Carole Simpson

Zoom Cocktails

Mar 19, 2021 | Coronavirus, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Zoom Cocktails

Hello Everybody!

Add one more innovation created by the confluence of Zoom and the pandemic. It’s called Zoom Cocktails.  In my high rise condo in downtown Boston, the managers have come up with an activity to keep the quarantined residents occupied. Mixing exotic cocktails. The ingredients are distributed to the condo dwellers, who join a Zoom call and watch an instructor demonstrate how to make elaborate cocktails. It’s become the most popular activity for the home-bound in my condo. It’s not only fun, but everybody ends up with something wild to drink.

Gimme My Shot!

Feb 19, 2021 | Coronavirus, Health, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Gimme My Shot!

Hello everybody:

I have something to say about shots.

In the great musical, “Hamilton,” Alexander sings during the Revolution that he wants to have his shot. I’ve been singing about shots, too. My reason, not so bold. I just want a Covid-19 shot. Gimme my shot.

It took a few frustrating days of going to websites and making telephone calls, before I finally got an appointment at a local hospital.Look at me leaning away from the nurse’s imposing needle, but there was nothing to it. Scarcely felt a thing.

Afterwards I had to go to the waiting room for 15 minutes to make sure I didn’t have a bad reaction. So, I’m sitting there and I look around and I see all of these old people, really old people. And then It came to me, these people are my contemporaries, the over 75’s. I had just never appreciated until then how really old I must look.

But I have a question. Why are the states making it so hard for people to get Covid vaccinations, especially old people? They are short of vaccine and  have haphazard programs. The least they can do is get it together… and give us our shots.

Top 10 List of 2020’s Good Things

Dec 31, 2020 | 2020 Election, Black Lives Matter, Coronavirus, Family, Journalism, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Top 10 List of 2020’s Good Things

Hello Everybody. I have something to say about the demise of the year 2020. It was awful and you know what was awful about it. But I gave it another think and managed to eke out some positive results. So, without further ado, My Top Ten List of the good that came out of 2020.

BIDEN

  1. We elected Joe Biden as our new president. And Kamala Harris, a woman of color is going to be vice president.

 

TRUMP

  1. We won’t have to see Donald Trump’s orange face and crazy yellow hair. We won’t have to hear his narcissistic ravings or read his crazy tweets.

 

VACCINE

  1. We saw scientists and researchers spend only 9 months in their labs to invent several vaccines to prevent us from getting the Covid-19 coronavirus.

 

          FAMILY

  1. Because many of us were locked down, we spent more time with our families. Parents liked that. Kids liked that. They got to know each other better.

 

NEIGHBORLINESS

  1. And we saw selflessness. Neighbors helping neighbors. Young folks getting groceries for old folks. People cooking and delivering meals to families where the parents have lost their jobs.

 

PRESS

  1. We saw some of the best investigative journalism ever practiced at one time in our history. Reporters proved to many that they aren’t the enemy of the people, but the protectors of our democracy.

 

TECHNOLOGY

  1. With technology, we learned you can do a lot of things virtually. Doctors’ appointments, conferences, meetings. And that technology like Zoom is being used to teach our kids.

 

ENTERTAINMENT

  1. We didn’t go to movie theaters, so the movies came to us. Yes, we could watch big blockbuster films in our homes through streaming services.

 

COOKING

  1.   We re-discovered the joy of cooking. But now, with nothing to do, nowhere to go, we learned that it’s tough to beat a good home cooked meal.

 

         BODIES GOT A BREAK

  1. We gave our bodies a break by not wearing restricting ties, brassieres and Spanx in favor of sweatpants and lounging stuff.

 

It goes without saying that it was positive, what doctors and nurses and first responders did to help us during the pandemic. It’s good, that people now realize how much they do for us.

 

   Now we welcome 2021. As we do every year, we pray that the new year will make up for the year before. So, we’ll try this again. Happy New Year.

Too Many Dead Americans

Nov 21, 2020 | Coronavirus, Health, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Too Many Dead Americans

Hello Everybody:

I have something to say about the more than a quarter of a million Americans who have died after contracting Covid-19. Just think of that. More than 250-thousand people, who were alive in February, are dead and gone in November. Not only lives, but families and dreams and careers, destroyed.

This virus is no respecter of person or status.  It is an equal opportunity killer. Across the whole of the United States the virus has spread its deadly tentacles. The young and old, rich and poor, black and white, urban and rural, have all succumbed to the disease that literally steals your breath away until you die.

What has been the national response? Nothing. Trump hasn’t talked about the dead Americans, nor comforted their survivors. There’s been no flags flying at half-staff. No National Prayer Breakfast.  No day of remembrance. What are we waiting for? Half a million dead?

These folks were our fellow citizens. They were people like you and me. They were victims. They should be mourned by all of us. And most important, all of us should do everything we can to kill the virus and end the dying.

Until next time.

Pandemic Fatigue

Oct 31, 2020 | 2020 Election, Coronavirus, Mental Health, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Pandemic Fatigue

Hello Everybody. I have something to say about pandemic fatigue. 

