Lockdown Day 4

I thought of keeping a daily blog but decided I might do a hand written daily notes - somehow seems very personal. I will enter stuff on my blog as it will be a useful record and maybe some of my friends and family will want to keep track of things down here.

The kids went to their mothers place before we hit actual lockdown and I believe she has been trying to work with them on a schoolwork schedule. While the weather was fine that may well have been easier, the last couple of days we have finally had some rain - good for all the gardens and lawns but must be hard for families living in tight spaces.

Day 1 my van in position

I havent moved off the property except for a daily walk with the dog and yesterday int he rain I followed an exercise video instead. Today is a bit chillier and Jonathan has been on a video conference call with the Blind Citizens group all morning so I am tiptoeing round the house. While the kids arent here I have commandeered Callum's bedroom which is the biggest and faces the street. I have a teddy bear in the window and because the house is close to the PaknSave supermarket and a fairly main thoroughfare there has been a little traffic outside but not much.

It is now Saturday morning and I had several aims in lockdown including

1. Meditate twice daily
2. Sanskrit revision 
3. Do a drawing/sketch/painting each day
4. Sewing - I have three bags of fabric and all sorts of bits and pieces
5. Cook dinner for everyone each day ( J and A have usually been busy with jobs at the farm or round here)
6. Read some good spiritual material every day
7. Dont feel guilty if I dont do any or all of the above.....

So far I havent managed all my good resolutions but the last one makes me feel better about that..

Here are a few products of the last week

Jonathan designed steps to go up the retaining wall and Amy did the hammering.

The back porch - JOnathan's house

My first experimental mask - I have made 10 more including 6 for kids

Blocks for Green Tea scrap quilt - I will need to do the applique by hand with embroidery threads as I didnt bring all my coloured threads for sewing machine.

Oh, and I have also done sewing repairs and starting shifting Kea badges to Cub Scouts blanket. And I am reading some good books. Just finished the Monuments men  by Robert Edsel - the movie was good ( especially George Clooney) but this was the authentic researched book version - very interesting. Currently reading The GArden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng - ebook from the Auckland Library ( thank the universe for ebooks and audio books from the library!!!)

I am a little apprehensive about the next few weeks/months - pretty normal I suppose. Basically my concern is that I have chosen not to be entirely self isolated, and I am now part of a bubble which has several intersecting bubbles because children of separated parents can move between parents int he same town. For Covid19 this is not ideal, but I made the choice to take up Jonathan's offer and I think it was the right choice. I think the hardest thing about this time is the lack of control and certainty - one can only do one's best within the framework of one's own set up.Time will tell.

Sewed all morning so I think I am going to make a banana cake shortly and do more Sanskrit, and a bit of sketch and painting practice.- updating my blog today was one task on the to do list. Tick that one off.

What a difference a day and even an hour makes!

Update: In the last half our Jacinda took the coun try to Alert level 3 - which means non essential businesses must close, schools will close from tomorrow. And we go to level 4 in 48 Hours! Supermarkets, pharmacies and petrol stations as well as some banking services will stay open. The level had reached 102 cases with 36 new today and only 14 new yesterday but with all the NZ residents who have fled back here it was expected that the number of cases would rise, but the crunch was the two cases they can find no explanation for, so suspect community transference.

Amy is now worried as heck about her parents in Christchurch ... not sure if they can come even if they wanted to. Not sure what will happen with the kids - theyw ere due to go to Olivia tomorrow but her partner is immuno-compromised and she has a 11 month old baby.

The below was written only an hour ago...

AfterJacinda's announcement on Saturday that over 70s should basically self isolate I rang my son Jonathan and took him up on his offer to come to Palmerston North where the family consider I would be safer and they could watch out for me. After a bit of deliberation I  have come down here. It was interesting working what to bring with me, considering I didnt know when I would be back, but I didnt think I would need my party dress, I would want all my technology and hobby stuff. So the sewing machine and table, fabric, painting and drawing bits, activity stuff for the children I had been collecting, my Sanskrit books and my philosophy material plus all the food which might go off. The campervan fitted it all in and I consider I am very lucky.

J and A have been making good preparations for the kids being home from school, the only hitch is that the kids are going to continue to move between two households, but some things cant be changed, so we will work with what we can.

Jonathan and Amy have a 17 acre block of land on which I can be quarantined if there is a need. Their barn has a bed, water, big gas cooker, plenty of space to run around, nice patch of bush next door - and I have just found out they have a generator out there so that I can power up the sewing machine and charge the computer. Campervan has a toilet although it might need emptying. They havent installed the composting toilet that was their Christmas present yet! Currently I am at their place at 52 LInton St and social distancing is likely to work well here for the moment.  Wonderful to be surrounded by calm, intelligent people.

My "wee house" at Linton St

Covid project 1 - a bulletin board for the campervan.

Projects 2 and 3 - new curtains and a cushion for the campervan.

Jonathan's contact number is 029 538 9814 and mine is 021 2644429. I will try to update my blog as often as possible - might be like a diary, and my goal is to also do one drawing a day in my sketch book to provide a visual record also.

But - who would have thought? Very quiet down here ...