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Pre-Quarantine Walks

Before the CoVID-19 confinement began in France John and I spent some time with the ducks in Oberthur Park and regular walks around town. See the images below.

The Rennes City Hall was constructed in 1734.	The Place de la Mairie with the carousel closed in the early morning hours.	A cold John in front of the Opera House in the Place de la Mairie.
The Palais du Commerce where our main post office is located.	One of the many leafy paths of Parc Oberthur.	It's hard to see in this picture, but there are bird houses attached to many of the trees.
The back of the chalet.	These steps leading up the the front of the chalet reminds me of parts of Balboa Park in San Diego.	The front of the chalet looking towards the pond at Parc Oberthur.
The renovations for the playground continue.	Whether by walking or sitting Parc Oberthur brings peace.

Birthday Parade

On my birthday we were treated to a surprise parade led by Monsieur Sharky. I love that parade! Twice every year we see Monsieur Sharky's parade for children. It originates at Thabor Park a few blocks from here and offers music, dance (this time Michael Jackson style dancing) flashy colors, floats, a band, goofy Monsieur Sharky (my favorite shark in the whole world), and adorable swarms of little kids in costumes! Who needs Halloween?

John gave me a Ruth Bader Ginsberg (the Notorious RBG) doll to go with the Frida Kalo doll he gave me for a birthday a few years back. They're like sisters.

Festival of Children Parade. The band stopped to play in front of our building.	There were many little children in costumes.	And more costumes including a very little Spider-Man.
After playing for 15 minutes the parade moved on.	Our sharky friend was back for the parade.	Frida and Ruth RBG enjoyed the show.

France's Nationwide Confinement Begins March 17

The Municipal Elections in France began 15 March and ran through the 22nd, during the nationwide confinement. People voted in person despite the virus concerns.

Many people in France shop everyday - or at least they did. We went to the local stores a few times after confinement was announced and most shelves were bare. We haven't experienced long lines yet but many of our friends have.

For the most part we shop online and have grocery stores deliver our food and other supplies and we also shop online for everything else we need. The grocery delivery people wear masks and put the bags on the floor outside our door, ring the doorbell and then move back 6 feet (CDC is now recommending 9 feet). Before they arrive they send me a code which I write in big letters on a large paper. The code is now used instead of signing for the delivery. After I show them the code they leave. Before I put the groceries away I wipe them down with full strength alcohol, hydrogen peroxide or diluted bleach (if they are plastic or produce I drop them in bleach water), let them air dry (I rinse the produce after) and wash my hands for 30 seconds or more (20 is recommended). We don't want to catch this virus.

The CDC now recommends cloth masks to lessen the spread of the virus so we will carry them with us and put them on when we are near other people.

On the day before quarantine many of the grocery shelves were empty.	Tape was place on the floor to keep safe distance in the line going to the cashier.	Here's a pic of empty grocery shelves in Paris.
Notices were put up on our building about reduced trash and recycle services.

Walks During Nationwide Confinement

Our little park is closed now so we are investigating other areas during our neighborhood walks.

During confinement we are allowed to venture 2 km from home for exercise walks. Fortunately, La Vilaine river is within 2 km of our home. So we stroll there being very careful to stay away from other people. You can see the river area in the photos below.

As you know our cat Danny has been having health problems. Our friend Doc called us and played a recording over the phone of the song "Danny Boy". That was very sweet of him and a wonderful surprise. We are lucky to have such sweet, interesting, compassionate, intelligent, sweet (did I say sweet?) friends. Doc and Marion live in Nice and we live in Rennes, 1200 km (745 miles) away but it often feels as though there is no distance.

So a little later I sent Doc an email and said, "12 years ago when Danny was a baby I used to sing that song to him but I changed the lyrics. He used to bring his toys into the kitchen when I was cooking and leave them in my path where I could step on them and squash them. I think he was entertained by that new experience - squashed mousies or maybe by his mom's reaction when she squashed the mousies. Many times throughout the day he would bring in more of his toys - not always mousies - and the kitchen floor would become a landmine of kitty toys.

So I would sing to our baby kitty:

Oh Danny's toys are strewn across the kitchen ...
I don't recall what I said for the rest of the lyrics but it was impromptu and apparently not very memorable."

We want to thank all our friends for their kind sentiments about our kitty, Danny. We are grateful for your expressions of caring and for your advice. It has been helpful to us.

Even with the ongoing world pandemic John and I are happy here in France. Having good friends is a big plus (as always) and we'd like to tell you more about those closest to us.

