Saturday March 7th, we dined out at Tokyo Record Bar a cool little place that is beneath Air's Champagne in Greenwich Village. Three seatings a night with a prix fix Izakaya menu. Tiny (seats 18) and cool - on arrival you are given a song list - each diner gets to pick one song which the DJ spins together a play list that lasts throughout the meal. Super fun and lively, with the terrific champagne list from Air's. The meal ends with a slice of pizza for everyone - so no-one leaves with the munchies. While everyone was talking about Corona Virus - I don't think that we had any idea that our life was about to radically change. It was such a fun place with great wine - I hate to think that so many of these small restaurants may not make it through the shutdown. Probably our last meal out in NYC for a very long time.

The mood in the city was significantly shifting from Sunday Mar-8, we could start to see neighbors in our building heading out in droves, everyone heading to their second homes or family in other states. Kids packing up their dorm rooms at FIT. The lines at Whole Foods were wrapped around the entire store back to the entrance. It was a hive of activity and high anxiety as the daily news reports became grimmer each day. Weeknight wine became a staple as we fretted over what was going to happen next. We stocked our fridge, freezer and pantry (an oddity for most NYC dwellers), bought yoga mats to work out at home and ordered a couple of cases of daily drinkers to fill up the wine fridge.

Friday 3/13 - my husband was instructed to work from home and we started to quarantine - only leaving the house to walk our dog to the corner - 4 times a day. Masks and gloves were still not common, but precautions for elevator and door handles began with alcohol wipes our constant companion when leaving the house. Constant news watching - looking at the growing numbers of Covid19 cases in the city and feeling somewhat helpless. Witnessing my first mugging while out walking the dog - what the hell was happening to my city! Days are spent assembling 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles a welcome distraction. Made the odd decision to watch the movie Contagion - which was kind of like watching the daily news - so surreal.

Daily on-line pilates classes to work off some energy and stay fit. The first weekend we did delivery food a few times, but started to get a bit uncomfortable from a safety perspective so began to just cook everything at home. Read too many articles on sanitizing everything that comes into the house and creating an entry zone. Feel like I am spending hours wiping down groceries, wine bottles, dog paws etc.... Good thing we had some tasty treats in the wine fridge to take the edge off each evening.

Receive an email notification from our building management that there is a positive case of Covid19 in the building and not to be alarmed by the workers in hazmat suits deep cleaning the elevators. Feeling somewhat alarmed that we don't own a working thermometer and none are available to purchase on-line. A family member in another state comes through and sends us one. Starting to see more masks on the street and concerned we don't own any. Begin wrapping a scarf around the face when out walking the dog.

This week marks the first of our weekly Virtual happy hours with extended family - technology problems abound as we attempted to use FaceTime. Hard to teach the 85 year olds new technology, but we prevailed and made it work - 3 hours later everyone felt more connected.

Things started to get harder in week 3, too much depressing news and not enough distraction. Notice of a second confirmed Covid 19 case in our building from management. The jigsaw puzzles are all completed (3 x 1000 pieces)- and I have become addicted to checking the news continuously. Ultimately decided to delete all the news apps off my devices and try detox from bad news and revive my spirit - a wise and helpful decision.

Outside masks are starting to be more common and we receive a care package from good friends out west - containing 3 washable cotton masks - Hurray!! We are starting to go a bit stir crazy inside and long for outdoors time - but a walk to the Hudson River Park walkway seems too crowded for our comfort and we cut the trip short to head home. Lots of runners without masks - huffing, puffing and spitting - no thanks! I am probably getting paranoid, but better safe than sorry.

In addition to the now weekly Virtual Family Happy Hour, we have added two other weekly Zoom get togethers. A Saturday night On-line/Off-line with our NY wine tasting friends and a Thursday night Zoom Happy Hour with friends in NH, UT and NYC. Great to connect and hear about everyone's unique experience with Sheltering in Place share stories and laugh together, feels almost normal.

It is all starting to blend together without much change to punctuate the weeks. A very robust spring allergy season is in full force - so waking up with sore throats, runny noses and lots of coughing - is it allergies or Covid19?? Lots of temperature checking to make sure it is not the virus. Ran out of Zyrtec for a few days and got hit really hard with symptoms - cough was a bit out of control. Back on Zyrtec D everything reverted to normal - whew!

Three weekly Zoom calls to keep the weekend flowing!! Getting sick of house cleaning and cooking every night. Feels like all we do is procure food, cook it, wash dishes, clean and start again.

