This was quite the week, wasn’t it? I’m home in self-isolation as are many other people who read my blog. Fun times, huh! I have lots of practice with this and have been reflecting on how to share some of my insights and coping strategies in an upcoming blog. Along with all of the news and stress of the week, we also had a major snowstorm a couple of days ago.
Here’s what else happened this week:
Knitting
I’m going to admit that I started out the week stressed and a little sad. Times are bad, my doctors have cancelled all of my medical procedures, and I was told to self-isolate like my life depended on it. Since I wasn’t quite up to tricky knitting I retreated from knitting the cat to working on the soothing and mostly mindless stockinette knitting of my new Pebble Tunic. It is growing, people!
The colors are hard to get in a picture, but this sweater is mostly soft pink with little flashes of grey appearing through the mohair halo. So soft. So huggable. Just what I need right now as I binge watch shows on Netflix.
Garden
While everyone around me was loading their carts with toilet paper and spam last week I was filling mine with cheese, Bai drinks and potting soil. You know, essential items! I repotted a small weeping fig tree that I have growing in my front window and then went after the monster orchid; the blooms had made it so top heavy that the plant kept falling over and one of the leaves broke. Fine. I will repot you now even through I wanted to wait until you were done blooming. It’s kind of a risky move, but you’ve given me little choice, monster orchid!
So far the orchid and the weeping fig seem to have survived their repotting experiences. I plan to prune the fig in a few weeks if it continues to do okay. Right now it is pretty bushy looking and I am trying to produce an indoor tree.
Books
I spent the whole week reading this entertaining and mindless science fiction book. You have to absolutely suspend all scientific knowledge to make this book work, but it was still engaging enough to keep me going. I became annoyed by the libertarian theme running in the background of the story (rugged individualists escape an over-controlling socialist government and all taxation and regulation to flourish on the moon in scrappy anarchist colonies…) as the week’s events here in the United States made it apparent how central control by governmental agencies is necessary in extreme circumstances like… say… an unfolding pandemic and global economic collapse. Just saying.
There is another book in the series waiting for me to read it, but I think that I’m ready to shift to a couple of books that are more intellectually engaging. Waiting for me to read them are American Dirt (by Jeanine Cummins), Weather: A Novel (by Jenny Offill), and Lab Girl (by Hope Jahren).
Well, that’s all for the week.
Please, please, everyone, be safe!
Remember to read a little, knit a little, and garden like your heart can’t live without it.
And make something yummy to eat while you are at it!
Yarn, Books & Roses 
I’m glad you’re isolating:) It’s scary outside.
You bought the necessaries! I bought plenty of snack foods:)
Your sweater looks great and super soft!
That is a fabulous neighbor you have there:)
Stay away from people and that nasty virus!
It is getting scary, isn’t it?! I have lots of food and stuff to do to keep me at home for quite a while; when I run out of milk I will have to think about a grocery store run. No worries now, that is still a week off.
I just made a batch of shortbread cookies, so I am doing the junk/snack food stuff too.
My fabulous neighbor is the same one who trimmed my shrubs to perfect cubes. I value him so much, but I do battle a little to maintain some independence and control of the yard.
The sweater is moving right along. I’ve already started dreaming of the next one,
Be safe and stay away from that virus!!!
thank you for sharing your part of the world and God bless your neighbor!
Sadly, we will all be one world together battling this virus. Take care and be really careful. I don’t know if you are immunosuppressed, but it is a big concern. 😦 My neighbors are all wonderful. I have already had 4 of them contact me to make sure I am managing all right, and I have their phone numbers on speed dial. My kids live in different parts of the state and are over an hour’s drive away from me, so I really do treasure these neighbors!!
I am thrilled you have such wonderful neighbors! I also have autoimmune issues and I have to admit I am scared. I had to get out today and I just wanted to cry……..so many people not even attempting to a safe distance away, I just don’t get it. My sister had a friend die from this yesterday…….
Please take care! 🙂
I know exactly what you’re saying. I kind of think that I’m toast if I catch this, but you never know. The unpredictability of the outcome is what is so scary. I started sewing myself face masks this week. I have to really force myself to be brave and to face it down to do things that are just essential. At the end of the week I will have to get some more food, and I’m debating if delivery is just as risky as going to the store and getting it myself. This is a terrible time. Be safe!!
I completely understand your dilema about food. We decided to go with a delivery service that does not shop out of a store but has their own warehouse and buys from farmers. But, there is no safe way. Some of the store around us are opening early for people who are older and/or compromised medically.
