Sunday, April 19, 2020

What week of the lock-down is this?

It seems like it was a busy week last, but looking back I think it's just an illusion because we took the opportunity twice to leave our home and interacted with other human beings.  Oh, how this lock-down is affecting my perspective.

The first outing was to deliver some birthday gifts to oldest son on Tuesday.  He and his youngest brother share an apartment less than a half-hour away.  There was no hugging, or even much conversation - it was too cold and blustery to stand outside where we could keep a respectable distance.  Just a masked hand-off of a bag full of goodies  (including several masks I had made him and his brother).  And a picture snapped to commemorate the moment.


It felt very good to make in-person contact. 

And Thursday was the last time (at least for now) we'll be delivering meals to the COVID unit at our local hospital.  It has felt so good to do this and while I will miss doing it, I'm glad that so many others want to join in that the schedule is filled through most of May.  

I was also very glad this week to be able to talk with the head nurse - in person.  It had been a hard week in terms of patient illness and loss, but she had so much good to say about the staff.  And, to date, none of them have come down sick.  She was really happy about that, but her heavy heart was evident even through the mask she wore.   This delivering restaurant meals is such a small thing on an individual scale for any of us who are able to do it, but I hope it buoys the nurses and hospital staff in the COVID unit to know they're being thought of and prayed for.

And on a crafty note, with mask-making (for now) behind me, I cleaned up my craft room, packed away my mask-making supplies, and settled in to cross stitch on my Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.   And Saturday evening I finished it!  Yay!


Cross Winged Collection has an amazing selection of beautiful bird designs.

Just for fun (and mostly for my future reference), here are some pictures of what Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers look like in real life.

And clicking on any of the files on this page gives an idea of what this little bird sounds like.  

Hopefully, this week I'll get started on a second cross stitch pattern from the same designers - this time, a little Marsh Wren.  



And lastly... here's a pic of middle son wearing the hot pink mask I made him.    I knew he wouldn't disappoint 😉:

I'm pretty sure there's a handsome smile under there.



And that, dear reader, is all she wrote!







21 comments:

  1. That stitching is just lovely! I get that bereft feeling when visiting is a matter of a chat and a handoff at the door. I see my son once every couple of weeks the same way. We're not a very huggy family but there's a pent-up need building! Happy birthday to your son. How handsome they both are.

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    1. Thanks, Boud. Just as I'm thinking this social distancing (among family) is for the birds, my youngest son has come down sick. I'm hopeful it's only a cold, but I imagine whatever it is, it comes with more social distancing on his part until he's all better. He shares an apartment with his brother - I don't know how they will manage if he needs to quarantine. It hadn't occurred to me to ask them before now if they had discussed this possibility...

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  2. Oh my goodness, I was all set to say happy birthday to the son when I saw that loveliness called a bird stitch. Just so pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those patterns are so cute but you did great stitching too!
    Yes, to seeing family to. I am ready for family dinners and all my chickadees around the table.

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    1. Thank you, Sandy. I was thinking of you as I was finishing it. The eye! I remember you showing the detail of the eye of the last one you finished. I don't think mine was as detailed as the one you did, but it was interesting, all the same.

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  3. Well poo.....once again the male bird species is much prettier than the female. It turned out so pretty. Will look forward to the wren. Seeing my son is so heart breaking since we can not have contact. Even harder not hugging the grand daughter. Although their dog doesn't care about the social distancing rules.

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    1. I meant to ask you during the Zoom meeting how you're handling social distancing with your local granddaughter. I can only imagine how hard that must be for grandparents. Kids (large and small) change so quickly - it would be very hard to watch that happening from a distance - even if the distance is only 6 feet - or is it 20 feet now?

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  4. I love how you're so close to your sons and so glad they live near you. Bless you for making meals for the COVID staff.

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    1. Well, two live close, but one lives 3 hours away. That's not all that far, but with social distancing, it's not practical for either of us to make the drive when we can't even share the same space. :^(

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  5. Yes, it is funny how our perspective changes, isn't it? Such small things bring a thrill these days. Maybe that part is good. But I do long for the time when I can visit with my children and hug my grandchildren . . . and meet the new grandbaby who is due to be born very soon.

    Bless you for taking meals and making masks. You are reaching out from your four walls to make a difference.

    Love your cross stitch! Beautiful!

    Happy birthday to your sons!

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    1. Sometimes I think the biggest difference we make in reaching out is in how it helps US. Today we went out to make an Amazon return, then we stopped at CVS to get some vitamins, then because it was a beautiful day that made me feel a bit invincible, I went back to CVS to get my second shingles shot before my 6 month window expired. And then I picked up Mexican food on the way home. I felt like a woman who'd been set free from some kind of prison. I hope it will hold me for the rest of the week. Other than getting in some walks where I'll undoubtedly encounter people, I kind of think I should curb my social interactions for a few days.

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  6. Lovely cross stitch. Wish my eyes allowed me to do that.

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    1. I'm on a bit of a mission. I don't expect to have the eyesight to do this indefinitely, so I'm trying to make some treasures while I can. :)

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  7. Oh, I love your gnat catcher! I also visited the xs site and looked at the pictures and sounds of a gnat catcher! We have them here evidently. I hear all sorts of birds here but can never see them. I'm hoping that site you linked to will help me identify them by their songs. Thank you so much! I love birds and I may have to stitch some myself as their designs are so lovely and realistic. Yours is so pretty! Stay well and your boys too. So wonderful of you to take meals to the healthcare workers and brave also to walk right into the sick wards. I am sure they appreciated it!

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    1. Oh, Sam, we don't go into the hospital. They wouldn't allow that. We call when we arrive with a meal and a nurse comes out and rolls a cart to us, we fill it up and roll it back. We do a little bit of happy chat, but it's all very quick and we're off. And everyone wears masks. Honestly, I've felt more vulnerable picking up the food from unmasked restaurant workers than delivering it. lol

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  8. I love that you made the effort to celebrate and funny about the mask. Go you.

    Wonderful about delivering the meals. Most excellent.

    And you cleaned up the craft room. More really good news. Wonderful post. Happy Earth Day.

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  9. We left the house twice this past week too, but not because we wanted to. Both trips were because our friend needed something (a bank trip and a trip to the office supply store to get her new office chairs). We would much rather have stayed home but we do what we can. And, it appears as though 40 more masks are in my future despite my wanting to be done with them.

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    1. Do I want to know why you're making 40 more masks? I gasped a little. I'm trying to decide if I should put the word out that people should start perusing Etsy now as my sewing room is closed, or just wait until someone asks me - which might not happen again... Yeah, I want to know why. Going to your blog to see if you've written about it there.

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    2. Blame my chiropractor who thinks he should be able to provide a mask to each patient once things open up....at least to the patients that would like to use them. Glad I'm not having to do the laundry of all those masks on a daily basis!

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  10. Beautiful crossstitch. Great masks! I agree with you, this social distancing is hard. I've had enough of it and not being able to pick up my grandchildren or hug them. It's hard for little ones to understand. All this distancing really can't be good emotionally for anyone. But we do what we have to do. Hopefully it won't be too long before we are free to socialize normally again!

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    1. I worry a bit that I don't actually find the social distancing hard at all. Some days I fear I'm a little too comfortable with it. If we had grandchildren and we couldn't be with them (if that was our normal) I'd be singing a different tune, of course. As is, I'm sort of dreading what I expect to be people not respecting all the different ways and speeds people will begin to emerge from this present state.

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