Coronavirus Chronicle – Week 3

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It’s the third week of the quarantine and the days now starting to blend with one another.  The weekends, which used to provide an escape from the daily work routine and a much-needed break from the commute to the city, seem to have lost all meaning.  Yesterday, as I walked through the neighboring village of Hastings-On-Hudson, I saw a teenage girl riding her skateboard down Main Street wearing a surgical mask.  A scene that may have looked odd only a few weeks ago now a sign of the new normal.

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View of St. Matthews’s Catholic church in Hastings-On-Hudson, NY.  Due to the virus outbreak, the church has canceled all on-site services.  Instead, services are now being streamed via Facebook.

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By now we’ve all heard the stories of New York City residents who give a nightly round of applause to the healthcare workers and other people who keep life moving.  While I haven’t seen that gesture of gratitude here, as I was walking, I did notice this thank you sign hanging from a light post outside a home.

 

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A senior resident peers into the closed library in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

In an attempt to stay sane during these strange and trying times we’re living in, I’ve decided to create a photo diary that I hope to update on a daily basis. Today I went out for a long walk in the neighboring town of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. There I came across this scene of the senior man peering into the closed library, which gave me a sense of the isolation we’re all experiencing now. The accompanying photo of the book was taken at a small park next to the library. The book had already been placed there and the wind had blown it open, tearing some of the pages and scattering them on the grass below. As I approached it, a gust of wind flipped it to the title page. It felt as if the photography gods had set it up for my picture.

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A book lies open atop a stone wall in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York