I didn’t know that’s what it was. All I know is that a couple of weeks ago, my psyche went into a dark place. I was so sad.  I felt little joy in watching the news or a scary movie on Netflix. I started sinking into a pit of self-pity and depression.

Carole, I said to myself, “Get yourself together.” “But I can’t,” I said to my other self. “Everything is so sad.” The virus is soaring again; there’s sickness and death. People are out of work and hungry. Businesses are folding. And some folks are still refusing to wear masks. Thank you, Donald Trump.

But then I was watching the news and I saw all these people in long lines in different states, waiting to vote early. They had chairs, and food and drink. Thousands and thousands of people waiting for as long as 10 hours to cast their ballots. Last I heard nearly 50 million votes have been cast with less than a couple of weeks to Election.

I was like, “WOW.” I became happy. The American people were energized. Are energized. They are making sacrifices to vote; they finally realize that every vote counts. Those of you who haven’t voted, make sure you do. Cuz, after November 3rd, I feel there may be light on the other side of our tunnels, both pandemic and political.

Until next time.

Feelings – Part 2

Sep 16, 2020 | Coronavirus, Mental Health, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Feelings – Part 2

Hello Everybody. Last time, I said I would have something to say about how to maintain our mental health during the pandemic. So, I consulted the medical community and here are some tips.

First: Try to keep up with a daily routine—getting up and going to bed at the same times. Don’t wear your pajamas all day. Get dressed. Eat healthy meals and exercise. You know doctors would tell us that.

Second: Keep up your social contacts. You can’t be with loved ones and friends in the flesh, but you can use the phone, Facetime and Zoom to stay in touch and find out how everybody’s doing.

Third: Limit the alcohol you drink or don’t drink it all. You may think it eases the pain, but it can make you more depressed.

Fourth: Limit your time watching news about the coronavirus and stories about other problems in the country and around the world. It’s not good to dwell on the bad.

But I have some of my own tips. Let me tell you about those.

We take any opportunity to celebrate. Like my cat’s birthday or the first day of fall, or National Elephant Appreciation Day. And yes, there is such a day set aside and it’s in September.  It’s an opportunity to make a special meal or bake a cake or have a toast.

Those Amazon deliveries? I open those boxes pretending they’re Christmas presents. I take out what’s inside and say something like, “Oh, batteries. Just what I needed.” You can have fun.

And color. I surround myself with colors. I don’t wear any drab clothes. I wear something like this. Too much color for you? Oh, I love all the colors.

I’m sure you can come up with your own ideas. It’s just so important that we take care of our mental health as we try to protect our physical health. We need to help ourselves and help each other get through what is probably the worst period of our lifetimes.

See you next time.

Feelings – Part 1

Sep 13, 2020 | Coronavirus, Crazy Town, Mental Health, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Feelings – Part 1

Hello Everybody. I have been away awhile. It was a bad month. But I come back because I have something to say about feelings. This pandemic has got me bewitched, bothered and bewildered. I always prided myself in my ability to cope with situations. But we never had anything like this, and I can’t. This vicious virus is making me feel helpless and frightened. I can’t be the only person with these feelings. And studies show I’m not.  Nearly half of Americans are developing some kind of mild mental problems, like depression, stress, anxiety, fear, paranoia and even substance abuse…

Look at this. I saw this painting on an online art gallery and I had to have it. It’s called My World Is Falling Apart. Look at it. Muddled colors, an undefined landscape, fuzzy atmosphere. It captures perfectly how I feel about my world falling apart. I don’t know what’s going to happen.  Nobody knows. Is this the beginning of the end of civilization as we once knew it? Or the apocalypse?

Please don’t get me started on Donald Trump, who didn’t want to put us in a panic. We are in a panic because he didn’t tell us the truth and he has done nothing really to stop the spread of the coronavirus. No wonder fear and anxiety are making most of us a little crazy.

I’ll tell you what the experts say we ought to do if we’re to survive this when I see you next time.

The Quarantine 15

Jul 25, 2020 | Coronavirus, Health, Something. To. Say.

The Quarantine 15

Hello Everybody. I have something to say about the Quarantine 15.

Have you stepped on the scale lately? I bet in the past four months you’ve been eating stuff you swore off years ago.

Like the so-called Freshman 15 pounds you gain in college, people are putting on the Quarantine 15.  Researchers say that a lot of Americans have packed on from 8 to 15 pounds while we’ve been shut in. I’ll own up to it. I’ve gained 8 pounds. Shameful.

Why the junk food eating? We’re stressed out, worried and frightened about Covid-19, and so we turn to comfort food to relieve the tension. Specifically, we want food that is sweet, salty, fatty and chocolate. The four new food groups for a pandemic. Oh yes, and then there’s the alcohol.

Sales have skyrocketed for pizza, hot dogs, fried chicken, snack foods and…Tequila.

Americans don’t need to get more overweight than we are. So, when those coronavirus curves start flattening out, we need to make our curves flatten out, too.

See you next time.