A Reminder for a Difficult Time

Once upon a time, when women 

were birds, there was the simple

understanding that to sing at

at dawn, and to sing at dusk, was to

heal the world through joy.  The

birds still remember what we have

forgotten, that the world is meant

to be celebrated.

-- Terry Tempest Williams

Staying Healthy by Staying Home

Hello friends - I hope you are all doing OK, and remaining healthy during this dangerous and uncertain time.  I am at home as we learned last Friday that we would all be home through the end of March at least, and perhaps even longer.  We are of course supposed to work at home.  My job does not make that possible, so my sick and vacation time is being used.  Sadly it's out of my control.  I just hope that I have enough of both so that I don't get to the point of not getting paid at all.  YIKES!

None of it is under my control at least not at this point, so I just decided to do what I can when I can and go on with things.  So I had a lovely birthday last Saturday, and it was also a pretty day here, so that was good.  The Tim and I went to breakfast at our favorite diner, which was not yet closed but was not very crowded at all, very unlike any other Saturday morning ever!  And we had cake, presents, and a birthday dinner with the critters at home that afternoon and evening.  It was a good birthday, even if an exceptionally quiet one.  Thank you for your kind wishes!

The Tim still has to go to work, though I'm not sure how much longer that will be the case.  He said on Tuesday that rentals were down more than 50%, and they were starting to lay off people.  On the one hand, I would prefer that he could stay home and [theoretically] be 100% safe, but if he is laid off, we'll be on extra thin ice otherwise.  Again, though, out of my control, so we'll just see what happens.

I do have to say though that the only family member who is struggling with social distancing is Hamlet!  When we go outside for walks, he can't quite figure out where all of the people are, and also why the few we do see don't want to see him.  The Tim, the cats, and I are doing much better, as we are all fine with not having to be around people.  When I went to see my therapist on Monday, she asked how I was doing, and I told her that I don't like being lonely, but I don't mind at all being alone.  She smiled, leaned forward, and said, "Me too." 

Spoiler alert:  I've been knitting!  Not 24/7 of course, as I've been trying to stay on a fairly regular schedule, but certainly more than I normally am able to do it.  On Sunday, I finished a few more blocks on my blanket.

I really need to stop working on this row and fill in some rows on top, but since there is no real deadline for this, I'm not worried about getting it all done. 

And I've made a lot of progress on the first of my socks that I've been knitting.  The last time I showed them, I had knit this much:

And this time, I actually have memorized the pattern and so have not had to do any more ripping out.  Now I'm past the heel and working on the foot.

I've even made more progress since I took this photo.  At first, I wasn't going to continue the main cable pattern onto the foot, but then I decided that at least this time, I'd try my best to follow the pattern exactly as written.  

I hope at some point, I can get a good photo that shows how pretty the yarn actually is - it's a light green with washes of blues and purples every once in a while, and also has stellina.  It makes it fun to knit, that's for sure.

Also keeping me smiling during this project?  This guy:

BABY YODA!  Isn't he cute?  Someone I follow on Instagram showed a project of theirs with this progress keeper, and I decided that being the Baby Yoda devotee that I am, I deserved to have one of my very own.  He makes me smile whenever I work on this project.  That counts for a lot, particularly these days.

Yesterday, I also started (and restarted, and restarted, and then restarted again) a sweater.  So far I have the neck done and today will start on the yoke (already restarted once unsuccessfully, I might add).

My original plan was that I would be on vacation from Monday through yesterday of this week, so to be honest, I sorta treated those days as I would have anyway.  Today is my first day when I will try to spend at least a bit of time reading some articles related to my work, so I can feel that I'm making some kind of effort - and also maybe learn what some others are working on these days.  There will also of course be some walks with Hamlet, and an exercise workout.  

I am grateful that I am well and only inconvenienced right now, and I hope that will be the case going forward for all of us.  I will say that I blame the person currently living in the White House and his ilk for all of this.  In not-surprising news, it turned out not to be a "Democratic hoax," and by the time he was willing to do anything, it was already too late.  Every person's illness and any deaths are on his hands, as far as I'm concerned, and I hope that when November comes we will all remember why this ended up being the horrific mess that it is.

OK, I got that off of my chest.  So now I'll just say that I hope you are all taking time to make sure that you are keeping on and making things work the best that you can.  My suggestion would be to limit the amount of time you listen/read/absorb the news and other information, and take time to breathe, and do what you can for yourselves and your families.  Let me know what you are making, reading, cooking, or baking - we can share the happy things and lift spirits!  

And before I forget, today is the first day of Spring - the earliest it has been in 124 years!  Maybe the universe knew we would need it now.  This is proof that the world goes on, no matter what we are doing or feeling on any given day.  Our daffodils are already out, looking quite pleased with themselves, and the crocus are getting ready to do their part.  

Look for the pretty.  Look for the happy.  Trust me, if I can do it, so can you.  :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Have a good one, and celebrate that you can celebrate at all!