Crush offered some older Benetiere Condrieus - so was glad to jump on that offer which was delivered the next day! So glad that wine sales and delivery is considered an essential service.

Skipped the Friday Family Zoom this week - to do Happy Hour with close NY friends that we have missed seeing during quarantine!

For Easter Sunday we stepped back into the world of ordering in from Restaurants. Decided to splurge out with a meal from Carbone - which was delicious. Double order to have left over the following week.

Weds nights now full with another weekly Zoom Happy Hour this one with girlfriends in TX, CA and MA. We are all looking forward to happier times.

Attended my first Pressoir winemaker chat on Zoom - this one featuring Jeremy Seysses from Dujac. Unfortunately I did not have any Dujac on hand to try, but really appreciated the informative conversation about his whole cluster approach to wine making.

The news in NYC seems to be getting better - the curve flatter - less sirens blaring down the street all day long. The days are getting longer and spring has fully arrived. Things seem a bit more hopeful. Shelter in place order extended to May 15th. We can do this!!

Friday night family Happy Hour switched from FaceTime to Zoom this week after getting my mother-in-law set up on the Zoom app. Huge improvement in connectivity and clarity.

Saturday night take-in dinner tonight was PIZZA!!! It was friggin awesome - can't believe it had been so long since we have had it. Again ordered double so we could have leftovers.

A fun new experience this week with a blind tasting for charity organized by some NYC wine lovers. We each received the same bottle wrapped in tin foil and submitted our guesses on-line. Sunday we had a Zoom reveal and raised a nice amount of money for service worker relief. Seems as if it will be a weekly event. The winemaker was Pierre Cotton from Beaujolais, on Tuesday we followed up with a live Zoom Chat from his property where he walked us around to see the vineyards and discussed his winemaking process.

Our Thursday Zoom call was expanded this week to included everyone's parents as special guests. Fun to connect with everyone and here some interesting stories from their memories of WWII and their parents reflections on life during the Spanish Flu. Lot's to be learned from this generation.

NYC CoronaVirus news is improving, but Cabin Fever and desperation about being trapped inside for another month is at an all time high. How the heck are we going to make it through the summer months??? Again realize we are very fortunate to have the option of sheltering safely at home, with plenty of food to eat and work from home conditions. It is the lack of access to the outdoors which is wearing on us. Tough to socially distance on the streets - on nice days the walking paths and sidewalks are full of walkers, runners, and bikers. We have opted to minimize our time outside but we miss the fresh air. A big question we are pondering is whether we should rent a place in the country for the summer so we can spend more time outside when the weather turns hotter - no idea when NYC will be back to some kind of normal. Unfortunately with minimal experience in summer rentals we are quite surprised to see how much this will cost and end up reigning in plans a bit - not an economic environment to be making large commitments.

On Sunday, I did my second Pressoir wine chat on Zoom with Rudolphe Peters from Pierre Peters. Once again I did not have the opportunity to source the wine in advance, but enjoyed learning about this winemaker, the family history and style of the wines. Have enjoyed these wines in the past and look forward to trying more of them in the future.

Tuesday was a gorgeous day - sunny, blue skies and 65 degrees - a perfect day for the Blue Angels/Thunderbirds flyover to salute the health care and first responders. We were able to go on our roof along with about 40 neighbors - all in masks - while still enough space to stand more than 6 feet apart. One little girl said - "Wow mom we are standing near people!" It was very uplifting and we started to feel a little better about the future.

Tuesday evening was the second catch up with my old Boston friends - fun to see how everyone is doing and here about the college admissions process as many of them have graduating seniors (well without actually having any graduation ceremonies this year).

Woohoo!! Our new cloth masks (aka face coverings as DeBlasio now wants us to call them) have arrived. Ordered them about 4 weeks ago off Instagram and was a bit skeptical as to whether they would ever show up. Since we wear them whenever we are outside they need to be washed every night so having more than 3 makes life much easier.

Weekly Zoom calls going strong - family and friends - connecting on-line is the lifeline.

This week is off to a great start - my local small grocer had gallon jugs of hand sanitizer and bleach available today as well as lots of TP and Paper Towels - thank goodness for small things!!!

