I hope you and your loved ones are all safe and healthy. It's been a while since I last posted. I'm doing really well, and have been keeping busy cooking, cleaning, gardening as well as hiking or biking every day. Although the water aerobics class I was in has been suspended for now, some of us have gotten together in the mornings and doing "land-based"exercises at a park a couple blocks away from my house. We keep at least 6 feet apart and our masks on. I've also been enjoying many Zoom and FaceTime meets with friends. Recently I even got to Zoom with someone I used to teach with and haven't seen for 45 years! We had a lot to catch up with. Of course, I still miss in-person get togethers and real hugs.

Because of my cancer history and vulnerability, I've been adhering to the strictest guidelines to keep myself safe and healthy. So, no visiting, eating out or in-store shopping. I do all my shopping online and have it delivered. Fortunately for me, Berkeley and my county are among the most conservative in the state as far as opening up. As most of my friends agree, we're in this for a very long haul.

Sometimes I wonder what Tim would have made of all this. Back in late 2017, Tim and I had our own routines with several months of isolation, handwashing, masks and vigilance around my stem cell transplant. I guess that was a trial run for the current situation.

I've been checking in with my Dad back in Milwaukee twice a day. He's now starting on his second century. He's doing well and continues to live independently. Although travel is out of the question for either one of us, we do spend time chatting on the video phone and comparing recipes.

One of the things that's been occupying my time is a video project. I was asked to make a short video of myself for the international CODA organization (Children of Deaf Adults). It's been 25 years since my book Mother Father Deaf was published. They want to use my video as part of series of videos in 2021 to mark the 25th anniversary of Mother Father Deaf Day (last Sunday in April). That Day has now been celebrated in countries all over the world, and it's been an honor to have contributed to that.

I've been awaiting my lab results to check on the status of my cancer. Because of the pandemic, I stopped going in to Kaiser for my usual monthly labs. My docs felt that my last labs back in February were good enough so that I could postpone going in for a while. But,after nearly 6 months of not having labs done, my docs felt it was time to get checked. Today I just got the results, and they're very positive. My cancer is considered nearly indetectible -- meaning that it's still there, but at such a low level right now that there isn't anything more to do at this point. All the other markers are within normal range.

Since my health is stable, I probably won't be posting on the blog too often. After the thousands of plant photos Tim and I posted on our plant database (www.total-plant.org), I decided to try branching out and post some of my other photos now and then on Instagram. If you're curious, my Instagram handle is blueozdragon.

The accompanying photo is a shot of the koi pond in my back yard. I've had to fend off raccoons, opossums, egrets and herons who are looking for a quick meal. One of the tricks I was told to use is putting up a statue of a heron to fool a real bird since they don't like competition. So far, it seems to be working for the egrets and herons, but it doesn't do much for the raccoons or opossums. Fortunately, the pond is deep enough that the koi have managed to keep out of the way of hungry mouths.