We discovered new houses on our quarantine walks.	This Pablo Picasso elementary school had great wall murals.	Here's another in the playground.
La Vilaine - one of two rivers that meet in Rennes.	La Vilaine - facing west towards the center of Rennes.	Ceramic sculptures along the river.
Springtime flowers are precious in a quarantine.	Taming the river into a canal before it enters downtown Rennes.	The city parks are closed for the quarantine.
Parc Oberthur through the bars in the locked gate.	A notice from the city on the closing of the city parks until the quarantine is over.

Friends

After 2 weeks of confinement our friends Kathleen and Dave got creative. As I've mentioned before Kathleen is a photographer who has done some very interesting work. You can see some of it in her blog kmazz.

Back to Kathleen's creative project ... Dave sent us an email saying, "In our stay at home isolation here in Nice, Kathleen's "roaming-the-town-each-day" photographer spirit has taken a big hit...so she has turned to her creative side, photographing "still lifes" of our emergency food supply, etc,...and then she dressed me up as a model to recreate one of her favorite Dutch Masters paintings....Van Eyck's Self Portrait...... Check out his painting, [and] see me as Van Eyck below. (Luckily for all, she isn't demanding I pose for Adam at the Creation shot.... we have no fig leaves...?? and so isolation goes...."

They are so funny. That photo reminds me a little of that Fine Art Paintings parade we saw 2 years ago here in Rennes. Fine Art paintings as costumes. (See images at the bottom of this web page)

Note from Dave: "The mandatory stay at home policy is nationwide in France...we are HAPPY to comply and glad the French government is doing what it can to slow down the virus freight train. "

John and I agree.

So what are you doing to pass the time during your CoVID-19 quarantine/lockdown/confinement/shelter in place?

Doc and Marion used their confinement to go through boxes in their garage and Marion encountered an article from 1993 when Doc was a city councilmember in San Bernardino, California. So, in addition to being a doctor (family practitioner & psychiatrist) he is also a long time Democratic Party activist. We met Doc and Marion and Dave and Kathleen through Democrats Abroad in Nice. We met several others there as well.

Marion sent the article to us and gave us permission to use it for our blog. You can read the article below and it has a photo of Doc in 1993, looking happy as always. Another photo of Doc is from this year. He's holding the sign for the Democrats Abroad French Riviera chapter. And again he's a happy camper. That's our doctor!

I decided to share some info with you about our friends in France so I asked Doc to layout some details of his own history and that of his offspring and I also gleaned bits from his past emails so here, in his words, is that story (in part):

"I was the councilman (& Mayor pro-tem) for San Bernardino's 2nd ward, from 1993 - 1998. San Bernardino county's western border abuts Los Angeles County's eastern border. San Bernardino County is the largest county (by area) in the continental USA. The City of San Bernardino, where I served, is the county seat of its county; and it is approximately 100 km east of the city of Los Angeles.

Our deceased son, Frederick J. Curlin, IV, M.D. was felled by gunshot February 2013, while serving in his capacity of reserve deputy Sheriff for the County of Los Angeles. His full time position was that of Dept head of Anesthesia & Reanimation, for Kaiser Permanente, Fontana, California. He left four youngsters, the eldest of which, a Harvard University grad, is now a senior in medical school at the University California San Francisco. The 2nd child, also a girl, is an undergrad junior at Yale University. Their father, our son, Frederick was also a medical school graduate from UCSF.

Our son Marcel Etienne Curlin, M.D., specialist in Infectious Diseases, having done a five year tour in Bangkok, Thailand in charge of its CDC laboratory there, is now a Medical School professor at his Alma Mater in Portland, Oregon. At the same time, he continues his laboratory research on HIV-Aids, veering toward CoVid-19, still affiliated with Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta. More than once Marcel has appeared on the front pages in Oregon [newspapers], in connection with certain therapeutic 'break-throughs' with HIV-Aids. Periodically, he is sent on assignment to Bangkok, Thailand by the government.

Meanwhile, back in New York, our son David H. Winston is a Captain in Fire Department New York (FDNY). As a first responder & firefighter, he worked ground zero on 9/11. He is a retired Captain from the United States Marine Corps, who recalls his experience dodging bullets on missions in the Middle East. David recently returned to New York, together with his fiancée Grace, from their delightful vacation in the South Indian Ocean, where there was zero CoVid-19, to NYC, which is the epicenter of coronavirus siege.

One of David's sons, our grandson, Braxton Winston is an elected councilman for the city of Charlotte, North Carolina."

The story of his path to city councilman is as follows:

"A few years ago, Braxton happened upon a shooting scene in Charlotte purely by chance. The scene revealed that an innocent black motorist (Keith Lamont Scott), sitting at the wheel of his car, waiting for someone to whom he was scheduled to give a lift, was shot & killed without reason by a white police officer.

