Two interesting pictures of wicked viruses

Count me among the ones who have a morbid fascination with  the beauty of evil viruses. 

CDC.gov is an interesting place, and it's okay to download most of the pictures and information at the site. 

This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. A novel coronavirus, named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. The illness caused by this virus has been named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).  Content Providers: CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MSMI; Dan Higgins, MAMS.  Photo Credit: Alissa Eckert, MSMI, Dan Higgins, MAM.

Here's some information about influenza. 

Description:
This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. A novel coronavirus, named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. The illness caused by this virus has been named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).  Information Provider:CDC/ Douglas Jordan. Photo credit: Illustrator, Dan Higgins

Half-maskers risk inhaling the Covid 19 virus into their noses.

 Half-maskers are everywhere you turn. The last time we went to the grocery store, I saw at least ten. Some are shoppers, and a high percentage of employees are half-maskers. It must be miserable to wear a mask all day long, but half-masking is not a working solution.

You know what I’m talking about. The typical approach is to wear the mask over the mouth. If someone looks their way, the maskers pull them up.

“Oh, I’m sorry. My mask is too loose and I have trouble keeping it up.”

Maybe it’s time to say, “Please be considerate of others. We have medical conditions that leave us ill prepared to fight the virus, should we get it.”

 Why is half-masking dangerous?

 

·        A study has shown that the virus can replicate better inside cells from the nasal cavity than in cells from elsewhere in the lower airways. It’s critical to cover both your nose and mouth with face masks.

·        The nose is the dominant initial sit of infection.

·        The mouth is closed most of the time, but the nose is never closed.

·        Wearing a mask over the mouth and not covering the nose—half-masking—is   more dangerous than no mask at all.

Summarized from BGR

The reason to wear a mask over the mouth and nose is to lower the risk of being infected by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). It should not be to satisfy an employer or make a political statement.

What are the guidelines from the CDC?

o   Wear masks with two or more layers to stop the spread of COVID-19.

o   Wear the mask over your nose and mouth and secure it under your chin.

o   Masks should be worn by people two years and older.

o   Masks should NOT be worn by children younger than two, people who have trouble breathing, or people who cannot remove the mask without assistance.

o   Do NOT wear masks intended for healthcare workers, for example, N95 respirators.

o   CDC does not recommend the use of gaiters or face shields. Evaluation of these face covers is on-going but effectiveness is unknown at this time.

 cdc.gov/coronavirus   

 

 

 

October 25: It's Harvest and Wrap Your Tomatoes Day.

 That is, if you live where a freeze is expected tonight. Here in west Texas, we're expecting snow this week. 

I used to watch my first inlaws go through this process. It works. They had boxes full of ripening tomatoes throughout the first month of winter.  We've been planning to wrap our tomatoes, but we almost forgot. Thanks to my friend, the famous cook, Jane Butel, we remembered. I'm sharing a link to her website so you'll know exactly what to do.

Jack Frost is on Hiis Way--Pick and Wrap Tomatoes By Jane Butel October 25, 2020

From our garden.

World Polio Day is October 24

World Polio Day is held on October 24 in celebration of the birth of Jonas Salk, the American researcher who developed the first polio vaccine in 1955. In 1961 Albert Sabin developed the first monovalent oral polio vaccine followed by the trivalent oral polio vaccine in 1963 that has reduced polio worldwide by 99%. World Polio Day is an ideal time to raise public awareness of the devastating effects of polio on children and garner support for eradication efforts. (Source: CDC)

Kirkus Review of LETTER FROM BELLEAU WOOD

 LETTER FROM BELLEAU WOOD 

Mary Lou Cheatham 

Southeast Media Productions 

(244 pp.) November 11, 2020 

BOOK REVIEW 

A group of young people grow up in the shadow of World War I in this historical novel. This seventh book in Cheatham’s Covington Chronicles focuses primarily on four characters: a young woman named Trudy; her first love, Jeremy; her brother, Will; and his friend Lance.In a series of interconnected vignettes, the author explores this quartet’s coming of age during a tumultuous time. Trudy and Jeremy are childhood sweethearts “as close as ribbon cane syrup and pancakes,” but distance strains their romance when they both leave their small Mississippi town to attend college...

