February, 2021

February has had its up and down after all the excitement of January visits from the family and my birthday gifts! How I love my Ford Escape! So smooth and easy to drive. 

Most of the month was dealing with the weather, in North Carolina we were much better off than the northern states. We had a few ferocious rain storms, but missed the ice storm and sleeting rain. 

Zoe took this beautiful photo of the icicles from their house in New Jersey. This is one reason Dan was not out walking much during those days! 

Here is the first Conqueror Challege medal our team received for completing the walk of Hadrian's Walk. January had good weather and we made good progress. Dan made a great photo showing the medal we won for conquering the walk, and celebrated Caesar with the Roma bottle of wine!  

It was a fun event to do, and we signed up for our next choice, the Camino de Santiago de Compostelo. It is a walk of 480.9 miles. Due to the dreadful weather up in the north states, Maggie and Dan were unable to walk outside, so it's going to take us longer to finish. Jennifer is on top for February, we'll see if we can catch her up! I was able to get in my walks for most of the month, but petered off later.  Our goal is for 56 days, but if we don't make it, we can change our date of the finish and still get a medal.

Steve is the real first of the Salemson/Wolfe walk to the Camino de Santiago. (Just around the sign I think! He and Joan were in the area visiting friends in France). 

Here are the first and second postcards of the Camino de Santiago. We have also planted 2 trees on the way. 

Back in the states, I have been playing chamber music with friends in a string trio, string quartet and piano trio. Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and Dohnanyi. A good handful of notes! I am continuing this semester at UNC in the weekly class for viols that Brent Wissick has taught for years, and kindly includes viol players from the community.  We outsiders are still allowed to attend, but on Zoom which I have difficulties. However, it does make me concentrate on my music and rhythm, disregarding all the WIFI squeaks and squawks. We are waiting to see if we can join in the real class soon, depending on the university regulations. 

Sunday 21st - On my walk I came across this house that had celebrated the Chinese New Year,  decorating their house and bush with lanterns. 

Closer to home I caught the sun on the trees. 

Getting home, on my steps I found a kind and thoughtful surprise from Dan and Elisa. A beautiful bunch of Irises and 3 bags from Whole Foods to keep me going for the rest of the week after my 2nd Covid vaccine jab. I was somewhat nervous having read about the second jab producing more reactions, and was preparing to be in bed all week.  As it turned out, all was well, AND I didn't need to go grocery shopping! 

Monday 22nd - I got a call from the clinic asking if I could come right away instead of my Tuesday appointment, to get my 2nd Covid vaccine shot, as they had many no-shows and was afraid the vaccines would have to be thrown away. I was happy to have it done a day earlier, so drove down to Pittsboro, about 18 miles south.  On the way down I realised why there were so many no-shows. The rainstorm was appalling, I could hardly see through the windshield wipers between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro, where the clinic is. I was glad to have 4-wheel drive on my new car and felt very secure. An the clinic it was only me and another patient  getting the jab at that time. I had to stay for 30 minutes after the jab in case I had a reaction, no problems, and was out of there in 45 minutes. The weather had calmed down and as I was leaving, I saw whole group of buses came in bringing in patients, so I was glad I was on my way out!

I got back in time to teach my on-line students, but after that I was very glad I had a couple of days to relax in case I did have any reactions. I did have one - I was exhausted!

Tuesday 23rd - In spite of being so tired, I had to take a photo of this beautiful iris flower from the bunch Dan and Elisa sent.  

 

Thursday 25th - Just before getting home from my walk, I turned around and saw this gorgeous moon above the trees. It's called the Snow Moon, the name comes from the Native American tribes because February is the month for snowfall. With a superb camera, the colors in various locations are breathtaking. Sadly my little iPhone hasn't quite got it all! 

Friday 26th. So far I have not had any issues from the jab, except for feeling very tired on the second day. To celebrate, a group of 5 neighbor ladies at Coventry had dinner in an ITALIAN RESTAURANT! We were alone at the back of the restaurant and even took off our masks! It was a thrill, we had a good 2 1/2 hours of chatting and catching up. 

Sunday 28th. 

Somehow, Tiger loves watching me in the bathroom. He's still nervous about dripping water, so drinks from a bowl of water on the floor. Maggie's cat drinks out of the faucet quite easily. 

This month has gone by quickly, with life is still confusing with lockdown changes and regulations. I feel very fortunate though, having lots of communications from family and friends. Thank you all. I hope you too are well and coping with daily issues. 

Can't wait for spring!