On Friday we received our blind bottles for Covid Cuvee #2 - a blind wine tasting event that has so far raised $5,000 in aid of the Service Workers Coalition. This group is providing aid to out of work NYC restaurant workers by providing them with $50 per week grocery vouchers. The wine procurement and shipping are handled by Convive Wines through a donation and the proceeds collected from the participants are given to the charity. This week it was two white wines - particularly challenging as neither of these were in my frame of reference for identification so it was some wild guessing! At the reveal session on Sunday - the organizer arranged for the two winemakers to join the call and talk about their wines.

On Saturday, our friends invited us to join them for a private tasting chat with Maggie Harrison from Antica Terra. The focus of the call was to be on some other producers she loves (our friends picked Vatan, Quintarelli & Selosse). We ended up talking about much broader topics related to the quarantine, her journey into wine, why she loves Vatan's wines so much and the art of drying grapes. A fun and informative 90 minutes.

The weather this weekend was off the charts beautiful - 70+ degrees and lots of sunshine. We took advantage, but still socially distanced by staying away from he Hudson River Park and took long walks both days down to Tribeca and back on city streets (the sidewalks were still fairly empty). So good to get out and move the legs!

Cuomo announced his NY state reopening plans on Monday - unfortunately as we guessed NYC is still a long way from meeting the requirements with only 3 of the 7 metrics met. Suspect we are stuck inside until mid June at least.

Woohoo - found out our local dog groomer is back open for very limited socially distanced intakes. Got an appointment for later in May so the fur ball that is our Cavalier will get her puppy cut and stop leaving massive hairballs all over the apartment! Hey at least one of the 3 of us will be looking good:-)

Great news - we may have found a house to get out of the city for the summer through friends of close friends. Feeling hopeful!

Friday kicked off with three events:
-The Flat Iron Wines Instagram Live with Alexandre Chartogne from Chartogne-Taillet at 5pm. Opened the '16 Heurtebise for this and it was a total baby killing. First time doing an IG Live and not sure I loved the format - but was happy to have the opportunity to hear about the wines from a grower whose wines I really enjoy!

- Zoom catch up with the Rhone Commanderie members. Decided to open a magnum of 2010 Ogier L'Âme Sœur that I purchased at auction a few years back. Had been saving this for a larger gathering, but what the heck. Interesting to hear how everyone is doing and where they have scattered off to for the quarantine.

- Weekly Family Zoom call - where we proceeded to make a dent in the magnum.

Saturday kicked off with the noon Pressoir at Home session with Jean Gonon - another favorite wine maker. One of my favorite visits on our 2018 trip to the Rhone. We opened the '16 Les Oliviers to taste during the call which was exceptional! That evening we finished up the Gonon, the Heurtebise and the Ogier magnum at our weekly on-line/off-line with friends.

Great news that our summer rental of a friend of friends home in NH is confirmed. Great property on a very large plot of land with direct access to hiking trails and lots of outdoor space. So excited to get out of the city and into nature for the summer!

The weather really turned the corner this week with Friday and Saturday absolutely warm and lovely outside. On Friday, we decided to venture up to the common roof deck to enjoy some wine. Definitely more busy then it has been, but still able to safely social distance at tables. Pushed back the start of the family call so we could enjoy the sunset and relax a bit.

On a Saturday afternoon walk around the West Village we witnessed a lot of block party style gatherings in the streets. Lots of stoop sitting and mingling outside of bars and restaurants with cocktails and no masks. A little bit concerning as the city's numbers have finally come down so much - but the natives are starting to get restless.

Saturday was 72 degrees and beautiful - so back to the rooftop for pot banging and some champagne before the weekly on-line/offline. All this outdoors time is making us feel alive again!!

We are starting to think about some socially distanced gatherings with friends in NYC - big step!!! Thinking that will be outdoors with masks, perhaps a picnic or a stoop sit, bringing own utensils/plates and food - but perhaps able to share some good bottles of wine. Fun to think about seeing people again.

Thursday was a milestone day to end the week - dog groomer was open and our 9 year Cavalier got an awesome puppy cut! She looks like she lost 5 pounds and it put a bounce in her step. You don't realize how much you miss the small things.

Tried something new on the Thursday night Zoom - a trivia game that I created using Trivia Maker - allows you to share the game screen to the Zoom call. It was fun and a good way to add some diversion. Also crushed the remaining half bottle of Legras BdB and two bottles of the Xavier Gerard Viognier because it was so darn good.

