Life in a COVID-19 Hot Spot: Week 4 – What to do during Lockdown
What can you do when you are in lockdown mode: all restaurants, libraries, schools, and museums closed. No non-essential travel. Social distancing (no one closer than 6 feet) enforced, so no neighborhood potlucks, no coffee klatches, no bridge or mahjong or chess or poker. The streetside kiosks that normally are covered with announcements of events sales, and meetings are stripped bare.
1. Tend to the garden. After a month of record drought in February, we have had drizzling rain day after day. Still I was able to get outside with a pair of shears and vent my frustrations by whacking away at my overgrown lantana.
While outside, I discovered that the orchid plants I had inherited from my mother and stuck away in an untraveled corner of the yard had unexpectedly burst into furious bloom. An upper, much needed!
2. Get organized. I sorted all the fabric in my fabric stash by color and by size of scrap. I have enough to make two dresses for my grand-daughter as well as a rag doll with matching outfits. Unfortunately, my scraps are overwhelmingly red, yellow and blue, while her favorite colors are purple, pink, and green. All fabric stores are closed, so she will have to make do.
3. Read all the magazines that have been accumulating in the magazine rack.
4. Clear the clutter. One by one I hope to clear a drawer a day. The bottom drawer next to the sink was my first target. It was jammed with the utensils I seldom use (A mango splitter, an egg slicer, turkey lifters, etc.) and spare parts for hardware we know longer own. (If you don’t know what it is, and the plastic doesn’t match any appliance you currently own, it’s probably safe to toss it.)
On walking around my neighborhood – still allowed, thank goodness!- I can see that clearing clutter is a favorite pastime. Bags of “Free toys! Free Clothes! Free !!” are lined up along the street. Normally these items would have been sold at a rummage sale, or taken to Goodwill, but rummage sales don’t work for groups of less than 10, and no charities are open to receive donations.
5. Set up a jigsaw puzzle table. Unfortunately, I get obsessive about this, and have to limit myself to adding three pieces at a time and then walking away.
6. Read the books on the Someday I’ll Get to This Shelf. I finished off “The Fourth Hand” by John Irving (a winner) and started and gave up on “The Emperor’s Children”. Both are now down the street in the neighbor’s Little Free Library. Now I’m working on “The Belton Estate”, a minor work by Anthony Trollope, who is always good for providing interesting characters and lots of words.
7. Learn how to socialize online. I have Zoom’d my dancercise class and my writing group, and Skype’d a story hour with my granddaughter. Hey, the 21st century isn’t all bad!
8. Go for a bike ride. It’s a way to get around without compromising social distancing.
9. Find a way to contribute. I recruited a neighbor’s daughter who has been kicked out of her college dorm to take my place at the food bank. It didn’t feel as good as doing it myself, but it helped.
10. Clean the garage. I haven’t actually started this one yet. But it’s amazing how many things you can get done when the alternative is cleaning the garage! Look how much progress I’ve made on that jigzaw puzzle!
Allyson Johnson 