I am a native of California who lives in Southern California. I have a background in healthcare and Special Education. Writing is a new adventure for me.
“It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien
I will need to call on my courage after the ‘stay at home’ orders are lifted. It has been hard to feel this existential threat. I have decided that I do not want fear to rule my life and prevent me from living fully. (I am not saying that I will ignore the safety recommendations of health officials.) I want to step back into all of life and leave fear behind.
What Day Is It Anyway? #WDIIA, is hosted by Linda G Hill
Featured image ‘Path to Mount Townsend Summit’ by brewbooks on Flickr.com
I have read it is good to keep to a daily routine right now as a way of coping with the stress of this Corona crisis. I have never had a regular daily practice since I retired unless you count drinking coffee every morning or wine with dinner. In between that I was pretty freewheeling. I did have interests like writing and genealogy research that engrossed me but things feel scattered now. There’s reading or watching the news to keep up with the pandemic, making meals, cleaning up dishes and parts of the house, reading a few blogs and emails, writing my blog, ordering supplies and groceries, Skyping with a family member who is in a Nursing home, nothing in particular order. The stress of this crisis makes it difficult to focus on a routine, kind of bouncing from one thing to the next. We are all doing the best we can.
I do find accessing nature either virtually or in my yard and neighborhood calming and healing. We have visited with our grandson at a distance, taking walks outside our house.
Spittle bugs in rosemary bush again
Woolly thyme starting to spread out
Woolly thyme doing great in this section
Lavender
Succulent growing
Pretty kalanchoe
Cranberry sage blooming more
Neighbor’s Wisteria
Prickly succulent
Bumblebees like the wisteria and the spittlebugs love the rosemary bush.
Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word is ‘practice.’
Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2020
Featured image Beatrix Farrand forsythia at Forsythia Dell Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy
There are reasons to be optimistic about the end of the quarantine as I wrote yesterday. I have decided I am not going to watch even less news right now because it only adds to my stress level. All the blaming repeated over and over. I have always found comfort in nature even in my own backyard. I have found some guided meditation videos from the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MeditOcean) and it is very soothing to watch the ocean or graceful jelly fish gliding around their tank. We need to have some peace in our lives and freedom from fear.
Here’s a Live Cam of a Great Gray Owl nesting via explore.org on You Tube:
What Day Is It Anyway? #WDIIA, is hosted by Linda G Hill.
” Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”-Victor Hugo
We can begin to see the glimmer of first light before the dawn. Some countries are beginning to let their people go back to work. We have not finished with this epidemic as yet in the US and people are still suffering from it. We are still having many deaths. But I have read the number of cases have started to decrease in many places around the country. So there is hope that we are seeing the beginning of the end.
My state of California is actively planning for the time when we will be able to end our quarantine. It may not happen for a few months yet. Some states will not be ready at the same time if their infection rates are peaking later. But eventually we will all be ready. We are not sure here in California what this will look like at first. People will probably wear masks in public places and no large gatherings.
From LA Times 4/15/2020:
Easing California’s lockdown
The governor said the stay-at-home mandate can be altered only when the state is able to:
Closely monitor and track potential cases.
Prevent infection of high-risk people.
Prepare hospitals to handle surges.
Develop therapeutics to meet demand.
Ensure schools, businesses and child-care facilities can support social distancing.
Develop guidelines for when to ask Californians to stay home again, if necessary.
I find myself upset by the thought of this changed life and that we could be asked to stay home again. People don’t like change in general and we have been going through major change. I don’t want fear to be in control of my life, however. I must find a way to live with all that may be coming and be able to find peace in my life each day.
While saying this I remember that there are people who had to continue to work during the epidemic and provide critical and essentially needed services to us all. They had to face the risk of infection every day. All the health workers, pharmacy, police, firefighters, truck drivers, grocery, delivery, and trash removal. Los Angeles County has created regulations to protect grocery workers and grocery delivery workers. Masks, gloves, and hand sanitizers must be provided to delivery workers. I counted on the delivery workers to bring my groceries for the past couple of weeks. I always thanked them and gave them a tip. Los Angeles County and my local city has provided assistance to those who need help with grocery and pharmacy pick up and delivery.
We will have to look back at all that happened and continue to grieve as well. We have to look how we handled the epidemic and be sure to learn from it.
