The Curtis Clan - Fall 2020
Fall Equinox to Winter Solstice
Jane joins the workforce
At the end of September, Jane started her first job with a real pay stub and with the real withholding taxes to go with it: lifeguard at the Mid-County YMCA. She got the four-hour shift, on Sundays 11-3. During her first shift at the Y, some Septuagenarians doing holding your breath meditation exercises in the deep end gave her a fright before she figured out what they were doing before jumping in and dragging them out against their will. Her grandfather Ron was thrilled to have Jane working there as a lifeguard having been the Director of the Mid-County Branch in the 1960s and instrumental in their lifeguarding programs and developing pools at the other outlying Ys built in the 1960s (WG and Kirkwood).
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| Jane at the MidCounty Branch original building |
Jane lifeguarding on the current pool deck |
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Pepper at "school" on Jane's bed
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Fall Camping Trip at Pulltite
As per tradition, Randy went camping and kayaking on the Current River in the Ozark National Scenic Waterway the first weekend of October. However, this year was different in that it was without the rest of the over COVID concerns about the group being able to social distance responsibly. Randy was certain it would be fine agreed because if you can't safely socially distance while camp, you just aren't trying.
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Pulltite or Bust
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After some initial reticence, Bethany offered the use of the Traverse SUV as the only working car in the stable with the roof rake for the multi-day outing. Randy turned her down in order to drive the Sebring convertible with the top down and the kayak in the passenger seat. The three-hour drive on a beautiful fall day was an absolute joy, particularly the leisurely two hours on the 2-lane highway from St. James south to Pulltite.
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Arriving at Pulltite
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Getting there on Wednesday, Randy met a few friends (3) and there was plenty of room to spread out and have large fire wedged in the fire ring with a ridiculous amount of firewood brought by Kevin who some land to clear and believes in BIG FIRES.
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Wood pile for a single fire ring
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On Thursday, Randy and Charlie made the 9-mile float trip from Pulltite to Round Springs in 2 ¼ hours on their own. During the afternoon, others joined the group, including former neighbor Dan and his wife Mary (his daughter Kathleen and grandson George made a few hour surprise appearance too). It was pleasant evening as once again we were able to spread out and meet the social distance COVID guidelines comfortably.
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First Day of October on the Current River
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Friday was a 9-mile float trip with a much larger group (~dozen) repeating the Thursday trip but this time it took nearly twice as long. The Friday evening camping arrivals proved to be too much as they neglected or ignored the clear social distancing norms (Bethany was right as she usual is) and despite his best efforts, he wasn't able to overcome others indifference. Randy stayed to make the Saturday float from Ackers Ferry to Pulltite. The rainy and chillier weather took the glow off the previous two days runs but conversations while paddling with good friends kept the spirits warm. Afterwards, Randy bundled up and drove home with the top down. At home, the really long hot shower felt good as he started a two-week stint of living in the basement.
| Double throated holow log fire |
Moonlight at Pulltite |
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A couple weeks later on a beautiful Fall Sunday in Missouri, we met with visiting friends Kent and Greg in downtown Old Webster for some margaritas and FroYo outside. It's good swapping stories and opinions with them and it's a shame we don't see them as often (but that's the case with all loved one).
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In old Webster with Kent n Greg (we look closer together than we are)
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That evening we ordered the Pasta House family lasagna dinner and enjoyed it with the Kennedy's on their back porch. It was nice to catch up with them too and see the progress on their home addition. We're not looking forward to the coming cold weather that will put a damper on socially distant gatherings outside.
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Jane and Cate on a trip to get running shorts that fit (the ones issued for XC were tiny)
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Randy's basement office
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In the middle of October, a month after Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, the three Curti not at a Cross Country meet, went downtown to participate in a Women's March for Social Justice
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Social Justice gathering outside City Hall
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Cate and the dogs
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A month into fall, we had a professional photographer take Jane's Senior picture at the Forest Park Bandstand Gazebo in the pond outside the Muny. The photos turned out terrific with the serene setting, fall colors, and dusk lighting (and the beautiful daughter too). There was some mild panic as Bethany misplaced her phone after they left. Life 360, our family phone personal tracking app, was on showing right where it was, only it wasn't there as they searched diligently at darkness fell. As it turned out, the phone was in the car the whole time as the tracker hadn't updated the location. Grrrrr.
| Jane at the Muny Gazebo Bandstand |
Jane at the Muny |
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| Jane at the Muny |
Jane and Bethany |
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The next day was Senior Day for the WGHS Cross Country team at Blackburn Park and Jane last run of the season, so we got to see her during at least one race this year. We're proud that she stuck with it and improved a lot.
| Last Cross Country Meet |
Jane with Dad |
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WGHS 2020 Cross Country team in a drizzle in September (Jane is third from right)
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Innsbrook
We borrowed a house out in Innsbrook (the VanGwenJoe A frame) for a week / extended weekend to enjoy the Missouri fall colors in all their glory. Bethany and Gussie got there Wednesday night and Randy and the girls joined them after Jane's CC practice on Friday with both trips after dark to spice up the trip with some "deer on the road" thrills. The weekend was chilly and overcast with frequent periods of rain, limiting the amount of outdoor frolicking that occurred. We did get a few short walks in between the rain falls.
