It began Thursday as a surreal day of caution and cancellations. Everything from church gatherings to the NCAA basketball tournament were cautioned and/or cancelled.  

What to do now with so much free time on our hands? In Saturday’s Advocate-Messenger, columnists Alethea Price and Mimi Becker offered their ideas — and good ones they are.  

It is spring, or so it appears, and outside pleasures away from the crowds are in abundance.  Biking, hiking, parks and trails and yes even — arghhh — yard work.  

Alethea and Mimi have the solutions for those rainy days with family time and — arghh — that garage or storage shed. We all need to keep going, rediscovering some of those pleasures or chores by embracing the silver lining of any crisis.  

And on a final note, using whatever precautions and cautions suit you, continue to support your small businesses, restaurants and stores alike. Because after all, if you can stand in long crowded lines at your larger retail stores for bread and toilet paper, you’ve already set a pretty high tolerance bar.

Rick Serres

Danville