Upon joining in the protest, Braxton was immediately arrested. And upon release, he resumed leadership of a local movement which resulted in major changes of police protocols in the community.

A picture of Braxton [see image below], one evening, atop a barrier, shirtless, confronting the police & tear gas, fearlessly voicing protest went viral in the USA and in Europe. Chelsea Clinton reacted to the photograph, commending his leadership in that particular incident. He had taken off his shirt to use as a mask against the clouds of teargas he says police had been firing "for hours". It was quite dramatic & unpredictable as to outcome at the time.

Braxton's kid brother, Brandon, is a recent Harvard Law School graduate, and admitted to the California Bar, in which State he now resides. Brandon's professional interest lies in the practice of entertainment law. He enjoys his life as bachelor (so far), & with a very healthy life style. With a physical frame of 6'5", many view him as an adonis. His passtime is weight lifting, which practice he engages in regularly. You should see Brandon. He looks like someone who stepped out of a movie scene and he is the possessor of a very sweet and gentle disposition. I find myself wishing I could be close enough to him to inject a degree of guidance."

Here's an article from Politico about events leading to Braxton's becoming Charlotte's city councilman and another from the Guardian.

"Braxton has found a voice in the political arena, almost as an aftermath of his zealous protest activity. His lack of "voice" transitioned into "voice mode", as he decided to enter the political arena and in his run for City Council. He attracted the attention of ... Mr. Hugh McColl (former President of Bank of America) [and a well known leader in the community]. With the many community leaders' support for him which followed, he scored a resounding victory at the polls. There are great expectations for Braxton, who has shown tremendous insight and leadership ability."

And those are the words of very proud parents & grandparents.

Jan van Eyck, Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?), 1433	Our good friend, David Pagni, in his wife's composition.	Another great friend, "Doc" Curlin
Braxton Winston, Doc's grandson

COVID-19 Round Up

Most of the world is impacted by COVID-19 now so all our readers are probably well versed in the dos, don'ts and whats to expect of the world pandemic. A synopsis:

Globally, about 3.4 percent of reported COVID-19 cases died , while seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1 percent of those infected. A caveat - reportings for numbers of infections of both CoVID-19 and the flu are not accurate. Maybe that is reflected in that statistic. I don't know.

People who do not display symptoms can and many do transmit the COVID-19 virus SARS CoV-2.

30% of serious cases are people under 40.

About 30% of the world's population is currently in confinement/lockdown for the foreseeable future.

On March 30 France recently had 418 deaths over 24 hours. which is making all of us uneasy. On March 31 that number is 499 and is expected to increase a great deal in coming days.

The rate of infection and deaths worldwide is increasing exponentially (I don't know which exponent). Currently the US is leading in number of cases and new cases and ranking third behind Italy and Spain in number of deaths and new deaths. France is still being hit hard coming in fourth in number of deaths and fifth in number of new deaths worldwide (as of the end of March).

COVID-19/SARS CoV-2 live updates can be found on Live Science.

This map shows COVID-19 affected regions of France

Both Presidents Macron and Trump gave speeches about COVID-19 recently. The speeches varied a great deal. If you're interested, here is a link to Macron's speech and here is one to Trump's.

In the United States, scientists expect that between tens of millions and 215 million Americans will ultimately be infected, and the death toll could range from the tens of thousands to 1.7 million. At every point, experts have emphasized that the country could reduce those terrible numbers by taking action and at every point those actions have been ignored with the narcissist in chief leading the US down the path of increased disease and death.

Throughout the infected world people have been confined to their homes for weeks. China is doing a second round of lockdowns as the cases there start to rise again. in France we haven't been able to leave our homes without approval paperwork. This FAQ has information about the new restrictions. In France our confinement has been extended until April 15 and will probably be extended at least 2 more weeks after that -- maybe months - as is likely the case for all the other countries in confinement or lockdown.

But confinement has had some positive aspects to it. We learned that we prefer home deliveries from Intermarche instead of Carrefour. MUCH better service. We've had plenty of time to catch up on our to do lists. There's been a ton of very cool free cultural stuff on the Internet for example: French National Orchestra plays Bolero from home.

From constant warnings and explanations about washing our hands I learned that the recommended soap and hot water are to dissolve the protective fatty lipid barrier of the virus to break it apart and make it inactive. Alcohol does the same thing. Lipids don't dissolve in water. I had always thought it was to break down oils on our hands so contaminants can be more easily washed off. I already was washing my hands a lot but I think I've doubled up on that.

Sadly, the virus dangers and damages will get worse before they get better. Many more people will die over the next few weeks.