Memorial Day Weekend has arrived and the weather on Friday afternoon was great. We signed off early and headed over to Madison Square Park with some sippy cups full of Goutorbe Rosé. Surprised to see they had added the socially distanced circles onto the main lawn we decided to take advantage and parked ourselves in a circle enjoying the afternoon, the city and being in public with other humans (albeit from a safe distance.)

Friday night family call I tried another game from Trivia Maker this one a Family Feud game. Split the family into Born before '63 and 63 or after. Lots of hijinx ensued with the younger team taking home the win. Got to keep mixing things up to keep it fresh.

Saturday was a rainy wash out - so did some baking (lemon poppy scones) and hunkered down and binge watched Season 1 of Goliath with Billy Bob Thornton. Good series. We held off opening wine until the call and then had bad luck with a '64 F. Rinaldi Barolo that I was looking forward to. Moved on to the '08 Desert CF which did not do it for me. Not a wine night.

Sunday was a first - we met friends in person for a socially distanced stoop sit in the afternoon. Wow the pleasure of human company so much fun. Bonus was we got to witness a very small wedding taking place across the street. Feeling alive and human again.

Monday our social fun continued as we met friends for a socially distanced picnic in Bryant Park. Significant amount of hand sanitizer and wipes to wipe down the tables and chairs. Distanced the tables appropriately, brought our own food and glasses but shared the wine. No touching each others bottles. Super pleasant and relaxing way to spend a beautiful afternoon. The catch to these outings is no-one wants to use a public restroom so you keep them to two hours so you can get home before you are desperate. So nice to see friends and be outside - seriously the small things we would have taken for granted before the pandemic become so special!

Rounding up supplies and making packing lists this week, as we will head out to NH for the summer on Friday. We are told that good TP (Charmin) and Paper Towels (Bounty) are still hard to come by where we are headed as is meat and chicken. We love Dickson's butcher at Chelsea Market - great to support the local business, so I put in a big order that should hold us for the first 4 weeks of our visit and order a cooler big enough to hold it all. The city is on the verge of phase 1 reopening and our building is starting to get much busier in the elevators. Feeling excited to put some space around us for the summer.

This week begins the new chapter of our adventure with our move to a log cabin in the woods of NH for the summer. 99 acres of solitude, in the shadow of Mt. Kearsage, just a half mile from the Northern Rail Trail. We rented a very large SUV, wiped it down like crazy and loaded it to the gills, with 9 cases of wine, a cooler of frozen meat from Dickson's, yoga mats, computers, some clothes and the pup and headed north. We took a brief socially distanced stop in VT to say hello to my 86 year old mother in law and her sister - they stay inside and have a table and chairs set up outside their windows - great to see them in person and doing well. 7 hours later we arrived at our destination!! Gosh it is like a whole new world - tons of outdoor space and lots of indoor space as well. Exploring the property, discovering the rail trail - have walked more in the first few days than three months combined in the city. So great to be out in nature away from people and not have to wear a mask! With super close friends living near by, we are looking forward to this relaxing summer.

On Saturday we participated in a virtual tasting with Michael Silacci, the winemaker at Opus One, organized by our friends and the Napa Valley Grape Growers Association. We received all the wines in advance. First up was a vertical tasting of the 2015, 2016 and 2017 (not yet released) vintages. Then we did a tasting from small bottles of a Native Yeast Trial project they had conducted. This was based on a conversation Michael had with Eric Asimov in 2012 regarding the use of Native Yeast in Opus One. Each of the four samples was vilified using grapes from the same block but with 3 different native yeast samples and one blend. The wines were labeled Wolf, Squirrel, Hog and Cocktail (the blend). Pretty unanimously the group preferred the blend (Cocktail), with Hog coming in as the second choice, followed by Wolf with Squirrel in last place. Finally we tried wine made from the fruit of the very young vines on our friend's property. Super young and purple but with a much lighter mouthfeel and concentration.

On Tuesday we took our first attempt at hiking up the Barlowe trail to the summit of Mt. Kearsarge. Needless to say, I called quits after a mile up the mountain - it is going to take some time to get these quarantined legs back into cardio hiking shape. For now daily long walks on the Rail Trail will have to suffice.

Week 2 in NH and we are really enjoying our time here. The week kicks off with our first socially distanced dinner with close friends. Trying to devise new protocols for safe dining, but so nice to have company in person and share food and wine. Two days later we repeat the experience at their place to celebrate Father's Day with them and my friend's dad. Starting to feel human again.

