Just before dawn I hear birds singing. The robins and the cardinals are back, the cat birds will soon follow.  In the garden, clumps of snowdrops adorn the barren land, while the lilac is beginning to bud and the forsythia is about to pop. The winter wasn’t so arduous…no long periods of unrelenting cold, no stumbling over hard-packed sidewalk snow. Ironically, New England was more fortunate than Texas that suffered from an unprecedented cold spell that froze water lines and shut down the electrical grid. But in Boston, I was still able to ride my bike whenever the temperature was above 40F (4.5C). New England can surprise us with an April snowstorm. Twenty-four years ago on April Fools Day, we took occupancy of Wellington Street during a huge storm that brought down trees. Now the sun is higher in the sky and we’re definitely on the threshold of Spring.

We were offered the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine and only momentarily hesitated. Was J&J as effective as Pfizer or Moderna? Whatever, we’re happy to be done with it. The vaccination hasn’t made a huge impact to our lives; we still wear masks outside and haven’t gone out to eat. I feel a little more comfortable going grocery shopping and more willing to lean in toward the cashier to try and hear what she’s saying.

Our experience in Covid is typical, spending most of our time in the home. It’s given me a new appreciation for our comfortable house and the neighborhood, where we can still find the unexpected.

That said, both of us are looking forward to expanding our horizons.On an unseasonably warm Sunday afternoon, we rode the subway to Revere and walked the beach. It felt great to feel the sand under our feet and smell the salt air. The amusement park neighboring the beach has long gone, replaced by tasteless high-rise condos. I suggested to Gerard we could move here and enjoy cheap ocean view property. He pretended not to hear.

With my limited hearing, scaled-down interaction during Covid has not been a sacrifice, and now I’m feeling apprehension about becoming socially engaged again. Gerard, of course, is ready to resume his chatty lifestyle talking to any and everybody on the street! His time, however, has been filled with rewriting his memoir. A friend, a published poet, has kindly taken the time to read and provide some major editorial suggestions, which he will incorporate.

I’m not a big fan of Zoom but it has enabled me to communicate with friends in a way I no longer can. An external speaker attached to the computer helps but perhaps more is the fact I can see faces without masks. Every two weeks, I participate in a zoom reading group organized by a local senior center. So far, every short story picked from the New Yorker has been thought-provoking. The news from England is two of my nieces are pregnant with scheduled deliveries the very same week of September! So I’m busy knitting again.

Even though we didn’t go to India this year, we’re staying in touch. Last September, India was overtaking the US to become the country with the highest covid caseload. Four months later, in February, numbers plummeted inexplicably. Has the prevalence of so many other diseases boosted Indian immune systems? As in other parts of the world, infections are now rising again, particularly in Mumbai and they’re poised for another lockdown. How quickly Covid could spread through a slum!

Over the years, I’ve read some excellent books giving focus to the Indian slums – City of Joy, Shantaram, Behind the Beautiful Forevers. A recent novel, I recommend is Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by a journalist, Deepa Anappara. She addresses the huge number of missing children – as many as 180 an hour. Her heart wrenching story is told through the eyes of a 9-year-old boy who lives in a slum, abutting the railway line. See NY Times book review Who Cares About a Missing Child? 2020/01/31/books/review/djinn-patrol-on-the-purple-line-deepa-anappara.html

Our friends in Varanasi and Himachal Pradesh post Facebook pictures making it look as if nothing has changed. There isn’t a mask in sight. But the economy has suffered a 24 per cent drop during the peak of the pandemic. The country remains closed to tourists. An English friend who managed to stay in Varanasi after the virus hit, recently traveled down to Gokarna, where she found twenty other westerners who like herself had decided not to leave India. For the risk they took, the benefit is they have the run of the beach.

In Delhi , the family tell us the major disruption has been farmer protests caused by Modi’s attempt to eliminate government subsidies. Four months ago, farmers, primarily from Punjab arrived on their tractors to clog the main strets of the capital.

Back in the US, politically things are quieter. The orange thug has left the stage…momentarily, but the immigration crisis on the Mexican border, the murder trial of George Floyd and conspiracy theorists continue to fuel the smouldering embers of discontent.

Looking out my kitchen window, watching our garden slowly come back to life, I feel optimistic.