A much quieter day today. I was surprised that there weren't many branches down around our place, one big one and a bunch of little ones - elsewhere there were trees down all over the place and some people didn't have power back yet. We had a calm morning at home, pottering around, doing some puzzles, browsing the internet, I did a bit of my course, chatted to both Mum and Dad on the phone. Caitlin and I went for a walk mid afternoon, it was sunny and actually fairly warm, a nice day to be out. Luna is getting much better at walking off lead and not chasing kangaroos. Amelie played games online with a friend. When Tony got home from work he took me over to Mum and Dad's - with Dad having minor surgery yesterday he's not able to drive at the moment, so he offered me his car while mine is at the mechanic. It was cool to have time in the car chatting with Tony, and exciting to be so far from home - the first time I've been past Yarra Glen in 4 weeks. It was great to see Mum and Dad, they're looking well and we talked for a bit before I took the car. On the way home I bought a Mint Hot Chocolate in Yarra Glen then sat in the car for a while at my favourite spot on Old Healesville Rd and read my book and listened to music. It was a beautiful afternoon and in between reading I really soaked in the view. Great view of the standing water in the fields across from our place, too. I drove home the long way from there and arrived feeling very relaxed after some time on my own. Also felt good driving a manual car, I've missed that. We had a hodge podge of dinner, everyone getting what they felt like eating, then Caitlin and I watched The Bodyguard - I'd never seen it, and was inspired by seeing Lorelai sing 'I Will Always Love You' on Gilmore Girls a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed it and it felt like a comfortable way to end a very up and down kind of week.
Friday, 28 August 2020
Thursday, 27 August 2020
Lockdown 2.0, Day 50
Another eventful lockdown day (or maybe little things now seem adventurous, as a contract to the sameness of most of our usual days). We had a massive wind storm - some rain, but mainly strong, damaging winds, and the power went out. We manage with power outages on a semi-regular basis, but this was just as it was getting dark, most of our phones had little charge which is unusual for us, my car wasn't here so we couldn't use my 2nd battery to charge up things we needed, we'd been just about to cook dinner, I tried to look up the website to see how extensive the outage was but none of our devices would load the site, and it just felt unusually difficult to manage. One positive though is that the water tanks are full after all the rain we've had so we still had water gravity feeding through the taps and we'd be able to flush the toilet. We got camping lights out of the trailer (which was tricky in itself because it was wet and windy while I was rummaging around trying to find them) and our camping stove - a friend had given us one that they'd got 2nd hand, to replace our old stove that was dying, and I hadn't tried it out yet. I couldn't find a hose with it so we disconnected the hose from our old stove and used it, but when we turned the new one on there was gas leaking. It seemed to be missing an O-ring and we tried to replace it with some we had here but they weren't the right size. We thought about going down to Coles to get a new O-ring, then realised it might be easier just to buy dinner, then realised that there was also no power in Healesville. Tony, Liam and Caitlin went for a drive to find food and had to go a bit further than expected - I was a little worried as they didn't get home until after 8, but they found food and got there and back with no trouble. While they were gone the power came back on, I was so grateful for all that that allowed us to do. I was even more grateful when I discovered that Healesville was still out an hour later, and Lilydale still had no power a couple of hours later than that. Very unusual that Tarrawarra gets power back before other places, we're normally last on the list. There were trees down all over the place, and the Black Spur was closed due to trees and a car trapped where the person needed to be rescued by air ambulance - we saw and heard the helicopter go over each way. It reminded me that the little inconveniences we'd had over the past couple of days really weren't that big a deal.
Prior to the storm the day had been fairly quiet, and fun. I pottered around in the morning, the girls watched SIMS videos and The Saddle Club on YouTube, I ordered some things we needed from Office Works, Caitlin and I researched the easiest place to buy cheap yarn so she can keep making her little creatures, Amelie and I did some number puzzles, I had a Zoom appointment with my counsellor, I reset Amelie's Animal Crossing New Leaf game so that she could start from the beginning (she'd bought a pre-owned copy so the save file had someone else's data in it), Caitlin decorated her cupboard with stickers, Liam played Getting Over It, I talked to a friend a couple of times. Caitlin and I went for a walk in the late afternoon - it was already pretty windy and the clouds were very black to the south. We'd had sunshine throughout the day but it was looking more and more ominous as we walked, it was pretty spectacular. We checked out the creek, it's running much lower again now, and walked along the front of the property where we noticed the fields of the Abbey are still covered in water, so we went across the road to get a closer look. It looked pretty cool. At that point, there were dark clouds everywhere and it was starting to rain, but Mt Dandenong was bathed in golden sunlight - that looked even more cool!
Numbers are staying in the low to mid 100s, deaths are continuing to happen every day, although some days now they are in single digits.
Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Lockdown 2.0, day 49
A reminder today that even quiet lockdown days can go vastly differently than planned. Caitlin and I headed to the post office today like we do most Wednesday afternoons- left home around 3. We went to the chocolate factory first to buy a few more hot chocs to send to friends, and get a DIY chocolate spoon kit for ourselves, so we can make our own interesting hot chocolate blends. Caitlin had to go in and the buy the items as she was the one who’d be going in to the post office - when she walked in she was the only person in the showroom, which was really strange as normally it’s so crowded! We went on to the post office and Caitlin sent off all our care packages, then she went to the IGA to get a couple of things. When she got back the car wouldn’t start. I tried to use my jump starter with no luck. I rang Tony and he said he could come and jumpstart us - it was 4.15 so we just had to wait until he finished work at 4.30 then he’d come in. In the meantime Mum has ring and I’d agreed to take Dad to the hospital tomorrow (he’s having a melanoma removed) because she wasn’t allowed in or to hang around, so it was easiest if I took him in and she picked him up.
Tony arrived and the car still wouldn’t start. I called the RACV and they said someone would be there in about an hour. I said Caitlin could go home with tony but she chose to stay with me, which made the waiting easier. She got some hot chips for us to share and then we played games on Snapchat. (I think). A guy we vaguely know came past around 5.45 and offered to try to start the car - still no luck. The RACV guy arrived just before 6 and after trying several things said the battery was fine and he thought it was the starter and I’d have to get towed. We had a very confusing conversation about where I should be towed to but eventually agreed to take it to my mechanic in Healesville. He rang the tow truck and we settled in to wait some more. Caitlin went and got me chips and chocolate from the IGA - after we discovered that my window wouldn’t go back up - the RACV guy had put it down when the door was open, which caused it to come off it’s track (happens occasionally, but not for over 2 years) and itMs impossible to put it up. When the tow truck manager rang I told him what had happened and he said they’d store the car at their depot overnight and drop it at the mechanics in the morning, so the window wasn’t a problem. I rang tony to come and pick us up, and ask if I could use his car to take dad to hospital, then Mum rang to say that she WAS allowed to go in to the hospital tomorrow, so I didn’t need to come. Caitlin ordered burgers and chips for dinner (not from her fish and chip shop, it’s still closed), the tow truck arrived, tony arrived and we transferred all my crap to his car, and we were finally home a bit after 7pm. Exhausted but feeling less frustrated once I was safely home.
I had a hot bath and didn’t really do anything else all evening, didn’t have the energy. Hoping my car will be fixed easily and quickly, although it doesn’t matter too much at the moment since I rarely go out
Tuesday, 25 August 2020
Lockdown 2.0, Day 48
I woke with a spectacular headache so started the day with a long hot shower and then felt a bit better. I went about my usual morning routine but after working outside for a while I felt exhausted and just needed to sit. I'd promised to make waffles for Amelie, so Liam offered to make them, and I just supervised (he'd never really worked through a recipe on his own before to cook something, he did a great job and the waffles were delicious). I tried to have a nap but was too restless - lying down for a while helped though and I was able to get up and feel a bit more normal. Liam spent more time trying to figure out how to livestream his games and Amelie posted a video to her YouTube channel.
In the afternoon I had my fortnightly Zoom chat with the Yarra Glen Homeschool Group - there were 5 of us today and as usual it was a relaxing and enjoyable chat. As soon as it finished I headed down to Healesville to get our milk - it was incredible to see how much water was on the fields - it was like a lake over around the Maroondah Highway, and in the low areas of the Abbey's property. I popped into Coles (first time since Stage 4 started and it felt crowded and not where I wanted to be) to get a few things that we're low on but can't get at Aldi, then did the rest of our weekly shop at Aldi. I ran into 2 people I knew in there - another mum from Guides, and a good friend from Healesville, who I'd just been talking to on the Zoom chat!
When I got home Caitlin had just made scones (yummy!) and the girls were finishing The Sound of Music. I had a beer and a phone chat with a friend, we ate soup and watched The Block (Amelie watched YouTube and Liam was playing and chatting with a friend on his computer) then I had a long talk to my sister on the phone which was a lovely way to end a fairly social day.
Monday, 24 August 2020
Lockdown 2.0, Day 47
After a weekend spent mainly sitting on the couch, I woke up (early - 5.20am) this morning with lots of energy and feeling keen to get on with some projects. I did a bit of tidying and organising and made some dents in a couple of areas of the house. I realised that I've been putting off the things I really want to do because they felt like wants rather than the necessary housework - but it's been leading to me not feeling motivated to even the necessary stuff. So today I prioritised those things - namely starting to clean out the walk in cupboard in my room to convert it into a little writing space for myself, and organising the files on my MacBook so that it's working more efficiently and I can work on my photos more easily. I made progress in each area and it felt good.
