My hair is five months long, and in the bathroom mirror in the morning, it does a good impression of Albert Einstein. I’m learning to hear through masks, and to read the eyes of the few people I encounter. Our isolation gives the impression of a new experience of time; not much happens, but it’s all gone by so fast. How often can I eat tamales for lunch before I grow tired of them? How many cans of tuna make up a whole fish? Will PPE tan lines give us pasty five o’clock shadows and bronze-banded eye goggles? So many questions.

It is an odd way to greet the summer, with wariness and covered faces, toes in the water, and individually wrapped snacks. A lot was supposed to happen this month. Any other year, we’d be buying kegs and booking bands, gearing up for the 40th Street block party. We’ve got a freshly paved back lot, but no artisan flea markets on the calendar just yet. And Bikini Kill and the Circle Jerks were supposed to play Mosswood Park this weekend, but the Burger Boogaloo’s been rescheduled for Halloween.

Oaklanders are getting tested, going camping, and finding ways to visit loved ones safely. We’re not thrilled about it, but we’re not stupid either. We have a healthy fear of the virus, like the fear of the whale, which Captain Ahab notably required of his Pequod crew. We will not pod up with fools. We’re going to enjoy this summer by keeping the party small, and maintaining our distance.

We’ve been receiving loads of exciting new wines, and the Oakland Yard provisions larder is chock full of cheeses, meats, crackers, olives, olive oil, anchovies, sardines, tinned mussels in escabeche, and Dick Taylor chocolate. And we’ve teamed up with artisan baker, Lee Magner, of Brown Bag Breads, as his first weekly east bay distributor. Buy a loaf online at Brown Bag Breads by Wednesday evening and pick up your freshly baked bread at Oakland Yard on Friday afternoon.

Don’t just hang in there, folks, enjoy your summer! And remember, if you’ve got a melon, we’ve got the prosciutto.
 

Cheers,
Max