A touching tale of young love during wartime. 

                                                                                                                            --Kirkus

(There's more of this review, which is designed for booksellers and librarians. Since it contains spoilers, I won't post it here, but I'll be glad to share it with you. Just let me know.)  

Letter from Belleau Wood

Wearing Masks in 1918 to Prevent the Flu

The Mask Slackers 

In 1918, most of the ordinances to wear masks were in the Western states.

Most people complied to the orders because World War I was going on. Anything people could do to prevent the troops from becoming infected was regarded as an act of patriotism.

Ordinances, which varied in different sections of the United States, included closing schools and places of amusement, orders not to spit on the streets, rules to use handkerchiefs or tissues, and requirements to wear masks.

The Red Cross called people who didn’t co-operate “mask slackers.”

Some people wore masks made of gauze.

Signs such as “Wear a mask or go to jail,” and “Wear a mask to save your life,” reached out to influence the public.

Those who failed to wear masks were sometimes charged fines, sent to prison, or had their names printed in the paper.

An officer for the San Francisco board of health shot a man who refused to wear a mask.

The San Francisco mayor paid a fine of $50 for showing up at a boxing match without his mask.

It was not uncommon to make a hole in a mask for smoking.

Some factions argued against wearing masks because they created fear and kept people from remaining calm.

Businesses expressed fear that shoppers required to wear masks would stay away.

 The above information is paraphrased from 1918 Spanish Flu Mask Wearing Resistance, which quotes American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic by Nancy Bristow.

Pre-order Letter from Belleau Wood, which will be released November 11, 2020.

Wear a mask. Stay vigilant. Darker days are ahead.

 We are tired of Covid 19, and we’re tired of wearing masks.

 When my daughter Christie was a tiny girl, I used to take her on long walks. One day we were far from the house, and most of the trip home was uphill.

“Mommy, I’m tired of walking.”

“Try running for a change.” I believed she was bored—emotionally tired but not physically exhausted.

“Okay.” She ran most of the way home. Uphill.

Since my husband and I are tired of wearing masks, we’ve decided to double our efforts. We’re ordering better masks.

Let’s face it. We cannot stop resisting Covid because we’re tired of doing it, tired of hearing about it, tired of wearing masks. We must keep protecting ourselves because we have risk factors—potential co-morbidities. All the people we know either have conditions that could make them susceptible to the most severe forms of the disease or have family members who are fragile.

~

During the months of isolation, I’ve written a novel that includes references to the flu of 1918.  Letter from Belleau Wood shows scenes of World War I. It also takes a close look at the flu, which killed more people than the Great War did.

Researching the influenza pandemic, I found an intriguing and amusing source of information about masks. Resistance to wearing masks is neither new nor unique. Here is a fact gleaned from an article in History.com about mask wearing.

1918 Spanish Flu Mask Wearing Resistance

 The term Spanish flu is inaccurate. The 1918 flu did not start in Spain. (To label a disease process by using the name of a nation is a racial slur, regardless of where the pandemic began.) The first recorded infection of the 1918 influenza was at Camp Funston, a division of Fort Riley, Kansas, on March 4, 1918. News didn’t flow freely because the United States and other countries were fighting the Great War. Since Spain was neutral, the Spanish press freely reported the disease; therefore, it became known as the Spanish flu.

~

In Letter from Belleau Wood, Trudy goes to college. One of her roommates, Marlowe, has a cousin Orville, who is stationed at Camp Funston. He’s a Kansas farm boy, compelled to work in the army base hospital. He writes letters to Marlowe, who reads them to Trudy and their other two roommates.  

