“When are you coming back to Wiscasset?”

That’s what I hear when I talk with folks on the phone these days.  And while I’d love to say we’ll be there for Memorial Day, that’s unlikely.

For 15 years, we’ve spent the summer at Clarks Point, north of the village along route 218.

Each year, we get a little more involved with Wiscasset: the Selectmens’ meetings, First Congregational Church, Wiscasset Art Walk, Friends of Wiscasset Village. And as our ties have become stronger, our excitement grew, too.

Certainly this summer was promising to be terrific. The Downtown Traffic project is due to wrap up soon. There are new businesses: Water Street Kitchen and Bar, Salty Dog groomer , a new vet on Rte. 27, where the old vet was, Mammy’s Bakery /(Isn’t SHE doing a great job?), a wine bar, and don’t forget traffic lights !!!

We have been hunkered down in Hilton Head, SC., where the wildflowers began blooming this week. Finished our 14-day self-quarantine yesterday.  And we certainly intend to continue living that way. South Carolina has almost 660 Corona virus cases, compared to Maine’s 211: 15 deaths vs. 1.  

The quarantine has been an interesting experience.  It’s not been a two-week “staycation.”  The first few days, we had spurts of energy and getting things done.  By the fourth day, not so much. We’re distracted by the seriousness of the situation.  My wife’s parents have both been in hospital for other health issues; my brother in law was exposed to the virus via a co-worker, so he’s isolated for 14 days at home (he’s nine days in and so far no symptoms).

And Hilton Head Island has its own issues. The Governor has refused appeals to order people to “shelter in place” to ‘bend the curve.’ There’s a Facebook group for homeowners. More than a few posts are downright angry that ‘outsiders’ are, they believe, escaping the virus by fleeing to this island.

You can go to the supermarkets and see visitors picking up groceries as they begin their weeklong condo vacations. They seem oblivious to the reality and the risks around them. 

Every restaurant seems to be doing takeout. And one of the many country clubs on the islands has alerted members that they’re going to have to load their own golf clubs on to carts themselves.

Donna and I have no problem staying busy. She’s an abstract painter and I like photography. But when you give us two weeks, when we are ‘ordered’ to do nothing but stay home, you’d think we would turn into little productivity machines. Not so. In normal times, your daily schedule and things you do are informed by other peoples’ activities, requests, and deadlines. Take that away and, for us at least, the days come and go and at the end of the day you feel like you’ve gotten nothing done. We gotta fix that. We need to make schedules and become one who makes lists, like Jason Robards warned about in “A Thousand Clowns.”

The weather has been magnificent this last week. Highs around 78 degrees, and cool breezes kicked in about 6p.m. The beaches are closed to visitors not staying on the island. That means we can still get some stress relief by taking the dogs to the beach.