Lockdown

We are now several weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic, and most sane jurisdictions are on lockdown, with stay-at-home orders for all non-essential pursuits.

As of this writing on April 5th, Canada has over 15,000 "positives" and has suffered nearly 300 deaths. South of the border things are considerably more grim - over 300,000 positives and 8400 deaths....so far. Michigan alone exceeds all of Canada on both counts. This week is anticipated to be even worse, as we wait to see if social distancing measures have had significant impact.

We haven't left the property in weeks, as I continue to work from home - luckier than those who must venture out and continue to provide essential services like healthcare, trucking, producing food and stocking grocery shelves, and processing rampant EI claims. Just about all group events, including art shows, are cancelled or at best postponed.

With more time on our hands (no OT or travel and far less frantic art making), we are finding other ways to pass the time in lockdown. Good thing we get along!

Sure, there's lots of Netflix....but we are also reading more, re-discovering puzzles, and Jane is baking more. The onset of Spring for once will be met with ample time to keep up on maintenance, yardwork and gardening.

Meanwhile, the planet is taking a giant gasp of fresh air - one upside to this whole crisis is the drastic reduction in air pollution as factories idle and millions of cars and planes sit parked.

Crutchy keeping up with recovery in isolation

Thanks for all the back porch deliveries!

Homemade Pizza!

Spring in Bloom

iNASCAR - the only live sport still on TV!

Racers compete on actual NASCAR training simulators

Thinning out the hedgerow

Some "help" working from home

Getting the garden ready

Green onions outside the back door

Starting some tomato seeds

Homemade bread!

Jane's first attempt at chocolate chip cookies

Re-growing lettuce, from lettuce!

Vernazza in Cinque Terre, Italy - piece by piece!