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“They” tell us to stay at home. If we must go out, we should keep a “social distance” of at least six feet between people. Don’t go out to eat, unless the restaurant serves take out. Don’t go out for entertainment. Even Kevin’s morning dice game with the old farts has been suspended. Is it time to read Márquez’ Love in the Time of Cholera? Or watch the movie adaptation on Netflix?

We have never been in such a situation before, at least not in my lifetime.  It’s not so hard for me to stay home.  That is what I usually do.  But Kevin is a different story.  He is much more social than I.  Not content to retire and putter around the house, Kevin has had a succession of jobs since we moved to our (ok, my) dream home in the woods.  I knew when we moved here that Kevin would not be content.  It took two months for him to buy a job, one that would keep him on the road three days a week.

But now?  His work away from home has stopped.  With the public schools closed, no one needs school bus drivers.  Even without the bus route, Kevin has been going to town every morning.  He has a group of buddies, I call them “the old farts,” who gather every morning to drink coffee and play dice.  When Kevin got home this morning, he said “No more dice.”

But As for Me…

I’m the one who stays home.  I read, a lot!  I can sit at the organ, or pick up the guitar, and make music.  Sitting at my computer to work on processing the somewhere over 50,000 digital photos I have saved, that’s an option. My blog needs attention.  I have plenty to keep me occupied. 

And yet…  In this age of enforced isolation, I find motivation hard.  The fact that I have things to keep me busy, doesn’t mean I want to keep busy. Instead, I sit in my recliner, reading light fluff on my Kindle.   Since I should not go out in public, I feel jailed.  My windowless library, where I keep my desktop, feels confining.  I don’t need more confinement.

Spring Has Sprung

Warmer temperatures outside have melted the ice on the pond. I see fish swimming around, although they do not rise to take the Goldfish Flakes I scatter on the water. Yesterday, I reconnected the pump so that water now flows down the pond’s artificial waterfall. I watch the flower beds for new growth. I’m back to wearing shorts instead of jeans. I should get out and start the Spring cleanup. But I can’t find the motivation.

The flower catalog sits next to the toilet. I look through it on a daily basis. When the check comes for my Spring writing, I will order plants to put out in the flower beds. I plan to get Dahlias, Glads, and even more lilies. I may get some more iris bulbs. Several merchants have a “Wild Horse Day Lily.” Seems appropriate for someone living outside a town called Wild Horse Plains. But for those bulbs to thrive, I need to clean up the beds and plant them.

The picture above is not one of mine. It comes from the Breck’s online catalog. When my own bloom, I will photograph them and change this image out for my own. For now, it is my Flower of the Day.

The Car of the Day

RedBubble tells me that I sold two photographs this past week. The first sale came in the form of a greeting card with this image. The 1953 Oldsmobile Super 88 was on display at both the 2019 Plains Day Car Show and also at the 2019 Local Yokels Car Show. The photo above was taken at the Local Yokels Show. This beauty can be yours by clicking on the link in blue just below the photograph. The car is today’s Classic Car of the Day.

The Photo of the Day

Today’s photo, as seen at the top of this post, is the beautiful address plate Michael and Tom had made for us. They delivered and installed the plate over Labor Day Weekend in 2019. Every time I drive up the driveway, passing the stone, I smile. I love the two bears depicted in the painted metal.

The Guest Site of the Day–Keeping Productive While You Stay at Home

Today’s guest site is particularly appropriate in light of my own lack of motivation. The/Path Magazine posted this essay by Anatasia Kolonji on keeping productive while working at home. What can I say? We live in extraordinary times.

The Recipe of the Day–Cooking while you Stay at Home

I’ve been wanting ginger snaps for some time now. Usually we buy several bags at Dollar Tree, and I eat them, 5 cookies at a time dunked in my hot tea. We’ve been to the big city twice now without getting my ginger snaps. Today I snapped. (Sorry ’bout that. Not!) Knowing that I should keep my carb count low, I looked for a recipe for keto ginger snaps. This recipe was fairly easy to make, but I’m not convinced yet that it’s what I really want. Low in carbs, yes. Basically no sugar, yes. But I find the cookies have that distinctive Stevia after taste that I don’t like. Full disclosure: I used coconut oil instead of butter. While I have agave nectar sticks, I found it so difficult squeezing the nectar out of the tube, that I gave up after one tube. Instead, I substituted water as indicated in the recipe. Finally, I did not have 2 1/2 cups of almond flour, so I topped off the measure with 3/4 cup of white flour. That might have made the difference. The cookies baked just fine, but they crumble easily, and, as noted above, they have the stevia after taste. I’ll keep looking for a “healthy” cookie recipe to share in the future.

The Video of the Day–Stay at Home

I love Max Emerson’s Maxisms videos. In keeping with today’s theme, I chose Max’s video on how his life is playing out while he and his partner stay at home. Max always shows a great deal of humor (and male skin). I love it and I hope you find it as much fun as I did.

Signing out

And that’s all for today, friends. I’m working on my course assignments in my Blog training, and part of that is coming up with an editorial calendar. My normal Sunday post concerns my life and the churches my father served. Tomorrow I’ll be sharing our life in Billings, Montana.

TTFN