Lately when reading online news, every now and then an interesting headline appears that I thought worthy of sharing—in case you missed it!

Ever hear of the “Cannonball Run?” It’s the New York to Los Angeles cross-country drive that has set a new pandemic-aided record in April. The new record beat the old record, set in November of last year, by more than 45 minutes. The drive was made in 26 hours and 38 minutes due to lack of traffic. It was reported that there were three to four drivers who made the drive, averaging an illegal speed of 106 miles per hour, covering 2,825.3 miles. Amazing!

Have you pulled out your old puzzles recently from the closet or ordered new ones to work on during your stay-at-home restriction? The New York Times published an interesting article recently on how jigsaw puzzles are made. Apparently the demand for puzzles has skyrocketed to levels not seen since Christmas, and with the world under lockdown, they’re been viewed as a new tool to save humanity.

A brief excerpt from the article is about a German company known for puzzle production, that “can’t easily ramp up production, because each new puzzle takes weeks to create. Each puzzle piece must be uniquely shaped, to avoid one accidentally fitting into the wrong place. That means 1,000 different shapes for a 1,000-piece puzzle, each drawn by hand by workers. Before a puzzle is cut for the first time, each piece is sketched on a sheet of paper draped over the finished image.” Who knew!

It would be remiss of me not to include a wine related headline which especially caught my attention. I did not want my inbox to light up to have to remind me that we are a wine organization, and that this space predominately addresses wine related events, home winemaking and education. Or the “red” landline phone ringing, fearing to answer knowing the President Bill Redding might have the current edition of The Wine Press in front of him, while enjoying a glass of wine, that didn’t make mention of wine in any form in an article.

Do you recall reading Love in the Time of Cholera, a novel by Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez? Did you see the movie titled the same? An online publication, Spirited, featured an article with a catchy title Wine in the Time of Pandemic  which led me to read on. Aside from delivering how California wineries are adapting to the “new norm” with curbside pickup, virtual wine offerings and discounts, the article reminded me to “keep calm and keep the corkscrew handy.” Laura Ness, the writer of the article, keeps a corkscrew handy in every purse and jacket she owns. Hint, hint!

Moving on . . . did you know that the whales are thriving without cruise and cargo ship traffic? Lonely Planet is reporting that “wildlife are having a whale of a time—quite literally. A reduction in container and cruise ship traffic has provided a vacation of sorts for vulnerable cetaceans, and an opportunity for scientists to learn more about how marine noise pollution impacts ocean species.”

And there’s less rumbling on the earth’s surface—seismologists who study seismic signals from the earth’s interior report that quarantines seem to have made it easier to listen! There’s less air pollution, and city soundscapes are changing—it’s a whole lot quieter. This may be a good thing or a bad thing depending on preference to quiet or surrounding noise! The Atlantic published this interesting read entitled “The Pandemic is Turning the Natural World Upside Down.”

I am among the many who are currently working from home during the stay-at-home restriction. While enjoying a glass of wine, I try and catch up on positive COVID-19 related newsworthy articles.

My hope is that this article brings into your homes a “distraction” from what we are all facing today.

– Linda Mihalik, Editor