For a while there, my friends and family were taking over this daily blog and I was so busy editing and formatting them for this space that I wasn’t writing anything myself.

I have also been spending a lot of time emailing, too much probably, to keep in touch with my family and friends in Israel, California and here. Your neck and back can suffer from all this extra slouching over a laptop so remember to sit up straight and get up often and walk around in between emails.

Also don’t forget to eat, as I did today. It’s already noon and I haven’t had breakfast.

It is touching that so many have written blogs, in particular my Aunt Beryl and “Uncle” Syd. Thanks to Dr. Michael Eleff, psychiatrist and my cousin from Winnipeg for his wise and tender words.

I have been painting every day and it came to me that we painters could exhibit our paintings done during this period on our website. So I’m asking the artists I know to contribute good quality photos of one of their paintings with a short bio for our website. It will be an online exhibition of recent paintings done at home during the (I hate to say the other word that starts with C) crisis.

We are planning on an April issue delivered to all apartment blocks and condos in our areas of distribution so that all of you who are self-isolating and avoiding going out to places you would normally go, will be able to pick up a copy from the pile in the lobby. The paper is slated to come out April 10. For the first time in our history of 33 years, we will ALL be working from home. Our graphic designer, Albert Cormier, will be taking the computer home from the office and sending us PDFs of the pages. Working from home has taken on a new meaning!

We had an issue during the ice storm in 1998. And we will have one now! Now that I think about it, I’m not even sure how we did that.

What else is new with us? We have stopped going out for groceries. We have asked our corner Fruiterie to put a box out on the sidewalk of fruits and vegetables etc. We paid by visa over the phone and Irwin walked to the shop and brought the box home. Strange times these are!

I am worried about all those who are in total isolation, some with no internet connection. One of them is our Shirley Cohen, 91, in her apartment at her B’nai Brith residence in Côte St. Luc.

She says she walks up and down her little balcony for exercise and has lunch brought up to her from the kitchen, which she would normally eat in the dining room. She is ordering from Solly’s and loves their egg rolls. They deliver the food to the front desk and someone brings it up to her, so no interaction with the delivery guy.

She made me think we just might order from Snowdon Deli today. Hope they are not too swamped!

The other night we went out on our balcony to sing “So Long Marianne.” This was because we got the information that everyone in Montreal was going to do this at 8pm and Martha Wainright was going to sing from her balcony at that time. Well, no one on our street here on Marcil in N.D.G. joined in. Still it was a fun time for Irwin and me, a little distraction from you-know-what.

Stay safe. Stay active. Stay involved and continue to read our daily blogs!

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