An Excerpt from One of Orville’s letters:

       Dear Cousin,

Nurse said, we’re having a flu epidemic here. It started out when one of the cooks came down sick with chills and fever and a cough. He didn’t have measles. He said he ached all over.

It’s flying through the camp like a dust storm. Men have a high fever and complain of aching everywhere. They have the symptoms of a bad cold. So far, you’ve missed it. Could be you’re immune to it.

Most of the cases have lasted less than a week. Some of the soldiers are well within two or three days.

We’re wearing masks now, but everybody’s still getting sick.

What I need you to do is go through the ward and give the men aspirin powders every four hours throughout your shift. Every time you give them medicine you must require them to drink a glass of water. Make a notation on the chart at the end of the patient’s bed. If you have anytime left over, help the men any way you can.

Yes Ma’am.

The job didn’t sound too bad. Treating men with the three-day-flu When I got in there though, they moaned and carried on about how bad their backs hurt and their legs cramped. It hurts to see people in pain. I can’t turn a deaf ear to it. Excuse me for being indelicate, but the beds are saturated with urine and bowel movement. I can’t keep up with the bedpans and urinals, and the men are too sick to clean themselves. Bloodstains from men coughing it up and bleeding from their noses add to the mess.

Before I made it through my first round, one of the men wheezed and coughed. He spit up big globs of blood. I went to get one of the trained nurses to help me with him. When we came back, he was dead.

She said, you shouldn’t have left him. Never leave your patient. But what was I supposed to do? 

I don’t want to be here. I didn’t choose this. My dear cousin, keep praying for me.

                                                                                           Cuz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomatoes in Our Back Yard

 

My husband and I are new to west Texas. Throughout the summer of 2020, we’ve lived like hermits to avoid Covid 19. Since we seldom traveled, we decided to farm in the back yard. Our garden consisted of a few large flowerpots.  

These Beefsteak tomatoes are normally
      huge, but since they are a late crop,
       they didn't grow big before ripening.

In the extreme heat we found it necessary to sprinkle copious amounts of water on our potted plants morning and evening. Our tomato plants survived but yielded no fruit. When the weather started to cool, they blossomed.

And then the little red tomatoes had blossom rot. We’ve been grinding eggshells to prevent it. Some articles I’ve read say applying eggshells to the soil won’t prevent blossom rot, but we have evidence it does help.

Now, we have delicious tomatoes to add to our salads.

In the meantime, I have been writing a novel set in 1917 and 1918. To guarantee authenticity, everything requires research. I’ve heard that people did not eat tomatoes in Europe and the United States until the 1800’s. If my characters ate tomatoes, I needed to be sure I was writing something that really happened.

Release date 11-11-2020
Available at discount
until then

This sentence appears in  Letter from Belleau Wood: 

"Sue made cathead biscuits and tomato gravy with thick bacon. She poured steaming coffee into four mugs."

Having grown up in the 1940’s and 1950’s, I knew one of the popular meals in rural Mississippi was the one described in the above quotation. My grandmother taught my mother to cook biscuits and gravy. I couldn’t verify though that my grandmother in the early 1900’s ate tomatoes. My father, born in 1898, refused to eat raw tomatoes.

Through research I discovered that the taste for tomatoes evolved and grew during the nineteenth century. The Globe tomato, which is still a popular variety, appeared first in 1906.

Here’s an interesting article about the history of tomatoes in Grit, Rural American Know How: 

"The History of Tomatoes in America"

Salad from the Collard Patch

Throughout the summer and this fall, we've enjoyed adding little green leaves to our salads. Sometimes we have enough leaves to make an entire bowl full. 

~~~

A fresh crop of collards in backyard flower pots will soon be ready to pinch off and add to salad.

~~~

Arugula adds an intriguing taste to salad. We've trimmed off leaves from our big pot of arugula. The leaves grow back.

~~~

Parsley is popular as a garnish. The leaves can also add taste to salad. 

