Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

  • Home
  • About
  • DISCLOSURES
    • Amazon Affiliate
    • Book Reviews
  • Published
  • Contact
  • Blog
    • Commit Poetry
    • Dared

Covid Chronicles – Keeping Distance

April 21, 2020 By Sandra Heska King

Keeping distance - passion flower

Keeping distance has really not been all that difficult for me. I’m mostly introverted–an INFP–though I might fool you with my extroverted side. I’m not sure if that’s a natural or developed part of me. Also, I don’t get the Enneagram stuff and don’t have enough patience to work my way through it.

Back to keeping distance. Just think of the advantages. Though I miss my family a ton and have had to cancel many things (and have had them cancelled for me), there’s been no rush, no pressure. No packing and unpacking. No big expense in travel and dog care. No makeup. The bigger frustration is knowing I CAN’T do whatever I might think I want to.

We’re still waiting to find out what Disney wants us to do with our tickets, and we’re supposed to be sitting in Yankee Stadium next week to see “my” Tigers. That game hasn’t been officially postponed yet, so I’m not sure what our ticket options will be.

Also, keeping distance and being isolated means there’s always tomorrow. That, of course, is a lie.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know we spend a lot of time in the Loxahatchee. It’s pretty easy to keep distance there, especially if one arrives before the sun comes up or later toward sundown. Lately though, I think there are more than the regulars coming. We’ve seen a handful of people with dogs (that’s a big no-no except out on the levee) and a handful of little kiddos whose parents don’t seem to our eyes to be paying appropriate attention. Like hello… there are snakes and alligators out here. And it’s possible to get a little too close to the bank and maybe tumble into the water.

Sunday I stepped off the path (gingerly after looking all around) to get a closeup of the passion flower at the top of this post. While I was focusing, my husband calmly said, “There’s a gator.” Of course, I stepped back, but I couldn’t see it across the little water trail. By then, it had ducked behind the reeds. It made me wonder how many we’ve passed by on days we’ve only actually seen one or two.

Unseen danger (like this stupid virus) lurks everywhere. But I think the virus is way more dangerous than the critters we see out there. We always keep a respectable distance from them and they from us.

Also, last weekend (for the second time in a week) an alligator crossed the path in front of us. What a thrill! It’s mating season right now, so we decided (he?) was feeling a little passionate and looking for love. I made up a little story and posted it on IG.



Here’s a thing about alligators. They really respect us as much as we respect them and aren’t usually dangerous unless provoked or guarding a nest. There are isolated ones, though, who might be looking for a handout because someone once handed them a treat. So one could see a human as the source of a marshmallow (seriously, I heard that people sometimes fed the dudes and dudettes that sugar) and decide to bite the hand that didn’t feed them.

At one point we stepped back to give a crane family some distance as they turned down the path and pecked their way toward and past us. Later we followed a great blue heron (what poet Mary Oliver called a “blue preacher”) as he (?) strode down the path in front of us before veering to the left. There was the river otter that trotted in front of us, darting in and out of the side brush.


We keep our distance, and they keep theirs. And yet we are connected.

What advantages, if any, do you see to keeping distance?





Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

Filed Under: Blog, stories and reflections

Comments

  1. Martha J Orlando says

    April 22, 2020 at 10:09 am

    Like you, Sandra, I’m an introvert, so this sequestered time isn’t that difficult for me. However, my prayers go out to all those poor folks who have lost their jobs and are barely able to hold body and soul together. I’m so hoping that more and more states will start opening up, as Georgia is doing, allowing people to go to work if they so choose. The rest of us who are in the high risk group can choose to stay home while all this is going on.
    Love your photos, my friend, and your analogy for social distancing!
    Blessings!

    • Sandra Heska King says

      April 22, 2020 at 11:09 am

      I hear you, Martha. I do worry about the healthcare workers and how those who go out might contract illness could end up in the hospital. And then how does that affect elective and not-so-elective surgeries. And how many of us are maybe already immune? I will be glad when we have access to antibody testing–and, of course, a vaccine. I also worry about the decision makers. They have to make such hard choices, and they surely don’t want to be wrong. Hindsight is so much easier than foresight.

      South Florida probably won’t be opening up much any time soon, but places to the north have started.

      Thanks for stopping by. It’s always so sweet to see you.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Meet Sandra

I’m Sandra, a camera-toting, recovering doer who’s learning to be. still. Read more…

Get updates from the stillness by email

Your personal information is safe and will never be shared.

