Welcome to The Mystical Underground

…during the pandemic.

I haven’t been to a gym since February 2020, around the time the first virus cases were reported in the U.S. So I started bike riding.

I don’t have any set goal except that I ride until it’s no longer comfortable and ride in the hopes that I’ll have a synchronicity.

In the nearly 14 months since then, I’ve discovered a beauty in this area that escaped me before the pandemic slowed everything down. South Florida definitely has seasons! It’s not as obvious as autumn to winter. Instead, we go from gloriously cool nights from around January through April, but with the temps rising into the 70s and 80s during the day. Until May or so, humidity is low, 50 percent or less, and that really make a difference.

During these spring months, the mimosas come into bloom, explosions of yellow up and down streets and throughout neighborhoods. The mango trees bloom and that gives you some idea of what the mango season during the summer will be like – scarce or plentiful? Our papaya trees start developing little fruits that grow and ripen fairly quickly. Bougainvillea vines burst with color.

Along one street on the route I usually follow, my ride parallels a canal. Over the past fourteen months, I’ve watched baby ducklings grow into teens and learn how to fish and fly and hang out and have fun. I’ve watched turtles sunning on rocks. I’ve watched a massive equestrian estate being built, watched businesses go under and other businesses that adapted and flourished. I’ve been witness to changes in my own life and that of my family and friends.

Rob and I started our podcast, The Mystical Underground, in February 2020. As a result, I’ve read or at least skimmed a lot of books. Our daughter finished her first novel, The Immune. My long-time agent, Al Zuckerman, retired. My sister, her oldest son, his wife and her mother all got COVID. And recovered. Around the same time WHO declared a pendemic in March 2020, Rob had the virus but we thought it was the flu. He recovered but no longer teaches yoga.

On March 24, we got our second Pfizer shot. No side effects.

I’m now ready to go somewhere. Anywhere. According to research, I’ll still have a five percent chance of contracting the virus, but it won’t put me in the hospital or on a ventilator. Question is, where to go? Europe is pretty much shut down. Hawaii is a possibility. Prague is a no. The recovery, if we can even call it that, is erratic, uneven.

No one really knows what the new normal life will look like on the other side of this pandemic.

But at least I know what I would like to do. A plane trip, sure, as long as it doesn’t take 12 hours and multiple stops. But forget a cruise, any kind of cruise, to anywhere.

I also know that our dog, Nigel, and visiting Nika, Megan’s dog, and our two cats, Beo and Nala, have enjoyed the last 14 months. Hey, the humans are home more often now. We can go outside when we want.We can even snooze on the porch at night, enjoying the cooler weather.

In the evenings when I sit out front with Nigel and Nika, tossing Nigel his endless balls, the cats come out to be a part of part of the evening. In that photo, though, they are commiserating about dinner.