20 Things We’re Doing During Quarantine…

(Never thought this would be a topic for a blog post! What a strange world we’re in now!)

Why 20? Because 20 seconds is how long we’re supposed to wash our hands… it seemed fitting.hands… it seemed fitting.

1. Grocery shopping: How that has changed! When to go to the grocery story, what empty shelves will we encounter today, do we really need that gallon of milk (again!) or can we wait a week? Should we pre-order and do drive by pick-up? These are the questions we ask ourselves. Don’t get me started on toilet paper. 

2. Trying to procure masks: In the good ole days when we talked about masks, it was in reference to Halloween most likely. Now we’re supposed to wear masks to protect others from our cooties. The experts tell us not to purchase N95 masks but save those for the healthcare workers. As if you can actually find any! We were beginning to scour the internet for ideas on how to make a non-sew variety of mask when a camping neighbor knocked on our door (just this week) and presented us with a pair of masks that she had made. And… our very own dear Nancy made us a pair that are in route via mail. God has many angels walking this earth. 

3. We’re doing lots of walking… on the beach, until they closed, then the occasional walk on the seawall. And we’re definitely walking in the campground, which let’s face it, can get monotonous. To make this repetitive walk more interesting …. one day we count how many empty sites there are (82 out of 200), the next day how many different license plates we see (15ish), the next day we count how many RV’s have their own washers & dryers (about a quarter). You get the idea. However on the plus side, we’ve seen some fabulous sunsets. 

4. Saying hello to the horses every chance we get. They are in a paddock adjacent to the campground. 5 of them… they almost always come over to say hi. 

5. Call, text, message, facebook or email almost everybody we know to make sure you are all doing ok. We care about you!!!  If you didn’t hear from us, it’s because we haven’t gotten to you yet! 

6. Finished knitting a scarf I started three years ago because really, you never know when a knitted wool scarf will come in handy now that we’re not wintering in the northeast anymore. 

7. Gary continues his tinkering ways… figuring out how to permanently rig up outside lights to light up underneath our stairs, figuring out how to service our bikes including the chains that got beat up by the salt air at the coast, and fixing a leaky kitchen faucet. He also took on the fun-filled task of sifting through two file boxes of papers that we brought with us to either scan or destroy.

8. Gary attempted to rescue a baby duck. Not sure how that story ended… The baby duck was hopping past our back window as we were inside sitting in our comfy chairs facing the window talking on the phone to Linda & Andy. Then a black bird (grackle) comes along and starts pecking at the poor little thing and attempts to pick it up and carry it off! Right about then Gary goes outside to shoo the bird away. Linda’s trying to tell me that it’s the “circle of life.” I don’t want to hear that. We can see Momma Duck outside in the middle of the pond with her other babies. Picture Gary standing at his full 6 ft. with the baby duck wedged in a V between his size 11 shoes and his arm outstretched pointing to the water and making a flicking forward movement with his wrist. Like the duck will understand. Actually the duck did eventually head toward the pond and enter the tall grass that separates us from the pond. Gary came back inside, then we see the duck come back out awhile later and hop further down. Like I said, not sure how that story ended… 

9. I’ve read several books: the Dressmaker’s Gift, lovely story about 3 seamstresses in Paris during WWII who actually were working for the Resistance. After that I finished reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4). I’m in the process of re-reading all the Harry Potter books before I give my hardcover set away. The last three are at my Mom’s apartment. I’ll finish those this summer. Latest book I’m reading is The Missing Sister by Elle Marr (it’s ok, not great, but I’ll finish it.)

10. There has been time to watch movies and discover new TV shows as a way to escape the news: The Crown on Netflix (excellent – learned a lot about how the monarchy works), the Kominsky Method on Netflix (also excellent about two old men fearlessly — or not so fearlessly — confronting aging), and Picard on CBS All Access (enjoyable if you’re a Star Trek fan). Movies we’ve seen recently: Irishman (interesting and a good way to kill 3 hours), Parasite (disturbing), and Ford & Ferrari (true story and entertaining). 

11. Conversations between Gary & I ad nauseam about which route we should take back to NH, then more conversations about that same subject a week later since various campgrounds either close or don’t allow transients. 

12. Gave Gary a haircut. I started that last year when we hit the road… thanks to Mary Jane giving me a lesson on how to do it. And, no, Gary doesn’t cut my hair. Although we may be forced into that before this whole social distancing thing ends. He has cut my bangs…. although he kicks and screams the whole time about not wanting to do it. Afraid of the fall out. Man up big guy! 

13. Continued doing some birding from the campground and more specifically out our back window: saw an Indigo Bunting (brilliant blue and absolutely beautiful) and saw several Great Blue Herons, White Ibis, and a Long Billed Curlew stroll past us these last several weeks. Just yesterday morning saw a Great Blue Heron catch a (good sized) rodent of some sort and fly off with it. Wow. Also yesterday we saw half a dozen cattle egrets in the bushes by the pond. A fellow camper told us about the Merlin app so we downloaded that and are enjoying using it. 

Nothing like a pandemic to make one want to get fit! 

14. Hauled out my weights that we’ve been carrying around since we left home. I’m now lifting… wait for it… 4 lb. weights. That should take care of those dangling chicken wing arms nicely in about 20 years. Gary said “Don’t bring those outside. It’ll be too embarrassing.” (The weights, not my arms.) The neighbor across the way is a body builder. He lifts weights that are about the size of small boulders. We just sort of sit and watch in awe. 

15. I finally got into a regular home yoga routine. And, yes, there’s enough room in our tiny home for me to do yoga. Bless Julie Rost from Yoga Life in Exeter NH for preparing some online videos (yogalifenh.com). If you end up enjoying them, you can make a donation so that she can continue her online work. 

16. Bike riding in the campground… 

Teresa got back into doing some creative projects… 

17. Hauled out my needlepoint that I haven’t worked on since last winter when we were in Brunswick, Georgia. 

18. I’m also enjoying coloring, creating some cards and working on some zentangle patterns.

19. We tackled a few writing projects: (1) an About Us page for our website. (2) A compilation of a few stories that my Aunt Elizabeth shared about her and Dad when they were children that Teresa typed up and shared with the family. 

20. Celebrated Gary’s birthday, which was April 10th. He is now 62. It was a quiet celebration but nice none the less! Heard from lots of family and friends! Thank you all for the well wishes and for making the day so special! No worries if you didn’t know it was his birthday. It’s not as though we know all of your birthdays either.

We would love to hear what some of you have been doing during this time! It may give us ideas! Stay safe! Eventually this will all end…