How life has changed in the year since abandoned Word Press. It is past time for me to revive “lake afton.” With some new material.

Undoubtedly you too are working at home or just staying home as the coronavirus-19 is devastating the world. It knows no boundaries, geographical or generational. I’m sure you’ve known someone or of someone who has been affected, particularly if they live in an area where the virus has attacked like it has in New York City. Since I live just an hour north of the city, people here are very watchful.

Probably people living in geographical areas that have not been hit are wondering what the fuss is all about even as they read the statistics of cases and deaths. I know one young woman who says, “I’m not sick. I’m going to do what I want.” She may escape it or not.

There are good things happening at the same time. Parents are spending much more time with their school age children who are not in school. For me, I have been spending hours on Zoom each day helping my ten-year-old grandson with his schoolwork. We meet each morning for two to three hours. We read the assignments and the questions together. He gets to ask the meaning of words he may not know. Although he has rich vocabulary, he may not recognize the words in print until we pronounce them together.

The forsythia has been a bonus here this spring. It began to blossom about a month ago. Every sprig on every bush is full of yellow blooms. The weather has remained rather cool and the forsythia is only now beginning to drop the blossoms and sprout leaves. When driving around the area, yellow hedges and random bushes glow. I even saw where someone apparently had thrown unwanted bushes in the woods and they had taken root. Forsythia has been a joy to see in the gloom of the virus.
Praise God for sending beauty, which we might have missed in “normal” times. All we have to do is look for it.