Deborah Jones Sherwood
  • Welcome
  • *The SEND Button and Other Regrets
  • *ZOOMING ALONG
  • *The Elderly Lady Next Door
  • Me & Mr. K
  • Everything I Know about Christmas, I Learned from the Hallmark Channel
  • *Silent Night
  • *The Holiday Letter
  • Christmas in the '50s
  • My 2018 Christmas Letter
  • *Home Alone
  • Remembering Annie
  • The Man in the Red Plaid Shirt
  • My Birthday Fundraiser
  • 'Tis the Season to be......Scary!
  • Happy Halloween!
  • Who You Gonna Call?
  • *Stacation in the Hood
  • My Day as a NIH Lab Rat
  • *Blithe Summer
  • *Ain't no way to Treat a Lady
  • *Never Buy Fish from the Clearance Bin and other Sage Advice
  • *Four and Twenty Blackbirds
  • Spring! When an Old Man's Fancy turns to Thoughts of ....Home Projects
  • Oh, Crap. Another Birthday.
  • Valentine's Day
  • Happy New Year!
  • ...and the winner is.....
  • *Dawdlers and Tiaras
  • Oh, Maury!
  • Mooning the Baptists on Easter Sunday
  • Bye, Bye, Bonnie
  • *When I'm Sixty-Four
  • *Take me out to the Ballgame...please?
  • Honor Flight
  • "But you don't look sick."
  • Are you an Old Geezer with an Extra Nats Ticket?
  • Are you the Goat who kicked me in the Head?
  • *Oh! The Places You'll Go!
  • There's No Cool like an Old Cool
  • *You Go, Girl!
                      STACATION IN THE ‘HOOD
       
       Working from home has its perks.


       Daily commutes in rush hour traffic have evolved into trudging from the bedroom to your laptop on the kitchen table next to the box of Frosted Flakes shoved out of webcam view.

       Whacking the snooze button has become a morning exercise. Showers are optional and leisurely sipping delectable French Press coffee has replaced gulping down that last bit of tepid black sludge from the bottom of the carafe in the office break room.

       You don’t need to fake interest in interminable stories about the latest achievements by your coworkers brilliant kids or suck in your tummy when an attractive twenty-something walks by.

       Although the thermometer is climbing toward three digits, that cute weather guy on channel 4 is predicting pleasant summer weather for the next ten days.

       Songs about picnics in the park, yellow polka-dot bikinis and “Hot Fun in the Summertime” make you long for those tranquil Lazy, Crazy, Hazy Days of pre-quarantine summers.

       The massive dark green Magnolia Tree in the park across the street with its intoxicating, fragrant white blossoms and soothing shade beckon to you. Ethereal clouds in an azure sky prompt you to invent a list of excuses for getting out of your afternoon videoconference.

       Suddenly, you remember you have some unused vacation time, and decide to take off for a week or two. Considering the questionable risk of air and train travel, you brilliantly conclude a Staycation is the answer.

       Current restrictions limiting the number of patrons allowed in public places like museums, bars, restaurants, amusement parks, beaches, campgrounds and stadiums can be discouraging, however there are still many enjoyable summer activities close by.

       Biking the C&O Canal, checking out the Southwest Heritage Trail, cooling off at the National Arboretum or Kenilworth Gardens and watching the progress of The Wharf’s Phase Two Development are all appealing options.

       Just pour yourself a cold beverage, burrow deep into your recliner and open that new John Grishom novel you bought last February.

       Staycation has begun!