Liam and I went for a walk in the morning to see the water levels around the property. Everywhere is still very wet (we had 27mL yesterday, as well as 3-10 mLs each day for almost the last week) but there weren't so many rivers around the place. The creek level had dropped a fair bit but it was running fast. We saw ducklings on the dam, swimming away from the shore with their mum as we got closer. So incredibly cute! We had quite a few sunny patches today and it was slightly warmer - I even got the washing dry outside!
I watched Liam play Fall Guys for a while and we chatted about strategy. I had a good talk to a friend. Amelie and Caitlin played games on the House Party app, then Millie spent a good part of the afternoon using it to talk to a friend. They played Pokemon games and she jumped on the trampoline and was so excited to be able to see her friend on her phone rather than just hear her voice. She also started to make some more YouTube videos, and Liam is looking at recording some of his game plays. Caitlin watched YouTube for a while and finished crocheting her next little creature. She and Amelie went for a late afternoon walk then started to watch The Sound of Music. I talked to Mum and Dad on the phone - Dad hasn't felt well enough to talk the last several times I've rung, it was really lovely to chat with him. Tony watched the Collingwood game and the kids watched The Block - I saw bits while I tidied the kitchen and got ready for bed. Liam told me about some of the history of coffee that he'd been learning about - it was fascinating.
Numbers were low today - only 116! Although 15 deaths. I feel that the new cases will go up a bit again later in the week, hopefully not too much though. It feels maybe slightly possible that we could come out of Stage 4 in another 3 weeks - that would be so great.
Sunday, 23 August 2020
Lockdown 2.0, Days 45 and 46
It's been a very cold, wet weekend - I have never seen so much water at our place, the path at the bottom of the hill is a river and there's puddles of water everywhere that the ground isn't completely flat. Except for a short walk today I basically stayed inside all weekend, let go of any expectations and had a pretty relaxing, warm, fun and quiet time.
Yesterday morning Tony and I actually found ourselves in the kitchen together with time to have a cuppa and we sat and chatted and drank our tea and coffee, it was really really lovely. We created some patterns with a pencil and compass and then coloured them in while we chatted. This inspired me to get out a wooden spiral puzzle that Amelie couldn't really remember playing with - she and Caitlin and I made lots of patterns with it and had a lot of fun. I had a phone call with an old friend from Leeton - we can't remember the last time we talked, but she hasn't met Amelie so it's a very long time since we've seen each other. We knew each other's kids as toddlers, it's so funny to see photos of them now as teens (or older). It was wonderful to catch up.
The kids and I watched Howls Moving Castle - Caitlin and I had seen it before, the others hadn't and they loved it. Tony was in and out watching bits of it, it was great to be inside and warm and cosy and enjoying a movie together. We ate popcorn, and some the meringues the girls had made the night before. Caitlin and I then watched slideshows of my photos, and experimented with different soundtracks. I planned to have an early night, so headed in to bed to read. The girls came and joined me and we chatted and laughed, and watched the cat chase her tail up on the railing above my cupboard. I went to bed much later than I'd intended but I really enjoyed the time with the kids.
Today was not quite as cold, but only marginally. Liam and I played War (card game) while he waited for Fall Guys to have enough players so he could show me the game. I really enjoyed watching it and had a go myself later on - I am terrible at it but really enjoyed it. Tony made pancakes while I did the dishes and the kids came to eat, so we were all in the kitchen together, it was fun. Caitlin and I went for a walk during a break in the rain, we waded through the river at the bottom of the hill (almost ankle deep) and went to check out the creek - the highest I remember seeing it. We thought about walking down the back of the property but the track was completely underwater and by then it was raining again so we headed home once we got to the far side of the dam. Tony went for a walk a bit later with Caitlin and Liam - Luna ended up on the other side of the creek (they think she fell in) and was too scared to come back over, so Tony went across to get her - an unexpected winter swim for him! I worked on my photos for a while and on a craft project I'm trying - it was frustrating and not working the way I'd like, so I will need to rethink it a bit. The kids watched some Try Guys and Danny Gonzalez on YouTube on the TV - I was enjoying the humour and suggested watching Schitts Creek because I'd heard it was pretty funny. Amelie loved it, the other two weren't sure and I enjoyed it but really didn't laugh much. I don't know if we'll be rushing back to watch it. Amelie spent a lot of the day chatting to a friend on the phone, managed a bit of a play outside in between rain sessions, and went into her room to watch YouTube when Caitlin put The Block on this evening. Caitlin brushed and braided my hair while she watched, then I came to bed early because I'm feeling a bit flat and figure a restful evening will always be helpful.
We had just over 200 new cases today, after a few days of under 200 - I really hope people keep getting tested and keep following the restrictions so that we have an accurate picture of the data and can hopefully start to ease things (just a little) in a few weeks time.