I'm in isolation. Finally after two years of conscious caution I've been waylaid by the persistent Covid virus. I turned 74 on July 28 and boy does that sound old. What happened was I saw an ad for a Tommy Castro and the Painkillers show. My youthful exuberance surged and I dug deeper. The band was playing on my birthday at the SF Jazz Center which was a natural inducement, because the venue is down at the Civic Center and just a 5 Fulton bus ride away. Anyway its was a special night full of great music and I got to reconnect with an old friend, the base player, Randy MacDonald. I'm building here. A couple days before that outing another extravaganza took place. Our San Francisco Lawn Bowling Club was honoring our oldest member. Arnie Barros was turning 100, truly phenomenal. The festivities included bowling in the morning and a catered lunch of Arnie's choice. Our district supervisor proclaimed it Arnie's Day with a framed City Hall certificate. Of course our club President made a speech extolling Arnie's long history of achievements, while Arnie sat smiling and eating. Over a hundred of Arnie's admirers including a huge contingent of his extended family, were on hand for this monumental occasion. There's more. A day after my birthday I had been scheduled by my dear wife Christine to help, as she hosted her cousins. Again we utilized the bowling club because her traveling clan was thirteen strong. They are from the Midwest and were obliged to visit all the favorite SF tourist attractions. They weren't wearing masks and by the way masks were optional in all of these large social gatherings. They had a good time and Christine instructed them on the basics of bowling and provided snacks making for a comfortable afternoon. It was a short visit because they had to race to Pier 39 to catch a tour boat circling the bay before leaving for Fresno. Whirlwind. So for a guy who has avoided social contact pretty much throughout this pandemic, I virtually jumped into the deep end. The day after the cousins left the virus symptoms surfaced all together.
The symptoms seem to be waning but I still tested positive this morning. I'm watching the Giants and Dodgers on my iPhone while I update my blog on my laptop. Lucky me I have all I need and I made 74 who'd a thunk. I guess I'll see ya in the funny papers!
