One cold sub-zero winter day, I spent the morning watching two screwball comedies, Balls of Fire and Harvey, and intended to spend the afternoon rereading Anne Bronte’s Agnes Grey. Then my husband intervened.

“Would you like to go cross-country skiing?

The last time I tried to x-country ski, I ran into a tree.  But I do like sitting in the car and watching him ski.  Every time he emerges from the woods, I yell.  “Hurrah!” and remind him  I’ve got cocoa in the car.

Later, after pancakes at a restaurant, he suggests, “You could attend that Zoom meeting today.”

“Hm, maybe.”  A few hours ago it would have seemed like a bad idea, but I was reckless after watching him cross-country skiing.

Sponsored by a Victorian lit group, this Zoom meeting seemed less intimidating than most tech events.   There must have been 100 people there, mostly women, and a handful of men.  We went around the group, and each named his or her favorite Victorian writers. When it was my turn, I named three of the “Mrs.” writers: Mrs. Gaskell, Mrs. Humphrey Ward, and Mrs. Oliphant.

One woman punched that hands-raised button and was allowed to speak.  “I’ve never heard of them.  How do you spell Oliphant?”

O-l-i-p- ….  It must have sounded like Elephant.

Never fashionable, usually be-jeaned, I love to see what people wear.  At the last minute, I had pulled a black sweater over my Cat Mom t-shirt, though originally I had opted for the Cat Mom look. The men were dead-casual: bearded and uncombed, wearing  boxer shorts and tatty Oxford shirts, or jeans with sweatshirts with University of __ stenciled on the front.  A young woman with flowing hair lounged in sweatpants on a divan: she was drinking wine.  An old woman in a very smart dress and so-called kitten heels drank coffee out of a Jane Austen mug.  A middle-aged woman in ancient Oshkosh overalls clutched a copy of Scenes of Clerical Life. 

I thought we’d be like the Lonely Hearts club, and I’m sure there WERE some lonely people, I among them at times, but this cheered everybody up. At least I hope it did.

Any favorite Zoom events? Technology for fun: that’s my goal.