On Saturday we decide to tackle the summit trail to the top of Mt. Sunapee. The trail is supposed to be a bit easier than Mt. Kearsarge. Turns out even though the sign says 2 miles, it is closer to 2.8 miles. Totally whipped by ass, but the views from the top were great. My husband suggests that walking down the ski slopes will be a less tiring descent. Unfortunately the rain begins pouring down as we are making our way through thigh high field grass (yikes!). We arrived back at the car soaked and exhausted. Rookie mistake!!

Meanwhile back at the cabin, a wasp decided to build it's nest directly above the front door. First trip to the hardware store to buy wasp spray and a lot of antics as these city slickers adapt to dealing with new dangers:-). We won the first battle with the wasps! More to come on that later.

Another country life oddity - weekly trips to the transfer station. Each week we have to sort the trash and make our way to the transfer station to deposit the right stuff in the right area. Saturday is now referred to as DUMP DAY!

Did a few visits to the lake shore to let the pup swim this week, she is obsessed with swimming and just loves it. She is turning into a total country dog!

A few new quarantine milestones this week. Friday night we met our friend's for an outdoor dinner at The Refinery restaurant. First dinner at a restaurant since March 7th. The restaurant has a tent with open sides and picnic tables set up in their parking lot. Felt so strange to be dining in public again, but distancing was well spaced and it seemed relatively safe.

On Saturday, my husband's brother and his wife came up from CT and spent the night with us to celebrate his birthday. They had their own bedroom and bathroom and we ate and hung outdoors and on the screen porch. So nice to see family in person and talk and laugh. A really fun and memorable evening even if we did drink a bit too much wine. On Sunday, we all took a 4.5 mile walk on the rail trail to clear the cob webs, before they headed back home.

The hot dry weather was broken up by three straight days of pouring rain (Mon-Weds) - time to get the jigsaw puzzles out.

Thursday was Battle #2 with the wasps - this time they won. After the rain cleared we were happy to get outside again, so we decided to move some lawn chairs that were stacked by the side of the house out onto the shady part of the lawn - to enjoy a beer after working out. My chair was fine all good. Husband picked up his chair and was promptly stung multiple times as there was a wasp nest on the underside of the chair. Total swarm - scooped up the dog ran into the house and treated the wounds. Scary!! Back to the hardware store for more wasp spray. Damn those things are nasty!

Fourth of July weekend! Kicked off by making our second attempt on Mt. Kearsarge - made it up to 1.75 miles this time but after 90 minutes decided to quit and head back down - no summit today - next time!!

Our friends took us out on their boat for a couple of hours riding around Lake Sunapee in the afternoon and then back to their house for a BBQ. At this point we are considering ourselves a bubble and have largely dropped a lot of the protocols. Although still keeping separate bathrooms and spacing. Beautiful moon tonight.

On Sunday we visited another brother-in-law and family in Bradford NH and hung out on their deck and did a boat ride on Lake Massasecum. Pup got to do a nice swim in the lake again and was totally thrilled and exhausted.

Revenge of the wasps - as the lawn chair hive got zapped along with an active colony in the stone wall around the patio.

Friday afternoon - we finally made it to the summit of Mt. Kearsarge - albeit via the entry at Rollins State Park which is a much shorter trail (so a bit of a shortcut). We took the Lincoln Trail which start fairly steep with some scrambling over large boulders, but then starts to flatten out with spectacular views over the valley, before getting a bit steep again to the summit. So fun to finally see the views from the top. Returned via the Rollins trail which is less steep and an easier descent.

Friday night dinner at our place with our good friends. I have been trying my hand at making pizza, so started with homemade Margarita pizzas as an appetizer, followed by turkey tacos and watermelon and feta salad and cherry crisp for desert. All this cooking since quarantine - kind of fun, but a lot more work than dialing for take out.

Saturday we got to Zoom with our wine group friends, after missing our catch ups for a few weeks - so great to reconnect and plan some meet ups in person for later in the summer. Celebrated that call by popping an '08 Dom.

Sunday we explored a new walk around Kezar Lake with an add on to the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge greenway. Just so much nature to explore in solitude here - really good for the soul.

Sunday night we were back at the wasp removal process as the patio wall colony started to get a bit aggressive. Our next step is to call the pest company as this is a bit above our pay grade. Hopefully they can manage the problem as sitting outside is becoming a bit hazardous.

Tuesday night was gorgeous and a bit cool - so we had an outdoor fire pit evening, drinking wine and listening to music. Super chill and relaxing.