Quarantine, well, quarantine.  Well, what I can say right now is that my life has increasingly become very similar to the lives of the characters in a EM Forster book.  How so you ask?  Are we landed gentry that take little trips to Italy where our calm collected British natures are upended by the passionate Italians?  I’d love to say, yes, but alas the answer is no.

In my favorite book and movie, A Room With A View, Lucy Honeychurch goes on a drive to see the Italian countryside with Cousin Charlotte, both Mr Emersons, the English Vicar in Florence and Mr Beebe.  The carriage is driven by a dark haired Italian and his blond girlfriend.  They kiss periodically.  The English Vicar objects constantly, while Mr Beebe says — has Phaeton been misbehaving with his Persephone?  This goes on for a bit, until Persephone is asked to leave the carriage.  It is all really funny this subtle British way.  These stuffy English people, stuck indoors all the time and here they are with these passionate Italians.

Usually I side with Phaeton and Persephone but lately, lately, I feel like Lucy Honeychurch with Cousin Charlotte.  I’m with my family.  We stay indoors mostly but we do periodically promenade outside usually in a garden or a large outdoor space.  It’s all very controlled now, with the masks and the social distancing.  Usually I’m in Boston, having the sun beat down on me, sweating like mad, surrounded by one million of my closest friends in the summer.  Now, it’s with a very select group of people, outside for a bit, with strict precautions taken.  Sometimes I feel like those Italians in that carriage in the Italian countryside.

Where was Phaeton in these photos??  Is he off misbehaving with her Persephone again?