hi my friends out there. hope you are keepin' keeping on and finding a comfortable rhythm to your life during these challenging times.
let me share the 2nd installment to my pandemic journal. scroll down on the blog for the 1st installment. i have entitled each week of the journal the name of the bunch of flowers i bought on our face-masked weekly shopping trip. fresh flowers have always been a pick-me-up and source of joy for me so i make sure we have them during this heavy need for a pick-me-up time in our life. here are some highlights from the past bouquet of weeks......
chamomile week:
- pandemic life is feeling unusually normal these days, finding contentment in our simplified life and savoring this time when distractions are minimal
-feeling more centered, more balanced and more appreciative of the basics in all of their healthy simplicity
- does take some patience to live with your people 24 hours a day in the house but we also love it
- rainy, spring week with some hail, sun and warmth
- on may day, i gathered flowers in a basket and hung the basket on our neighbor's barn door
- ducks are back floating in the pond and stream and birdsong fills the mornings
- owls communicate with urgency in the evenings and squirrels and rabbits are running around like happy go lucky children
- gabi has continued her 25 minute Zoom workouts with friends and family around the world
- gabi completed her final assignments and so her 2020 BYU winter semester has come to an end - well done!!
- has made plans to drive back to provo to work for the summer and be with her boyfriend, oscar
- we said our goodbyes friday morning and thanked her with hugs and sweet words of appreciation for her visit here with us, she is a strong, determined, fun and courageous soul
- she arrived safely and happily in provo 8 hours later with no hiccups
- paul and i worked on fixing the fence at the rental house down the street and worked on tidying up the yard, social distance chatting with neighbors as everyone is savoring in the warm weather the new ceilings are in downstairs and it looks great
- strange to drive around town and see so few people and cars around - eerie!
- boulder's April 11 stay-at-home order deadline has been extended to may 8
euro pom market bunch week:
-gabi was home 2 days and had a new roommate, a friend from the gym to whom she just happened to mention she had an empty room in her apartment - it worked perfectly for this friend so they did it
- unfortunately, just two days after arriving, the company gabi had been hired by for her summer internship had to pull out of their internship offer with her because of the present health/economic situation, huge bummer
- gabi did, however, receive her $1200 government stimulus check!
- big step for my golden days at home business, i hired a marketing/web developer and had our first zoom meeting to get things started
- i have also decided that i will make a new format to my home-based preschool curriculum originally designed for a small group setting to include an option for a one on one parent/child teaching curriculum, offering another option for parents with just one preschool child to teach, especially during these times of questionable public and private school offerings and the need for other options
- highway signs declaring, keep travel to a 10 mile minimum, except for emergencies
- gerry, paul's 89 year old father is scheduled for surgery early next week so Paul and I drove to Utah for an overnight trip to check up with him and say, hi
-social distancing with family was difficult but the chance to see family including gabrielle, sebastian and madison was too wonderful
-gabi's birthday was on the monday so we wished her the best, with love and headed back home
-my mom volunteered to sew 100 medical grade face masks in 4 days, i am so proud of her
- on the drive back home, paul and i drove through the towns of green river and fort collins, both strangely quiet and empty, the whole trip was stressful during these times and i couldn't wait to get home
allium week:
- two tall alliums are growing by the front door, watching them unfurl and color has been a delight
- new regular sort of week, alot of working at the computer for both of us
- dinners continue to be an absolute highlight of the day
- the beginnings of stage 2 with whisperings of non-essential stores opening up
- many restaurants open with curbside service
- ordering most things we need, other than food, from amazon
- kombucha making and drinking continues and i loving the gentle routine of the process
- away from the house we are masked, workers are masked, hikers and bikers are masked, everyone is masked
- new! we met a couple of friends at a trailhead near our house and went for a hike together - SO nice!!
- finished all of the photos and first edit for my 48 preschool lesson plans!! huge milestone!
- mother's day was best one ever!! spoke to my mom - she was experiencing the same thing, paul gifted me a beautiful 35mm lens for, so excited!
- then, gabi organized all of her siblings to submit and video their answers to mom questions to ben who put together a 25 minute long mother's day q & a video for me, i watched it with tears streaming down my face the whole time, i am the luckiest mom ever, my kids are truly amazing
- ended the extraordinary day with a group facetime with all of my kids and their spouses, can't stop watching the video
-i love my children, my husband and i love the goodness that can be found in these strange times
small daffodils in a bulb vase week:
- paul and i both found it to be quite a down week, i was anxious and paul was feeling low, the uniqueness of this new lifestyle and community practices is wearing off and the reality of the changes in lifestyle for the future is feeling very real
- the weeks of change, adjustments and uncertainty are getting to us
-even when the new stages of this pandemic lifestyle are introduced, i don't think it will reintroduce the familiar life we knew two months ago, what will it be like? it is the unknown that is difficult
- highlight of the week - our big score was find a 5 pack of disinfectant wipes at sam's club! we are set now after trying to find them for two months
- paul and i eat lunch down by the stream and paul throws in his fishing rod now and then and catches fish!
- went for a magnificent hike just down the road in eldorado canyon, feel so lucky to live amongst these gorgeous mountains, blue skies, streams and canyons
- nicole's birthday this week - a gift of gardening tools and all will help her as she is building raised garden beds at their new home
- saturdays are stay outside and work in the garden days
- sundays have their new and very enjoyable routine too - sleep in, big breakfast, write up and send out a lesson for my little 4 year old sunday school class, long sunday drive, virtual sharing of sunday lunch with our kids, facetime with ben and kensey, lazy afternoons, walk and sleep
deep purple iris week:
- bought a bunch of purple iris, one of my favorite colors and flowers - have one or two growing in the garden too - they remind me of sydney
- new! we invited our friends, mike and kim over for an al fresco dinner on the deck, so so nice to talk together and catch up
- feeling for all of the graduates not getting to walk this spring, but impressed with the caring and creativity of teachers to congratulate them
- tuesday evening we went northeast and hiked through what felt like the english countryside with a stream running beside the path, weaving through tall grasses, over bridges with fresh breezes blowing us on our way - were interrupted with an unexpected business zoom call for paul so we sat down in the shade of a huge cottonwood tree
- paul actually went to work at a business colleague's house today for a few hours, he needs the camaraderie and someone to bounce ideas and plans off of, so good but i missed him
- a masked friend who owns a baking business surprised me with a box of her delicious cookies and bars today! what a fun surprise
- we have roof guys here fixing our leaking roof all the way through to the upstairs boys' bedroom ceiling, yay!!!
- bird watching robins and their nests and chicks, hummingbirds visiting our filled feeder
- we've been doing loads of big garden work: paul cleared out and started the landscape waterfall and stream for the summer, yay! we rented a chipper and cleared piles of branches at our house and our rental house down the road, prepped and covered raised garden beds and filled them with my seedlings and seeds
peony week:
off we go........
with loads of love and hope for all things gentle and calm in your life,
janet
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