NPR interview with David Kessler, a grief expert, on the grief associated with Coronavirus pandemic:
What Day Is It Anyway? #WDIIA, is hosted by Linda G Hill.
Blogging for A to Z April Challenge 2020
Featured image ‘Dawn in Joshua Tree, California’ by Jessie Eastland on Wikimedia.org
With many of us under ‘stay at home’ orders we are using technology to have virtual visits, like Zooming with friends and family. I have been previewing some virtual ways to visit National Parks, museums, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
I have definitely been reacting to the stress caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. I have noticed I have decreased energy and concentration. I have read several articles about coping with stress and the importance of self-care.
For instance, it is important to get sleep but what if the stress is causing you to not sleep as well as usual? It can be a vicious cycle. Listening to relaxing music before bed helped me. I have had the problem of waking up during the night as well and staying awake. I worked on not getting upset when I was up in the night and told myself I will go back to sleep in a while. That has helped me. Some suggestions on how to cope with sleep problems.
What Day Is It Anyway, #WDIIA, is hosted by Linda G Hill.
Taking it one day at a time and still feeling some disorientation. I am learning to order groceries online and find it is not as easy as it might seem. Have to think more about what I need in the house for more than a week. I don’t know if I will get what I have ordered because there are still shortages. Then it might take another week to get a delivery. We have been advised to stay at home, not even go out for groceries or anything if possible for the next 2 weeks, by our government officials here in Southern California. I did get most of what I ordered yesterday so that is good. I planned to make some homemade chicken soup but realized I forgot to order some of vegetables, parsnips and rutabega. My husband and daughter said the soup was good. I go along during the day and forget what I am doing sometimes from one moment to the next. Good old Corona stress. I am grateful I do have food, a roof over my head, and my family.
Chicken soup with matzo balls
Chicken soup with matzo ball and side of charoset with matzo cracker
Mini Seder
From “MuseumMomentofZen courtesy Los Angeles County Museum of Art:
‘Tulips in the Sunken Garden’ at Filoli Estate shared on #MuseumMomentofZen
*Re-blogged for April 11,2020 Realized I was off the schedule for A-Z 2020 because I need to skip Sunday. I wondered why Linda G Hill and I were off by one day and she helped me see the light. Speaking of light, the word for today’s Stream of Consciousness is ‘joint.’ I feel AS IF I have been smoking lots of joints lately because of the disorientation of this pandemic crisis. I never smoked marijuana because I did not like the smell of it for one thing but I have heard those marijuana gummy bears are good for pain and sleep. Not ready to try it yet.
#Stream of Consciousness Saturday,#SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill.
I am uplifted by beautiful natural scenes. In the US we are so fortunate to have many beautiful natural places. We can’t go to visit our national parks right now but we can see them through the beautiful photos taken by photographers from the US Bureau of Land Management.
‘God spilled paint’ Super bloom Carrizo Plain National Monument 2017 via croft.de
Vermillion Cliffs Northern Arizona by Bob Wick
Turkey Vultures via Bob Wick at Vermillion Cliffs Northern Arizona
Vermillion Cliffs Northern Arizona by Bob Wick BLM
‘Safe ‘Haven’ wild horse ecosanctuary Wyoming photo by Jana Wilson
Humboldt Coast Northern California by Bob Wick BLM
Let’s face it, we are all going through trauma and a grief reaction right now as a reaction to all of our lives being turned upside down. We can all be in the various stages of grief and may go through the same stages more than once. For a description here is ‘COVID-19 and the Grief Process.’
The trauma part is the shock of it all and seeing all the loss. We’re living with a higher level of stress even if we are not acknowledging it fully. It makes me disoriented, (what day is it?), and I have trouble sleeping as many hours as I need to. So I have been looking around for tools to help me cope and I want to share them in my blogs.
Some soothing nature sounds to help relieve stress recorded by Lang Elliott for gratefulness.org. Be sure to set the volume lower.
And more:
And images:
Still more:
Monterey Bay Aquarium also has several guided meditation videos they call MeditOcean.
What Day Is It Anyway? #WDIIA, is a blogging community hosted by Linda G Hill especially for these times.
Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2020, # A-Z Challenge 2020
Featured image ‘Solitude and the Sea’ by artist Jacques Bodin
Notes Tied On The Sagebrush 