This morning I’m drinking Thanksgiving Coffee’s Nicaragua Light Roast.   I just got a shipment of three different types of Thanksgiving light roasts in the mail yesterday, I was like a little kid on Xmas morning.

After drinking mostly Allegro coffees for several months now, this Nicaragua light roast really jumped out at me at the first sip.   I want to say full-flavored, but that may be due to how I prepare it (I use significantly more grind per cup than I think most people do).   It is sweet at the front end, and then very toasty roasty at the back end.  More coffee-like flavor than some light roasts, without the unpleasant burnt taste.  I think the Allegros I’ve been drinking  – while they come in different varieties (Costa Rica, Mexico, Breakfast blend) – all taste pretty homogenous.  This Nicaragua is definitely a departure.   Will be interesting to compare it to the other Thanksgiving roasts.    

One of these week’s I’ll do a blind taste test of several different types.  Need more pourover cones to do that though.

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Have to talk about COVID.  We are more or less hunkered down here, going to ride this one out one way or another.  We’ve reduced manning at work, in order to minimize exposure.

   There’s no doubt that it is concerning.   And although the consensus still seems to be that we will get through this, I don’t think we really know yet what getting through this is going to look like.   I think we can say at this point that it will be a major societal event – one that will have implications for many years to come.   

   Hawaii is not quite as affected yet as other areas in the US.  I think it’s a matter of time….we just haven’t hit that exponential growth threshold yet. Restaurants are closed and events are cancelled, but people aren’t quite holed up yet like I think they will be in a few weeks.

It’s bad, no doubt about it.  Many people will get sick, and a few of those will die.  More than likely, someone I know well will get very sick and/or die.   Hell, I may even get it, and who knows how my body will respond.    Not a pessimistic outlook, just a realization of truth based on what we seem to know so far.

However, there are opportunities here.    “Every adversity carries the seed of an equivalent advantage.”  (Don’t know who to attribute this to, but I heard it on Joe Rogan podcast # 1422).   We have opportunities to increase connections in our community, through shared hardship.  Read Junger’s “Tribe,”…he speaks at depth about this phenomenon.   Our digital connectedness – while sometimes a vulnerability – in this particular case enables us to maintain communities and communication even as we isolate ourselves physically.   We can build support networks and pass information more efficiently than ever before.   And there are also opportunities for personal pursuits:  music, housecleaning, time with kids/family, and running/fitness.  All of these things can be done in while in quarantine status.

Our family will do our part to slow the spread, aka flatten the curve.  We’re taking basic measures to minimize unnecessary interaction.   Much of these measures are imposed, which just makes it easier.  Easier to not go to restaurants when they’re all closed.  Easier to not go to work when I’m ordered not to.   I had planned to be in Idaho right now backcountry skiing, but those plans were cancelled.  Life inside the house, however, goes on as normal.   

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Spring equinox yesterday; one of the four geometric corners of the earth’s annual trip around the sun.  Equal hours day and night, across the globe.  Max time difference in daylight hours day to day.  The shift from winter to spring.   From now until Sept 21st, the days are longer than the nights, across the northern hemisphere.

Just thought I’d point that out.  It may mean nothing to you….just another day.  But I think it’s nice to have little landmarks on the calendar that are relevant on a celestial/astronomical level.  I wrote about it a few years ago, in this old post.

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I’m toying with signing up for a longer race this fall.  It’s very tempting.   Castle Peak 100k still has spots open, and I have a special place in my heart for that race.   Everything is tentative right now with COVID uncertainty, but doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan and have ambition and goals.   Just having it as a possibility….it makes me want to get out there and run.