~~~

Basil is a hardy, easy-to-grow herb. A few leaves can add taste to a salad. Warning: don't overdo it.

~~~

As the weather cools, we hope to grow different varieties of lettuce.

Why Mama Didn't Vote

Voter Suppression--A Personal History

When I was a child in the 1950’s, I asked my mother why she didn’t vote.

 She took a deep breath and looked away from me in embarrassment. “I vote through my husband.”

 “But you told me you and Daddy don’t always discuss all the candidates and even when you do, you don’t always agree with him.”

 She shamed me. “If I spend the money to pay poll tax, I won’t have the money for your school lunch.”

 I grew up in a home where my father periodically pulled his poll tax receipt from his pocketbook and showed it to us with pride. We admired the folded and worn slip of paper with wide-eyed awe. It was a home where my mother decided she would relinquish her right to drop a ballot into a box so my siblings and I could have the right to sit at the school cafeteria tables. I grew up in a nation where access to the ballot was limited by encumbrances. Democracy was the government for the elite and by the elite.

 When the poll tax was revoked in 1964, my mother made it her practice to vote. Some years before then, she could have afforded to pay poll tax, but it was against her principles.

In my early adult years, there were times when I thought I was too busy to go vote, and I feel guilty that I let the day pass without taking the time. I remember a day when I was a high school teacher, who had to stay after school because of duties. I didn't vote for President.  Later, working twelve-hour shifts as an RN in a hospital, I failed to vote. As a critical care nurse,  I often did not take my full lunch break of thirty minutes. The polling place was across town.  Back then we lacked innovative methods to allow voting, a special privilege and obligation—the barrier we build around the fort of democracy. 

Even though women gained the right to vote one hundred years ago, they often lacked the means to exercise their sacred right. Poll tax locked many women out of the voting places.

 Poll tax, literacy tests, and social intimidation kept men and women of color from voting in Mississippi. In this year’s election, inconveniences and inefficiencies are the tools utilized to inhibit some people from voting. Early voting has started. In our cities, voters are standing in line four hours or more to vote.

 Now in 2020, it’s time to remind people what poll tax is. A poll tax is a fee of a predetermined amount that must be paid in order for a person to vote. When we think of poll tax, we suppose it was a practice of the South, but some northern and western states--California, Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin--charged poll tax. 

Please see this Wikipedia article for more information about poll tax. 

Whoever intimidates, threatens, coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote...18 U.S. Code § 594.Intimidation of voters

Trip to Oxford, a Short Story Prequel of Letter from Belleau Wood

Bailey Benton, Trudy Cameron’s stepsister, is four years younger than Trudy. Some of Bailey's story appears in Letter from Belleau Wood, but most of the time she’s in another orbit. Here’s a little extra story involving Bailey. The events in “Trip to Oxford” do not appear in Letter from Belleau Wood or any other book in the series. A close look at Bailey will add a new depth to Trudy’s character. Furthermore, Bailey is becoming a young woman with her own personality. Sometimes Trudy fails to understand that Bailey is her own person.  

TRIP TO OXFORD

Soft balmy winds played a love song in the chimes and kissed Trudy’s face as she and Jeremy sat in the Adirondack chairs in the front yard. The arms of the chairs touched each other so Jeremy’s hand could cover hers.

“It’s the most beautiful moon I’ve ever seen.” She pointed to the huge orbit rising over the Hastabucha River swamp. “It looks like a giant mold of butter.”

Jeremy’s blond curls caught the lights of it. She inhaled the honeysuckle-laden air. Fireflies surrounded them. “This minute needs to last for all time.”

“Do you think Miss Zoe and Mr. Sam would let you go to Oxford with me next week?”

“You know they won’t.” She slipped her hand from his so she could pull herself to the edge of the chair. “Who says I want to go?”

“You wouldn’t miss it.”

“Jeremy Smitherlin, what makes you so sure of yourself?”

“Oh, all right, I’ll ask properly. Miss Trudy, would you care to accompany me on a train ride to Oxford next week so I can go for an interview at Ole Miss?”

“You know Mama and Papa Sam won’t hear of it.”

