Lockdown 2.0, Days 87 - 94

 I missed a couple of days writing the blog due to busy evenings, and the longer it went on the harder it was to come back and catch up. I'll give it a go now. I've been feeling good this week, so perhaps feeling positive has meant that I don't feel the need to document quite so much - although the good days are much more interesting to write about than the low days.

Saturday last week was a very relaxing day. Earlier in the week I'd let everyone know I wanted most of the day to myself, I had a book that I wanted to read in one day, because I knew I'd get so involved in it and not want to put it down. I spent most of the day on the couch in the carport, reading my book and it was fabulous (the book was Ironheart, the 2nd book in the Valentine series, a teen paranormal mystery/romance). Our Narbethong friends called in in the afternoon to pick up some food that had been delivered to our place (because they don't deliver over the Spur) - it was so wonderful to see them and have a chat for a while. After they left I went back to my book and finished mid-afternoon, I felt relaxed and happy and grateful that I'd had the opportunity to nurture myself like that.

Sunday I pottered around the house and did some serious research on MacBooks. I talked to a friend and he helped me sort out exactly what I wanted, and on Sunday night I ordered one, finally, after months of research and thinking.

Monday we went to Healesville to do the shopping, Caitlin and Liam met up with their friend and went for a walk, Amelie and I went to Coles, the bulk food shop and Aldi. It was pretty cold and wet but the kids still found interesting places to walk. In the afternoon my friend picked up my new MacBook from JB Hifi and delivered it to my place - SO exciting!!!!! I spent the rest of the day setting it up and playing with it, it's so great and I am so so so happy with it. And so happy that I finally made the decision just to buy it. Having a working keyboard and a laptop that doesn't freeze up every 10 minutes has made everything I've done on it this week so much more efficient and enjoyable.

Tuesday I played on my computer a bunch more, had my Yarra Glen Zoom meeting in the afternoon, popped down to Healesville to get my milk and chatted to my friend when he came to pick up some more food that had been delivered here.In the evening I watched Shaun of the Dead on my new computer - a great screen for watching TV on. And I loved the movie too.

Wednesday I woke up in the best mood I've been in for a good while. I felt excited about the possibilities that the day could bring - vastly different from feeling like the day was just one more day to get through. Caitlin and I went to Yarra Glen to the Post Office and picked up 7 packages! We called in to the Chocolate Factory on the way home to get some beetroot relish (she had it on her Smashed Avo on her birthday and loved it) and drove home the long way. I had a couple of beers and a FaceTime call with a friend in the evening. 

I'd had an iced coffee from the IGA on Wednesday, and I could not get to sleep on Wednesday night. I eventually slept for 2 hours, woke up for a while, slept for another 2 hours then was awake for the day before 6am. I'd wanted to spend a whole day this week working on my photos, so I figured Thursday was a good time to do that seeing as I felt exhausted and lethargic. It was a lot of fun, sitting on the couch and doing a heap of photo organising and posting. 

Friday I planned to do a heap of tidying but it didn't really happen. I'd had another terrible night's sleep - late to fall asleep and awake before 5 this time! I spent a lot of time talking to Caitlin while she crocheted, and doing bits and pieces around the house in between more work on the computer. We went for a walk in the afternoon and I was feeling a bit flat but then we played fun music on my phone, using the lyrics of each song to inspire our choice of the next song, and that really picked me up. Our yoga practice was the last day in a 30 day session, and it was kind of a freestyle session - there was no verbal direction, we could copy what she was doing or do what poses felt right for us. It was a little challenging mentally but a lot of fun and it was cool to see how much we'd learnt in the 30 days. In the evening I watched a couple of episodes of The Long Way Round - Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman's motorcycle trip around the world. 

Today I did get a lot more tidying done, as well as more photo work. I did half of the mending - a whole tub's worth of clothes either mended or put in the rag pile (some were just not worth mending). Some of that has been sitting there for many many years, it was so exciting to get it done! Caitlin and I walked to the back of the property and over a creek to a little peninsula of land bordered by Paul's Creek, the tributary that runs across the back fence of our place, and the fence which borders the farm behind us. It is so beautiful over there, and it feels so deserted and far from civilisation. We had to jump across the creek to get there - I thought I'd end up in the water but I made it (with a bit of help from Caitlin). On the way back we crossed another creek, and then went for a swim in the dam - it was cold, but so beautiful to be in the water looking at the clouds and the mountains. This evening Tony is watching the Collingwood v Geelong semi-final and it's not going well for Collingwood.

