I hope this post doesn’t sound frivolous at a very serious time for our country, but I keep thinking of literature related to plagues and sieges, and I’m realizing that even the most devastating stories have a note of comfort and reassurance.
The film How to Survive a Plague, about the early years of the AIDS crisis, may not be reassuring about Dr. Fauci, who is on the news every day now (he certainly had a chance to learn a lot), but it is very reassuring about what ordinary people can accomplish.
Geraldine Brooks’s novel Year of Wonders is a fictionalized version of what one town in England did in 1665 to halt the spread of bubonic plague. Albert Camus’s beautiful The Plague is the last word on how plague highlights and reflects moral sickness in society but also how some unlikely people surprise themselves by rising to the occasion.
The moral sickness angle makes me think of the reason impoverished school districts are reluctant to close right now: free lunches for children suffering food insecurity. America has many chronically hungry children.
A 1908 novel by Arnold Bennett also comes to mind because of the way life just goes on under the 1870 siege of Paris. It’s called The Old Wives Tale. Although the siege is only a smallish part of the story, you might find it relevant. I read the book at least twice and really liked it.
If you have other recommendations, please add them in Comments.
Anyway, I was planning to make this a photography post. So here I am in a lax self-quarantine (because of age) and starting off with the tombstone of a 33-year-year-old New England soldier who died in Louisiana in 1863. I’m glad we can send a warm thought to Charles W. Stuart today.
From the sublime to the ridiculous: floating gloves permanently lost at the end of the season.
Also, murals in Providence that I’m seeing now in the light of current news. (Still pretty hard to make sense of the one mentioning Esperanto!)
Also in Providence, a cute little replica boathouse next to the Narragansett boathouse, where health-conscious rowers congregate early every morning.
My friend and former boss had her quilt “Explosion” accepted into a show in Watertown, Mass. I took another photo at that show, which I’m saving for a post about border policies.
I really liked how pretty the plants along the side of my house look even past their season.
Next are two cozy and comforting libraries, one in Arlington, one in Concord.
Finally, a comforting cappuccino. Is there a theme here?
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Love the staircase with the door into the library in the hallway alongside. Reminds me of living in the Copeland Lawn Cottage, even though our library was at the top of the stairs, and the door beside the stairs went to the dining room. Growing up in Dexter Manor was special.
I have been surprised to learn from you that the houses had names.
Your plants are so pretty! I love those libraries. I could stay in there all day.
They closed all Virginia schools today for 2 weeks. In our area they are working with social services to still provide lunches to kids who get free or reduced lunch at school. I hope they’re able to get to them all!
I hope so, too. And I hope parents don’t lose jobs for staying home with kids and, if they decide to leave them on their own, that the neighborhoods are safe. The country’s deficits really show up in a crisis like this. Stay well.
Beautiful photos 🙂 I too love that oak staircase and glimpse of the library
Doesn’t it make you think of Harry Potter’s room under the stairs in his Muggle relatives’ house? A bit? Except, it would have been a really nice place with books!
Cousin Claire was moved to send this poem about our current plague: http://www.lynnungar.com/poems/pandemic/
Just finished The Indifferent Stars Above about the Donner Party in 1846/47 crossing over the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was grueling to read so I’m not necessarily recommending it but talk about survival. Those guys had a drive to live that I simply couldn’t fathom. Sorry you are made to self-isolate. Hope you have lots of good books.
I’m starting a true story by a Brown U prof about growing up with a mom who kept kidnapping him and taking him to South America to look for revolutions! It’s called “Rebel Mother.”
I’ll be watching for your review on that one. Yowza!
OK, but my reviews are all at CarolineFromConcord on GoodReads.
I am with Earle about the photo with the staircase and the doorway. Moody and evocative. No, you are not being frivolous at all. These are terrible times, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take comfort in the simple pleasures that you find.
Kevin Cullen had a column on trying to find a wee bit of humor here and there: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/12/metro/when-coronavirus-hands-you-lemons-you-make-t-shirts/
What a great idea! If I lived in the area, I’d want one of those shirts.