The orca/okra curry was very good. Husband not only did that but also did a lentil and kale and a potato and pea curry too. I contributed a rice dish, so we have plenty for tomorrow if not quite the next century. I feel very virtuous that various odds and sods have been turned into a lovely dinner.
I am always puzzled by the beetroot pigment reports from others. Mine never makes it out of the intestines until it gets to the loo, causing some concern until I remember the salad the day before.
I found some cod in the freezer, plus a small piece I had cut for my guest when I was trying to feed her on fish and chips night. Tarted it up with some Orkney crab I'd bought when she said she liked crab, but then refused it. It worked quite well, and will be repeated tomorrow as I made twice as much as needed.
Thanks for the advice, ladies - as it turned out, the salmon was already cooked, so that was one pot saved. I did the steak and mushrooms in a griddle pan (with some chopped wild garlic stems brought by a neighbour in the butter for the mushrooms), and we both had new potatoes and broccoli.
Sadly, I'm not as good as David was at cooking steaks - it was a lot more medium and less rare than I'd have liked.
S. is playing virtual Monopoly with the family and giving me a sort of running commentary (I decided downloading it would probably eat too many megabytes on my Tablet). She's not hugely impressed, as it doesn't offer any opportunity for conversation with your opponents, which I think rather defeats the purpose.
More crystal ball shopping: an Asda slot for this day fortnight.
I don't know how Asda works, but I've got a Morrison's delivery in about 2-3 weeks time, and whilst I have to fill up the basket to minimum order value via the crystal ball in order to get the slot, I am allowed to make adjustments and add things/remove things I don't need up until about 24hr before. Which is helpful...
Asda won't let you back into your order until a couple of days beforehand - it was two, but now seems to have been extended to five. Which is fine. I've got mainly fresh produce, which we always need, plus tinned. I will note stuff we're running low on in the interval.
The bummer is the stuff Out of Stock which keeps on being out of stock (will I ever see cornflour again?)
I can't get anything from Morrisons - only three days with no slots shown on the delivery booking screen after logging in, despite the site saying up to 21 days somewhere I can't get back to. The calendar shows unavailable throughout May. I have an order stacked up with the required amount.
Waitrose adds a new day (about three ahead) at midnight, refreshes the screen and then shows all the slots have already gone in under a minute. This plays havoc with the next two days as I try to catch up on sleep.
My veggie seedlings got hailed on a couple of days ago, but they survived ok. The kids were doing a rain dance in the back garden, but they survived ok, too.
Tonight I was looking at a particularly vigorous dandelion growing next to a wall and thought "That's re-grown quickly! I strimmed it....." Then I realised I had absolutely no idea when I had strimmed it. I had nothing to pin down any specific day. More than a week ago, probably, and less than three weeks ago, maybe?
I realised that if a police officer popped up and said "What were you doing on the morning of the xth of March, or the yth of April?" I would be able to answer confidently that I'd been somewhere in my village, almost certainly inside my house, but that's it. Everything has become amorphous. I have no sense of what happened when. Normally, I am really good at remembering stuff like that.
Realising today how much the not going out/missing T'ai chi has affected my physical stamina. Walking a couple of miles, albeit half the time with heavy bag of shopping, has left me at once exhausted and jittery.
Tonight I was looking at a particularly vigorous dandelion growing next to a wall and thought "That's re-grown quickly! I strimmed it....." Then I realised I had absolutely no idea when I had strimmed it. I had nothing to pin down any specific day. More than a week ago, probably, and less than three weeks ago, maybe?
I realised that if a police officer popped up and said "What were you doing on the morning of the xth of March, or the yth of April?" I would be able to answer confidently that I'd been somewhere in my village, almost certainly inside my house, but that's it. Everything has become amorphous. I have no sense of what happened when. Normally, I am really good at remembering stuff like that.
I am disconcerted.
That's so normal now. I went to my physical therapy today and filled out a form. The receptionist caught me scratching my head. "It's the fourth," she said helpfully. Little did she know I was groping for the month...
I realised that if a police officer popped up and said "What were you doing on the morning of the xth of March, or the yth of April?" I would be able to answer confidently that I'd been somewhere in my village, almost certainly inside my house, but that's it. Everything has become amorphous.
I'm almost never able to answer those questions. I can look at a calendar, and see "OK, that was a Thursday. It looks like I dropped Kid 1 at a class in the morning, I probably went straight to work, and I probably stayed there until I picked Kid 2 up from a class in the evening. I could sort through my email and see what messages I sent on that day - that might give me a clue.
