Pandemic, Week 105 (End Times)

This week, Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, addressed a joint session of Congress, requesting additional aid and that the US be a leader in peace – the result was an additional $14 billion in US humanitarian and military aid as well as armed drones. Two Fox News journalists (a cameraman and a "fixer") were killed by Russian fire in Ukraine. Dolly Parton was nominated, and quickly withdrew her name from consideration, for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, stating that the nomination may inspire her to actually record a rock & roll album at some point in the future. The NCAA Basketball Tournament began with a number of surprising losses in the first round.

The world reached 470.3 million COVID cases and 6.1 million deaths this week, of which the US accounted for 81.4 million cases and 998,000 deaths. 255 million Americans (77 percent) have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 217 million (65 percent) are fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, both Pfizer and Moderna are seeking FDA approval for a fourth booster shot, DCPS made masks optional in its schools, China and Hong Kong are having a surge in COVID deaths while a new and more contagious version of the Omicron variant is emerging in Europe, and the newly signed US budget omitted funds for COVID-19 aid.

Jeff arrived on Sunday night to briefly to crash at our place before an interview on Monday (after which he returned to NYC). Jacqui went home on Tuesday. Adam and Molly came over for dinner on Wednesday to inspect our new paint job. And on Friday, Nora stayed home and built a ukulele while the rest of went to Duke to hear the DC premier of William Levi Dawson's 1934 work, Negro Folk Symphony and then hear Owen play, with the members of the Duke and Post Classical Ensemble (PCE) orchestras, Louis Moreau Gottschalk's La Nuit des Tropics. Saturday, we returned to our regular routine with DCYOP for Nora and climbing for Owen (followed by a party for Owen and some gnocchi making for Nora).

But the big event of this week, was the decision to end our blog series on the Pandemic. Back in March 2020 when the initial wave of COVID was starting, there were suggestions that kids should journal about the Pandemic so they could later reflect on their experience. Knowing that neither of our children would elect to do so, I decided to write a weekly summary of what was going on in the world and how we were dealing with it. I naively thought it would last six weeks or so and that we might still make our Spring Break trip to Harry Potter World. 

I was mistaken.

A lot happened in the past two years. Schools closed and sort of opened and then opened some more. There were protests and elections and less than peaceful transitions of power. One war ended and another began. We lost someone we loved. And at times, we really struggled.

But of late we've shifted to a new phase of the Pandemic – the schools no longer require masks (though both our kids are still opting to wear theirs); the federal government is working on its reopening plan and Allen and I are figuring out our new schedules; we've flown twice for two separate ski trips and in a couple of weeks we'll be taking the train to NYC to take in some shows on Broadway. And while who knows if the Pandemic will ever really end, for now we're going to stop making it our main focus and instead return to our regular programming.

Though we will never forget.

(To see all of this week's pictures, click here.)

   

Pandemic, Week 104 (Park City)

This week, President Biden banned all Russian imports of gas oil and coal in response to the war in Ukraine while Senate democrats have proposed a bill to offset rising gas prices by suspending the 18.4 cents a gallon federal gas tax. Russia continued its attack on Ukraine, intensifying bombing near the port city of Mariupol, including a maternity hospital. Vice President Harris is traveling to Poland and Romania to discuss humanitarian aid to Ukraine after the US rejected an offer from Poland to transfer fighter jets to a US air base for Ukraine. The Florida "Don't Say Gay" bill, which limits what students can be taught about sexual orientation and gender identity advanced to the state senate, prompting Disney (with some prodding) to announce it would suspend all political donations in Florida in response. The Endurance, which sank in the Weddell Sea in 1915 during Shackleton's failed Trans-Antarctic Expedition, was discovered by a robot roughly 10,000 feet below the water's surface.

The world reached 457.2 million COVID cases and 6.1 million deaths this week, of which the US accounted for 81.2 million cases and 994,000 deaths.  254 million Americans (77 percent) have received at least one vaccine dose with 217 million (65 percent) being fully vaccinated. DCPS announced that masks would be optional at schools beginning Wednesday, March 16th.

It was a bit of a crazy week for us. We had the entire family over for dinner Sunday to show off the finished paint job. Tuesday, Owen had a concert at Duke. And on Wednesday, we took the kids out of school for to celebrate conferences and a professional development day by heading to Part City with the Telfair-Chas.

Once again we were blessed by the snow gods, for while Salt Lake City hadn't had any major snowfall since December, it received roughly 20 inches right before we arrived.  While it took a while for everyone to motivate the first day (the four level bunkbed might have been a contributing factor), we eventually all made it on the slopes (though some of us stayed out longer than others). The next few days involved some pretty great skiing (aside from some unanticipated moguls, limited eating options due to labor shortages and a somewhat unpredictable gondola), some down time in Park City, and a lot of hanging out. The final day, Allen had actually covered over 50 miles on the mountains (Owen clocked in somewhere in the 40s, I was a little less and Nora stayed home and finished reading Neverwhere). And while leaving was pretty rough (8:30 am flights are always hard but the morning of daylight savings, made for some pretty grumpy travelers), it was totally worth it.

(To see all of this week's pictures, click here.)

Pandemic, Week 103 (The Reveal)

This week, President Biden addressed the nation in the State of the Union where he discussed the situation in Ukraine, his plan to curb inflation, promoted previous economic relief programs and called for lowering prescription drug costs and funding veteran health. The United Nations issued a non-biding resolution demanding Russian end the war, while over a million Ukrainian refugees have fled to Poland, Hungary and other former Eastern Bloc nations. A temporary ceasefire to create corridors to evacuate children, women the sick and injured ended abruptly as Russia resumed bombing multiple Ukrainian cities. Donald Trump won the CPAC straw poll after addressing the conservative action committee where he called Vladimir Putin smart and out leaders dumb.

The world reached 445.5 million COVID cases and 6.0 million deaths this week, of which the United States accounted for 80.9 million cases and 984,000 deaths. 254 million Americans (76 percent) have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 216 million (65 percent) are fully vaccinated. In addition, 95 million Americans have received a booster shot, including (as of this week), Nora. Meanwhile, six members of Congress tested positive for COVID ahead of the State of the Union.

We crashed after returning from Portland Sunday, and then immediately started the process of unpacking the house as the painters rushed to finish. The kitchen cabinets were re-installed Monday, John's space was completed Wednesday, and Thursday was spent doing touch-ups before Katherine came over to set up John's rooms while Allen and I finished putting the rest of the house together (well mostly, Nora is still dragging their feet a bit in their space...) just in time for John and Jacqui's return on Friday. Now we get to enjoy it for a few days before we head to Park City for another ski trip... 

(To see all of this weeks pictures, click here).