All week we've been watching the swallows who have a nest above our back door. They have 3 chicks in there and it's been fascinating to watch the parents come and go feeding the chicks - 3 huge beaks appear from the nest and gobble down the food. Yesterday they emerged from the nest and learned to fly - that was even more amazing to watch. They are tiny, and still fluffy underneath, and still have massive yellow, wide beaks. Otherwise they look like their parents. They sit on the ledge above the window and flatten themselves down so they just look like a couple of feathers. Then they jump off and fly away. They aren't great at landing but they got better at it as the day went on.

We've also been watching a live webcam of the peregrine falcons on top of a building in Melbourne https://www.367collinsfalcons.com.au. That has provided hours of entertainment for us this week.

We've gone for walks every day and Caitlin and I have done yoga every day. Amelie jumps on the trampoline and talks to her friends on the phone or Skype, plays the SIMS and Among Us and makes YouTube videos. Liam has been playing a lot of Terraria and talking to his friends on Discord. 

The numbers are low but maybe not low enough. Sitting around the 10 mark and we need them to be below 5. Another week until the next restriction announcement but it's unlikely we'll be fully able to go to Step 3. Maybe some new things will be allowed though.

Lockdown 2.0, Day 39

 I felt really disheartened today. Everything seemed too hard and I was quite teary. I spent too long on Facebook reading posts that annoyed me, the printer wouldn't work, I got frustrated at people not helping out around the house... I couldn't decide how I wanted to spend my time and was just really agitated. Being outside was good for a while, working hard and being in the cool air (it was raining on and off, but not heavily (there was heavy rain later on)). I did some puzzles then had a long chat with Tony. He suggested I have a bath so I took one of my new library books into the bath and ate chocolate and Tony brought me a big mug of hot chocolate. I felt much better when I got out, although quite tired. I lay down for a while then worked on my photos. I went for a long walk in the hour before sunset - the clouds to the east again had a brownish orange tinge to them, it was pretty spectacular. I was listening to a battle scene and the aftermath in my audio book (Book 1 of the Wheel of Time) and the atmosphere of the dark clouds and the storm front felt quite appropriate. I went over the creek - the water was probably as high as I'm willing to cross, and unusually it was trickier coming back over than going across the first time. I had my camera with me which made me a bit more cautious, I'd like to try it at that height without my camera next time. Once home I tidied up for a bit then we all watched State of Origin Ninja which was quite exciting. 

The girls watched Bolt and Grease today in a bit of a John Travolta marathon (is 2 movies a marathon?) and Amelie played Minecraft on the phone with a friend. Caitlin crocheted a little teddy bear and Liam played on his computer and chatted to a friend. Tony took care of a bunch of housework while I rested.

I wonder if my mood was strongly influenced by my Facebook feed or if I would have been out of sorts today anyway. I felt like there was a lot of complaining this morning - complaining and scapegoating, which I think is the bit that got me. I don't deny that Stage 4 is hard on just about everyone. I don't like it and I feel like on the whole we've got it pretty easy. Everyone is missing out or has missed out on things. And regardless of individual circumstances, some people are finding it harder than others. I think we can acknowledge how hard it is though without having to blame someone for it, or spend a lot of time say 'if only so and so had done this at that point.' Maybe things would have been different if things were done differently earlier on. Interestingly though, a lot of the people who are now complaining are also the ones who were pushing to have restrictions eased last time. For me, the easiest way to get through this is to accept that this is what the situation is right now. We are in Stage 4, regardless of how we got here. So from this point if each of us makes choices that are in line with the restrictions, finds way to bring joy to our lives when we can, acknowledge how difficult it is when we can't, reach out to each other for support and provide support to others - I think that's all we can do. It's what I'm aiming to do anyway.