From LONG ISLAND – by Ann Parry (annparry.com) October 25, 2020
North Merrick Runners – safety comes first
The North Merrick Runners club used staggered start times during its practice run October 18th to ensure social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Looking forward to cheering on my daughter Sue and her fellow NMR members, I began looking near Park Avenue School for runners about 3:20 PM, optimistically soon after the 3:00 scheduled start time.
• VIDEO(with music; clips not chronological): I looked up the sidewalks and road for a while. Then I told my neighbor, who was working in his front yard, that runners in the North Merrick Runners club would be passing by soon, which they did.
After cheering and videoing each runner, and hearing my neighbor also cheer before he left, I stayed on the lookout until at least ten minutes, but no runners, passed by.
Last weekend I drove to my fiancé Bob’s home to drop off a banker’s dozen of blueberry hazelnut oatmeal cups. Because Long Island is a hot spot of the Coronavirus pandemic, I hoped the box of breakfasts would help delay his next trip to the supermarket.
Earlier that week, when trying my first and only cup, I was unpleasantly surprised how the sugar overpowered the grain-fruit-nut combo, but Bob famously enjoys eating any food that isn’t a hard boiled egg.
After I parked across from Bob’s house, our social distancing swap-dance began:
I carried the oatmeal box to his front stoop, where I left it, and then walked back to the curb.
Then Bob came outside, walked to a curb area far from me, and left a bag with two bottles of chardonnay he picked up from outside the entrance of a nearby liquor store.
He went back by his stoop, and I picked up the bag, put it in my car trunk, and returned to the curb.
As we were chatting, Bob looked up and past me, saying, “Look at the beautiful sky!” I turned around to see the golds, pinks, mauves and violets of dusk grow.
Using my iPhone 11 Pro, I captured a colorful photo, but along with the sky and houses, it included a less-than-picturesque parked car (mine) across the street, and a truck parked along the curb next to me.
Faced with the intriguing challenge, and after some trial and error, I decided to stand at the side of the truck and position my cell phone by its roof.
The truck, which had been a distraction, an obstacle, transformed into a giant reflector that helped me capture intriguing scenes. Yes!
fyi fLI Because I must avoid gluten, it’s crucial I use reliable brands of gluten free food, such as Bob’s Red Mill. Thought not a fan of the oatmeal flavor I gave Bob, I’ve been enjoying their Apple Pieces and Cinnamon, Maple with Raisin, and Organic Classic oatmeal during the Novel Coronavirus “New York State on PAUSE” stay-at-home.
Bob’s Red Mill is in partnership with No Kid Hungry (NoKidHungry.org).
FEATURE PHOTOat top of post:Garden City Park, NY, U.S. May 2, 2020. Dusk falls on suburbia, including Engel home, on Long Island.