~~~

The screen door slammed. “Oh, hi, Trudy and Jeremy. I didn’t know y’all were sitting out here.”

Bailey balanced the tray as she walked down the front steps. She placed it on the table situated in the middle of the yard chairs. “I toasted some sourdough bread. Since it’s dark out here, I went ahead and spread the blackberry jam on the bread.”

Trudy reached for a slice. “Lovely.”

“Just in case you were here, I poured you up some fruit punch.”

“Thanks.” Jeremy took a swig.

“I overheard you say you needed someone to go along with you to Oxford on the train. I’ll be glad to go. Could y’all do me a favor? Convince Mama Zoe and Papa I’m old enough to take the trip, and don’t invite our brothers, okay? It gets messy if we take so many.”

Jeremy swallowed a mouthful of blackberry toast. “I’ll see about it, Bailey."

Not the Cameron-Benton family, but a typical home of the time. 
(Wikipedia, Public Domain)

TRIP TO OXFORD continued.

~~~

The following morning after the family cleared the breakfast table, Bailey knocked on the door of the dining room, where Zoe and Sam Benton shared another round of coffee. It was a special time reserved to allow the children to have private discussions.

Bailey cracked the door. “May I come in?”

“Sure.”

She spread her flounced skirt and perched in a chair. She fluttered her eyes so they’d notice how cute she looked. “Good morning, Papa. You look pretty today, Mama Zoe.”

Papa drummed his fingers on the table while Zoe rolled her eyes.

Bailey inhaled and exhaled slowly. So far, her approach was off to a bad start. Maybe they needed to go. “I’ll try to make this brief.”

“You don’t have to hurry, Sweetie.” After stilling his fingers, Papa leaned forward. “What is it?”

Bailey sniffed. She really, really wanted to go on the trip. “Papa and Mama Zoe, you know Jeremy has to go to Ole Miss for an interview with a professor.  He invited me and Trudy to go with him. Wouldn’t that be great for us girls to go with him on the train? We could expand our minds.” The words flowed faster. “You know we’d be safe with Jeremy. Please, Papa.”

“Did Jeremy tell you to ask if you could go on the trip?” Mama Zoe cut her eyes around.

Bailey didn’t utter untrue words, but her head nodded up and down. It happened before she thought.

Papa raised his hand. “If Jeremy wants you to go with him on the trip, he’ll ask us.”

“No, Papa. He didn’t send me to ask you. I just wanted to talk to y’all about it. You do think I’m grown up enough to go?”

Her parents stood. Papa said, “That will be all.”

~~~

That evening, Samuel Benton took Zoe, Jeremy, Trudy, and Bailey for a stroll. He gave Bailey ten dollars, Trudy fifteen, and Jeremy twenty-five.

Jeremy thanked him for his generosity and said he had enough money to handle any other expenses.

The conversation centered around the expected behavior of the teen-aged group.

Before bed, Bailey and Trudy made plans about the clothes they’d take.

Bailey laid out her new white lacy attire. “Let’s dress in white—”

“On the train? I don’t think so. We need to wear clothes that want show soil.”

Bailey found her lace parasol. “We’ll look stunning in white  the day when Jeremy goes for his interview.”

