Tuesday, March 31, 2020


A day of almost utter inertia – waiting for a delivery which didn’t arrive. I can’t let another day pass like this. I like your idea, weavinfool, of a daily “What I did on my staycation” letter. I have an old friend who does that, not just in these troubled times, but almost every day – a sort of private blog for perhaps 30 friends and relations. She is beginning to sink a bit under the weight of isolation. As, clearly, am I. I’m too inert even to watch television. I just read Ruth Rendell and listen for the doorbell.

I did get some dishes washed today.

And I knit, a very little. The next row will see the Trees of Life finished off for now.

Anonymous, I’m a great Franklin fan, and will certainly seek out the Kirsty Glass podcast. And I’ll try to do better tomorrow, if only to have something to tell you.

Farewell, March 2020!

9 comments:

  1. =Tamar8:03 PM

    I'm glad to hear that you knit today. How annoying, to spend a day waiting and then it's a non-delivery!
    The staycation letter sounds like a winner. As an adjunct to the blog, it lets you write things "for your eyes only" that would not go on the blog.

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  2. I'm so glad you have those lovely cats to keep you entertained, although cats certainly nap a lot.

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  3. Jean, I think you do something constructive in maintaining this blog, where we enjoy so much beyond our always enjoyable knitting content. Thank you even more at this time!

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  4. Anonymous11:18 PM

    Jean,your blog is a welcome moment of calm. Thank you for being there in these unsettling times.

    Sarah.

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  5. Jean, so glad that you are persisting -- my first point of call after WFH is done for the day. Thank you!

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  6. Anonymous8:25 AM

    I've just been saying to my parents that we absolutely have to keep moving. Unless we come into the 1.5 million who had the 12 week total lockdown letter from our doctors, we can all go outside for a daily walk and we probaby should. Of course we have to stay 6 feet away from others. Is the Drummond Place Square locked? if so you could walk around the outside perimeter. If that's not an option for you, you can work out a route around your apartment and see how many steps it is. My in-laws are aternating ten loops of their apartment with seated exercises, something to be done at hurly intervals. This is really important, just slike when you are travelling on a plane long-haul, it's not good for the body just to sit for hours uninterrupted.Apart from circulation issues which lead to things like swollen ankles, one can get very stiff and the muscles waste. Once that happens it is very difficult to recover the strength,
    as anyone knows who has seen a relative with a long-term illness. I think we have to accept it will not be just 3 weeks that this goes on for (although that is already too long if we don't keep moving).

    You can work out how many of your internal domestic loops equals once around the square. Also if you have two dishes of small items by your chair (coins? marbles? pebbles) then each time you do a loop through the day, you can move a counter from one dish to the other. At the end of the day you can count up your loops and record somewhere. At some point when you are feeling alert you can translate loops into actual total daily distance (for those without a step-counter).

    Also I read there are free online ballet classes for over 55s at present. We don't have to do it all as well as those on the videos - even sitting in chair and gently waving arms helps to keep up flexibility......
    JennyS

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  7. Allison1:40 PM

    Jean, Have you considered trying to Skype with a variety of your family and friends? It would allow you to talk to your sister, your children, and all the others that you cannot see right now. I've never done it but plan to get set up so I can see and talk to my sister.

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  8. I was very concerned by the tone of this post. This is not like you, Jean.
    What I find helpful, and it may work for you too in this situation, is to have some short-term goals for the day. You are embarked on the kind of knitting which will be magnificent once finished but is not providing you with any outcomes. I am currently knitting some tiny cardigans and blankets for the local premature baby unit. Two days and there is a little finished item. You have many descendants. Why not knit each of them a bobble hat or fingerless mitts - something small and time-limited, using some of your stored yarn? Choosing the patterns and ticking them off when completed would give you back that sense of achievement and motivation. Put alongside some of the ideas about gentle exercise it would help to break up your day.

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  9. Greetings from sunny southern California. I can relate to scooping the litter box being the major achievement for the day. We all have those inert days but then pick ourselves up and get back to it. There are a lot of good suggestions here from your faithful readers. Take care, Judy

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