canadian students from university in Alberta who have been affiliated with Universidad de Oriente for over 20 years, I occasionally ran into groups of them at various spots in the city - but they're all young, one of the jiniteros (tourist hustlers) told me as he glanced at me :). Cecilia and I were able to go out for a nice lunch at El Barracon (restaurant with Haitian decor but definitely Cuban cuisine) which we'd specifically chosen as they were selling cartons of juice at the cash register - beverages were impossible to buy in the stores with rows of empty shelves.  I occasionally stopped at the cafe in the Melia Santiago Hotel for a batitdo (milkshake) and sometimes an empanadilla (like a calzone) and read my ebook or people watched....not sure why because those elderly Italian tourists entertaining young Cuban chicas don't set well with me. One evening as dusk fell, I left the flat magnetic clip-on sunglasses to my bifocals on the table at the cafe. The following morning I searched my room and the living room but as Maria said "why would you have been watching TV with sunglasses on?" Finally realizing that I must've left them at the cafe I stopped (with Cecilia) and asked about the sunglasses. The waitress remembered seeing them on the table and since she thought they were broken had thrown them in the trash. It being the weekend, the garbage wasn't removed and she crossed the courtyard to the 'Italian' restaurant and spent 35 minutes out back digging through bags of wet garbage. She emerged triumphantly with my sunglasses and ran the clip-on through the dishwasher while scrubbing her hands and arms. Granted, I tipped her all the change in my pocket, but that only totalled about 4 CUC. What  other country in the world would provide such customer service?

Worldwide the coronavirus pandemic was moving quickly with large numbers in Europe and I found myself avoiding the Hotel Santiago where Italian tourists were present and stopped kissing upon greeting even though it was culturally expected. On Friday, Feb 13th our Canadian prime minister said "wherever you are, Canadians need to come home" and I realized that I'd have to put a plan in to action. On Saturday when I visited the life partner and stated I was going to change my departure ticket for the following week he declined accompanying me and said he was....going to stay and go fishing down the coast with the guys from the island as planned and had three weeks left so was going to 'take his chances'. By Sunday morning he'd reconsidered, tourists over to the island that afternoon confirmed there was a Tuesday flight from Santiago de Cuba and as I left for the city Monday morning I had plans to source us tickets on that flight.

A quick stop at the park to use wifi - couldn't do a thing online for flights and the Canadian news was increasingly frantic as the virus spread. Over to my professor's and my opening statement in Spanish of "Cecilia, I've got a problem and I need you to help me" was met by an alarmed look (later she confessed that she was concerned as to just how big my problem was...did I need help burying a body?) and we sprang into action. I phoned the oldest daughter - she was in the process of being sent home from her office to work at home - and she attempted to reach the airlines. Cecilia worked her contacts and after 90 minutes tracked down a travel agent colleague who found us an Air Transaat rep in the city. Absolutely could not have managed this without her extensive connections. I grabbed my passport, phoned the shore captain (who was lying in the sun) for his passport info, my credit card and we walked to the travel office. It was a very complicated, expensive process but $1100 Cdn later we had hand written 'tickets' on the flight the following afternoon and I could finally take a deep breath. Cecilia and I decided to celebrate our success with lunch at nearby Dino's where she chose lasagna and I had pizza - both great and the bill was $5 total. Mind you, Cecilia had to hoof it up the street for bottles of water as there was nothing in the drinks case but...it was Pellegrino she returned with. I stopped in the park for wifi again and set the prenatal daughter on to tickets from Toronto to Halifax. This two hour flight was ultimately more expensive than the international one costing $575 each and requiring an overnight in Toronto. Thankful for our offspring travel agent. There was a flurry of activity where the travel partner arranged for a taxi in to the city the next morning, I packed my backpack, gave away my remaining goodies, took the professor out to supper at El Lindon (delicious, cheap food) and booked Nieto to the airport.

I was disappointed to only have had three weeks in Cuba...the first week is always spent just getting back up to speed in Spanish, the second week I felt comfortable again and by week three was pleased with my progress and... had to leave. Sigh. Tuesday saw my travel partner arrive after breakfast and we headed to the airport. The Air Transaat rep checked to see all was in order (that is what a 5 CUC tip gets you for service) and we were quickly checked in, through security and waiting in the departure lounge with our fellow travellers. The flight was down only slightly after expected and as I said to the shore captain "if that plane arrives from Canada we're golden as they're not leaving a flight crew on the ground now" but was delayed on the tarmac. Finally the pilot came in to the terminal to explain that there was a leak in the plumbing which they were attempting to seal, we'd have hand sanitizer but no water in the bathrooms, bottles of water to drink and we'd be on our way...not what we'd have wished but there wasn't a murmur of dissent and we were off within a few minutes on a flight with only two empty seats. In to Pearson with a delay while we waited for flights ahead of us to clear Customs as numbers were being limited. The Nexus kiosks and no checked bags helped us greatly and after a thorough examination and questioning by a Customs officer with instructions to self isolate for two weeks, we navigated the huge crowds at the terminal to locate the adjoining hotel. We later learned that 1 million Canadians made their way home the week we did...I believe it!

