Welcome Guest Blogger Gayle Carline!

Welcome to the Pandemic!

First of all, I’d like to thank Marlyn for inviting me to her blog today. It’s always fun to visit friends, even if it’s a cyber-visit during a pandemic.

You know, business as usual.

Experts say you can develop a new habit by practicing it each day for 21 days. Here in California, we’re on our 5th day of sheltering in place. If we keep this up for two-plus more weeks, I wonder what our lives will look like when restrictions are relaxed.

Will we still be washing our hands after every encounter with doorknobs, groceries, or gas pumps? Maybe we’ll all finally stop touching our faces, and have tissues more readily available. Seriously, people, wiping your nose on your shirtsleeve was never a good idea.

I, for one, really miss being able to hug my friends, but maybe I won’t still feel that way on Day 22. Handshaking may be a thing of the past. Perhaps we’ll all adopt the Vulcan salute.

There could be worse things to wish upon someone than to live long and prosper.

Our shopping habits will certainly change. These days I’m reminded of the Rolling Stones song: you can’t always get what you want. Eggs? No, but there are two cartons of Egg Beaters left. How about bread? No, but would you like hot dog buns? My meal plans at the moment look like an episode of a cooking contest on TV.

What can I make with chili powder, Ritz crackers, frozen corn, and Cheerios?

(By the way, when I look at photos of the crazy people buying cartloads of toilet paper, Ihave three questions: 

1) Did you take out a second mortgage on your house to pay for all that? 

2) Where are you going to store it? 

And 3) Damn, what does your diet look like?)

I’m actually hoping that our crazy-fast, impossibly-busy lifestyles get a makeover from this time. Before the pandemic hit, there were so many things in our lives that were important, so many places we had to be, tasks we had to perform. Turns out, none of it had to be done.

Yes, it is sad to miss gatherings and parties. Being away during hard times like operations and even funerals is especially cruel. But we are a resourceful folk. Parties are being Skyped. Technology keeps us in the loop during critical times.

And in all cases, we can be there in spirit.

When I was a software engineer, I used to sit in really big meetings and get tremendously bored, so I’d play the Earthquake Game. I’d imagine there was an earthquake, look around the room, and try to guess who would be helping others to shelter, and whose footprint would be on my back as they tried to escape. This pandemic is close to the game in real-time. We’re finding out who will help their neighbors and who will hoard the hand sanitizer.

Fortunately, I’m seeing more helpers than hoarders. That gives me hope.

PS, I’m not hoarding anything, except apparently horses. Call on me if you need a friend.

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Gayle Carline spent almost 30 years as a software engineer until she chewed her way out of the cubicle to become a writer. She began with journalistic pieces for Riding Magazine, then graduated to humor columns in the Placentia News-Times, and the North Orange County News Tribune. 

But she wanted to write whodunits. She knew nothing of police procedures, but figured that reading her husband’s mind was good experience for writing mysteries. Most of her books are set in Orange County, where there are always good places to hide a body. When she’s not writing, Gayle spends time with her horses, her family, and her friends.

Gayle’s latest book, Murder Bytes, is the fifth and final installment in her Peri Minneopa Mystery Series, featuring a 50-year-old housecleaner turned detective, and set in north Orange County. Murder Bytes is her 12^th book, but she is planning to write many, many more.