“Oh, okay. We should wear our summery clothes as we stroll on the campus.”

~~~

The train ride was wonderful. They left early. In Jackson, they had to change trains. Jeremy acted as though he knew what to do, but Bailey wasn’t sure. Eventually they found the train to Oxford. Bailey delighted in the experience of sitting at a table in the diner car, where they were served an elegant lunch.

At the Oxford depot, they took a ride in a carriage to the hotel.

After dinner, they walked through the neighborhood.

Bailey talked nonstop. “This is almost as much fun as the time we went to Niagara Falls. Jeremy, you would have loved that trip.”

“That was your parents’ honeymoon, right?”

“Yes, we all went. Me and Trudy already thought of ourselves as sisters, but after the wedding we were. Buddy and Billy Jack—that’s what we called him back then—got into all kinds of mischief.”

“Not long after that, Billy Jack decided he wanted to be called Will. I still forget sometimes. Also, baby Cameron was born right after the trip.” Jeremy poked Trudy. “Y’all were funny. It was obvious all you kids were embarrassed because your mother had a new baby.”

“Our friends had questions.” Trudy’s eyes twinkled. “You would have been glad to have a little brother, Jer.”

Jeremy’s eyes moistened.

“I’m sorry. I know you miss your mother.”

Trudy and Jeremy found seats in the hotel parlor.

Bailey walked toward the foyer. “I’m going over and read the bulletin board.”

~~~

Early the next morning, Bailey shook Trudy’s shoulder. “Wake up, sleepy girl.”

Trudy yawned as she jumped out of bed and threw on her dressing gown.

Already dressed in her white frock and makeup applied. Bailey sat in a chair. “Fix my hair.”

“Oh, all right.” Trudy spoke through yawns. “Give me a minute to go to the bathroom and splash water on my face.”

In a short time, Trudy arranged Bailey’s blonde curls in a fancy updo.

“Hurry up.” Bailey pulled Trudy’s dress from its hanger.

As soon as Trudy fastened her buttons, Bailey approached Trudy with a hairbrush. “What do you want me to do with your thick red hair today?”

“Don’t go to any special trouble Just make one braid and let it hang down my back.”

Jeremy, looking sharp in his best suit, met them for breakfast. He ate carefully. “I hope I don’t spill anything.”

“Let’s get our parasols and reticules.”

When they returned to the lobby, Jeremy stood waiting for them. “It’s close. We have time. Is it all right with you girls if we walk?”

Both girls said, “Sure.”

“Don’t get into trouble.” Jeremy waved as he ambled away.

 Trudy threw a kiss. “You’ll do great.”

A young man, possibly a student, approached them. “Well, hello there.”

Bailey giggled. “Hello.”

“You two lovelies must be lost. Where are you trying to go?”

Bailey spoke up. “We’re looking for the Lyceum building.”

“Ha ha.” He laughed hard. “You can’t miss it. Go straight ahead. Keep your eyes open.”

“Come on, Bailey.” Trudy, holding her sister’s hand, led the way at a brisk pace.

Bailey looked around.

“Don’t look at him.”

“I just—” Bailey tripped along to catch up.

“Don’t do that!”

“I didn’t do anything wrong. I just needed to know where the Circle is so we won’t miss the parade.”

“What parade?” Trudy raised her voice.

“That one.” Bailey dragged Trudy. “Come on.”

“Stop!”

Bailey kept pulling Trudy. “Here we go.”

Soon the sisters were bringing up the rear of the Suffragette Parade, which consisted of a host of women dressed in white.

Jeremy told them all the details of his interview.

Trudy beamed at him. “It’s great to see you excited.”

On the train back to Jackson, Bailey left her seat. “Watch my bag for me.”

“Where are you going?” Jeremy asked.

Bailey didn’t answer.

“Don’t worry about her. She’ll be back in a minute.” He took Trudy’s hand. “Ole Miss is such a beautiful campus. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to go there instead of the W?”

“No. Right now, all I want is to go home.”

“Something wrong?”

“We’ll talk about it.”

Bailey reappeared with a notebook and a pencil in her hands. “Look. I have fourteen signatures.”

“Fourteen signatures?” Jeremy asked.

“It’s a petition. I’m asking all the ladies to sign it. Some men are signing it too.”

“Sit down, Bailey.” Trudy gave Bailey a stern look. “What are you going to do with your petition?”

“I’m going to mail it to the National American Woman Suffrage Association.” I have their address. They’ll send it to the President.

Letter from Belleau Wood