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Curti women outside #295
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Also dissuading us from the walks was Gussie snooping off side of the gravel road which but added scads of burs from her fur, that had to be pulled out or she do it herself (and eat them…byuck!). We also figured her snooping from side to side generally doubled the length of her walk compared to those who stayed on the middle of the road path.
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Curti at Innsbrook
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Mostly it was days of quietly sitting on the couch, petting cuddly dogs while drinking Irish creamed coffee, reading, and listening to the rhythm of the falling rain (the minimal insulation roofing of Innsbrook housing has some advantages beyond pure thrift of construction). Bethany worked most of the time with Randy only doing sporadic amounts of work using the phone hot spots to have internet.
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White Oak Lake
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Ignoring the lessons of literally EVERY teen movie where there's a scene of a party with parents away who've trusted their kids, the girls and Pepper left earlier to stay home alone and have reliable and fast internet for school (and not have parties or friends over). The girls mini video updates about how things were fun. By Day 4 of the weekend, Randy came to the clear realization that he wasn't ready to retire without a better daily mission in mind.
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Gussie oblivious to the 2 deer at the other end of the dam
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Halloween
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Randy's 1st Place Picture for the St. Louis District Halloween Costume Contest Besides the gratuitous logo T-shirt, his submission went full bore suck-up with the pitch "I'm not Superman but believe we are all mild-mannered civil servants who together do super things." Know your audience.
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Halloween fell on a Saturday in 2020, which along with the great weather, should have resulted in a super festive occasion of tricker treaters and neighborly togetherness but not this year. In the late afternoon, Randy and the girls walked the dogs around the block in costumes for some semblance of normal. That night, we stayed in a binged watch Halloween TV with pizza: Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, Hocus Pocus, Hubie Halloween and finally SNL with John Mullaney (best monologue since the last time he hosted).
| Cate as Mia Wallace Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction |
Dog walking as a T-Rex (picking up poop was...tricky) |
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Curtis Woman for Halloween
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Halloween also marked Jane submitting all her common applications and essays for colleges (Missouri S&T, Worcester Poly, Bradley, Case Western & Monmouth), which brought a temporary and short lull to college anxiety with her essays completed, until the acceptance letters with scholarship offers came trialing in the following weeks. The invasiveness of the private college assessment inventory of the financial aid process was disconcerting (Randy: Are they deciding if we have enough money to join their club?) A couple of the scholarships were on the surface exceptionally generous (over a hundred thousand) but with their astronomical tuition. it only brought them into the same ballpark as a state school, which was 13 times pricier than 40 years early when tuition was $390 a semester when Randy started. That's eight times the rate of inflation of the rest of the US economy where the tuition would be about $1247 as $1 is worth $3.20 or 219%. Missouri isn't subsidizing secondary education the way it used to despite the promise of Riverboat Gambling. Is there any wonder student debt is completely out of hand?
Falling back for Daylight Savings was also nice
Tuesday, November 3, 2020 - Election Day
Jane was voting for the very first time and was super excited that along with news accounts of crazy long lines across the country for early voting in other states and in Missouri made us want to make sure we had plenty of time to vote, like everyone else. So, the three Curti got in line at 6 am when the polls opened. Jane was the end of the line when the doors opened at the WG Public Library and the poll worked used her to mark the progress of the line. We were about 850 feet back from the door and just minutes before it extended to a thousand feet (your humble scribe measured it on Google Earth because of course he did ). Randy brought a chair along and an Irish coffee to make waiting as pleasurable as possible ("It was a party; a political party") but the chair was mostly a nuisance as the line kept moving.
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Exasperated Jane with her Dad's chair
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The highlight of the line was getting to meet Nicole Galloway, Democratic candidate for Missouri Governor in line at 6:30 am and her spending 5 minutes talking to our new voter, who was also considering going to her alma mater.
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Nicole Galloway speaking with Jane
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The WGPL Presidential fun facts posted on along the sidewalk were also a treat. The whole process took just under two hours. Interestingly the line stayed steady for most of the day but by late afternoon and dwindled to no wait at all as everyone one who was concerned and able had already voted earlier.
