Stocking up

No, it's not because of the coronavirus; it's simply an accident of timing.
I think we hadn't had a trip to Costco for major stocks since our return from vacation in August. In any case, even then, I avoided anything for the freezer as it was still well-stocked and would need defrosting before the next refill.
Defrosting happened on Thursday, so Friday we went on the expedition to Costco. There's only one in France. The second one -- well, it's still not been announced. They've added a gas station to the existing one, but we didn't need to fill up. L had borrowed our car for their winter break and brought it back with a full tank.
As usual, some of the things on our list were not available. I wanted a big bag of Kirkland raisins. And they had the white Oreos, but not the traditional kind. We bought more meat than usual, some went straight to the freezer, but I made an osso bucco and a boeuf bourguignon and froze the prepared portions. Some of the excellent Comté and Parmesan cheeses ended up in the freezer.
We are well-stocked. The only change this virus will bring on is that we'll keep consuming fresh food, not the stocked, unless we are told to stay in or when the pandemic ends.

Parisian Winter

Winter, so far, has been incredibly warm. Not as dismal as last year, when the whole month of January was rain. This year, we've had plenty of rain, but also sunny days. There was a week of clear, cold weather in January that hit just at the right time, when our refrigerator died and we could store our food outside in a cooler, to keep it from freezing.
We bought a very nice refrigerator, but hanging the outside panel to the door is different from the old one so, in spite of it being very nice and not too expensive, it seems we are going to pass it down to E and G and get a different make and model in order to hang the panel without making any modifications. Until then, though, I'm very happy with what we got and do not see why we can't adapt the panel to the new configuration.
We are in the midst of planning our summer already. When and where do we take charge of grandchildren. It's pretty much settled. It looks like we'll be taking the Parisian grandchildren to visit with their U.K. cousins. That way they all get to spend some time together. Then, later in the summer, just before school begins, we might take them to visit E and G. That's still to be determined.

Only one side seam is sewn up

Meanwhile, I'm knitting. I'm trying to make a cardigan similar to one I bought 15 years ago that has simply been worn out. It's not easy. I started before my shoulder went out last summer. Then, last month, I did the second front piece and the back. I even hung the collar, but noticed I wouldn't have enough for the sleeves. I ordered more, but the online shop no longer had the same stock number and while waiting, I had added a pocket to the right front and could not Kitchner-stitch the ribbing that goes up the front as it should be. I ruined it! When the new cotton yarn came, I started the whole project over. I've now done the two fronts and the back. I'm ready to do the sleeves and then the collar. Since I did not waste so much yarn on swatches, I should have enough.
The complication of this sweater is that about a third of each front, which make up the center, is 2/2 ribbing and the sides are stockinette. On the back, it's the same -- the center third is ribbed and the sides are stockinette. This meant that I had to pull the needles into "hold" position for each row. I learned this, too late, on the first effort. It takes a lot of time. Not as much time as hand knitting, but it takes time and concentration. Then there are the decreases and increases, the double decreases for the armhole and back shoulder. The shoulder seam is towards the back, not at the top of the armhole. I had never formed the shoulder like that before and I had never used double decreases for the armhole, but I do like the look. I'm using the old sweater as my pattern so I have to keep measuring and calculating. This yarn is not as thin as the yarn on the original sweater and the gauge is not at all the same. In addition, after washing, it will all be tighter. It's cotton and it will shrink a bit, so the result, right now, looks too big, but it should be fine once I wash it.
The big deal about this project is that I'm using my right arm almost as I did before. It does tire out faster. I can't push or pull the carriage over the knitting bed as fast with my right arm as with my left and putting the needles into position for every row gave me a workout. But I am thrilled at the result of shoulder replacement only 5 months ago!
I saw my surgeon again, last week, and he's very happy with the result. Next appointment on the anniversary of the surgery in September. I had my x-rays with me for this visit and he took a look at the hip x-ray that my GP had prescribed. He's a knee and shoulder guy, not a hip man, but he showed me that the cartilage is almost gone on the left side and that I can look forward to consulting a surgeon in the next few years. The osteopath I go to has also seen it and agrees that the cartilage is almost gone. He hopes to help me maintain mobility in order to put off surgery. He did a good job on the shoulder for 6 years. Until then, I limp a bit.

It's almost '20

I am grateful that in our own corner, in our own family, there is nothing negative to report. It is a beautiful day, today -- sunny and cold -- just like a winter day should be. I wish for health and happiness for all our friends and family.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020

I've been seeing people posting about it being the end of the decade. That's the popular way of thinking of decades, but I always learned the 10 came after 9, and the decade started with 1. But, I can see the counting as starting from 0 -- babies' ages are counted in days and months in year zero and you don't say 1 until year one is finished. One meme that I have seen points out that we should not write our dates on checks and other sensitive documents as 01/01/20. We need to write out 2020. If not, someone could add digits and transform what we want '20 to 2019 or 2021 or any other year of this century.

A lot has changed since 2010, but then again, a lot changes all the time no matter where you put the starting point. It is not an optimistic time, generally speaking. The fires underway in Australia, following the fires in the U.S. Pacific states just a few months ago or the fires in Portugal seem to highlight climate change. It's certain that weather patterns seem to be changing with hotter summers, heavier droughts followed by heavier rains causing heavier damage. Severe winter cold blasts that make Eastern U.S. states and Canada colder than Alaska. In Europe, it seems to me, there's recognition of the problems and the need to curb carbon and methane output, although the move from needing to do something to actually doing it is slow. 

