Jami's Project - Day 2

Day 1 of Lockdown

The thing I noticed most this morning was that the countryside is gradually taking on a green tinge after that horrible drought.  It's not exactly lush but the land no longer looks dry and stressed.  And that's something for which I am truly grateful.

The land can give us a lesson in survival - just hang in there, the good times will come again.

For me, one of the tricks to staying positive during this time is to find the good things we still have rather than focus on what we have not. I just typed during this trying time, then changed it. I don't think we do ourselves any service when we use dramatic phrases. This is my normal for now and that's all there is to it!

I'm also grateful for a lovely grand-daughter like Jami who dreamed up this project. One of the things I've learned about myself over the years is that I try to avoid expressing negative thoughts in words. It's just something I don't like doing, I don't like the sound of the person who wrote that. I reword and rewrite until it feels better and then I feel better. Might sound weird but that's how I'm wired. So taking part in Jami's project will keep my spirits up, should they take a slump.

I feel like I should have a sense of being in a momentous moment in history but maybe it's because nothing is different here at home that I feel like it's a normal day. When I opened my eyes this morning the sun looked as lovely as ever as it touched the leaves of the tree outside my bedroom window.  Now, if Level 4 meant I had to close my bedroom curtains to keep the virus out and couldn't look out on that tree I would know something was not right. A magpie in the tree said "Oodle ardle wardle doodle" or "Good morning, Pauline" in human speak like it always does. My world is good.

I think often of the people who weren't in lockdown, those essential workers, especially the health care workers who are out there today in a "different" world, showing up and helping the sick and vulnerable and doing their job to allow the rest of us to live a healthy life. Another grand-daughter, Shayde is one of these essential workers. Stay safe, Shayde. Actually my son, Danny is too as he's a farmer but he's like me, just carrying on life as normal. I feel proud that my family are doing their bit to keep the country functioning.

I turned on the radio for a while this morning to my favourite talkback station only to be reminded that having patience will be a lifetime challenge for me. What is wrong with some people, why can't so many of them understand, "Stay at home"? Why do so many think there should be an exception for them and their wants (not their needs)? Why do so many carry on like this emergency happened to inconvenience them? The final straw was a comment was some dickhead who claimed that he was being discriminated against because the spices he likes to add to his food, available only from speciality shops, will not be available. Geez.

I'd already decided to limit FaceBook time because the keyboard warriors are out and about big time.

Reminder to self – avoid negative vibes.

Oh, by the way, Jami has other participants in her project from Alaska, Canary Island, France, Canada and Norway - people she met when she went off travelling by herself halfway around the world in her gap year at the tender age of 19.