Reblogged from Barb Taub… because we need all the smiles we can get 🙂

Pandemic calendaring…

Where does your calendar say you’ll be this week? Where are you really? Like the rest of the world, for the past year I’ve led a parallel existence–the one my calendar says I’m having, and the isolated one I actually lead.

Coconut juice on Ganpatipule Beach. As Google reminded me, for the past seven years on Republic Day, I’ve been adventuring in India with my friends Jaya and Janine. Google reminded me with this photo that last year I was finding instant celebrity in Ganpatipule. The years before that included beach sunsets in Odisha, mountaintop temples in Rajasthan, paddling between crocodiles at a bird sanctuary in Karnataka, crashing a wedding in Gujarat, a dawn escape from a Delhi facing security delays due to a visit from then-president Obama. 

We can’t travel this year, of course, so I invite you all to join in a virtual trip back to a year ago. Our packed days played out against news reports of a growing threat from a new virus in China, but none of us knew we were traveling on borrowed time.

Are you famous? Do you want to be?

In my case, the Kardashians don’t need to worry. Oprah’s book recommendations will get a gazillion more click-throughs than mine ever will. My daughter’s cats’ Instagram account will always top mine. [Actually, almost anyone’s Instagram would beat mine because I only joined so I could stalk my children. But despite the fact that I have put up a grand total of zero posts, I still have lots of followers. My theory is they find my complete lack of material soothing…]

Continue reading at Barb Taub’s blog