I want to talk to you about my driver's test and my experience with drivers ed. So when I was approaching 15 and 1/2 or whatever it is that you're supposed to start thinking about doing it -- doing driver education. I noticed everyone else is really psyched or at least it seemed like everyone -- everyone but I was not I was pretty nervous. I didn't really feel comfortable with the idea of like being responsible for the car moving around and going different speeds. It's funny looking back. I don't remember -- I mean nothing happened to me in a car, like I never gotten a serious car accident or anything. But for some reason I was just, terrifying to me especially idea of going like really really fast for some reason. So right away my instructor like the first day of class. We're going to to drive around and I say “I'm really scared of going fast”. And he was like, “well everybody else is going to be driving normally but we're taking you, specifically, to the highway right away”. So, you know that it's safe and you can do it and not you know, not die, not have a car accident. But then it came time for the actual test, and I'm you know breathing and I'm like everything's going to be fine to myself, I’m sure. We get into the car and we do the parking part, which was also nerve-wracking obviously. Parking part goes fine. Okay, now we're going to drive around. And I remember there's like a -- a -- I remember very distinctly him asking like “okay if you were going to crash” like as we're driving, “where would you, where would you aim for” and I was like, “oh for the for the tree over there” and he's like, “that's right don't -- like make sure you to pull away from traffic.” But the all, so that's literally -- I'm sure I did a lot of other things, but that's the only other part that I remember besides, can you guess where we're going with this, the part where I failed the test. So we're on the highway. We're going to turn I've taken an exit I've literally never taken in my life. I've never taken this exit before in the moment all I thought was okay now I'm going to…

I am currently reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. This book is gonna take some dedication to finish because it's seven hundred pages long. But it's a fascinating as well it won a Pulitzer Prize when it was published and it was recently made into a movie that was released in 2019 and Nicole Kidman stars as one of the leading female characters. Another way that I am dealing with the pandemic is I am not eating inside restaurants. Dr. Fauci said that indoor dining at public restaurants was a dangerous thing to do at the present time. So I have been cooking at home and to make this more fun and to keep me from getting bored with the same old recipes. I have been trying out new recipes and I have learned to use a kitchen device a steamer that somebody gave me several years ago, that I had never unpacked and learned to use. I'm also watching Netflix movies and find that as another way of remaining connected to the cultural world and I plan to watch the movie of The Goldfinch as soon as I finish the novel.

I haven't take any pictures of the red sunset, but some of them are gorgeous, but we all know that just because they're gorgeous that means somebody someplace is suffering. And as a retired fire firefighter, I have empathy for those guys and gals that are fighting the fires because that's a horribly difficult and -- and job to do under the best circumstances and if you have a heat wave like they had going on there before, it's just not good. I've got a friend in Portland area, Portland Oregon and he said it was raining today, started to rain and that was knocking down some of the smoke. So that was, that was kind of a blessing. I guess. I've got some friends around the San Francisco Bay Area who are affected by the smoke and that kind of stuff but not really affected by the the fires, yet, at least. And some other friends up in in the Pacific Northwest who are at the moment at least safe. Got a grandson who lives in Reno and a lot of smoke, he has a lot of smoke out there, but they have no fires that are close by and I guess because you know, there's a lot of desert and stuff where he is. So that's one thing I am thankful for at least.

This week, I'm starting to realize that fall is setting in and I'm trying – um my kids went back to full time school in person so managing that and remembering masks and they seem to be doing really well with it and seem to not even really notice. Especially the kindergartener who said to me as she was trying to manage her glasses fogging up with her mask. She said “Mom did you have trouble with your glasses and mask when you were a little kid too.” I thought that was so funny that she has totally adapted to this way of life it seems, and knows like just assumes this is how it always was, can't really remember. So with the weather changing it's so beautiful here in Michigan and yet there's kind of a feeling of dread because the thing that made this whole pandemic manageable seem to be, being able to be the outside and we have a little lake house we could go to and that was amazing, to have a place to escape to and get out of the house. And now a lot of questions come up with as it's getting colder and we want to meet up with people for now we can maybe do some bonfires and meet outside and feel pretty safe, but winter's coming, we have questions about do we have babysitters come? Like how does that work? And yeah, so these are things, so fall seems to have this sense of dread at least for me because of where we live and knowing how hard it will be to gather together or what will we do. Like, how are we gonna adapt or are we just gonna have people over and take our chances? I don't know what we're supposed to do.

I was thinking today about if I made a time capsule of 2020, so far we're three quarters of the year in, what would go in the time capsule? So here it goes. See if your list is like mine. First of all, of course, I'd put a mask in, and hand sanitizer. And I'd put in a canceled cruise brochure. We were going to take a Viking Cruise this summer. Argh, out. I would put in my church key, useless to me now, I can't get in church. I would put in, well, this is tricky, either a computer or a picture of a computer of people doing Zoom. How important that is. I would put in an Ottawa County parks map brochure, because instead of going on a cruise, my husband and I walked all the 42 Ottawa County parks and discovered the beauty in our local parks. I'd also put in a bicycle helmet, because again instead of doing a cruise my husband and I have done several bike trips and have had picnics. I'd put in my picnic tablecloth, because it signifies the delight in sitting out in the sunshine at a picnic table. Speaking of that, I'd put in a loaf of banana bread. I've made more banana bread this year than ever before. I'd put in a camp chair, because it would signify the informal gatherings I've had with friends in my backyard in the delight, just being with someone simply in the backyard has been this summer. I'd put in a jigsaw puzzle because I have done way too many jigsaw puzzles, at least two dozen and I do them twice. At least. I would put in, well, realize you are not from Zeeland and that's pretty much all of you, the feel the Zeel, Zeeland sign, with a heart, with a "Z" in the middle to signify the kindness of neighbors during this Covid time, and how the community has come together. And I guess the last thing I put in is an election sign, because yes, it is an election year and what a momentous election year this is. So that's what so far I’d put in my 2020 time capsule so far. I wonder what I'll add to it.