INDIANA TO UPSTATE NEW YORK AND WESTERN MASS

 Leaving Marian and Jay was hard and strange.  Especially in this COVID moment, the intimacy of visiting friends and family feels so dear.  And the inability to give physical hugs and to share physical closeness is painful.  Every place I go, it seems I'll need to go back again once COVID is tamed, to experience all the hugs and closeness I missed this time around.

Driving north into Ohio, it is green with farms that seem smaller and more like I remember farms looking. 

I drove along I-80 across northern Pennsylvania.  Mile after mile, I was surrounded by deep forests, hills and mountains.  Such a joy and relief to be in nature in this way!  The green of the forests overhanging the road didn't make for good vistas or photographs, just cool shade and good earthy smells.

And so to upstate New York, where I stayed with my cousin Bill and his wife Arla.  They live in a small town where there has been very little COVID.  The only cases in their county have been at the local nursing home.  I continued to wear a mask, and meet only outside 6' apart, except to use their washer and dryer which are just inside their back door.  While many folks were wearing masks, it is hard to be strict when there is so little active COVID.  Sometimes Bill would be working in his shop or outside and a friend would stop by.  Neither of them was wearing a mask, they were outside, and mostly stood apart.  Seems like there is no way to be 100% sure you are safe unless you just hibernate inside.  I guess, we are all just making the best risk assessment we can and finding what behaviors we are comfortable with.  

Bill and Arla are concerned about the new regulations in New York State in recent years which require full vaccinations for all school children, no exceptions.  While I believe, as a nurse, vaccinations are a great public health tool which has helped to rid the world of terrible illnesses, they are not always safe for everyone, despite the "science" put out by the drug manufacturers.  Many doctors and parents have serious questions about the safety and necessity of the full vaccination schedule which has been created as standard of care by committees whose members include employees of the vaccine manufacturers with their vested interest in requiring their products be used, making more money for their shareholders.  There is a political agenda around vaccines which doesn't help get real answers to substantive questions that have been raised, just dogmatic insistence that vaccinations are in all cases necessary and safe.  What will happen when a vaccine for COVID is created?  Will the rush to find one ensure that all the studies were done correctly?  That the vaccine will work?  That it is really safe for all populations (not just average healthy adults)?  Will there be new laws passed that require vaccinations in order to participate in community life, such as school, public transportation, getting your drivers license renewed, entering a post office, etc., etc.?  And will the vaccine be available to everyone, or just to those who can afford it, in order to make the vaccine manufacturers richer?  It is an alarming fact that I feel enough distrust in our public institutions and our society to consider such questions reasonable and concerning.  

From Bill and Arla's, I drove to my friend Jim's in Haydenville.  One reason I had decided to come east was because I had my yearly eye and dental exams scheduled for late June.  Since I typically was having these exams every 6 months, and it had already been a year, I decided it was worth the risk, and both offices were open.  My car needed service, new tires and its yearly inspection.  My camper needed yearly service and a couple small repairs.  You get the picture - time to take care of some life maintenance chores, which are easiest to do on my home turf.  I was so busy doing all that stuff that I barely had time to see any of my local friends.

Since I'm living entirely in my trailer, using the water in my fresh water tank, and filling up my waste tanks, I have to move the trailer to fill and empty tanks about once a week.  Along with my weekly nurse visits on Tuesdays, that gives a sort of rhythm to my travels.  After a week in W Mass getting lots of chores done, I headed towards Bill's, stopping on my way to visit with Helen and Rachel at Helen's house near Kent CT.   

The Tree Top Inn.  Helen isn't advertising for B&B customers right now, but is accepting friends and neighbors who want to get away.  It's a lovely spot, big deck on the back with a grill, and hiking nearby.  If you're looking for a place to get away, let me know.  COVID safe.

Back at Bill and Arla's,  I was happy to be able to continue the deep conversations we had started in the fall about spiritual matters.  Bill and Arla have spent decades studying Anthroposophy.  They kindly loaned me books and article to take with me.  My camper is now loaded down with books.  Good thing I like to read!  After a week at Bill and Arla's, I had to move the trailer again, and returned to Jim's in W Mass.  

This time I had fewer things to do and was able to visit with friends and help with the Community Food Distribution Project.  When the COVID lock down started, The Survival Center closed.  I suspect this was because their facility was not set up to allow for social distancing.  However, the need for food assistance in Northampton only grew.  To meet that need, The Survival Center, and Grow Food Northampton began outdoor food distribution 5 days a week.  One Monday, Wednesday and Friday, food was being distributed at Jackson Street School.  The food was stored, sorted and bagged in a very large and well ventilated space at the school and distributed outside. (Since then, The Survival Center has resumed food distribution outside at their site M-W-F instead of at Jackson Street School.)  Also on Tuesdays and Thursdays, food was transported to several locations across the city for distribution.  I had heard that members of my church were volunteering to help with this effort and resolved to volunteer if I could while in Northampton.  So that Tuesday, I went to Jackson Street School to join the crew for The Lumberyard distribution site.  The Lumberyard is a new housing complex on Pleasant Street, which has a number of subsidized housing units.  Distribution is also done at several other housing complexes with subsidized units.  First we had to load up cars and vans to transport the food to the site.  

                                          I was working with Jan and Bob from my church.  

Once we got to The Lumberyard we had to set up for the distribution which happens from 11 to 12.  Each family needing food checks in with the front table and is either checked off The Survival Center list or added to it.  Then the checker lets the volunteers know how many people are in the family so that we can collect the appropriate number of bags of produce, and canned goods.  These are given to the folks who have the fresh produce which was brought to Jackson Street that morning by farmers for this distribution.  When we have assembled all the food for this family, usually in their bag or wagon, they take it away.  

The canned goods included a can of fruit, a can of tomatoes, tuna, pasta, a bottle of pasta sauce, a jar of peanut butter and a bag of cold cereal.  The bag of produce included an onion, an apple, an orange and a potato or sweet potato.  This week the fresh produce was zucchini, green peppers and sweet corn.   Next to us was a school bus where meals for children were distributed.  Each child's share on Tuesdays was two breakfasts, and two lunches, provided by the Northampton schools.  On Thursdays they get 3 of each meal so that they have 5 days with two meals a day each week.

We were just packing up when a big thunderstorm hit and it began to pour.  Fortunately we had everything back in the cars and by the time we got back to Jackson Street to put away what we hadn't given out, it had stopped raining.  We had distributed almost all of our food and all of the fresh produce.  If you're interested in helping with this effort to feed our neighbors, you can volunteer through Grow Food Northampton.