Musings on a Small Life

It feels like 12 weeks of "working" from home and self-imposed isolation, except for groceries and walks in the neighbourhood. By chance yesterday, I found a package of 50 disposable gloves tucked away in one of my bins under the kitchen sink. A dollar store purchase from a year or two ago, maybe longer. It was like finding buried gold! I'll be using them when I go grocery shopping or to the drugstore, as I don't like to touch anything with my bare hands. I'll wash them when I get home, to reuse them as much as I can. I wish I could find masks; that's the real treasure these days. It's getting harder to be motivated to get dressed and make myself presentable. Yesterday I actually wore sweatpants out for my walk, hair a mess...and didn't care. And yes, I already know that no one else notices or cares, but typically I care, at least enough to dress in slacks and a sweater. In another week or two I'll be sitting at my dining table and typin...

Today begins week 2 working from home. I haven't quite hit my stride yet with regard to a routine, but I'm getting some work stuff done anyway, and we've been having virtual meetings. Yesterday my boss picked me up in the morning so I could rescue some of my plants from the office. The building is now closed, no one permitted to work there. I have another spider plant hanging up in the other corner, out of view. Most of the plants are pet-safe, though three are not. Derry's a good boy, though, and isn't getting in to anything. When he was younger it would have been a different story! The plants are all crowded together into the only room with enough light through the day. That room broils in the summer, though, so I might have to move them around all the same. I hope to take the ones that aren't pet-safe back to the office in a month or two (more?), whenever we're able to resume our "normal" lives again. Alas, I couldn...

Or as I prefer to call it, Starbucks deprivation.* This is how day 2 got started at 8 AM, above. The University still is open; people do have to be there, as students are in the process of moving out of residence. And the Health Sciences departments have different teaching schedules, need to be in operation, as does the Faculty of Education and the School of Business. I think there's a lot of rotation of staff, though: one week some are working from home, the next week others are. My own exec director and one co-worker have chosen to work from the office, as the risk is extremely low in our area. I probably would have chosen to do the same except that I have serious concerns about being on public transit at this time, even with so many staying home and schools being closed. I don't want to be in close confines with people, except when completely necessary. I'll have to venture out on Saturday to pick up my prescription renewal from Costco, and I'm definitely not ...

I was waiting at the bus stop early this morning, and for a few minutes I listened to the robins singing, looked up at the waning moon and few visible stars, saw the sun begin to rise on the horizon. It felt like a moment of grace in a world gone mad. Our full moon a week ago. Undergraduate classes at our university are cancelled this week; the remainder of the semester will be done online. The campus feels rather like a ghost town at the moment. Elementary and secondary schools are closed this week for March break, but will remain closed until at least early April. Our mall now is operating on reduced hours, large (and smaller) venue events have been cancelled, our local library has now closed, both Anglican and Catholic churches have cancelled all services at least for the short term, and even our city transit will operate on a Saturday (reduced) schedule, effective March 17th. Store shelves are empty of dry goods like flour, rice, pasta, etc. Don't bother trying t...

I had taken a long walk on Sunday along some of the waterfront paths, and met this fellow along the way. (There were a lot of ducks at that spot, near Portsmouth Olympic Harbour.) This handsome guy just sat and posed for me, tilted his head *just so*, as if to indicate that he knew full well what a stunning specimen of duck-hood he was and that he was happy to be admired. (I've already posted this on Instagram, so apologies to those who have seen the pic.) Of course he couldn't possibly be as handsome as this fellow: Have a great mid-week. Comments are off on "wordless" Wednesday, as usual. Peace.

I rarely will post an old photo of the cats, because seeing my angels just makes my heart hurt and I don't want to go there. But I came across this one, from Friday March 6, 2009, of a much younger Nicki and Derry finding their first bug of the season. :-) Nicki would have been 3 years, 5 months at the time, Derry 2 (going on 3). It's not a good snapshot, but that doesn't matter to me anymore. I was dreaming of Nicki last night, that he wasn't dead. Instead, I had re-homed him as a youngster, for his Highest Good (for some unfathomable reason!). In the dream, I was visiting him several years later, when he was an adult in his prime. He had Nicki's head, but his body had the colouring and markings of a tiger. Weird. I swear I didn't eat or drink anything strange before bedtime! As for Derry, he might be starting to get spring fever. He was playing and tearing around like crazy (crazy for him--haha) last evening and again this morning. He ...

Spied this morning on the way in to the office, close to someone's front step and in a very protected, south-facing area. Considering we still have snow and ice on the ground and temps are barely above freezing, I'm impressed. Definitely a happy sight! And always a happy sight for me: Derry in his kitty cave yesterday evening. I brought it back out a couple of days ago, since he doesn't seem to care for the long tunnels. Have a great Wednesday! Comments are off, as this is Wordless (for you!) Wednesday. Peace.

A quick hello to say welcome to March, albeit a few days late! A reporter recently referred to March and early April, plus November, as "gutter months." Presumably because of the overflowing street and house gutters, with the accompanying rain and general mess that "spring" tends to bring here. No matter, I'll take March over January and February any day, thanks.  :-) There's nothing exciting here, last week and the weekend were the usual work and life stuff. I did go to Value Village on Sunday, not for their half-price sale, but for books. I was in a book-buying mood.😊 I found10 (not part of the half-price sale, but you buy 4 and get the 5th free), just easy/feel good bedtime reading, or as in the case of the two hardcover photo books on the bottom of the pile, bedtime viewing of the professional photos of cats and kittens. Regarding the "Ellen" books: I don't watch her show at all, but I have her more recent...

I certainly was lamenting having only a 2-day weekend this past week! I was ridiculously busy, mostly with house chores and a gazillion loads of laundry (taking curtains down, washing curtains, putting curtains up, washing blankets, washing cat stuff, my stuff, etc.) Plus a good deal of decluttering, as well as the usual running around. The one bright spot in the weekend (other than the weather, which was wonderful ) was a visit from out-of-town friends R & C on Sunday. We went to the City Greenhouse after lunch, my second (and final) trip for 2020. It was lovely the first Sunday I went, two weeks ago, but it was spectacular yesterday, with most of the flowers now in full bloom, or almost fully opened. Absolutely glorious. It also was very crowded, with quite a few people. I think everyone is getting a bit anxious for spring now! (Do click on the photos to enlarge them for better viewing! I should have gone into  floral design; flowers make me feel so happ...

Yesterday, Monday February 17, was a provincial holiday, as it was in most provinces, if not all. (Alas for the federal employees, not for them!) I had taken Friday the 14th as a vacation day, had debated all week, but finally decided on Thursday that I really wanted the extra day. That was the best decision; having four days was fantastic! Every week should have a four-day weekend, with full pay and benefits, of course.  :-) I had time to do my errands, to do the house chores, to do some shopping, to get out for a couple of walks and picture-taking (see below), and even to do a bit of painting in the lower hallway. I meant only to do a bit of patch patching, but ended up doing half the long wall; I didn't have enough leftover paint from last year to do the entire thing. I'll be painting the entry and hallway in the spring anyway, but I'm thinking of putting up a picture ledge or two on that wall, and didn't want to have to bother to take it/them down ag...