昨日中午时分，边上的朋友告诉我说，附近有一个不需要登记预约可以直接过去打疫苗的临时场所。我犹豫片刻后急急忙忙出了门，没有喝水没有吃午饭, 12点20分左右到达一个parking  lot, 然后走向那边搭着帐篷，旁边停靠着一辆大bus的空地，自觉地加入了稀稀疏疏的排队人群中。后来听说工作人员都是义工，他们正在午休，要下午一点才开始打。就这样站在加州三月毒辣的阳光下，一站一个多小时，期间我脱下了外套罩在头上。排在前面的也正好是个中国人，她身旁还有一个马上要高中毕业的女儿。两人开始聊起天来。她可以算是新移民，才来五年不到，不会英文，不会说也听不懂，要她女儿帮忙翻译。后来交谈多了才知道，我们居然是一个教会一个小排的，只是我现在不去了，新人都不认识了。

 

匆匆忙忙的，也没想起拍照。下面这张还是朋友告诉我时送过来的。

 

 

中午一点以后，后面的队伍越来越长，等填好表格，签了免责，量了体温，血压，心跳，听完一些instructions，再递交表格，让义工登记进电脑，一切就绪后，我往前走了几步排在了一辆大bus台阶下，等里面的人打完出来。一两分钟后就轮到我了。我走进bus, 刚撸起袖子在指定的位置上坐稳，一个手拿细细长针戴口罩的义工就走了过来，消了消毒，一针扎了下去。扎下去时倒是没什么多大感觉。出来后， 排在我前面已经打了疫苗的那位中国人一脸困惑地对我说，胳膊上什么感觉也没有，都怀疑那人没有给她打，会不会就贴了张创口贴上去了事了。她说的那么肯定，我只好让她把创口贴掀开来让我看看。仔细看了看胳膊，上面好像是有一丁点红点，不明显。 看来针很细，她又太紧张了。

 

打完疫苗已经两点多了，本来要求坐上15分钟才能离开。因为惦记着要回家上班，我只坐了五六分钟就匆匆起身回家了。结果，回到家中才发现防疫卡上的名字写错了一个字母，不知道打第二针时能不能改回来。据说以后可以拿这张CDC的防疫卡去办疫苗护照。具体情况不知道，反正现在还回不了国，中国尚且不认我们在美国打的疫苗，但相信情况都在变化中的。

 

到了晚饭时分，打过疫苗的那只胳膊开始疼起来了。从小到大打了这么多疫苗，不记得有哪一次会疼到抬不起来胳膊的。看来医药的发展，人类以毒攻毒的技术也在加剧。不过因着胳膊疼，某人亲自下厨，亲自洗碗，把厨房水槽台面洗了个底朝天。我趁机夸他呀，说，洗的这么干净啊，从此以后能不能天天洗啊。某人答曰，可以，但是有个条件，晚饭要少做，少而精:)) 

 

今日起来胳膊依然抬不起来，故此每天左右手交换打乒乓球的活动，今日只得有劳右手了，连抛球这个动作都是一只手独立笨拙地完成的，挂下来的左胳膊直直的，不敢动弹。某人见状，把他的左胳臂插入裤兜中，说要公平地和我这个"独臂老尼"决一此战。今日外面气温高达80多度，在七十多度的室内挥拍，没挥几就出汗了，不过运动要的不就是出汗吗?

 

也不知道两人这样在家上班的日子还有多久，已经听到可能要回去上班的风声了。如果真是如此，我一定会怀念这一年多在家上班的日子的。

 

三月的最后一天记此，时光太匆匆!

 

Nine selected spring pictures were posted on Wechat Moments on 3/29.  I purposely pointed out the striking contrast between the last two pictures:  a bare slope taken in this March versus the same slope clustering with vibrantly blooming lupines shot two years ago.

 

3/27/2021

 

3/23/2019

 

 

A friend of mine living in Florida asked me why there is no flower this year.  I explained that unlike many other places where spring may never fail to bring forth new life and abundance, our spring hinges on much last winter’s rainfall.  Our mountains are green for about a month or so before the meagerly stored water under the surface ground dries up.  The ensuing heat and drought only hastens the return of dull valleys, where only drought resistant plants or deeply-rooted oaks survive the rest of the seasons.   When there is a copious rainy winter, the decade-long seeds could be shaken up from their dormancy in the underground, and in turn ushers in a rich spring.   2016 was a good year, as I witnessed, when even the flowers in the desert like Death Valley were in its rare spring super bloom.  But more often than not, we are faced with lean years, when the limited rainfall stunts the growth of wild flowers and oats, and to survive they have to race against nature to seed for the next generation. It is a test of resilience.

 

3/27/2021

 

对比3/23/2019 同一个山头，远眺同一个山顶

 

3/27/2021， 当然还是有些草的。

 

 

This is the shade we rested under after a sweltering hike in the sun.  While we were enjoying the breeze there,  from the empty trail appeared a young man and his unleashed dog. The dog was panting hard, its long tongue hanging down outside  the mouth. He disobediently walked off the trail towards us, defying his owner's instruction of "no rest". But that resistance only lasted for seconds before the dog trudged back to the sunny trail towards its next stop.  Leashed or not, the dog is at its owner's hand. If I were the owner,  I would have let the poor dog rest in the shade:))

 

We met the new neighbor Paul on the driveway last Saturday as we were driving home from the hike. He was on his roller skates, with a helmet and knee pads tightened around his head and knees.  As he walked out of the then Tom’s garage and approached us, my guess that he is the husband of C whom I talked to a month ago faltered. Somehow I cannot match his young-looking face with C’s winkled one. He stopped to introduce himself that he is a nurse and that he is C’s husband. Then he tried to explain to us that to be on roller skates is to maintain his brain elasticity, as he is sixty years old this year. We both wowed, and in unison, complimented him for looking so young.  But was it the reason he told us his age?

Yesterday afternoon, I got my first shot of Pfizer vaccine at a temporary walk-in site, after waiting in line and going through the process for about two hours. Last night, the left arm was so sore that I cannot lift it to cook or to wash. Luckily the soreness abated after 24 hours with no other immediate side-effects or symptoms.