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Bethany and Jane in line with Presidential Fun Facts (Note the maple trees at the most colorful peak)
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We Voted
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It was a bit of a nail-biter watching the results in the evening, which was predicted. As in 2016, the national polls were off quite a bit and there wasn't a Blue Tidal Wave as many predicted and the congressional races went more toward the GOP than predicted. By Saturday, most news sources called the election for John Biden with an eventual 306 to 232 tally in the Electorial College (and 7M more votes in the popular vote). The President would spend the next couple months with increasingly noisome claims of election fraud in the jurisdictions he lost offering no proof of the kind that was admissible in courts (but making all sorts of wild statements on platforms where perjury was not an issue). Some simple counter arguments about what did or didn't happen besides the main election results (e.g., Mitch McConnell getting reelected) that did little to discount the numerous conspiracy theories floating around conservative social media and the faithful that choice to believe, without evidence, this and numerous other bonkers theories.
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A couple of days later, Bethany left for Edg-Cliff winery to spend a long with Lisa Liss and Laura Bounty in a rental house.
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Bethany at Edg Clif
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On the first Saturday in November, Randy went on a Mississippi River Float Trip with Charlie and his sister in-law Karen and husband Greg, who had purchased some Old Town kayaks and hadn't gotten them wet yet. The group floated down from the Corps' Piasa Creek Recreation Area boat ramp (just off the Great River Road ) down to the Alton Boat Launch beneath the Clark Bridge. The fall colors were terrific. Even though we were floating downstream "with the current", it was a non-stop paddle the whole way and the 7.3-mile float took 2 ½ hours (about as long as if we walked it). This section of the river is just above the Melvin Price Locks and Dam (26) known as the "Alton Pool". The Corps of Engineers retains a lake of water to manage navigation on the Mississippi River through the locks, so this shouldn't have been too surprising.
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Mississippi River float on the Alton Pool
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WMW (Wild Man Wednesday)
COVID also ended plans for a gathering of Randy and his college buddies that happen every few years: Wild Man Weekend that was set to occur around Veteran's Day. With a friend returning to the St. Louis area to see his dad at that time, a limited WMW (Wild Man Wednesday) occurred with a trio of us (Anthony, Mark and Randy). The group met at the idle and so of vacant Kenyon house (i.e., Randy's mom's house, estate sale canceled in April). We spent a couple hours in the front yard in thoughtful conversation on a beautiful sunny fall day before loading into the convertible, masked up and heading to the Museum of Transportation to take in the World Class collection of steam trains on outdoor display.
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At the National Transportation Museum
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The trio followed the educational part of the day with lunch on the sidewalk at Salt and Smoke in the Loop (Falafel sandwich yum) and then off to nearby Forest Park to hang out. We chose the off the beaten path area near the Jewel Box and the Vandeventer Place stone gates for an illicit beer as public drinking is technically illegal (WMW after all) and those with Security Clearances don't want to rely too much on White Man Privilege. We happily ended up at the generally overlooked STL Korean War Memorial on Veteran's Day.
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STL Koerean War Sundial
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A quick reccy to the Science Center outside exhibits before deciding to visit Steger's Service and seeing Chris.
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Ahhhhh!
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This led to diner with him and George at the Trainwreck's outdoor Gazebo followed by more socializing in Steger's breakroom in the service bays regaling one another with shared stories and ones with others that weren't present until well past bedtime for the five decade plus aged friends. Not as much fun as the bigger group events but an unplanned good time that exceeded expectations.
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At the Trainwreck Gazebo (and another week and a half in the basement for Randy afterwards)
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That Friday the girls attended their First "in person" day of school at WGHS for 2020-2021 despite raising COVID cases in St. Louis County. They divided the school in half in order to keep social distancing within classrooms with the teachers instructing each class for ½ the time, twice a day with those haivng Last Names beginning with A-L attending in the mornings and M-Z attending in the afternoons. As expected this split lead to many lopsided statical splits of on 4 kids in Cate's Physics class and her Intro to Law being over crowded. Like many things, it was hardly an ideal solution but everyone tried to make the most of a bad situation. We frequently weren't happy with the decisions but were hardly volunteering to be the deciders in this.
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13 Nov. 1st Day in school (in person classes)
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On the stairs
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Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving traditions changed this year with social gathering restrictions; for us particularly no Sagegiving on Friday. While undesired it was nice to take moment to be grateful that beyond the challenges of education our most vexing problems are generally first world problems, that while relatively important to us would not be considered problems elsewhere in the world of even here if you could travel back in time a few decades or more.
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First World Problem
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Jane and Randy - Right Time, Right Place, Wrong Year (at least this year Kirkwood didn't win Turkey Day which given the Statesmen record of late is a win of sorts)
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The Curti had a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving meal that turned out better than expected (pink Crème Soda floats were terrific).
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Our Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Dinner
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We followed this up with a firepit fire outside with warm apple cider.
On Saturday, Cate put the lights up along the edge of the roof with Randy making good use of broken telescoping tree trimming pole he held onto for ten years to install lights into trees of modest height.