I can tell you all about the idiot that spun in the road in front of Kid 1 and I because they were driving in the snow with tires that were basically bald. I'd pointed them out to Kid 1, and said "let's keep well away from that" because their back end was sliding all over the place. Sure enough, less than 5 minutes later they're doing a pirouette, and we're having to take evasive action. I can tell you that it was a weekday morning with slushy snow. I couldn't tell you even what month it was now.
Of course, if we had been crashed in to by that car, I'd have records.
Realising today how much the not going out/missing T'ai chi has affected my physical stamina. Walking a couple of miles, albeit half the time with heavy bag of shopping, has left me at once exhausted and jittery.
Remember that breaking a tooth is a shock to your system and a source of anxiety. That probably contributed to the exhaustion and jitteriness.
Tonight I was looking at a particularly vigorous dandelion growing next to a wall and thought "That's re-grown quickly! I strimmed it....." Then I realised I had absolutely no idea when I had strimmed it. <<anip>> I have no sense of what happened when.
I too am losing my sense of time. When I wake up in the morning, I have to force myself to remember what day it is.
At the daily press conference the Prime Minister suggested keeping a diary of where and when we go out and whom we meet (if known to us) to help with tracing COVID 19.
NZ has had no new cases for the last 2 days and single digit for the prior 15. and we expect an announcement to be made on May 11 as to whether we can proceed to Alert Level 2 when the Library may be open.
I've been in this sort of limbo for a while, but I'm keeping a few records that help ground me:
a symptom diary for my daughter, that includes notes of food eaten, steps walked, pain levels, medication taken, subluxes relocated,activity levels, anything else of note (it helps pattern match and have something to refer to when talking to consultants) .
a walking diary (and blog, but I haven't been able to blog since lockdown);
a wardrobe diary, because I'm making my own clothes, what do I wear? what do I wear more of? do I wear the clothes I make? And, in theory, blog of dressmaking and that needs writing up for a lot of previous makes
The last two are spreadsheets, the first a paper journal
When I left my office job, time became much more elastic or squishier. I could as easily be idle on a Tuesday as busy on a Sunday. My mother wondered whether she was losing it because she had to look at the newspaper to know which day of the week it was. I said, Oh, no, I'm much the same. Neither of us late on a deadline, though.
Having the radio on in the background can help with that. They periodically announce day, date, and time. I have NPR on much of the time. (Similar to the BBC.)
Tonight I was looking at a particularly vigorous dandelion growing next to a wall and thought "That's re-grown quickly! I strimmed it....." Then I realised I had absolutely no idea when I had strimmed it. I had nothing to pin down any specific day. More than a week ago, probably, and less than three weeks ago, maybe?
I realised that if a police officer popped up and said "What were you doing on the morning of the xth of March, or the yth of April?" I would be able to answer confidently that I'd been somewhere in my village, almost certainly inside my house, but that's it. Everything has become amorphous. I have no sense of what happened when. Normally, I am really good at remembering stuff like that.
I am disconcerted.
This is dead on. I partly enjoy it, as it's kind of floaty, druggy, I almost expect some melting clocks to emerge from the wall. My wife and I get the giggles over it. But it has a negative side, accidie, I suppose.
I’m still working as I teach online from home for a university anyway. But covid interrupted my work for a month, then the end of year assignments were cancelled and my routine marking and teaching will now finish in less than 2 weeks time. I’m only employed term time so I’m used to having an unstructured summer but it is strange for it to come so early. I need to plough on with my own studies over the summer to keep the structure there.
My poor students will be relieved though, as they are mostly health care workers and are so busy working all hours alongside their studies. For those who are home we are recommending the university’s free online courses to keep them occupied.
Having the radio on in the background can help with that. They periodically announce day, date, and time. I have NPR on much of the time. (Similar to the BBC.)
I listen to "The Archers" (radio soap opera) which is usually in "real time" However, to eke out the episodes that had been recorded they dropped first one, then two, episodes a week. As a result, Easter Sunday happened on the following Tuesday.
That was not helpful.
Every Monday, starting 23 March, I've cleared out the fridge, and made a list of everything with a use-by date coming up, which is blu-takked to the side of the fridge. Items are crossed out as they are used. Yesterday was the seventh time, and it didn't seem as though a week had passed since the last time.
Last week, to try to make it feel different, I used a different font for the list (Castellar). Yesterday I used Comic Sans in the hope of irritating my husband (he hasn't noticed yet).
