Plague Journal, Photos and Hope
So much has changed over the past two, three weeks. Social distancing is mandatory, the coronavirus is more contagious than anything that we’ve known is pushing New York City hospital doctors to exhaustion. We still do not have the testing resources that we need, are blind to the extent of the sickness.
This morning I left early for a walk-around photo shoot on Third Street in Geneva. I wanted to capture some shots of early spring life emerging, as a hopeful contrast to the shuttered restaurant and retail shops along this street. Stepping from my parked vehicle, I was struck by the silence around me, and how loud the bird song seemed.
At 8AM Sunday morning Geneva is absent of traffic, and of 
pedestrians. This would not be so in normal times. I note the dappled sunlight piercing gray clouds over the empty Geneva Metra parking lot. A heart shaped sign across the way expresses the need for collective strength at a time 
when we must forgo the social contact that is essential to the restaurants, bars, shoppes along this street.
Early emerging blossoms sparkled, gem-like in 
the morning light. The variety of color, the delicacy of form offered by floral vegetation are patterns that we imitate in our arts. We know no higher standard for aesthetic excellence than what we find in nature.
I delighted in the bicycle embellished with spring floral patterns, with a basket full of colored eggs in front of Graham’s Coffee Shop. The fairy lights added a nice touch to the display of playful whimsy.
A final photo of the sidewalk shows at least a quarter mile of pavement southward toward the train station without a single soul in sight. Certainly, an important part of life is the waiting. Things take time, everything runs it’s course, — and better days will come. Meanwhile, we will fight the virus by social distancing, and will save every life that we can with our medicine and medical skills.
This magnificent Canada Goose was feeding a short distance below the dam on the Fox River at North Aurora. I’ve always admired the Canada Geese for their adaptability, finding nourishment among the lawns and retention ponds of our industrial parks, raising their young in the spring. I know property managers are adverse to goose droppings on the grass. However, since the Goose was here before we arrived, it seems to me that they deserve the accommodation.
