Saturday, August 22, 2020

COVID Activities

 I was reading my favorite blogs today - Far Side of Fifty and A Percussionist's Notebook - and was amazed all over again how creative and capable people are. Whether it's whittling, growing flowers, replacing tamborine heads, making different sounds on a triangle, or making drum pads, I am truly envious of folks who have those talents.

The latter blog is my younger brother's. My wife says that he's "a man of action", while I am a thinker. But he thinks too. We talk every Sunday via Skype and get to reminisce about our younger days.

What do I do? I read. And I study. When I was younger and in the Army I was active. I led soldiers in tanks. I fought in Vietnam. I carried the Olympic torch in the 1984 Olympics. I ran marathons and ultramarathons.

But with COVID, my active physical skills are limited. But I still read. I learn. What am I reading about? A few things recently:
    - Time travel
    - History of major pandemics in the last 100 years
    - The Black Death in England in 1348
    - The 1920 Osage Indian murders in Oklahoma
    - The colonization and slavery of Africa in the 17th-19th centuries

What am reading about now?
    - Oranges
    - Making concrete for building
    - The discovery of the telephone

What's on tap?
    - The American ice trade in the 19th century
    - How to build a time machine
    - A memoir about working at menial, low paying jobs and trying to survive
    - The last voyage and death of Captain Cook

I guess I am too busy reading and studying to do any other things.

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