Sunday Walk and Brunch

Sunny but blustery and colder yesterday, we huddled in our flannel shirts in the wind, while everywhere around us everything is blooming like mad professing Spring in pink and purple in spite of it all. The Rose Garden has been pruned back to sticks but every few bushes sports a spot of colored bud declaring the profusions so soon to come. At brunch Eric got dirty looks for his annual allergic sniffles and coughs -- perhaps folks worried he's coronaviral. There was a decent gathering of strollers and lovers and kids there at the Rose Garden, considering it was a fairly cold afternoon, I thought. So far I haven't noticed much diminishment on buses or streets -- and I commute to school through Chinatown, which I have heard is feeling a steep decline in foot traffic. Nothing conspicuous as far as I can see yet, tho' I can't help but wonder if we'll be seeing cancellations and retreats in a few weeks' time, once students are meant to be returning from Spring Break at the mid-term. It's been a busier weekend than I like, edited a thesis draft, looked at a proposal, read articles for one independent study, read a response paper for another one, crafted the second half of Wednesday's Barthes lecture, and another remains to be crafted today and tomorrow. No rest for the weary this week, but next week may be a slightly lighter load...