Sending you love and light………
The stores here are also opening early for people like me. 🙂 Ugh. I want to have a Starbucks so badly, and I don’t even know that I feel safe getting drive through coffee. Life is now risky business…
I completely understand……..no matter what choices we make there is always risk. I sent up a prayer for your protection this afternoon…….be well.
These are certainly interesting times. 😦 We will all be calculating risks with every action for some time now. Hugs to you, and be safe!!
🙂 you are absolutely right. sending you love, peace and light……….
Your orchids are so beautiful. We are staying in as well, which is giving me time to work on mindless knitting. I don’t have the brain space for anything else.
The orchid is totally outdoing itself. Let’s hear it for MiracleGro fertilizer!
I was so upset at the start of the week that all I could do was the sweater. I’m finally able to start thinking of knitting something more mentally tasking than the sweater.
So tough for you. I’m pleased you have your spirit and your neighbour.
Your tunic and your orchids are lovely! Glad you have such a lovely neighbor, and you have things to keep your spirits up 🙂 Take care of yourself!
Thanks! I do have lots of stuff to keep me going, and I am lucky in my friends and neighbors. 🙂
Your orchid is stunning! So glad hear you are weathering the storm of this pandemic. Stay safe!
That orchid was an impulse buy last year because the color of the blooms was so good for my living room. I’m just amazed that I got it to rebloom and that it has turned out to be such an over-achiever!! Stay safe!!
You have a wonderful attitude about all of this. We’re all scared, but you have unique health issues that must make this feel ten times worse. Thanks for sharing your positive spirit, and your monster orchid. I’m itching for time in the garden but my foot is still quite sore, even though I’m now upright. Time and patience. I seem to have plenty of time to cultivate both. xo
Well, I’m ahead of the curve on your guys. I went through an entire year of grief when I first became sick and had to quit my job; then another year when I was first diagnosed and realized that I was looking at a 50% fatality rate. Now I’m at the point where I have become somewhat joyful, philosophical, and busy with things I can do at home.
One of my feet is really acting up (tumors on my plantar fascia… who knew that was a thing?) and my doctor prescribed an anti-inflammatory gel to put on it that works wonderfully. I wonder if you can get something like that to help you while you finish healing up. Let’s hope that the blooms start happening soon. Stay safe!!
I’m sorry for all you’ve been through, and for all you continue to go through. You’re a fine example of make lemonade out of lemons, with your creativity and humor and appreciation for life. I will ask my doctor about an anti-inflamtory gel. That sounds wonderful. Thanks for the tip.
Happy to help. The name of the gel is Diclofenac Sodium Topical Gel, 1%. t really has helped me.
Oh thank you! I didn’t even think to ask. I’ll make a note of it now.
What a kind neighbor! I live in a neighborhood like that. Love the knit and orchids!
We are the lucky ones!!
I will be really anxious to know what you think of American Dirt. I was about to start reading it when all of the hoopla came up, so I decided to hold off for awhile and read The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea instead. It was excellent–shocking and heartbreaking but such an important story. I read and liked The Weather although it’s probably going to feel a little extra eerie in the present circumstances! I read it just before the cornovirus arrived in the news.
I actually have American Dirt sitting on the bed but put it aside as my anxiety level went up with the current news. Instead I read… Weather! Well, that may not have been my best choice, but it also made me remember that I made a conscious decision last year to stop reading thriller books that featured women trapped in situations that they can’t escape from, abandoned, betrayed, and victimized through no fault of their own. Not healthy for me!! The same thing was happening to the women in Weather. Don’t you love that she was empowered with knowledge because she was a librarian?! My master’s degree is in Information and Learning Technologies; I went on the corporate training tract, but the rest of my cohort were librarians. For the rest of my career I went to librarians when I needed to know how to do something… By the way, I still have Weather with me as the library here has closed with the Stay-at-Home order.
I am now reading Lab Girl on the recommendation of a friend, and it is just wonderful!! Next up is American Dirt.
I so agree with you about Weather. I keep thinking about the sentence about how the U.S. has finally dropped into history too. I read the book just before the pandemic started, and even then it seemed true and ominous. . . I will have to check out Lab Girl.
I’m finishing Lab Girl now (well, I’m listening to it while knitting on a second sleeve. It’s a race to see which will be done first!) and it is good. I have to tell you that I picked up American Dirt to just read a few pages while resting between tasks and I was immediately captured. It is a page turner for sure!
I keep reflecting on Weather as the pandemic continues to gain momentum. It is like we have been caught in a perfect storm… distrust in science, disparagement of news media, dismantlement of governmental agencies, extreme polarization of the population, and endless misinformation, spin, and lies. We are in for some very difficult weather indeed. Stay safe!!