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| Chocolate chip blondies from Esther next door. Thank you! |
Before we go there, just to say that Becky is hosting the linky to other cheerful posts on her blog: Lakes Single Mum.
1
We Have A Plan
In Israel the exit strategy, while not finalized or set to start on any given date, is in 4 phases. Back to school is only phase 3 and there will be at least two weeks between each phase. So Yippee! Another month at least at home. I'm loving being at home, personally.
But it's also good to know that we're nearing the end and that the millions of deaths didn't happen as predicted. Though I'm still sad for those who did lose their lives and for their families. And I know it's insensitive to say I'm loving being at home because I'm not a doctor or a nurse, or a carer, or hospital cleaner, working my guts out to help those in need. Sorry.
2
Passover Passed Over
Oh was there a holiday in all this? I must have missed it. I almost missed it but we did manage a family seder by zoom. Last night it was all over and I'm back to work on the computer. Slightly shocked and dazed by how much work (grading papers and planning online lessons) has accumulated, but bird by bird I'll get it done.
Bird by Bird? A book by Anne Lamott of the same name in which she writes: “Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”
3
Gifts From Next Door
One day a couple of weeks ago, just as DD was about to go into a meltdown because we'd run out of snacks and it was Friday afternoon so no shops open until Sunday morning.... we got a shout out from our neighbour Esther to look outside the front door. There we found a bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies. Tasty and timely. Thank you so much Esther. And for the bar of chocolate a couple of days later. And for the second bag of cookies. And for the Harry Potter Hagaddah (seder service book). We will love you forever.
Now if I could just figure out how to flatten MY curves......
Lol to flatten your curves, I need to do that as well! Esther sounds like a diamond and what eveeryone needs. My kids keep baking, so I keep buying the supplies for them! Mich x
ReplyDeleteEsther is the best neighbour. Just to have someone to chat to over the balcony walls has been a Godsend. About the curves, I saw a cartoon about the lockdown will be lifted but no one will be able to get through their front door to leave the house. *sigh*
DeleteWe're calling it "The Pandemic 15" - as opposed to the "Freshman 15" when students first go off to uni. Our lockdown was just extended on Tuesday - another 28 days. We seem to be doing fairly well in comparison to the rest of the world - but unfortunately a horrendous number of our deaths have been in Nursing Homes - and it's the same all across the country - once it gets in it just sweeps through the place. My province has already instituted sweeping changes to how they are to be staffed going forward and they've organized a number of "Swat Teams" who will go in to help if cases show up. It has been terribly sad. In Ontario we have nearly 9000 cases and around 500 deaths - but with probably 1/3 from Nursing Homes.
ReplyDeleteWe're hoping to start re-opening around the end of May - but we know it will be very gradual. Pretty much all summer events are already cancelled, including all major sports and airlines have already said no international flights before June 1st. As of the start of this week any Canadian returning home (we are still picking up people from various locations) must have a solid plan in place before they are allowed to do their 14 day quarantine at home - if they can't show a good plan they are kept in a hotel until their time is up.
I did a huge grocery shop today and don't plan on going back to a shop for at least another 3 weeks if not longer. I am going to go into the office for a few hours next Friday (first time since March 17) but I'll go in very early (subway travel is down 80% so should be able to maintain 2 metre distance) and the only other person in the office will be one of the caretakers. I'll do a couple of hours and then head home with just a stop at my Pharmacy which is near my office so I'll stop off and pick up a prescription so that I don't have to make another trip.
Esther sounds like a gem.
Esther is a gem. When I said I could see the end, I meant that it will be sometime this summer, not that it will be in a couple of weeks. Here we heard that foreign travel will probably be curtailed until September - i.e. no summer holidays abroad during school vacation. And possibly some days of school in August - although I don't think so as no one will pay the teachers for this. I reckon, though I'm only guessing, that school will go back for June to finish the school year,
DeleteWhen DD cleared out her school locker in the middle of March they changed the instructions from, 'take what you need for a couple of weeks,' to, 'clear out everything,' Back then people we talking about 6 months or more in lockdown. I think the plan is to be more free inside one's own country with strict border controls and quarantines for travellers.
And, yes, in the UK and even here, it is the old age homes that have been hit the hardest. Very sad.
SO glad that some parts of the world are through the worst. The gifts sound lovely. Thanks for joining in.
ReplyDeleteYes, it looks like some countries are past the peak but the overall global reported death rate is still over 8,000 per day. So a way to go yet. I think it's countries who can most easily shut down borders and isolate incoming passengers that will control the virus first. But at the expense of international travel whether for business or pleasure.
DeleteThere do seem to be glimmers of hope and let's pray the vaccine comes soon as I find talk of second and other waves a bit daunting. It is why I limit my intake of news now. I too like time at home (or where I am now anyway) and just with my children were with me but I guess we will never take each other for granted again. Heard of death of a school friend just a while ago so reeling from that a bit. Live for today and those simple pleasures and kindnesses. On a lighter not, you have made me feel peckish! #R2BC
ReplyDeleteI know that these glimmers of hope don't mean that it's the end, or even that it will be in the next couple of weeks. It's just that it's not as rampantly sweeping through the world as was predicted a month ago. I'm continuously peckish -it's becoming a real problem. xxx
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