Today I have An Event on my google calendar. It is "Bin Day (normal bin)"
Well I'm back for another covid test tomorrow. Bugger it. Got a bit of a sore throat yesterday afternoon and a runny nose. I worked overnight, having noticed the symptoms virtually on my way out the door. They didn't abate, like I hoped they would if it was just allergies, so back on the covid merry-go-round for me.
The Archers is now airing past episodes to fill a three week hiatus. I joined those who switch it off on hearing the signature tune because I couldn't deal with them continuing in a pre-Covid world in real time.
The Archers <...> I couldn't deal with them continuing in a pre-Covid world in real time.
I was relieved to spend a quarter of an hour in the CV19-free zone of Ambridge for six evenings a week, although I was startled each time groups of characters arranged to meet.
I have now stopped listening the The Archers while the archive episodes are being broadcast.
Normal Service is due to be restored next month, but 'normal', as I understand it, includes the introduction of the virus into the plots. Not looking forward to seeing how that pans out, especially as there is one story line that I was hoping would be swiftly resolved.
Today I have An Event on my google calendar. It is "Bin Day (normal bin)"
There's a Bank Holiday here on Friday. That means that Rubbish Bin Day will be brought forward by one day. The fortnightly Recycling Bin Day is unaltered, which means that both will be emptied tomorrow, Tuesday.
So confused has my mental calendar become that, in spite of watching Monday's TV programmes yesterday evening I put the bins out before I went to bed. It was mid-morning before I realised why they had not yet been emptied (usually 06:15, on the dot, for rubbish, and about an hour later for recycling)
I’m writing a weekly blog during this time. I also keep a diary, and in order to recall what happened during the week I have to firstly read the previous blog entry then read my diary in order to orientate myself. Otherwise I might end up like an elderly person forever repeating myself, oh, hang on...
I have an extra special weekly highlight ... a few hours in work (as in, actually in the building ... even if there's no one else there). There's a need to check some equipment is kept running (including some in a lab I work in), which the three most senior permanent members of staff are doing, I managed to talk myself into being on the list as I'm local (unlike the senior staff, all of whom need to drive a minimum of 10 miles, I can walk in in 10 mins) so I go in every Monday to check things over and keep a few bits of work ticking over (one of our services is for the food industry, so getting the few samples they're still sending through the lab is justified work).
Sunday is Mother's Day here in the USA. No children or grandchildren visits, no family picnic. So I told Mr Image I would like take out rather then me cooking dinner for the two of us. The local restaurant all of which is call in curb pick up is having a Mother's Day dinner, that includes one rose at $50.00 per person. Not about wanting to pay $100.00 for a serving of pork roast for two that I could fix myself for way less. I have decided to celebrate Mother's Day on Saturday and have a lovely take out for less then half the price, and I will pick some roses from the garden. I do want to support our local business to help them stay afloat but on our retirement budget I am going with their regular price Saturday meal over their Mother's Day event.
It's my birthday on Sunday, and we were due to go to a posh restaurant on Saturday with our son to celebrate. It's so popular I booked it at the start of January, and when lockdown started I hoped it might have been eased by the start of May, but obviously no such luck. Instead it will be shop bought coffee and walnut cake and prosecco at home, and no son either. I hope we can re-arrange it for later in the year, they've just started having a five course vegetarian tasting menu with wines that I was looking forward to.
COVID lockdown time feels like pregnancy--I'm on a one-way route, nothing to do but just float along and hope that whoever's overseeing things (it ain't me) will end us up in a good place.
We've just had the end of snow. It's melted. We're supposed to wait 2 weeks to clean up the garden for pollinators. The trees look dead yet. It's been just above or below freezing each night and 15C in the day. With the sunrise quite early, doggie and I are out in the chill of the morning as it warms. A wonderful time of year. Snowshoe hares are turning grey. Deer are herding together. We saw and heard some 3000 or more snow geese in a sky of twinkling wings and calls as their many Vs wheeled to decide where to land. There's something eternal in that.
I am still going to work but it’s very very different. My team has been split in two and we aren’t allowed to see the other half in person. We work from home in alternate weeks. Which doesn’t quite work for me. I do have reports to write but have to scan all the notes to work from. There are a few meetings on zoom and the secure health video conference system, and a few teleconferences, but it’s largely me at home being bored and lonely during the home weeks.
In work weeks it’s also strange. It’s often ultra busy because we are working with a half team (and anyone with ANY possible covid symptoms gets swabbed and sent home, plus there are childcare dramas requiring people to not be there, so we are often running out of people by the end of the week). Then we still have to do social distancing so we all sit in our own offices for the telephone/video team meetings with the doors closed to reduce echoes.
