The term I hear over and over these days is “the new normal.”

Just last January I was telling someone how grateful I was that I didn’t have to depend only on Social Security and could still earn money in my retirement by playing the organ for church services, by teaching and by accompanying for choral groups.

And I was enjoying life by seeing the world: Over the past four years I’ve checked a bunch of things off my bucket list by taking at least three European trips a year plus I’ve done lots of mainland USA travel visiting family and friends.

People thought I didn’t live in Hawaii anymore! The truth is that I was gone about three months of the year and “got off the rock” about 10-12 times annually.

How my life (and that of the whole world!) has changed!

Churches are either not holding services or are livestreaming with a skeleton crew. Music directors and pastors are having to become video production directors. The State of Hawaii gave the “go ahead” to churches as long as they are drive-in events and everyone keeps their windows rolled up! You may as well stay home and watch the service on your computer! In any event, I’m not playing the organ for church these days.

As for teaching, only two of my students have tried to continue their organ studies online, so I’m no longer driving out to the church to teach. It’s kind of great that I can sit at my home pipe organ and use my phone to hear my students play. What I miss in my online lessons, though, is being able to “play along” with my beginning students, especially as they learn hymn playing—to keep them from slowing down or repeating missed notes. After all, a congregation is not going to slow down in the hard parts or wait for you to fix your mistakes!

So I’m doing a bunch of videorecording — playing students’ pieces and uploading them to YouTube to give them an idea of how a piece might sound like at a performance level.

Sadly, all the choral concerts I was contracted to play have cancelled, and based on the scientists, singing together is something that may not happen safely without a vaccine available. That might be 18-24 months away, at best.

I guess what brought it all home to me today was reading an article by Leana S. Wen in the Washington Post, “We’re retreating to a new strategy on covid-19. Let’s call it what it is.” She wrote that reopening the country “the way it was” is adopting a strategy called “harm reduction,” meaning “We’re no longer trying to eliminate the virus. Instead, we are accepting that Americans will have to live with it.”

And it was this person’s remarks in the Comments section which hit hard:

“If Leana S. Wen is right, that our chosen strategy against covid-19 is harm reduction, then my life is very much changed for several years. I like to go to operas, musicals and symphony concerts. I will not be doing so for a long time. It is not worth risking my life to see a performance. … I’m 77 years old. I’d like to have a few more years.”

If that person is indicative of people who have come to the type of concerts I’ve been involved in, it means that neither will I be playing in concerts, I also won’t be going myself either, because arts organizations simply will not be able to survive.

Sad, isn’t it?

And I’m certainly not traveling these days, either.

Did you hear about Dr. Joseph Fair, a virologist and an NBC medical expert, who was shown in the hospital with covid-19. He thinks he was exposed to the virus on a plane flight and even though he wore gloves and a mask, he suspects that he got it through his eyes! “We tend to pay attention to the nose and mouth,” Dr. Joseph Fair said. “But you know, droplets landing on your eyes are just as infectious,” meaning that you need to wear goggles as well!

Mask wearing seems like it will be with us for some time. People all over the world have continued to send me selfies of themselves wearing the masks I sewed. Here are my latest collection of “Kathy’s Mask Photos.”

Cloth face masks seem to be plentiful these days, and I still have over 20 masks to give away. If you need one, just ask! Now that we are going to be wearing masks for the long haul, it helps to have masks in different colors to match your wardrobe. Also, after making over 140 masks, I’ve also discovered a new pattern which has a more custom fit, so I’m learning to take two measurements: (1) from the center of your nose to your ear and (2) from the top of your nose to just under your chin.

And here’s a video which shows you how to deal with your glasses fogging up while wearing a mask.