“May you live in interesting times” is an old Chinese curse. These are certainly interesting times. The day after I wrote my last post, Donna went to the dress rehearsal for the Viewpoint Concert Band’s final performance of the season. When she arrived at the ballroom, there weren’t any chairs or music stands set up. She was informed that the concert had been cancelled as the management at Viewpoint had decided to curtail all events involving more than 10 people to prevent unnecessary risk of coronavirus infection.

Donna had a gift for her band director, Dr. Bruce Amman. She obtained photos from a photographer at their last concert where Bruce played a sax solo and also conducted the band. She had them made into a collage mounted on an acrylic block photo frame. She presented it to Bruce before heading back to the coach, disappointed over the cancellation.

The restriction on gatherings didn’t seem to affect pickleball as we played in the St. Patrick’s tournament on Saturday. We got off to a slow start and even though we finished up with some strong games, the first two games sunk our chances of making the playoffs. At the pickleball courts,there was much discussion over changing plans for many of the people here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort.

At this time of year, the majority of people in the park are visitors from Canada. The Canadians had concerns over their healthcare insurance and possibilities of borders closing. Most of them elected to leave this week and head back to Canada. Their concerns were well-founded as announcements by the Canadian and US governments were made. The RV park was nearly full a week ago, but now there are many unoccupied sites.

Our neighbors across from our site, Sue and Chuck, decided to leave early and head back to Illinois to be with their families. We had a little after-dinner cocktail send-off with about 10 people in attendance Monday night. Donna played Danny Boy on her clarinet, an Irish ballad from the concert that got canceled, as a going away present for Sue and Chuck, who pulled out on Tuesday.

On Sunday, Donna wanted to get some groceries. I dropped her off at Sprouts, a natural foods store, then drove to Winco Foods to restock on beer and look for a few items. I was in for a shock. The empty shelves and meat department made me feel like I was shopping in Venezuela. The beer cooler was full, so that was a good thing. I managed to buy two dozen eggs and some coffee. I drove back to Sprouts to find the situation there was much different. For some reason, people haven’t mobbed Sprouts and they were only sold out of a few categories – soups and pasta for example. These are easily stored and only require water and heat to prepare, so I guess they’re popular right now.

Donna was able to complete her shopping and got most everything on her shopping list. I bought two pounds of beef top round to make jerky. RV living means we have less refrigerator and freezer space than most sticks-and-bricks homes, so we shop more often. With so many visitors to central Arizona pulling out, I’m wondering if some of the pressure on the supply chain will be reduced. I can only hope so.

We’d already extended our stay here through the end of April. Our original plan was to spend April in San Diego, however, we were going to fly to Miami for a wedding the first week of April. Donna’s niece, Michelle, is getting married and we could fly non-stop from Phoenix, but not from San Diego. We planned to leave April 2nd and return on the 6th. Now the wedding has been postponed until the fall, so we won’t have to worry about making the flight or traveling to Florida.

For now, we’ll plan on staying here until the end of April and then make decisions as the situation evolves. Arizona is a good place to be right now. For some reason, there are very few cases of COVID-19 here – only 20 cases reported in the state.

Meanwhile, we aren’t suffering any shortages, just lacking some amenities here at the RV park. The pools and hot tubs as well as the gym and recreation rooms are closed. We’re eating well though and I have evidence of that. Last week, Donna made a couple of new dishes for dinner.

Donna made her usual St. Patrick’s day meal yesterday – corned beef, cabbage, carrots, champ (Irish mashed potatoes with scallions) and Irish soda bread. Delicious!

I smoked another batch of beef jerky and I think it’s my best effort so far. Each batch has been an improvement!

The weather for the last week has been great – daily highs in the low to high 70s. Today we have clouds and sporadic rain showers. The temperature will only reach the 60s for the next couple of days before we get back into the upper 70s over the weekend. Maybe the abundant sunshine and time spent outdoors has something to do with the low number of COVID-19 cases here.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!