I’ve noticed a few things during this time of social isolation…
but I do think that shelteringinplace – words used in the US by many – feels like a kinder description, although maybe not as clear for those who are not paying attention to the seriousness of the situation we are all in…
I have been isolating since I returned home from Ottawa in January as I recovered from a very intense final six months before I retired… of course I was still able to go out, but mostly I stayed home…
I did get to see my boys a few times, so that was lovely…
one of the things I’m pleased to see is a family that has been playing street hockey in front of my house a couple of times… haven’t seen kids (and their parents) out on the street getting some exercise for years;-)…
the other thing is about being told to stay at home and how it makes you want to go out… this reminds me so much of times when I’ve been told what I should and shouldn’t eat, and how all I could think about were those things!
when our girls were little I had to have access to the car, although I rarely went out in it… just knowing I could made being at home much easier…
along with every other theatre, PTE had to cancel their current and upcoming performances…
we got an email advising that they were going to send us the archive copy of the performance for us to watch… what a kind gesture on their part… it was only available until the last date of the performance…
on Saturday, at 3 pm (the time we would have gone to see the show), my friend and I connected by phone and watched the show together… it was a bit of a giggle because the two computers were just off a touch, so it did sound a bit strange;-)…
I had my snacks ready – two of the shortbread cookies my friend had made for me – and a couple of pieces of Lindt 70% dark chocolate… we often bring a snack to the theatre, lol…
we had a fun time and a good conversation once it was over…
technology is certainly helping us in these crazy days…
the groceries I ordered online from Save-On-Foods came right at the time they said… the delivery person called ahead to let me know they would arrive so it gave me a chance to ask a few questions…
usually they bring the groceries into the house and have you sign a form…
the new process is that they drop the bags on your front step… once they are back at the truck and see you bring in the groceries they sign the form for you… while he was describing the new process he advised of the substitutions they had made…
I thanked him profusely for providing this great service for those of us older folks, particularly as I currently have a cold which is making me exceptionally careful…
after a conversation yesterday I had an urge for popcorn…
I love theatre popcorn a lot and sometimes eat the entire bag before the movie even starts, lol…
I used to have the bags that were nuked, but now I make it in the microwave in a glass measuring cup with a cover and put a tiny bit of oil on it when it is popped…
last night I decided to make some and poured butter on it as a treat…
you have to pay attention when it is cooking… if the popping slows down too much the popcorn burns…
as I was preparing it, I remembered doing an event with my dad at his work… I was maybe twelve… he had arranged for a popcorn cart and we made the popcorn fresh for the guests… it was fun…
this morning’s activities included two particular items…
I started a pot of chicken soup as I now have a cold… the aroma permeated the house throughout the day and I was very eager to eat it for supper…
it was very tasty😋…
the other, and more exciting, thing that I did was pick up my Nikon and walk around the house taking pictures of flowers and greenery… can’t even remember when I last used it…
planning to practice with the camera over the next while and see if I can’t improve my photos…
although this one is basically the same as my last camera, I am not doing near as good a job of producing great pictures…
recently I watched a commercial on tv that talked about how money has changed… it made me laugh as it has gone from being something that went into a piggy bank, to being paper you saved, to not being visible at all…
right now more and more places are not taking cash… it is becoming the new normal as stores do not want unsanitary money passing through their system…
I pulled out some old money; some of our current cash; and credit and debit cards…
I didn’t even dig out a cheque… something I used for many years, but barely do now…
I think about how we can put cheques into the bank by taking photos of them… how we pay bills and receive money electronically… how we send and receive money by eTransfer…
is this the final step to us becoming a cashless society…
I ordered groceries which will come on Saturday… I paid all my bills online so I wouldn’t need to leave home… I updated my prescriptions and had them delivered last week… yesterday I filled the car up with gas…
felt as though I had done everything so that I wouldn’t need to go out and was rather pleased with myself…
this afternoon I realized that the goldfish are almost out of food… I spent time stressing about what to do…
eventually it occurred to me that I could find out what time the PetSmart was the least busy so I gave them a call and confirmed that first thing in the morning is a quiet time…
so, it is off to the pet store in the morning… it will be a quick trip, but the fish deserve to eat as well…
this morning I decided to order groceries from Save-On-Foods, which I’ve done a few times…
usually the delivery happens the next day… the first open spots started on Saturday afternoon… apparently many people are using the delivery system;-)…
went to the Park for lunch with a couple of friends… it was very quiet… no one on the path, and they have replaced the usual menus with single sheets of paper which are discarded after being used… the tables have nothing on them and the few people there were seated quite a ways from one another…
as I was leaving I noticed the new Leaf construction is above the trees now… kind of exciting;-)…
I don’t think I will be going out for lunch after this as it is clear that older folks need to be staying at home, away from others…
tonight my BS group met by phone… we are so lucky that we have the technology to allow us to connect this way…
started with rice in the Instant Pot… think I have the process down now…
from there I made Thai Shrimp Soup… it takes a while, mainly because I make shrimp broth as part of the process… I left out the red pepper as I didn’t have any in the crisper… produced 3 containers and a bowl for my dinner… tasted very nice and didn’t miss the red pepper…
after that I made rice pudding… ended up with a bowl for supper and 3 containers for later…
there was a container of rice left and today I heated it up with asparagus and green onions to go along with some roasted chicken…
preparing the rice and using it in something that will be heated later means that the sugars go right through my system… still get the calories, but not the sugars, so this is great for my meal plan…
