12 of 12, April 2020

Today is the first 12th that has fallen during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Church ceased having meetings across the world even before we started getting restrictions on large gatherings in Australia (we haven’t had services since before March 15th). Just before things stopped I was called to be the ward music chairperson, so, in these strange times, I figure I can fulfil that calling by helping members keep music as part of their lives. I have been finding links to various hymns that align with the weekly study topics, and posting them to Facebook. I usually try to do this on Saturday for Sunday, but this ended up being done on Sunday (although as an extension of Saturday … as it was rather late/early!).

[A long long time ago, I was the ward choir director of a choir of only six, and, at times, I felt a smidge frustrated at our small size and limited talent. One day one of the choir members told me how much she appreciated choir, as it was her “opportunity to worship” … which well and truly reminded me about the point of the whole exercise.]

With it being the Easter weekend, with two youngsters in my household for the first time, and with cabin-fever a definite possibility, I decided to prepare an Easter egg hunt. The youngsters’ teenage tendency to sleep in meant that I could leave the preparation until the morning, and so I made some  gently cryptic clues (suitable for older youngsters) and set up a trail around the house and yard, with smaller eggs on the trail, culminating in the larger haul hidden in the dishwasher (it was going to be the oven, until I remembered that I had to cook the caramel tart case!).

I think the kids quite enjoyed it.

Oooh, I think you can actually see the one hidden in the letterbox.

I have never been much of a pot-plant keeper, but last year at work I inherited a large furry fern (dubbed the “tarantula fern”, because its rhizomes look decidedly like tarantula legs) … and then, somehow over summer, I ended up with another five plants, which were added to the office collection. With our building now being shut down, they needed a home. So far, they’ve made it to the bathroom, but I think I need a better solution!

I have embarked on a non-trivial project (because, of course, surely I don’t have any other projects to do (hahahahaha!)), and that is to make a whole bunch of YouTube videos for Scouts showing how to tie various knots and lashings and the like. I started this yesterday, and managed to make 8 videos, and start work on a web-page index. Today I continued the task, getting another four videos made and extending the web-page so I know which ones I still have to do (and I hadn’t realised there were quite so many of them required for all of the stages of the Scouts’ badgework, and there are more than one or two which are not in my “I can do that off the top of my head” repertoire … and so, all of a sudden, the task is looking a little daunting). I put my knotting skills to the test to rig up a sling for the phone on my tripod, and the videos have actually been turning out okay so far, if I do say so myself. [Yes, I know there are probably a zillion-and-one knot-tying videos on YouTube, but not exactly the way I wanted. Mine aren’t either, of course!]

Sometime in the early afternoon the kids and I had a game together.

And then, because Imogen really loves my sister Gill’s fish pie whenever we go to the their place for family dinner, we had our first attempt at making it ourselves. It turned out very nicely.

And because it was Sunday night, and I am now totally expert on using Zoom, we decided to have Sunday family dinner COVID-19 style. We could even invite the New Zealand sibling and his family (not surprisingly they don’t usually get to our normal family dinners). Even Samantha and Alex* came (albeit briefly).

Later in the evening I went for a walk around the deserted streets. (I was going to straighten this picture, but I forgot … sorry.)

And, just before heading to bed, I hunted out a photo to post to Facebook. I’ve been posting a “nice” (good/scenic/uplifting/spectacular) photo each day to share some of my favourite shots during this time of social and physical constraints, in order to “Take Your Mind Off Unpleasant Things”. Tonight was the 25th. I have rather a large number in the queue … but I hope this isolation period lasts nowhere near as long as my supply of photos.

* Family in-joke. It’s a long story.

[This is  “12 of 12” post number 128, all arising from a long-ago challenge to post 12 photos on the 12th of the month.]