The (same) hotel room cost double what the travel partner had paid on the trip down, the restaurant was closed and room service of a burger, fries and a club sandwich with one beer served in a brown paper bag was $100. We traversed a sparsely populated terminal and caught our flight the next morning. After having arranged with the youngest daughter/son in law to replace the freezer food at home and the second daughter/son in law to pick up groceries and leave them in the truck which they drove to the airport for us...all we had to do was drive straight home. The first few days were spent unpacking, doing laundry and settling in. We were pleased that neighbours and friends offered to pick up groceries or run errands for us and we even called in an order to the local store which delivered....if you wait long enough, everything comes around again. I managed to get lots of 'some day' projects completed - cleaned out the night stand, bureau, walk in closet, both bathroom vanities and 2/3 of the cupboards in the mud/craft room - creating several bags of donations. Took an online course through the London School of Tropical Hygiene about Covid 19 with 6000 other global students...interesting evidence based information. Spent a fair bit of time with bureaucracy getting travel credit for airfare from Air Transaat, West Jet and Air Canada and rebooking an earlier flight to Ottawa. Lessons were learned about using a third party booking company for accommodations as the Easter $1000 Holiday Inn booking in Vancouver was non refundable but would've been no problem if booked directly through Holiday Inn. Sigh. Baked/cooked large amounts of food and filled the fridge/freezer for my exit. Packed my knapsacks with clothes to take me through spring and in to summer, downloaded some patterns and stash shopped yarn for projects.

During this time my sister in law advised that my oldest brother had tested positive for coronavirus a few days after they arrived back from Spain. They'd flown in to Toronto two hours ahead of us and managed to fly home that evening. Thankfully they had self isolated and thus prevented transmission. In fact, my sister in law never tested positive. It was a long two weeks as my previously healthy brother suffered with fever, fatigue, nausea, muscle aches and constant exhaustion - and this was considered a mild case. My sister in law, although not a nurse, was an excellent caregiver and he finally got back to himself, but it took weeks. As I think of my brother's case, I am particularly annoyed to read on social media about this novel virus being milder than influenza, a hoax or only affecting the vulnerable. Still so many unknowns with this pandemic.

As soon as my self isolation ended I hopped an April 1st flight to Ottawa. I had tried several times to book non stop but the flights kept changing and so in the end I took a short layover in Montreal. At this point the prenatal daughter was being told she might have to be solo in the delivery room and if by some twist I was to be the one accompanying her, I would have first have to had self isolated for 14 days. The first week was spent with her doing her electrical estimator job from home while her hubby did morning online English courses and worked evening shift. We figured out how to do Instacart (personal shopper) delivery, online grocery shopping which the son in law and myself picked up or local shopping in person. I wasn't long figuring out Uber Eats, Skip the Dishes and Door Dash as many Ottawa restaurants struggled to stay afloat and we would've eaten out if any were open. Ultimately it was the low-key local diner (Tangerine Pizza) which appeared to have Middle Eastern owners, excellent food, great prices, huge servings and free delivery that won the 'best of' category. We sampled our way through pizzas, subs, wings and more - often the order was accompanied by soup, macaroni salad or poutine....eclectic arrangement but all delicious!

While there I worked on some projects crocheting an octopus, cocoon, waffle stitch afghan, chicken hat and fedora for photo shoots for the baby as well as a shawl for myself, a poncho for the youngest daughter, some dishcloths, a plant hanger,  pinafore for the granddaughter and began (needing yarn to complete) a baby sweater and poncho for myself. I'm not abandoning Mikey of the Crochet Crowd but if you've never seen Jonah the 11year old crochet prodigy, he's amazing. Here's his site for some creative inspiration:

jonahhands.com

We watched the entire series of Downtown Abbey and then topped it off with the movie...Ahh I'm addicted. I baked a bit and tried to make myself useful as the mother to be arranged things for our fourth grandchild and finished up a project management course as part of a program she's working her way through. We got out for walks on the trail and explored the largely blue collar immigrant neighbourhood as the season moved from flurries to tree buds. The prenatal appointments were routine although included a mask for both patient and physician, waiting outside to be called in so no one in the waiting room and only prenatal and well child attending. As the due date approached our daughter was advised that she'd be able to have one partner when in well established labour who would have to remain for her hospital stay and we were all relieved the son in law would be included.