Archives

Categories

Instagram Inspiration

sandraheskaking

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final t “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” ~ Philippians 4:8 

#fall #southflorida #hope #thoughts #philippians4 #dayafterelection
“My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in th “My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.” ~ William Wordsworth in “My Heart Leaps Up”

🌈🌈🌈

From my back door and then from the patio. A phone can never capture the true glory of a rainbow. I hope my heart never fails to leap at the wonder of one.
We were monarch parents a couple years back, but o We were monarch parents a couple years back, but our food was not enough to support all our “children.”
🌱
But some were better parents. And next month @tspoetry is celebrating with a garden party. And you are invited. 
🌱

✨ An evening poetry celebration with Dheepa Maturi, Laura Boggess, Jules Jacob, and Sonja Johanson
✨ sign up today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/year-of-the-monarch-garden-party-tickets-1005650847757
✨
This is called a sweetheart plant. I bought it at This is called a sweetheart plant. I bought it at a farmers market in Ponte Vedra in Feb 2023. And it hasn’t done a thing except not die. I did repot it a few months back just cuz I thought it might need it. A few days ago I noticed it was sprouting a sprout. And today—10 days after having my aortic valve replaced and the day after having a loop recorder inserted—it has UNFURLED!!! A new heart. 🩷
Looking west this morning. “Sometime, enough o Looking west this morning. 

“Sometime, enough of us should plan
to gather and form our own
luminous cloud.” ~ Luci Shaw in “The Weight of Air” (from The Generosity)
Security is on the job. Security is on the job.
So after 13 years of checkups and annual echos, it So after 13 years of checkups and annual echos, it's finally come to this. One week from today I will have my aortic valve replaced. Eeeek! I know it's done all the time--piece of cake. But that's to other people. 😂 Speaking of cake, I've always hoped to blow out 100 candles (at least), and I keep singing this line in my head...

"And my heart will go on and on." Thanks to @celinedion. 💕
Hi! Long time, no post. So… I grew this from a Hi! Long time, no post. So…

I grew this from a pineapple top. We repotted it again over the weekend. Still no fruit, though. Our neighbor has a baby growing on a small plant, though. What’s up with that?

(Also, I do not have a green thumb. Currently the only things still living are this, an avocado, and a little Boston fern.)
We got out here early today, but it was already so We got out here early today, but it was already soooooo hot (later on the"feels like" was 110), and I was just plodding one foot in front of the other wishing I was still in bed. There was not much to see--except the crane family, some blackbirds, a dove. And it was buggy. And a deer fly bit me on the forearm, and it swelled up, and I still have a 1- x 3-inch reddened area. But then... a pink parade.
Just snapped a couple photos of a normal looking s Just snapped a couple photos of a normal looking sky from my back patio with my iPhone! I grew up in Michigan and never saw them before! #northernlights #westboca #southflorida
“So they took branches of palm trees and went ou “So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” ~ John 12:13
🌴
🌴
PALMS

He had a date with them. ~SHK
🌴
🌴
~ Six words I wrote on my blog in 2015 as part of a daily “One Word Less for Lent” series.
🌴
Photo taken in Israel, 2022.
Dressed for success... Dressed for success...
“Sing, hope, to me” ~favorite line from “The “Sing, hope, to me” ~favorite line from “The First Spring Day” by Christina Rossetti via Every Day Poems and @tspoetry in my email this morning. 
❣️
Whole poem (with lots of favorite lines) here:
❣️
https://open.substack.com/pub/everydaypoems/p/the-first-spring-day?r=3acod&utm_medium=ios
❣️
Wild red poppy anemones from our spring trip to Israel in 2022. And, of course, red is the color of hope. 
❣️
#dipintopoetry #poetry #poetrycommunity #poetsofinstagram #tweetspeakpoetry #everydaypoems
Sweet baby colts. Just one parent. Apparently the Sweet baby colts. Just one parent. Apparently the other was hit by a car. 😭💔
Bufo serenade AKA the Ballad of the Bufo Bufo serenade AKA the Ballad of the Bufo
South Florida is confused. South Florida is confused.
“Somehow she learns to breathe.” ~ @gyoung9751 “Somehow she learns to breathe.” ~ @gyoung9751 in “The mermaid breathes,” a woven poem from tweets. In my email today from Every Day Poems via @tspoetry.
🌱 
#dipintopoetry #everydaypoems #poetry #poetrycommunity #poetsofinstagram #poetsofig #tweetspeakpoetry
"You have what you need / is what the birds sing a "You have what you need / is what the birds sing all morning" ~ Annie Lighthart in "Conditions of Happiness."
🌱
In my email this morning from 
Every Day Poems via @tspoetry.
🌱
#dipintopoetry #poetry #poetrycommunity #everydaypoems #poem #poetsofinstagram #tweetspeakpoetry
If you’ve made it this far, the rest of the week If you’ve made it this far, the rest of the week should be a snap. #wednesday
Stay behind me. I’ll protect you. No worries. So Stay behind me. I’ll protect you. No worries. So will all those shots. Mostly.
🦝
D still has PTSD from the Great Possibly Rabid Raccoon Brouhaha of 2021.
Follow on Instagram

Get the Mug

Embrace the life you have t s poetry mug

Privacy Policy

Full privacy policy is available HERE.

I Read Light

TSP-Red button

bibledude-net



Sponsor a Child

Join the Compassion Blogger Network

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2025 Sandra Heska King · Site by The Willingham Enterprise, LLC on the Genesis Framework by StudioPress · Log in