Hi Friends,
It’s been a long while. I do hope you are well and as we say now “hanging in there”. I am extremely grateful, as always, to have a safe and sacred space to shelter in place with my loves. I have never spent this much on groceries, but we are saving a ton of money and calories by eating all of our meals at home.
Two months ago we lost a great cat, Butters was 18 and sweeter than ever, but it was his time. I miss him every day, this morning in the garden I swear I saw him come down the stairs. At the same time Zuzu was struggling to breathe, after 6 weeks of trying to treat it various ways, we found out she has lymphoma. I am heartbroken, it’s not fair. She is only 9. Zoey is doing well, and for now she and Zuzu are teaching our new kitten how to be an awesome cat. Miles (above) is super sweet but I had forgotten how much work it is!
Andy is lucky enough to be in a business that is deemed essential, yet he and his employees are mostly able to work from home. I am unable to visit clients and job sites at this time, but I am doing some consulting remotely. I’m REALLY enjoying gardening, baking (yes, I’m on the sourdough train), cooking, mending clothes, growing sprouts and microgreens, making my own liquors, oils, tea, whatever! I am trying to stay out of stores, and not everything is available, so before I buy anything I think about how I could make it. I made distilled water the other day 🙂
But about this virus –
Last night I prayed. I’m a lapsed Catholic/Agnostic, but sometimes I do. I prayed for my loved ones, and for our poor grieving nuclear family, and the plants and animals and dear God please help this world, I don’t understand why this is happening. And then I realized I do. I’m not saying God made this happen because the world is not doing well, I’m just saying we could do better. The following are only my thoughts and opinions:
Some of us consume too much. Many of us don’t think before buying, about the footprint of our goods, the environmental impact of foods and ALL THE PLASTIC.
Designer goods, being perfectly made up, hair – nail – eyelash extensions, having a lot of followers on social media, buying the newest and best, looking cool, these things are not important.
Your loved ones are important
Food that you know where it comes from and you can count on is important
Shelter, feeling safe and sound is important
Knowing you’ll be taken good care of if you fall ill is important
Passion and purpose is important
Being real and true and kind is important
Clean air is important
Safe drinking water is important
Being kind to yourself and others is important
I hope when this is all over, we might get back to simpler times.
Maybe many will now work from home and save gas, time, roads, air.
Maybe we will invest in clothing and shoes you can mend and wear for years
Maybe we will grow and make and share our own foods as much as possible
Maybe we will shop small and shop local and not support companies that do not support their people
Maybe career paths will change – maybe more people will go into the very lucrative trades. If what you were doing before all this won’t work anymore, pivot
Maybe we will appreciate being outside more, turn off the tv and video games, PUT DOWN THE PHONE
Maybe we will continue the calls and letting friends and family know that we care we are doing more often now
Maybe we will really see the glaring inequalities between the haves and have nots, and actually do something about it
Maybe we will continue to be kind, to care about others and reach out to see how we can help
What do you think?
On a less serious note: I am not watching any more TV than usual, and never in the daytime, but here are some favorites:
Grand Designs on Netflix and Amazon
Unorthodox
Minimalism (oldie but goodie!)
The Good Place
Bless This Mess
Top Chef
As well as pretty much any documentary series that explains how things work, or how they came to be that way.
Aaaand, car shows, because Andy. Wheeler Dealers is a good one 🙂
* I was JUST about to publish this, but I checked a text from my sister, who sent me this, that says it all;
Stay safe friends, and please let me know how you are doing. I think about you a lot.
Love, Scarlett
