Nautilus of Bloom

Last night I dreamed that I saw my parents. It was rather late, nearly eleven o'clock, but I had to pick up some things from the store. I drove past their house, and the lights were on downstairs, which was unusual for them. They were always in bed by ten. So I stopped and looked in on them. They had fallen asleep on the sofa, with their lap blankets on. My father had a yellow striped lap robe that my sister gave him. We used to joke about it and call it his "bapu," which is what my little niece used to call her blanket. The light was warm and golden, and everything in the house was just as it used to be. They woke up as I came in. I kissed my mother on the cheek and told her they shouldn't be waiting up for me, that I just had a few errands to run and would not be gone long. It was a good dream, but I had trouble going back to sleep afterwards.

I got up far too early, because I wanted, in real life, to pick up a few things from the grocery store during their old folks' hours. I laid in a good store of various necessities, replenishing our supply of fruits and vegetables, plus a lot of other staples. There is still NO toilet paper ever. We still have a stash, but at some point, we will run out. I honestly wonder if there ever will be toilet paper again. They are now asking people to limit the amount of meat they buy. I bought a package of chicken breasts and one of their rotisserie chickens. We have plenty of other meat in the freezer, bought from the farm ladies. I found ONE package of rice. It's nishiki rice, for sushi. I've never cooked it before, but I'm sure I can. I was also very pleased to find a smallish amount of flour available. I bought a bag of bread flour and a bag of regular unbleached. There's still no yeast. When I stood on tiptoe, I spied a couple of jars of yeast way at the back of the top shelf, where no one under seven feel tall would be able to reach it. I have a jar in the refrigerator, so I didn't need it.

I went through the whole rigamarole of unpacking everything and washing my hands etc. etc. I've slacked off a bit on washing everything with soap and water, after reading several articles that said there was no evidence whatsoever that anyone has caught covid-19 from food packaging. I was very careful of what I touched, cleaned my hands and the cart etc. with bleach wipes, and took a shower and dumped my outer garments in the wash when I came home. Then I made cookies for the Sparrowhawk. I tried to sit and write for a couple of hours, but got nothing done. We went for a lovely walk. It was cold, but the sun was out and the birds were singing. If the plants survive one more frosty night, it looks like clear sailing from here on.