Three years ago

TL;DR -- Three years ago, we were coping with changes due to the pandemic that cropped up and circled the world. One lasting theme was that we got into specifics. Starting with movement to get over the barriers from the east to the west (say, Boone), we incrementally have followed families as they ratcheted west (move, settle for a while, move). The interior is full of such families. 

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We are approaching the Memorial Day weekend which starts the summer season. It's the first of three holidays with July 4th and Labor Day being the other two. School is out for most students. Vacations are on the horizon, usually. 

But, as a reminder, three years ago, a pandemic arose worldwide, with awareness of the situation becoming to the fore in March. Pandemic? We had already written of two: Throat distemper, Spanish flu. The latter coincided with the last issue of The Massachusetts Magazine. But, this was something new: sheltering in place with little public exposure. We adapted to new ways, that were supposedly temporary. 

These posts in these three months depict some reactions of the time:

• March 2020 - This was the first effort at adapting to the new way. Where we lived, we have wide-open spaces and were out every day. Being older, lots of events in the public sphere managed access and time (a carry-over are the carts being filled with orders to be delivered that one see while shopping). But, the themes this month were retrospective, anyway since we were in our tenth year of blogging. 
• April 2020 - Like being house bound, we took the time to review our ten years of research. One thing that came of that was the focus, for a few months, on the interior of the U.S. as it was carved under the control of St. Louis. We sampled various times and places related to the movement out west.  
• May 2020 - Tales from the westward movement started to crop up. Just getting out of the east was problematic. The below quote? Trying to conquer the western portion of an Atlantic State. 
• "One lady was quoted that she would hide her infant by a bush and follow the wagon up hill (with one task of chocking the wheels of the wagon if the horses tired). Once the hill (very large one) had been conquered, she went back down and came up with her child." A huge name involved with the escape was Boone of the south, who got people over the mountains into the area that launched the western movement. Boone himself, as an old guy, was all the way to what is now known as Kansas City. But, that was not even half-way to the west coast. 

There was a change in focus that has continued. We did not have an explicit post on Covid until later (June 2020 - Modes and protocols; The future). We did several retrospectives over that time. Then, we wrote of a 100+ year old lady who application to the Mayflower Society (Deeper dive) never took, for several reasons (we have written of that here). She is now gone (and knows, Mayflower people). 

Actually, about that, one wonders how well the computer will be in doing some of this work (that is, genealogy). We already have many examples, so the topic will be on the table. 

Remarks: Modified: 05/22/2023

05/22/2023 --