The Covid Grinch

Today the Prime Minister of Canada said that a normal Christmas is off the table. I had already decided that and informed my family a couple of weeks ago.

Normally by now, I would have already been to my first Christmas house party. I'd have a lot of my baking done, and would even have received my first Christmas card. Soon we would have a major Christmas event in our village with people coming from far and wide to take part. None of that is happening this year. Exchanging presents with my family is also off the table.

Pandemics change the way the world works.  People are working from home, shopping more often online, wearing masks when they venture out, and keeping their distance from those they meet. Shopping for gifts is much more difficult this year. Normally I wander the stores hoping to find something that will make me think of one of my recipients. I seldom know what I'm after until I see it. I ask for lists but never get them so they just have to be happy with what I find.  This year I have not been in an actual store except for groceries since March. The second wave of this nasty virus is upon us and there are more cases than ever so I'm not about to start shopping now, at the time of year when the stores would have even more people.....or worse still, lineups to get into the stores where I'm not even sure I'd find something.

As for shopping online, it helps to have a clue what you are looking for or you could be scrolling aimlessly for months. For me, there is an even bigger problem than that. While many of you are lucky enough to have things delivered to your door, I live where you have to go to the post office to pick up a parcel. There are lineups there already so you can imagine what it will be like as the big day draws closer. Only a couple of people are allowed into the building at a time so everyone else has to stand outside at this time of year when the weather is also about to get worse.  I'm too old to stand for long, freezing temperatures or not.

I finally faced the fact that I just couldn't do it. I have told my family not to expect presents this year.  Instead, I suggested that they take the money they would have spent on us and go buy something they want for themselves if they care to. Unlike me, they can get packages delivered to their door. It might be nice if they could show us in pictures or live video on Christmas morning and we would still get a surprise, and delight in their choices. That's right, we can't even be together for the holidays. 

What I want most from Santa is a new bed, and that is one thing I know can be delivered here without a problem.  I just won't be able to test out any in the shops, but that's okay as I used to order my mattresses from the Sears catalogue. I will miss getting together with my loved ones, but I am actually relieved not to have to try shopping for presents under the current circumstances.

The Grinch has stolen Christmas this year. He came disguised as Covid-19 (or maybe me), not the Prime Minister.

Enjoying a Summery November

 I saw someone walking out of a store yesterday carrying a Christmas wreath. I thought, "What? No way!" and then had to remind myself that it's actually November. Halloween is over and people are starting to decorate for Christmas.  That's mindblowing to me as it feels like summer this week.

The only difference is, the leaves are gone.

We couldn't pass up a chance to go for a walk on a local trail in this 20C weather. This one is close to home but I have not explored much of it over the 46 years I've lived here. We didn't really go too far this time either but we enjoyed the walk and will definitely go again.

On the hill above our village is an old country road called the Scotch Line that runs through the northern portion of the Limerick Forest. It is not fit for automobiles but very popular with recreational vehicles and people walking their dogs.  Some parts of the road are naturally paved in limestone that lies at the surface level up there. Other parts of the road are often muddy or downright wet.  

Shortly after we began we came to a side road called the Old Schoolhouse Road, which is also naturally paved in places but leads to a swamp. I have no idea where the old school was, as I didn't see any sign of it on our journey today.

The recreational vehicles were out in full force though. The fact that the water covered the road far beyond where we could see didn't stop them. We saw four different vehicles make the journey into the wetlands. I do hope they made it out the other side without getting stuck. Maybe there is enough rock on the roadway through the swamp to prevent that. 

I walked through there once during a dryer period back in 2000 but it was not possible today, so we went back and continued up the Scotch Line. Old cedar rail fences line the abandoned fields. Many of them have been knocked over with the passage of time but I found this one little stretch where it was still in pretty good shape. 

There is nothing too exciting at our end of the road, but there are apparently some boardwalks into the swamp further along, and an old abandoned house somewhere too.  I love to explore trails and this time of year is perfect because there are no bugs. Summer weather in November is okay with me. Just don't mention Christmas. 

A Whole New World

 Various groups I belong to have gone digital. They have Zoom meetings. I had never done that and since I didn't necessarily know the members of such groups well, I wasn't comfortable with the idea of joining an online meeting on an unknown platform. Then I got an e-mail from the leader of a group of local artists who normally gather at the public library. She decided Covid -19 had kept us all separated long enough and she initiated a Zoom meeting so we could reconvene. At least I personally know most of these people and I felt more at ease joining them online while many of us learned how it all worked. 

The instructions that I got by e-mail prior to the meeting did not fit with my device so right off the bat I had difficulties. I went in expecting to have to apply a password but immediately saw faces I recognized. I couldn't hear anything though so I poked at things until I could. I've never been afraid of pushing buttons on a computerized device. Little school kids do that every day and I have never heard of them blowing up a computer yet.  So, once I could hear the others they tried directing me to the gallery. I had no such button but I tried one marked Participants. That just gave me a list. Once it was determined that I was attending the meeting on an android tablet I was told to swipe left and that worked great. I was so happy to see so many people I have not seen for most of this year!  Others were still having difficulties even getting into the meeting so I felt I had done well. I still must have been nervous though because every time I was called upon to speak I found myself babbling and I'm not really sure just what I said, or if I made any sense.

While others talked and sorted out problems during this orientation meeting, I attempted to sketch one of the other participants. I have been drawing my mirror image for another group almost every Sunday for over a year now. I'm getting to know my own face well but I have not had a lot of practice with others.  I didn't get a likeness but it was still good practice. I showed the model what I had been doing and she said that at least I had been productive while she just sat and listened. She was one of the more experienced Zoom users so she likely didn't even need to be there for this meeting.  She really must have just wanted to see our faces too.

At the end of the meeting, it was suggested that we practice Zoom calls among ourselves so we would be more familiar with the process in time for our next meeting a month from now. Perhaps I will visit some of the other meetings I know about, just to see what they are up to. A whole new world may be about to open up to me.