The Naples Botanical Garden made the decision to close to the public as of this morning. That means that I won’t be able to go tomorrow morning even though I didn’t feel at risk there when I went early in the morning. There were very few people and most of them were spread throughout the garden walking their dogs. When I would leave at around 11:00 there would be a line at the ticket windows and there was a steady stream of cars coming in the entrance.

I will miss my visits for the rest of our stay but am willing to sacrifice my pleasure for the well-being of our country. If we all sacrifice now, maybe we can keep others from suffering in the future weeks and months. I was at a small party at our neighbor’s home last night and our conversation went to the usefulness of social isolation. Jim and I are still going out but we limit our outings to places that aren’t densely congregated. The purpose, as I see it, is to limit the number of people we come in contact with to lesson the chances of spreading the virus.

I’m not worried about running out of photos from the garden to use for future posts. I have thousands of them – many very good. Over the past few weeks I have been intrigued by the clump of water lilies a few feet off the boardwalk through the lily pond. As I was studying the beauty of its composition and wishing I could wade into the pond to get better shots, I noticed one lone lily facing me. What a perfect opportunity to examine their the anatomy – without getting banned from the garden for life.

Tomorrow I plan to make an early morning trip to the beach, my first of the season. Naples has a very long public beach on the Gulf of Mexico so it is never crowded. Finding a parking place for sunset is the biggest challenge.

We continue to be respectful of the virus and are thoughtful in our plans for going into public places. We are not panicked because I don’t see how that helps me; it only clouds my thinking with the risk of causing unnecessary stress and harm. And I am finding great humor following the memes on Facebook about the irrational rush to stockpile toilet paper. If my greatest risk is running out of toilet paper, then life will be just fine.