Friday the 13th TGIF

Ah yes, Groucho understood how it works.  :-)

I have always liked Friday the 13th (the day, not the movies) - I'm not sure if it's because of my contrary nature, or that I love black cats (or any cats, let's face it), or I just enjoy other people feeling uncomfortable (OK, admittedly that does always amuse me).  But in any case, today is Friday the 13th of March, and though it started out rainy in Philadelphia, the sun is supposed to appear this afternoon.  

In the ever-present world of coronavirus updates, an event I was really looking forward to enjoying next week has been cancelled.  The Free Library of Philadelphia Author Series had scheduled a talk by Hilary Mantel and signed copies of her new book, and we had bought tickets a few months ago.  It was cancelled yesterday, which is truly disappointing but understandable.  

A few of you commented on my post yesterday that if I couldn't work from home, at least I could get some knitting and reading done.  Which is a lovely thought, but I would come into work anyway, since the deal is that if you can't work from home and don't come into work, you don't get paid.  And I need to get paid, so that's that!  For now, the place is still open, so we'll see what does or does not happen.

However, I had already planned long ago to take a few days off next week, partly because my niece and her husband were going to come up from Baltimore for the now-cancelled book talk.  I am not cancelling my days off though because they were approved long ago and in some ways, I'm looking forward to them even more now ...

Moving along - let's do a TGIF, shall we?

Thinking about - how people in charge of things can be so mercenary and cruel.  With so much going on and so many people having trouble anyway, the addition of cancelled work and school puts many in a true bind.  Not everyone has a large savings account to rely on, or the ability to telecommute when they don't even have a home computer.  Some people say, "Go to the library," but even libraries have to limit computer times for individuals in the interests of fairness.  It seems so many businesses are only worried about the bottom line, not their employees.  And at least in Philadelphia, all schools have not [yet] closed because for a lot of the kids, the only meals they get on any given day are those they get at school.  But at least there are already plans to help bail out banks, so our priorities are straight, right???

Grateful for - working on the assumption that I will indeed wake up tomorrow morning and be able to live my life, I am grateful that I will have made it to my 64th birthday.  Not only that, but for the most part, I am doing well and functioning in life.  That is the true gift.  I plan to enjoy it all, even if this is not the happiest of times in the world.  

Impressed by - the individuals who are going out of their way to help not just their friends and neighbors, but complete strangers.  I read a thread on Twitter yesterday about a woman who was walking into a grocery store, and heard someone calling her.  An elderly man and woman were in their car, afraid to go into the store because they were already not in the best of health, but they needed some basics.  The elderly woman asked the other one if she would mind picking some things up for them, gave her $100 and a shopping list.  The woman not only picked up their groceries, but gave them their $100 back because, "if you can't help a neighbor, who will help you when you need it?"

Feeling - introspective.  I am by nature a rather introspective person, but especially as the years go by and I reach another birthday.  Are there things that I wish I could have done?  You bet!  Do I wish I had done some things differently?  Of course.  But you know what?  At my age, my father had already been dead for 11 years, and my mother was in the throes of her decline in health and ability.  I need to remember that living a good life is an accomplishment, whether anyone else knows or cares.  

Here's hoping you have a lovely weekend.  Ours will involve CAKE (I can never convince The Tim that I should have a birthday cake and a birthday pie for Pi Day), wine, kitty cuddles, and probably lots of laughter.  Even when things are bad, life can be good.

Take care, everyone.

Round Robin

Well, here we are on another Thursday when things are swirling around and being turned upside down and everyone is on edge for one reason or another.  Someone posted on Twitter that Billy Joel should re-write the song, "We Didn't Start the Fire," but 'describing the last ten minutes.'  

So true.

Anyway here is my contribution to this week's Three on Thursday.

1.  This is a legitimate conversation that occurred during our dept staff meeting this a.m.

Supervisor:  There's a good chance that we will soon all be asked to work from home due to coronavirus concerns.
Me:  I can't do my job from home
Supervisor:  Everyone should find some things that they could work on if they can't be in the building.
Me:  Again, I can't work from home.  At all.
Supervisor:  Maybe you could use vacation or sick time.
Me:  That's not really fair since others will not have to do that.
Supervisor:  Well, then try to work from home.

And ... [scene].

2.  Yesterday I had to go to the eye dr for a follow up to an appt a couple of weeks ago (I have pretty severe allergic conjunctivitis all of a sudden), and also to get my new eyeglass frames with my new prescription lenses.  When I put them on, it was truly amazing to realize how much better I was able to see.  I had thought things were not that great, but apparently things had changed more drastically than I realized!  The dr said I probably just got used to the way things looked before, and my eyes adjusted as well as they could.  Which reminded me of one of my mother's sayings:  "You get used to hanging if you hang long enough."  (Not comforting, but true.)

3.  I have decided to try and learn to crochet (yet again) so that I can try to make a stripey, crocheted blanket.  I'm optimistic that now that YouTube exists, I might have some success.  I've taken classes in the past, but there was always a group of us and I am left-handed, so it never really worked.  And I've never been one who "gets" instructions from illustrations in books.  Once someone shows me something and I understand it, then the book illustrations are good refreshers, but starting there has never been successful.  In the past when I have tried, YouTube did not exist and/or I did not have a computer, so now that we have 20th century technology available at home, I think I should give it another try.  :-)

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