Seeing patients is often a drama because only one person is allowed to accompany a child to the hospital. We do very sensitive and difficult cases and also often need to assess both parents. This now requires hospital executive approval. Which they will no doubt give us, but it means lots of phone calls and faffing around to achieve. If we get the approval we have a new problem - we need a room big enough for two doctors, a social worker, two parents and a child. Our largest room is rated for five people.
What I am enjoying is that due to hygiene reasons we aren’t reusing toys, and we have had a heap of very generous donations. So every child leaves with new toys. And often the parents leave with presents too.
One of our most magical walks one morning, walking on a path across a field to the sound of skylarks, the sight of bluebells and other spring flowers in the hedgerow and the scent of may blossom, to observe a bird of prey flying overhead - still not sure what it was* - and the birdsong was silenced.
* Not big enough or flying right to be a buzzard which we have locally, without the tail of a kite, also seen locally, a bit big to be any of the smaller birds of prey, not really the right area for a goshawk, darker expected. We do have a local peregrine, but we weren't in that area. I suspect it was heading for the pickings on the nearby motorway which was much quieter a couple of weeks ago.
I saw something big while driving round our way a while back, but wasn't able to get a good look - it was sitting in a tree and looked as if it might have jesses. Gone by the time I'd got back for a better look. We've got a bird of prey business a short distance away, and I wondered if they were missing something. Smaller than buzzard or kite, anyway.
jesses? Ahhh, the leather straps used in falconry. Other results included a fashion brand and a Pizza parlour.
Cheers all re Covid test. 3:30 today. They are now testing everyone with a sniffle here. As a consequence we are getting a rush of new cases. I think they want to get an idea of the contours of the infection before deciding how or when to begin opening up.
COVID lockdown time feels like pregnancy--I'm on a one-way route, nothing to do but just float along and hope that whoever's overseeing things (it ain't me) will end us up in a good place.
I find it very helpful to have deadlines, and an editor who bugs me about them. Otherwise, I fear, it would just be a nap duration contest between the cats and me. (They would probably win, but it would be a close thing.)
Read yesterday, in a discussion on covid-19 in care homes, that the symptoms in the elderly include lethargy, loss of appetite, and confusion. (Difficult where there are people with dementia.) And I have two out of the three.
Comments
I found some cod in the freezer, plus a small piece I had cut for my guest when I was trying to feed her on fish and chips night. Tarted it up with some Orkney crab I'd bought when she said she liked crab, but then refused it. It worked quite well, and will be repeated tomorrow as I made twice as much as needed.
Sadly, I'm not as good as David was at cooking steaks - it was a lot more medium and less rare than I'd have liked.
S. is playing virtual Monopoly with the family and giving me a sort of running commentary (I decided downloading it would probably eat too many megabytes on my Tablet). She's not hugely impressed, as it doesn't offer any opportunity for conversation with your opponents, which I think rather defeats the purpose.
Talking of prognostication, I see little forecast of rain, so it's back to the bucket run for the garden.
The bummer is the stuff Out of Stock which keeps on being out of stock (will I ever see cornflour again?)
Waitrose adds a new day (about three ahead) at midnight, refreshes the screen and then shows all the slots have already gone in under a minute. This plays havoc with the next two days as I try to catch up on sleep.
It reached us about half an hour ago and now seems to be moving off in the direction of Craigmillar.
I have beetroot seedlings snuggled up in the soil outside!
Rain dancing sounds fabulous
I realised that if a police officer popped up and said "What were you doing on the morning of the xth of March, or the yth of April?" I would be able to answer confidently that I'd been somewhere in my village, almost certainly inside my house, but that's it. Everything has become amorphous. I have no sense of what happened when. Normally, I am really good at remembering stuff like that.
I am disconcerted.
That's so normal now. I went to my physical therapy today and filled out a form. The receptionist caught me scratching my head. "It's the fourth," she said helpfully. Little did she know I was groping for the month...
I'm almost never able to answer those questions. I can look at a calendar, and see "OK, that was a Thursday. It looks like I dropped Kid 1 at a class in the morning, I probably went straight to work, and I probably stayed there until I picked Kid 2 up from a class in the evening. I could sort through my email and see what messages I sent on that day - that might give me a clue.
