Leigh's Views

Okay, I’m done with being cooped up in the house. Today I’m pretending I’m in Europe. I’ve created a little café in the corner of my kitchen. Put up tchotchkes from my various travels on the wall, tiny table with cups from Athens, plates from Italy, platter from Spain. I’m eating pastries, drinking espresso and watching cats out my window. Uhm, cats? You’re probably thinking what’s that got to do with Europe? Well, when I was in Athens, there were cats everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. I spotted them in and among the ruins of the historical sites. On the window sills of homes. Hanging out by the tables of outdoor cafes. At first, I thought all of these cats were strays and couldn’t figure out why the city didn’t do something about them. Until I realized there were bowls of food and water in tiny niches all over the place. Nope, these cats were community pets – owned by no one and everyone. Didn’t seem like the best idea to me, but then I’ve never been a huge fan of cats. Ugh,

So a friend of mine calls the other day, asking if I have toilet paper. Uhm, not exactly sure how to take this. Because, no I don’t have much left as apparently I was the only person in town to not go crazy and buy enough for the next 20 years when it was still in stock. And now I can’t find it anywhere. Thus, if they are offering some – great. If they are asking for some – yikes, I have none to spare. Sensing my hesitation, they went on to say they were going to the next town over to see if there was some in stock. They’d get some for me if I would like. Oh, wonderful! A few hours later, I hadn’t heard anything back. Fine, whatever, I’ll find some eventually. Much, much later, I get a call. They were bringing toilet paper my way. Cool! The toilet paper fairy left the bag on my porch. In the bag was individually wrapped rolls. Like what you’d get at a restaurant or a hospital. Uhm… And also a receipt from what appeared to be a coffee shop in a town over a hundred miles away. Okay.

By now you, like me, have taken a deep dive into your online streaming services I’m sure. (Love is Blind, Tiger King, just don’t ask me what else…). I’ve also been watching a ton of parodies on Youtube. Some are pretty good (‘I want to know what day it is’ for example), others, well, ahm, let’s just say should never have been posted. And it goes without says that the Andrea Bochelli performance from Milan was a must see on Easter. While it was beautiful, it was also hauntingly eerie with the scenes of the empty duomo and streets of various cities. Yes, it seems the whole world is turned upside down with no end in sight. It’s almost as if everyone is experiencing vertigo at same time. Now for those of you who’ve never had this happen to you – well, let me describe my experience with it. Last week, I was starting to chop tomatoes for dinner. Then the kitchen counter tilted one way, then the other. Needless to say, I had to give up on cutting anything for fear of losing a finger or tw

Years ago I signed up for a service to help me with budgeting. Then a few years ago, the thing moved to an app which I downloaded to my tablet. Now, I’ve never really paid that much attention to it. Sure, I have a basic idea of where my money goes each month. But as for trying to change my habits and buckle down with a hard and fast plan, not really happening. While I did see the value of saving more money, well, lets just say retirement always seems such a long way off. Okay, start the jokes now – I’m well over 50 and putting money aside for retirement is a ship that has sailed without me. Thus, last week when the popup alert came on my tablet with confetti, balloons, smiley faces, etc., well I just had to open it. The thing proudly told me my spending was down 86% for the month of March - wahoo! Uhm, did no one tell the app the world has been placed in limbo? That my travel plans have been canceled? That I couldn’t go out with my friends anywhere? There’s no food in the store to

So it’s April fools’ day – yup, I woke up today and had this magical thought that March had been one big, long joke. Today someone would say ‘April fools’!’ and the nightmare would be over. Nope. Still stuck at home. Fine. I called a friend, a dear friend I frequently go to coffee with. Well, we used to, in that other time, in that other life. Now, a phone call is all we have. In a few moments we were giggling and laughing over nothing really. Because that is what we do. Somehow the conversation turned to Sesame Street – no, not today’s version but the old stuff from the 70’s. And the Electric Company – oh, and of course, Mr. Rogers. Then on to old TV shows with cute guys we used to drool over – MacGyver, Magnum P.I. – again, not the new versions. Which led to music, Fleetwood Mac, Bee Gees, Phil Collins, Cyndi Lauper, well, to many to name here. Then movies with good music – Saturday Night Fever, Top Gun, Dirty Dancing, Footloose, to name a few. Yup, here’s the thing, right now th