I love the drawings by Jean Seabrook. Her animals are so wonderful and th captions so perfect. Today I thought I would share a couple from her book Furry Logic. It is my favorite and I give copies to those who need perking up. I have a calendar with some of these and I post just the pictures to suit my day.
Yesterday was an interesting day. It was my husband’s 82nd birthday. I spent most of the day preparing his favorite meal. We were having our son and family and my best friend to sit in the yard and eat while social distancing. I worked all afternoon on the perfect meal and it was good.
It was a good idea. At least that’s what I thought. My husband is hard of hearing and it is getting worse. He will need to get hearing aids and soon. Sitting far away from people made it almost impossible for him to hear any conversation and really the whole thing was too tiring for him. It was nice but I won’t plan anything like that again soon.
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy! Robert Burns from To a Mouse
Things don’t always work out the way we thought but we have to make the best of it. It’s best not to dwell on it but to just move on to the next thing.
Today the smell of the Jasmine is glorious. It is so beautiful. Early for it to bloom. Maybe it knows we need its scent to lift our spirits. I do love flowers with scent. When I was a child my grandmother had a amazing garden with hundreds of roses and other blooming things. We always had flowers in the house. The roses had such a wonderful smell. Today, if you buy roses, there is really little smell. It has been bred out to make the blooms bigger. Such a loss. I never want roses of the kind available today but prefer something with scent.
It’s funny how when you choose to change nature’s plants what comes out always sacrifices something. Nature does it best.
In spite of the horror of this pandemic it is wonderful to see what happens when we stop polluting everything. There are now fish in the canals of Venice and the air is clear over Los Angeles. Think how it would be if we could keep this going.
I can only suppose that it won’t but I hope that something will have been learned from this.
This has been a good day. We spent some time outside and the weather is beautiful. I cleaned out my bird bath and fixed the simple drip fountain I made from a watering can. I even caught a drip in the photo! Since I am no photographer that is amazing.
The birds love it and I can see it from inside and while sitting on the porch. We are blessed to have this wonderful spot left to me by my grandparents.
Hopefully we will be able to stay here a while longer although the property is difficult to care for and the taxes keep going up.
It is wonderful to be able to spend time outside.
This was the good part of the day. The other part was that I discovered that Facebook thinks that I am posting inappropriate material on this blog and I can’t post to them with the link.
However, sneaky person that I am I am copying the post and posting it anyway. I have asked for reviews of the things they have blocked but don’t really know how to get this problem fixed. They allow my heargodinothervoices.blog. It is interesting what they felt was not good. At least my last five posts have been blocked. Don’t you just love the craziness?
Spending time outdoors seems to clear my fogged mind and renew my spirit. I will have a good walk tomorrow with the dogs. If you are able get outdoors. It will blow the cobwebs away.
Today I go the cutest text from my granddaughter. She was having a conversation with her son who is turning two next week. I do love the conversations with young children. The wisdom can be amazing and the thoughts and ideas such fun. Enjoy this simple little talk.
Mom: Karter do you know where the remote is for the living room TV?
Karter: I hide it.
Mom: Well, you have about 3 seconds to unhide it.
Karter: 1…2…
Mom: No! you don’t count. I count!
Karter: Oh nooooo!!!
t
Today has been a good day. I managed to get myself moving and got some things done. It felt good. I think that one of the problems with this isolation is that it seems to sap your energy. The temptation is there to stay in your pajamas all day.
We seem to be at that point where the desire to be “free” is making everyone fidgety. You just want to break out and live life as you remember it. Unfortunately, the state has reopened some businesses…hair salons, gyms and ??? tattoo parlors. It will be interesting to see what happens. I would be willing to bet we will see covid numbers rising. It is logical that beginning to loosen the restrictions should be a gradual thing otherwise there will be second round of problems.
I really hope that very soon there will be some treatments that prove valid even if we have to wait for a vaccine. Just knowing that there is treatment if sickness occurs would be wonderful.
In spite of the things I have been doing to keep myself intellectually stimulated and my mind awake I find myself dull. I guess like everyone else I just miss contact with others. Continue to stay safe.
I love optical illusions and today just wanted to do something fun. I hope you like these. I could not sleep in the last one (a bedroom). I would get up completely disoriented. Not the way I want to start my day.
Don’t think I want to sleep here
My husband is to come home tomorrow. Thanks be to God! He seems well and anxious to get back to his regular activities. He likes to do woodwork and other projects. He has been so bored. I am looking forward to him being here.
Some parts of the country are going back to work and opening things. I sincerely hope that this doesn’t bring about another upswing in the virus. I hope to see some change for the better for everyone. This will continue to be a long haul and we all have to take much care. It is very strange to be in the “at risk” part of the population. We will not be changing anything anytime soon. We will need to “hunker down” until things are more safe.
My daughter, who is a nurse, says that her hospital is going to resume a somewhat normal stance keeping precautions in place but back to routine care of the ordinary sick.
We all know that at some time we will have to venture out and hope that it goes well.
I feel awful about not posting yesterday. I lost the day. The night before I had what I think was food poisoning. I was fine by morning but exhausted. I was feeling sorry for myself. Here without my husband and feeling miserable. Later that day one of my friends called and her sister’s husband caught the virus while traveling and died at 44 years old. His wife, working as a nurse, had damage from a tornado that struck their neighborhood. Her sister cannot have her husband transported home or have a glimpse of him. He died with none of his family around. There are so many people who have more crisis than anyone should have to bear. It certainly put my life into perspective.
Each of us has our own problems. Even though we can see catastrophic things happen to others the feelings we have are still valid. Our own problems bring forth emotions that we have to learn to deal with. We may not have things wrong that seem more devastating than others but our own tragedies are ours. We have to absorb the emotions. We have to deal with the issues. They are important. They are ours.
As each of us move through the things that cause us grief and pain we will learn things that we can use to help others when this is all over. Our experiences will help us gain new insights, new skills, and new ways to cope. We will have much to teach others. Lots to share with those who come after us.
This crisis is hard but we can learn from it and share what we have learned with generations that come.
The days slip by and all seem more or less the same. I once read something that said change things up each day to make them stand out. Then it will seem that things are more interesting. It may only be driving to work a different way. That made sense. When I was still working I sometimes had no idea how I got to work. I knew I drove there but that’s about all.
We do have to be intentional about paying attention to life even when the days can blend into one another. Yesterday I baked bread and today I worked in the yard. That helps me remember those two days. If I just sit and watch TV then nothing is different.
Even in this covid time take time to make changes each day. Do something that makes that day memorable. It doesn’t have to be spectacular but just something to mark the day.
When we drift into same, same, same it is easy to feel depressed and anxious. Just a walk outside to watch the birds will help.
worry-less-journey 