As always: many of us get too many emails already, even before this pandemic. So, if you would like to be removed from this email list, please feel free to say so. (No reason needed; and you won’t be the first to do so.)
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New Years Day, 2021:
From the NYTimes letters to the editor: A New Years resolution that I am taking up also: Never again to utter the name of you-know-who. And that includes in writing.
Monday, January 4:
Nadine and I have been married for 35 years. We play some hands of Gin Rummy, but agree not to keep score (just for this special day, which was good for her because I won some big hands...but who's keeping score, it's our anniversary). Pandemic celebration with take-out dinner from Wood Ranch, at home with candlelight and Moscato and Andres Segovia.
Notes from the pandemic vaccination program: from my one living cousin, Ada King, in Daytona Beach, FL. (Ada is ten months older than I am, so until her birthday next month, we are the same age. When we were kids, we lived just four blocks apart in Havertown, PA, a Philly suburb. We were in the same grade at Oakmont Elementary for about two years, but never in the same homeroom. Then her family moved away to Luray, VA, and then my family moved to Buffalo, NY, and we only got to see each other on summer vacations):
"Vaccines were offered for those 65 and above here in our county this Monday and Tuesday. So we left home in the dark on Monday (Jan 4) to go to the site giving the virus injections. The lines from all directions were as far as you could see. The number to be given was 1,000. That number was reached by 7AM! So thousands of cars turned around and went home. We did so as soon as we saw the mob. People had parked the night before and slept in their cars! Of course it was stated not to do that. Hope they get a better system next time."
Wednesday, January 6, AM:
The Georgia senate runoffs were yesterday. It appears that Dem Warnock won, not yet called for Ossoff vs Perdue. I hope Ossoff wins also, so I don't have to put up with two more years of Mitch McConnell's stalls and refusals to allow votes. Normally, I might have had the TV on last night to catch the results, but I realize I am "electioned out"; after more than a year of feeling like we are living on the razor's edge between sanity or madness, I just could not watch another night of returns. Not to mention the unending emails requesting donations. POTUS45 will no longer have the power of the presidency in fourteen days, but he'll still be around, with a lot of supporters. It could happen again, and that is terrifying.
Wednesday, January 6, PM:
Hooray. Ossoff won. Goodbye Mitch. Hello, a much better chance for some meaningful legislation. Many heroes here, but especially Stacy Abrams.
Then we watched for hours the storming of the Capitol by POTUS45 supporters claiming the election was stolen. And he instigated this travesty.
For weeks as the COVID death toll climbed, especially in Los Angeles, Nadine and I have been aware that we had not yet personally known anyone who has died due to COVID. But it seemed inevitable that we would, sooner or later. Turned out to be sooner. We learned that our good friend Sid Rosenblatt died two days ago. Sid and Arlene grew up in the same neighborhood as Nadine, though they were older by about seven years, so did not know each other then. Sid went to the same grade school (Wilshire Crest), middle school (John Burroughs) and high school (L A High) as Nadine. Sid and Arlene met as middle schoolers when they had competing paper routes in their neighborhood; when cities like LA had more than one major newspaper. They celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in 2020. We will remember Sid fondly as a real mensch, devoted to his family and shul. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Arlene and their whole family. Zoom service later today (Thursday).
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Happy New Year, 2021. Breathe a little easier but continue to wear your masks for a while. Looking forward to inauguration day, Jan. 20. Hope security is better than yesterday.
Coleman
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