The World is Still in Lockdown

For some reason, I was awake at 6:30 this morning. I texted John and asked if I could drop off my US absentee ballot registration form and have him scan it.

Here are two pictures taken near Arlan's place:



It was a pleasant morning and I enjoyed being out and about. Surprisingly, John and Mary Jean invited me in. Mary Jean has transformed John's bachelor pad into a lovely home. Although she still has "morning" sickness, she looks very well. They're very happy about having a baby on the way. I am a designated auntie.

John scanned my document and emailed it to me. Later, I forwarded it to Jessica, and asked her to mail it to Arizona for me.

John and Mary Jean left for Misrad HaPnim (Ministry of the Interior), hoping to start the process of getting Mary Jean citizenship. (They were unsuccessful and will have to wait until lockdown is over.)

I picked up some things at Shufersal and, while waiting for the bus, I had an ice cafe from the makolet across from Stock. All the cashiers there know me and I chatted in Hebrew with the one who was working this morning.

At the bus stop, a man and I admired all the dogs walking past (some with humans, some without). There weren't a lot of people out, but you could see that those who were outside felt happy to have a little bit more freedom.

I got off the bus near Arlan's place and we went to the park and chatted. When I returned home, I cooked, read a little, and watched YouTube videos.

After I fed the cats, Arlan and I sat in the park again. It was a beautiful night. We talked for a long time. Among other things, we discussed the US elections we'd voted in; oddly both of us had a hard time remembering the candidates who had run against people who did become President.

My place is within 500 meters of his, so tomorrow night, he'll come meet all the kitties.

In the news:

• 3,000 people died from coronavirus in the US today.
• There was a terrorist attack on a border guard outside Maale Adumim today. Unbelievably, but thankfully, he's conscious and likely to survive.
• Military cemeteries will be closed on Yom HaZikaron and parents are saying they're going anyway.They may change their minds before Tuesday, but if they don't, I feel that police and soldiers won't enforce it. (They also have several days to visit before Yom HaZikaron.)
• The two halves of Israel's new unity government will probably prevent each other from accomplishing anything. 
• About half the testing swabs from China are "disfunctional." So much for our recent testing efforts.
• Countries are seizing ventilator shipments intended for other countries.

Jessica called me on WhatsApp this evening about my ballot. She pointed me to an online voter registration site. I asked her about my name (changed with the US State Department and Social Security, but not with the Arizona Motor Vehicles Department). She sensibly suggested I call and ask, which I did after we spoke.

It was nice to see Jessica's face and catch up a little. Her father and step mother have been stuck inside their New York apartment for weeks, but her bother is with them and his girlfriend is with her parents in another state. Her mother is in a small town on the Arizona-New Mexico border and commuting to Tucson regularly. Her daughter is bored in Columbia; there may be a humanitarian flight in June, but she's a good distance from Bogata, where the airport is. Her husband is enjoying working from home. Her son is content in lockdown. And she is as active as ever. She was very sick in January and thinks she may have already had the virus.

I called the office of the Arizona Secretary of State. The woman I spoke with said that she is registered to vote as the name on her Arizona driver's license rather than the name on her US passport, and she pointed me to a "Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Portal" on my.arizona.vote to register. (She has been making face masks for friends; the one she made for a friend in the Arizona congress has dragon fabric on one side and flower fabric on the other, so she can choose whether to look fierce or soft.)

The website instructed me send an email to register for an absentee ballot since I formerly lived in Pima County. Keeping my fingers crossed that someone is reading and processing applications. 

Today is two weeks of counting the Omer:

Freedom is an achievement. It is a muscle that needs to be exercised daily: use it or lose it.