July 2021 Coming in Hot with those July 2020 Vibes

 Well, way to go USA. We find ourselves in a totally predictable 4th (or maybe 5th, I've lost count) wave of the virus.  Can you believe we have three functioning, free, and safe vaccines and we find ourselves in this mess again? 

JO and I headed out to California last week for our first vacation since February 2020.  It was a great trip.  It was so nice to be away from our housing stress and to be out of our living room that we spent all but two days in since March 12th, 2020.  But there was this lingering dread bubbling under the surface.  Most of our trip was outside, but we did have to, and in some instances, chose to take some risks.  

There were a few times when we had to eat inside.  We ate in a super crowded Italian restaurant in San Francisco because it's actually hard to find a place to eat in San Fran after 7:00pm.  While we sitting at the table, feeling a bit freaked out, we checked vaccination rates in the city and were happy to see that the city has 80%+ vaccinated.  We also had drinks at a bar both nights we were in the city because we wanted to "vacation" and because drinks outside isn't really a thing in San Francisco. We chose a local spot, hoping it was fully of vaccinated locals and not unvaccinated tourists.  

The day we left, the Bay Area's health department recommended masking indoors again because the Delta variant was spreading fast in the area.  The vacation guilt set in which soon morphed into a "Sad About America" mood.  

I should be able to vacation free of guilt.  I did my job.  For 15 months I social distanced, I avoided crowds, I didn't see friends in real life, I ate outside at restaurants in 15 degree weather, and when I was eligible, I got my shot.  I didn't become magnetic, I'm not controlled by Bill Gates, and my cell reception hasn't improved.  I didn't put the health and safety of our country on the line to own the libs or make the former guy look good.  I did my job but because a whole bunch of people messed around we are back in a big mess.  It's not a "pandemic of the unvaccinated."  I take offense to that.  What happens to the unvaccinated directly impacts me.  If we let the virus keep burning, more variants are going to pop up (check out the lambda one, it's worse than delta) and the vaccines could weaken or no longer work.  

We tried the honor system thing. It didn't work. It was never going to work.  Going backward sucks.  It really does.  As an elementary teacher I get it.  It's really hard to get stricter once you loosen the reigns.  We don't have a choice now.  It's time for mandates and passports or apps or whatever you want to call it.  Let's be France.  

Back to the Stadium

 Something wonderful happened yesterday.  We made a triumphant return to watching sports in real life!  The US Women's National Soccer team was playing two games at UConn's football stadium and of course we had to go!  

Traffic was a nightmare and I think we parked a mile from the stadium but that didn't matter.  JO got us amazing seats, centerfield row 11.  We grabbed a few Mew-S-A's and soaked in every moment.  I had an absolute blast watching my former student play for the USWNT.  

That being said, I am not ready to be around that many maskless people, even if it's outdoors.  I really hope in our zeal to return to normal we don't mess things up.  

A New Normal

 The weather was awful this past week. When it wasn't sweltering, it was freezing and down pouring.  How very New England of Mother Nature.  

The weather, and another setback with our new place, had me feeling really out of sorts.  In an effort to turn things around, JO suggested we head out to NuBar on Saturday night.  It was raining and freezing.  I actually had to wear my winter dress boots, which I hadn't worn once all winter 🤣 As a result of the weather, we had to eat inside, which we really haven't done since March 12th, 2020.  NuBar was super empty so it was a good way to ease back into indoor dining.  We grabbed a lounge table by the fireplace and enjoyed tasty food and delicious drinks.  

The next day was July 4th and the sun started peeking out from behind the clouds.  It was still cool but it was so nice to see the sun again.  We decided to try Shy Bird over in Kendall Square.  We've been wanting to try this place for a while and we knew it would be crowded, so we opted to eat on their patio.  I really enjoyed the atmosphere, great people watching and friendly, prompt service.  (I think this may the training ground for ensemble waitering required at Teatro 🤣.)  We tried the chicken bites, cheesy bread, and marinated tomatoes.  All were delicious, especially the cheesy bread.  Two areas for improvement- larger servings of the dipping sauces and a stronger honey mustard.

After dinner we wanted to continue the evening.  (Can we talk about how nice it is to be able to continue an evening again?  Crowds are settling down so you can actually be spontaneous again and you no longer need to order food with drinks so you can just get a drink and relax again.)  We decided to grab some beers at Cambridge Brewing Company.  We sat inside.  The amount of people inside was at a reasonable level and we were a safe distance from other groups of people.  It was nice to be inside, doing something so simple as grabbing some drinks (even if mine was too lemony.)

I never thought I would say this, but a lot is riding on these two pallets of red bricks...and I absolutely hate red brick!