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Up on the rooftoop
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Bethany walking dogs Note Santa in the background left
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Michael Scott vs. Randal Scott
Jane and Cate realized that the Michael Scott character (Steve Carell) in the NBC comedy the Office drives a silver 2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible and later a 2008 burgundy one and happily shared this information with their Dad. Last year, we got a 2008 silver one from his Dad. The girls snickered at the obvious implied comparison with their father to Michael Scott, the quintessential ineffective, inappropriate ("That's what she said") delusional middle manager of a marginally relevant paper distribution company in the middle of a middle state in early 2000s. Unflattering but not without some merit. We began calling the car The Michael Scott or variations thereof.
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Santas on the Loose
The first Saturday, we woke and the family participated in the 9th annual Santa On The Loose race in Old Orchard, Webster Groves. No this isn't a sign that being holed up at home for COVID convinced the Curti to embrace a healthy existence. Fresh off a season of Cross County, Jane wanted to run (it was one of her basic goals for joining). Cate begrudgingly agreed to join her despite vehemently stating she hates running. Bethany and Randy choose to walk the AK to help subsidize the race costs (entrant numbers were way done), make a donation to STL Crisis Nursery and have a pleasant walk through the Webster Park and Old Orchard.
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Pre-race selfie masked up
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Jane ran a near personal best time (35:15) and Cate did (37:39) despite having essentially zero preparation since Girls on the Run nearly 5 years ago. Regarding the Quinquagenarians, there were 3 people SLOWER than mom and dad but there were only a half dozen or so walkers, it was hard to tell with the 1 ½ hour staggered start time.
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Finishing smiles
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The girls rushed back home for Model UN via Zoom that started as their parents were finishing their walk. Like many things during 2020, one of their favorite extracurricular activities was only a semblance of its normal incantation.
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Model UN fashion
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That afternoon we got a Christmas tree from the local vegetable plant stand (Rodgers) as there were rumblings that there would be a higher demand than normal with people staying home and seeking comforts of normalcy. This proved to be the case and most tree lots were empty well before Christmas.
Wednesday, the 9th was the first of a couple of unseasonably warm and sunny days leading to taking time off to enjoying a leisurely lunch on the balcony, long walks with the dogs and a Whopper Wednesday excursion in Michael Scott.
| Bethany on balcony. |
Whopper Wednesday run |
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Cate "living her best life" ignoring etiquette while eating ramen noodles on the balcony
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Cate COVID Curtis
This also aligned with Cate feeling a little cruddy. She stayed home from school on Friday, December 11th and got a COVID test at the pediatrician. She was exhibiting a few symptoms (aches, fatigue, she took a nap on Wednesday, maybe a diminished sense of smell). She took the news of needing to isolate from the rest of the family in stride at least until we get the test results back on her COVID test. The rest of the family felt fine but quarantined from the outside world too, not that it raised to many changes except not going to the grocery story when we wanted something but we had stocked up and didn't have any real needs. Over the weekend as Cate felt better, we had mostly convinced ourselves it wasn't COVID for a number of reasons: None of the rest of us showed any symptoms, Cate was the least exposed person in the family and also the least likely to notice them based on other illnesses in the past.
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December COVID 7 day average chart
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So, it was with some surprise on Monday, when her test results came back positive and we really starting playing with the deniability, bargaining, depression and acceptance that the rest of us would get it too. There were multiple conversations a day with our bodies where our brains consciously asked "Belly - is that queasy feeling real nausea? Are we going to throw up?" to be supplied with some form "Maybe, you best keep monitoring as it could go either way" We were mentally able to talk ourselves out of listening to these little voices in our body reporting on aches, overly warm or cold and tiredness that are always there but become louder when you start wondering if you're actually sick.
Years after most people started, Bethany and Randy used the Face Time feature of Instagram to chat with Cate having family dinner with her a couple times.
Despite feeling fine, we shared our status with the family and got immediate help from sister/sister in laws. S-I-L Gwen delivered an entire homemade backed Moscatelli meal the moment she heard we were in quarantine lockdown. Sister, Rosemary volunteered to take our holiday packages to the Post office so presents would arrive on time.
Ten days after her symptoms first appeared, it was a relief to have Cate join the family again after her days of isolation, quarantine but we were still approached the Holidays days expecting to be sick.
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Cate joining the family for dinner again in person (Thanks again Gwen)
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Randy, the girls and the dogs
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The next day, we packed up the tripod and shot the family Christmas Card pictures at Larson Park while everyone was feeling good (as there the expectation the rest of us were likely doomed to fall ill any moment too).
So did the rest of the Curti dodge COVID time? That's falls to confirm in the next quarter (#Cliffhanger) Winter 2021 December 2020 to March 2021
