Coronavirus: What To Do at Home?

“You bid me write to amuse the tedious hours,
And save from withering my poetic powers;
Hard is the task, my friend, for verse should flow
From the free mind, not fettered down . . .”
~Ovid. Trist. Lib. V. Elegy Xii, by William Cowper

“Corona, Corona where art thou?
Furtively, I glance away from the sink.
Was that a cough?”
~Beau Sasser, M.D.

Now that I’m in shelter-in-place-mode, the question is, “what to do?” I’m considered essential since people still fall down and go boom, therefore I get to go into work to evaluate urgent orthopedic needs. For this I’m thankful, and I’m glad I can do my part to help. However, this leaves me with a lot of time, and I mean a great deal of time where I have to stay at home. Like many people, I initially tried to while away the hours by staring at Instagram and Facebook. There are only so many memes you can stare at, so many Facebook stories, and so many times you can check the CDC for updates. COVID-19 is a real thing, it’s a real threat, and we need to be ready for the long haul. So let’s hunker down and find something real to do.

First off, there are always books to read. I know I have talked to ya’ll in the past on the books I’m reading. Normally, I think that should be a blog unto itself, but honestly, about two weeks ago I went to G.J. Ford Bookshop and stocked up. If you can get any of these books, I highly recommend them. If nothing else, this list should allow you to get on the internet and peruse the titles and synopsis to see if they would be to your liking.

1. The Pioneers, by David McCullough

2. Young Washington, by Peter Stark

3. **The Splendid and the Vile, by Erik Larson (Excellent.)

4. Leaders Eat Last, by Simon Sinek

5. Pride of Eden, by Taylor Brown (Local boy, great book.)

6. Treeborne, by Caleb Johnson (Slightly Faulknerian.)

7. The Plot against America, by Philip Roth (Alternate History of WWII.)

8. American Dirt, by Jeane Cummins

9. We Must be Brave, by Frances Liardet

10. Dear Edward, by Ann Napolitano

11. America’s First Daughter, by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie

12. Black Flags, Blue Waters, by Eric Jay Dolin

13. The Devil’s Eye, by Jack McDevitt (I like a little Sci-Fi.)

14. American Cake, by Ann Byrn (A historical cookbook.)

Even for the most ardent bibliophile with an infinite amount of time, this list can be daunting and probably make your eyes cross. So I suggest finding a few more things to do for the whole family.

Board games. There are the tried and true games like Risk, Life, Sorry, and Monopoly that will easily eat up an afternoon. With our family, we look for games that we can expend some energy. Our recent favorites have been Twister, Pie Face and Throw Throw Burrito; a hodgepodge of the card games Old Maid and Uno, and a little Dodgeball when a random player yells, “BURRITO BRAWL!”

Then there’s always a jigsaw puzzle. I can honestly say that my memories of jigsaw puzzles always involve rainy days on vacation. I had a great aunt that had a house in Highlands, NC, back in the 70’s when it was just a sleepy mountain town. We would spend 7-10 days up there each summer and without fail, it would rain for a few days straight. That’s when we would pull out the jigsaw puzzle of the Blue Ridge parkway or Lighthouses of America and spread it across the living room table.

My wife has spread out a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle that I think is going to drive me crazy. The irony is the picture is of an idyllic setting in the mountains replete with a cozy cabin nestled next to a lake with rivulets of a waterfall emptying into crystal clear water. I can almost see the rainbow trout strike at a mayfly on the calm water. I said I can almost see the rainbow trout… BUT I CAN’T FIND THE PIECE!

Finally, take up a hobby. In the list of books, I recommended American Cake by Ann Byrn. This is great history about the evolution of the American cake from colonial times to present along with their recipes. My goal is to try to bake a cake from each period. So, I guess I’m taking up baking.

I also got a guitar. Unfortunately, I can’t carry a tune but if I can learn to beat out a bad version of Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright or Folsom Prison Blues, I’ll be pretty happy with myself. As I see it, as I have stated, COVID-19 is serious, and we need to follow the recommendations of the state and the CDC. With that being said, with each crisis there is always an opportunity. Now, I don’t mean an opportunity to line your pockets, but instead, an opportunity to become a better person. I hope that some of these suggestions are at least helpful to push back the tedium that might result from shelter-in-place. We’re all in this together. Be safe. Good luck.