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| Getting serious with the weeds |
Focus and motivation
One of the things I expected to fill my lockdown days with was reading, in fact it seemed the perfect excuse to sit around with my kindle without feeling guilty. I have surprised myself. I have now realised that a lot of the time I lack focus and direction, but this situation has given me focus and motivation to get out of my favourite reading chair and tackle things.
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| One barrow of weeds |
What I have found works best for me is to split things into manageable tasks. For example: one wheelbarrow of big weeding (ivy, brambles etc) each day and with our garden, orchard and potager, it will take many, many days before I run out of weeds. I pick an area to work on, get my gloves and barrow, and keep snipping away until the barrow is full. By then my brain has had enough and it’s time to head indoors for a cup of tea, a sit down and maybe some reading. I have to be careful of overdoing things in the garden as I'm at risk of having a seizure and when I am home alone, I often don’t have the courage to get out and give it a go. Having Adrian and Ed at home makes me feel a lot more reassured as there is always someone to keep an eye on me. Even if you haven’t got photosensitive epilepsy to get in the way, this is a great way of motivating yourself to get a little bit done every day.
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| My finished knitted neck tube |
I’ve also finished a knitting project, by spending a little bit of time on it each morning. I hadn’t knitted for about twenty years, but just recently the benefits of knitting kept cropping up. One TV programme I watched said knitting would stop you snacking in the evening as if your fingers were busy with wool and needles, they wouldn’t be able to open the biscuit tin or find some chocolate in the fridge. Another show, a matter of weeks later, said knitting would keep your brain function sharp and help improve your memory. Well, that was all I needed. I found some wool and some needles and dragged my mind back to when knitting was something I regularly did. I remembered how to cast on, how to knit and how to pearl, but had to ask for help when casting off, as that memory had drifted away. I am now the proud owner of a knitted, patchwork, neck tube. Every square, and I use that term in the loosest geometrical way possible, has a slightly different pattern as I practiced my stitches along the way. It may be a bit warm for it to get regular use at the moment, but I love it.
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| A selection of nine hand creams |
Something else I am trying to get into the habit of doing regularly is using hand cream as the combination of gardening and increased hand washing has left them very dry. I am the worlds worst woman for remembering to use any type of beauty product, with the exception of shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant and face cream. Over the years I have bought and been given many different moisturisers and today I found most of them, some full and some almost empty, but all covered in dust. They are now easily accessible on the little shelf by the kitchen sink, in an attempt to get me to remember to use them.
The Bells
Tonight at 19h30, the church bells all over France will ring out in unison, an initiative of the Church to enable Catholics to celebrate the Annunciation (where Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel) while churches are closed. It will also be a way to show solidarity with the healthcare professionals who are working so hard for all of us, and people are invited to light a candle at their window while the bells are ringing. We will be listening in our garden and although I’m sure it will sound much more impressive if you are in a city, it is a way of bringing people together in a time of isolation.
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| https://carte-sortie-confinement.fr |
1 km radius
Here is a helpful website for those of us in France letting you see how far from home you can currently walk when taking your daily one hour of exercise.
Stay indoors and stay safe.
Lockdown Library
Today’s reading choice comes from author friend Paulita Kincer, whose kindle books are currently FREE for a limited time.
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