After a weekend of my being a labour nurse again (25 yrs later) and much support from a midwife friend at home, I sent the expectant couple over to deliver at 9pm and woke to the message that we'd welcomed our third grandson to our family a 6lb 13 oz named Juan at 11pm. I was completely surprised, having decided this baby was a girl (although Mom had felt all along it was a boy) and relieved all was well. The family of three returned to the apartment by the following afternoon. With the pandemic there is no Public Health support for anything other than coronavirus and so it was good to be able to help out with newborn questions. Mom is very relaxed and breastfeeding went smoothly with the baby gaining weight rapidly. He'll be two months old on Friday and is very alert, smiling, getting to be chatty and enjoying books. This comes from not sleeping much at all. The first few weeks he was gassy, screamed in the evening and didn't settle well during the night...a high crier...but doing much better now. His aunties and uncle from NS sent him a swing which is a wonderful thing. He enjoys video chats with his Cuban and Maritime parents and is bilingual of course. The plan is for him to meet his older cousins here this summer as the travel restrictions/self isolation requirements change. It was tough leaving the little guy at six weeks and of course they change daily at this stage, so looking forward to seeing him again.

The shore captain was involved with some renovating for the second daughter and son in law in the city who are in the process of relocating due to a school transfer for her. He traveled to the city the day before my flight to replace the back deck/steps and while using a reciprocating saw with one hand he managed to cut his left wrist quite deeply. When he sent the ER photo, due to the location of the injury, I commented to my Ottawa daughter that he must've had to see a plastic surgeon. Upon questioning he replied that he had been seen at the DGH, xrayed and consulted to plastics at the QE2 then examined and plastic surgeon repaired the wound marvelling that he had missed tendons, ligaments and nerves with his injury. VERY lucky guy. His following day was spent supervising the son in law as he performed the manual labour tasks.

I had booked a non stop flight home and upon arrival at the airport found the departure delayed by 3.5 hrs. due to mechanical issues with the plane which had arrived and awaiting replacement. West Jet offered the option of flying over to Toronto at the original time, waiting an hour, then flying home from there. Although it wasn't my first choice, I (and my fellow passengers) chose this option as we were unsure the promised plan would actually arrive. So...I booked a 90 minute non stop flight between two domestic airports and ended up flying with a layover through an international airport arriving 5.5 hours later. There were no (or very limited) eating venues available in either airport and of course wearing the cloth mask for hours in terminal/plane (although I'm practiced from 45+ years of nursing) isn't amazingly uncomfortable. Having my temperature taken and scanning my own boarding pass isn't a hardship and one nice thing of physical distancing is that alternate window/aisle seats only are sold on the Dash 8 and 737 flights don't sell the middle seat. Such are the joys of traveling in a pandemic. I was annoyed to find myself seated on the second leg in a row with a commercial realtor from BC who was traveling to NS for a week, with a few days in Dartmouth and a few more in Sydney, CB all fully booked with meetings, appointments and plans to eat out. When I questioned him regarding the 14 day self isolation requirement he assured me that he was 'essential services' and this wasn't required. Obviously West Jet sold him a 7 day return ticket without issue and when I inquired at the airport arrivals of the Dept of Environment employee posted there, he assured me that a realtor isn't essential services in this province but there was no way to enforce this self isolation rule. I assured him that I had enough common sense to 'do the right thing' and dragged myself out to the waiting one armed chauffeur in the parking garage. I was annoyed to find that my chauffeur hadn't received a text indicating he pick up a sandwich and tea for me...in fact the text never did arrive - oh the wonders of technology.....and the Tim Hortons along the route had closed for the day. I glumly ate the expensive Reeses pieces bar I'd bought at the airport convenience store and drank the provided bottle of water I'd opted not to take my mask off for on the flight. A midnight arrival and crawled into bed.

My third self isolation has included more organizing projects, hanging laundry on the line, harvesting rhubarb and baking, cleaning out the grandkids playhouse, eating salads from the garden daily, perfecting sewing of olson face masks for myself, house partner and son in law, swims in the pool and lounging on the deck, a library book and...updating this blog. I'm getting rather proficient at being a hermit. We're planning for grandchildren visits shortly so will have lots of social interaction though. Stay tuned.