In Place

I’m rusticating in place these days.  Not because I’m showing symptoms of COVID 19, but because our governor has closed all theaters, gyms, bars, and restaurants (other than take-out).  My karate school has closed, and so has my masseuse.  I should be in Orlando right now for the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, but it got canceled (and left me stuck with a non-refundable $700 hotel reservation).  The Jack Williamson Lectureship is moving to next autumn.

There’s no place to go, so I’m staying home.  Fortunately we have a month’s supply of food and an adequate supply of toilet paper.  I’m trying and failing to fix my tractor.  I’m watching a lot of TV.  I’m reading applications for Taos Toolbox.

The big excitement today was that I took a walk in the park.  It was easy maintaining my social distancing, because practically no one was there.

It’s like one of those cozy catastrophes, where most of the population disappears but the lights stay on and there are still big freezers full of food, and you have the consolation of listening to music on the gramophone.  (Except the tractor hasn’t signed up for the cozy catastrophe, it just flat doesn’t work.)

I’m in a category for increased risk of death should I actually get the disease, so for the moment I’m content to remain in my rural paradise.

What should I be reading?