Category Archives: Obsessions

Pandemic Masks

September 28, 2024Memories, Musings, Obsessions, Thingscovid-19, masks, recent historyDona

Is it too early to talk about the masks we wore to protect us and others from Covid-19? I’m talking about the earlier days — the fabric masks. The handmade ones, the ones that suddenly appeared on Amazon. The ones that really were not that effective.

To be clear, I was happy that we were not expected to wear masks when out and about at the very beginning. I’d seen people wearing masks in my day and I was happy I didn’t need to do that — it seemed so odd and embarrassing. I just didn’t leave the house — so I didn’t need to worry about getting Covid-19. I was completely devastated for many reasons when it was announced that the general public should begin wearing masks. To begin with, I didn’t know where to find a mask. The good ones were reserved for doctors, nurses, first responders. A FB acquaintance even went so far as to shame anyone who was able to get N19 masks. I don’t recall her exact words, but they were sharp and scathing and she didn’t back down when some people explained that they had N19 masks left from house projects or dealing with forest fire smoke.

Another reason I was terrified to wear a mask was because I didn’t know how to and I felt uncomfortable about doing so. I thought they were ugly and bothersome.

My first concern was eased by someone on our neighborhood email list who offered to make masks for people in exchange for a donation to her favorite charity. I made a donation and stopped by her house one day and picked up my mask on her front porch with the instructions to wash it in hot water in case she was inadvertently passing on Covid germs.

My second and third concerns were eased only by experience.

A local women’s group held an outdoor mask sale to benefit their non-profit and I bought one or two masks there. I bought more on Amazon, two through King Arthur Flour, and a few from the company that made KA Flour’s masks. I gave some away for Christmas that year as well. My friend Catherine who’d just moved to Seattle sent us one that had ‘VOTE’ on the front. I gave that to Dean because it was too big for me.

My favorite mask was my Kate Bush mask that featured a woman in a red dress standing in various poses with ‘You know it’s me — Cathy’ written on the bottom. Unfortunately that was just for looks because the material was too porous. I wore it over another mask when I was out and about.

Most of the masks were too big for me so I bought beads to string on the ear bands and hooks to wrap the ear bands around my head.

Eventually we were able to easily purchase N19 and KN19 masks and the fabric masks became redundant. I even have unused masks left over.

I’m keeping my fabric masks for the time being. Not that I think I’ll need them, but because, in a way, they make me feel a little safe.

An Aspidistra [blooms] in Bethesda

January 12, 2023Obsessions, Plant, Televisionaspidistra, aspidistra flower, h. e. bates, masterpiece theatreDona

When I was still living with my parents I used to live for Sunday nights when I could settle in front of the TV and watch Masterpiece Theatre with Alistair Cooke on Channel 11, our local PBS station. One of the mini-series’ I remember watching was Country Matters, a dramatization of stories by H. E. Bates. The one dramatization I remembered most of all was An Aspidistra in Babylon. Actually I really only remembered the title and because of that I wanted an aspidistra, or cast iron plant, of my own.

I found one, years ago, at a yard sale in Savannah, Georgia. I bought it and foolishly planted it in the yard. The person having the sale said it would do well in our yard, but perhaps she didn’t understand we were from a state quite a bit north of hers.

For my birthday this year Andrew and Alex gave me an aspidistra after hearing me mourn the fact that I’ve never found one. It’s spindly and only has two leaves, but it seems to be thriving.

Before we left for our trip to Southern California for Christmas I noticed a new green bump near the soil and was overjoyed, thinking I was getting a new leaf. I’ve checked it regularly — usually when I water it (rarely because it hates wet feet) — and there never seemed to be any change. Yesterday was watering day and I noticed that it had developed some markings, not unlike a demogorgon with a closed mouth.

Today I took another look. The demogorgon’s mouth opened! It wasn’t a new leaf after all, it was a flower!

Found Items: Dark Shadows Memories

August 28, 2022Memories, Obsessions, Televisionbarnabas collins, dark shadows, David henesy, Found items, Jonathan fridDona

A while back I cleared out part of the kneewall and pulled out my suitcase of teenaged memories. It’s mostly packed with Jeremy’s letters, but I found other memories inside. One of which was a stained manilla envelope labeled Dark Shadows’ Memories. Inside the envelope were pages I’d torn out of 16 Magazine and perhaps Tiger Beat too.

Stained manilla envelop labeled Dark Shadows' memories

I am not sure exactly when I first saw Dark Shadows, but I know that I watched it when I was in 6th grade. I think I’d heard about it and remember watching one episode alone in a dark room and was terrified.

It could have been Eugenia Mack who really got me into watching Dark Shadows. I remember running to her house after school so I could watch it. She lived a little closer to school than I did. It began at 3 pm so we always missed a little bit of it. Her parents worked, so no one was there to interfere with us watching a soap opera about vampires, witches and werewolves.

I stopped going to Girl Scouts, and therefore was not allowed to go on a camping trip.

I guess it was my first obsession, and a gateway to many related obsessions. Based on the last photo it looks like I still enjoyed watching it in late 1970. Or at least I still liked David Henesy.

My two favorite characters were Barnabas Collins (played by Jonathan Frid) and David Collins (played by David Henesy). Barnabas was such an empathetic vampire. You couldn’t help liking him. He was soft-spoken and gentle.

Dark Shadows by Frenchy. Drawings of many of the DS characters including Barnabas in the foreground.

Photos of Barnabas and Quentin with songs from the show.

As for David Collins — it wasn’t so much his character, but the actor himself. I was madly in love with David Henesy. In fact, I remember that when I was in stressful situations at school I would imagine David was my boyfriend and living in New York. You see, we had a long distance relationship.

I mean, look at that face. I bet you are a little infatuated with him too!