Some of the actions seem ridiculous. Getting people to move from fossil fuel consumption to wood-burning stoves and furnaces is still releasing carbon, isn't it? The endless phone calls we get from companies wanting to install solar panels on our roof is nerve-wracking since we know (and it has been confirmed by the electricity distribution company) that our roof orientation is not good for output. I feel that instead of installing insulation around the house, changing the windows from double-glazed to triple, installing solar panels on a north-westerly oriented roof, the best solution for whoever buys our house one day is to demolish and build a new house. The cost of all the possible improvements to the current structure outweighs the cost of a new eco-friendly building.

Politics -- well, the strike is still on in France and the gilet jaune movement is still around, though not as forceful as last year. In the U.S., Trump has been impeached but we are still wondering how the Senate trial will go. There are still a lot of candidates among the Democrats and the Republicans still only have Trump. AARO is gearing up its "get out the overseas vote" campaign and I'll be working on that. Refugees are still pouring into Europe, though at a slower pace, and trying to reach asylum in the U.S. There is still war in the Middle East and outbursts elsewhere. There are still terrorist attacks.

All that negativity. I'm sorry. We all need to check Gapminder from time to time to keep things in perspective. https://www.gapminder.org/ Take the test. We all need to feel a bit more optimistic.

And the strike goes on

Read this post from my friend Harriet: http://harrietweltyrochefort.com/wordpress/?p=946
I don't think I could say it better.
I feel very housebound. I'm retired, so I don't have the real problems of the working population. My children do, though. My son has been working from home as much as possible and has had to drive to the office on the few days when he had to go in for meetings. My daughter has had better luck. She lives along one of the two automated métro lines and that gets her fairly close to work. However, work is on Montmartre, so it's an uphill walk. She's been able to hitch a ride when necessary. People are very nice in that way.
We've had to go to Paris on two evenings but it wasn't too difficult. During rush hours, it's horrendous. We are lucky. One of the two bus lines that will take us to Vincennes is functioning and line 1 from Vincennes is the other of the two automated lines. As long as our destination is not far from line 1 or line 14 station, we are able to go. For our first venture into town, we took the bus to Vincennes. Since we are close to the end of the line, there were two buses, back to back, and the second was not too crowded; there were seats. The métro was crowded, but not too crowded since we got on at the first station. We were wondering if the Bastille station would be open since that day's demonstration went from République to Nation via Bastille. At Nation, the métro became very crowded and more so at the Gare de Lyon. We got off at Bastille and some of the exits were closed off but not the one we wanted to use.

Our destination? A jazz concert in a passageway off the Rue de Lappe featuring Joe Makholm at the piano. I've known Joe for years but had never seen or heard him perform. I knew him from his days as a baseball umpire when his son played. It was a long time ago and I kept seeing his name come up on FaceBook in posts by mutual friends. Our circle of mutual friends ranges from all over. It was not surprising to find a few at the concert. Monique Wells, from the American Library, where she gave a talk and arrived early while I was working at the circulation desk. Owen Franken, whom I had never met, but had had several email exchanges with and with whom I shared 16 or 17 friends on FaceBook. So, we finally met in person. Bernadette Martin, whom I hadn't seen in many years since an AARO lunch, but I wonder if I hadn't seen her at an International Business Communicators meeting even before that lunch. Others were not able to come because of the strike -- buses not running or too crowded to get on. The concert was excellent but we left at 10:30, before the end, because we needed time to get home. Although the métro, line 1, was running, our bus line had stopped. Rather than try to find a taxi in Vincennes, we took a taxi from Bastille.
I then had to go to Paris for a mid-day meeting. Getting into Paris was not difficult. It was not rush hour. The meeting went well and I left before it was over because I felt I needed 2 hours to get to my physiotherapist appointment. The métro was crowded to Vincennes but I got to sit after a few stops. However, once in Vincennes, the mob waiting for the bus that goes to Nogent was, to be nice, undisciplined. I finally got on the 4th bus, having waited almost 45 minutes. I did not have time to walk several kilometers to the appointment, so it was the bus or forget the appointment. I got there just in time. My 2-hour calculation was perfect, when, normally, it would have taken less than one.

On Friday evening, we met the rest of the Parisian family to go to the light show, Océans en voie d'illumination, at the Jardin des Plantes. We decided to drive to Vincennes and see if we could get a parking spot, which we were lucky enough to find. The parking garage had 6 spots free when we entered. A few minutes later, it would have been full. That meant we got the métro earlier than we had anticipated. The walk from the Gare de Lyon is not too long and we arrived at the Jardin des Plantes a full hour early.
Anne joined us and, together, we waited for the others. The walk through the illuminations took us from the tropics (and the kids remembered seeing the real marine animals last year in Florida) to end in the polar regions. It was a chilly walk, but it wasn't raining, so comfortable enough. From the exit, we walked to Jussieu, to Le Buisson Ardent, the restaurant where we had reserved for Paul's birthday. Expensive, yes, but I think we all enjoyed our meals. The kids' meals were smaller portions of an adult meal and they cleaned their plates. I had the perfectly prepared calf liver. The walk back to the Gare de Lyon seemed so much longer, though, and I was happy to have the car waiting at Vincennes to take us straight home.
So, we've managed, but it's not fun and I would like to go into the city a bit more. Just this last Friday, I was supposed to meet Anne to go to an exhibit. Again - bus + métro 1 + tram. But she got to the tram before I even left home and announced that the tram was not operating, although it had been on Thursday. So, no, she went home and I stayed home. I would like to see my friend S, but she's near the Gare du Nord and that is too far for me to walk from lines 1 or 14.