News

Wrapping

Here at Four Seasons at Elm Tree, our community has remained quite well, distancing, masking, learning FaceTime, Skype and Zoom to visit, gather, attend programs, take tours, and otherwise, entertain ourselves as over-55 seniors. No touching allowed!

Yes, there have been exercise sessions, card games, billiards, pickleball, golf, tennis, poolside and food truck eating, some carefully attended meetings in the clubhouse, as well as chats across the lawns and patios. Walking paths and kitchens both seemed to be more used.

We are wrapping up the year, knowing we are living through an historic time, gaining information not expected, sharing perspectives with each other, our children and grandchildren, all having many different views to consider.

Lexicographers name “Words of the Year”…2018=toxic…2019=climate emergency…2020=?. As all of us, language had to adapt rapidly and repeatedly during this year. The majority of new words revolved around the “pandemic”, a word that increased in use over 57,000%…yes, it did! “Coronavirus” dates from the 1960s via the scientific community. “Virtual Learning” has been around the country for years, just not in an immediately demanding format for teachers and students. “Working From Home” followed suit.

“Masking”, “Social Distancing”, “self-quarantine” are not new terms and procedures, but they have been used much more frequently and with more awareness of their necessity and implications. Typically, and not surprisingly, there are raps created with such popular words now. Are we listening to any as we wrap our holiday gifts?

The “shutdown” was legislated, meaning we went to “anthropause”, causing 50% reductions in human vibrations from March through May; and so there was a silence. The whales were happier!