Every day, we speak sentences that would have been unthinkable a few months ago. We’ve adapted to the language of social distancing and self-isolation, making room in our lives for apocalyptic alerts and disembodied face masks and toilet paper shortages. This is the surreal: the uneasy, the strange and strangely funny.
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NEW:
Lola Marion decorated her garden with handcrafted sculptures of the coronavirus, characters in masks and warning signs. “Many parents, grandparents, etc. come to enjoy my outside decorating,” she says.
— Submitted by Lola Marion, Tampa
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Diane Brown and her husband, Jeff, set out each night in a different costume to entertain their Harbour Watch neighbors.
— Submitted by Diane Brown, Tarpon Springs
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“I live on North Clearwater Beach. When I saw this (in mid-March), it made me stop in my tracks.”
— Submitted by Linda Edwards-Delgado, Clearwater
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“My grandson was born on April 3rd, and then we were not allowed to visit him at the hospital. We now visit just once a week, wearing masks and gowns to protect him from the virus. Definitely not how I wanted to meet my first grandchild.”
— Submitted by Rick Pearson, Dunedin
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“Hi, my name’s Chelsea Smith, and during quarantine, I’ve been baking a lot. Once this loaf of bread was ready to eat, I emerged from my room with my plague doctor mask on, like the large bird I have become. Have a nice day.”
— Submitted by Chelsea Smith, New Port Richey
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The emergency alerts arrived on our phones, along with highway signs warning of COVID-19: eerie new sights from an eerie new era.
— Claire McNeill, Tampa Bay Times