I can tell you all about the idiot that spun in the road in front of Kid 1 and I because they were driving in the snow with tires that were basically bald. I'd pointed them out to Kid 1, and said "let's keep well away from that" because their back end was sliding all over the place. Sure enough, less than 5 minutes later they're doing a pirouette, and we're having to take evasive action. I can tell you that it was a weekday morning with slushy snow. I couldn't tell you even what month it was now.
Of course, if we had been crashed in to by that car, I'd have records.
Remember that breaking a tooth is a shock to your system and a source of anxiety. That probably contributed to the exhaustion and jitteriness.
I too am losing my sense of time. When I wake up in the morning, I have to force myself to remember what day it is.
NZ has had no new cases for the last 2 days and single digit for the prior 15. and we expect an announcement to be made on May 11 as to whether we can proceed to Alert Level 2 when the Library may be open.
Fingers crossed.
The last two are spreadsheets, the first a paper journal
This is dead on. I partly enjoy it, as it's kind of floaty, druggy, I almost expect some melting clocks to emerge from the wall. My wife and I get the giggles over it. But it has a negative side, accidie, I suppose.
My poor students will be relieved though, as they are mostly health care workers and are so busy working all hours alongside their studies. For those who are home we are recommending the university’s free online courses to keep them occupied.
I listen to "The Archers" (radio soap opera) which is usually in "real time" However, to eke out the episodes that had been recorded they dropped first one, then two, episodes a week. As a result, Easter Sunday happened on the following Tuesday.
That was not helpful.
Every Monday, starting 23 March, I've cleared out the fridge, and made a list of everything with a use-by date coming up, which is blu-takked to the side of the fridge. Items are crossed out as they are used. Yesterday was the seventh time, and it didn't seem as though a week had passed since the last time.
Last week, to try to make it feel different, I used a different font for the list (Castellar). Yesterday I used Comic Sans in the hope of irritating my husband (he hasn't noticed yet).
Today I have An Event on my google calendar. It is "Bin Day (normal bin)"
Particularly as I've found something much more entertaining to listen to on Sunday mornings - Hudson Records listening club on YouTube (link)
I was relieved to spend a quarter of an hour in the CV19-free zone of Ambridge for six evenings a week, although I was startled each time groups of characters arranged to meet.
I have now stopped listening the The Archers while the archive episodes are being broadcast.
Normal Service is due to be restored next month, but 'normal', as I understand it, includes the introduction of the virus into the plots. Not looking forward to seeing how that pans out, especially as there is one story line that I was hoping would be swiftly resolved.
There's a Bank Holiday here on Friday. That means that Rubbish Bin Day will be brought forward by one day. The fortnightly Recycling Bin Day is unaltered, which means that both will be emptied tomorrow, Tuesday.
So confused has my mental calendar become that, in spite of watching Monday's TV programmes yesterday evening I put the bins out before I went to bed. It was mid-morning before I realised why they had not yet been emptied (usually 06:15, on the dot, for rubbish, and about an hour later for recycling)
Tuesdays at 12 noon - 1:1 Pilates session (via Zoom)
Sundays at 11am - Holy Eucharist online service from Blessed Alba.
Wow.
Here's hoping and praying it's "only" a cold.
In work weeks it’s also strange. It’s often ultra busy because we are working with a half team (and anyone with ANY possible covid symptoms gets swabbed and sent home, plus there are childcare dramas requiring people to not be there, so we are often running out of people by the end of the week). Then we still have to do social distancing so we all sit in our own offices for the telephone/video team meetings with the doors closed to reduce echoes.
Seeing patients is often a drama because only one person is allowed to accompany a child to the hospital. We do very sensitive and difficult cases and also often need to assess both parents. This now requires hospital executive approval. Which they will no doubt give us, but it means lots of phone calls and faffing around to achieve. If we get the approval we have a new problem - we need a room big enough for two doctors, a social worker, two parents and a child. Our largest room is rated for five people.
What I am enjoying is that due to hygiene reasons we aren’t reusing toys, and we have had a heap of very generous donations. So every child leaves with new toys. And often the parents leave with presents too.
These are indeed unusual times.
* Not big enough or flying right to be a buzzard which we have locally, without the tail of a kite, also seen locally, a bit big to be any of the smaller birds of prey, not really the right area for a goshawk, darker expected. We do have a local peregrine, but we weren't in that area. I suspect it was heading for the pickings on the nearby motorway which was much quieter a couple of weeks ago.
Cheers all re Covid test. 3:30 today. They are now testing everyone with a sniffle here. As a consequence we are getting a rush of new cases. I think they want to get an idea of the contours of the infection before deciding how or when to begin opening up.