Eureka!

I struck gold!

I looked up "eureka" before I started writing this post. There were several events cited. The first and most prominent was the Greek mathematician, Archimedes, shouting eureka when he stepped into the bath and realized the amount of water displaced was equal to the volume of the part of his body that was submerged. The second and equally well known event is the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in California in 1848, and the beginning of the Gold Rush.

I am adding another event, not so well known, but just as exciting to me. It's the (re)discovery of hand sanitizer, antibacterial hand wipes and a horde of soap.The sanitizers and the wipes are of recent vintage, but the soap collection appears to go back at least twenty-five years.

As anyone who has ever traveled with me knows, I am a collector of hotel bathroom goodies. One of my first discoveries when I check into a hotel is to see what treasures are stocked in the bathroom. Most of my souvenirs became contributions to charity drives over the years, but this group was in the bottom drawer of one of my bedside nightstands. I had tucked them away, in some cases, decades ago, and they were ready for these black swan days. 

The two bars, top and bottom right of the photograph, were from a trip to Israel in, I believe, 1993. There was definitely a trip to Chicago and a stay at The Drake Hotel and a stay at a Hyatt Hotel, though I can't remember which one.  I've also got bars of soap and liquid soap, so I'm totally prepared for the requisite hand washing. I never would have imagined that my fascination with tiny soaps that began with Camay in the late 1950s would have become a full-fledged vintage soap collection, or have me prepared for a pandemic.

Today was genuinely a busy day. Every organization of which I am a part has discovered Zoom, a video conference site, and I "attended" my regular Weight Watchers meeting and my synagogue study group, actually on the day it was scheduled. It was great to see and connect with my friends in both groups. Tomorrow I'd like to "drop in" at another Weight Watchers group where my friend Annie is the leader, visit a meditation group in the afternoon and conclude the day with a live feed with friends in Costa Rica. I've begun to use my calendar again to keep track of all the events going on. Is anyone else using Zoom?

Tomorrow is book day. Please stop by and see what I'm reading and share what you're reading. 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care of yourself. Much love and wash your hands! If you need soap, let me know.