Last night a couple of my fellow homeschooling moms set up a get-together of just us (no kids allowed!) We met in a parking lot and circled up with well more than six feet in between all of us. The irony was that it was INSANELY COLD!!! IN MAY!!!! So we were all huddled into our chairs with our coats and hats and blankets. But it was really great to see each other again and hear how everyone is doing.

Our state opens up to Phase 2 on Monday. Gatherings of up to 30 people allowed and a few more commercial places are opening again, including gyms.

How great is that, fantasia?!

Good to hear, coracle. I hope the gradual opening continues to go well.

Good to see you, IlF! It sounds like you're being wise as restrictions begin lifting.

Interesting to read everyone's comments at this unusual and challenging time.

We are grateful that the COVID cases at the long-term care homes near to where my elderly dad lives have really leveled off. The military was called in to one of the homes there to support and assist, as it was in quite dire straits. Really good to know they are present every day. My dad lives in an independent apartment, and none of the more than 1,000 tenants in all the Towers there have contracted the virus. The leadership there have been superb in their handling of this.

Ontario, Canada is barely beginning Phase 1, with great care. With our long weekend upon us in one day, there have been mandates out everywhere for no gatherings larger than five people, and even they need to be physically-distanced.

We do not know if public schools will open up yet this school year. That decision is to be made early next week. Maybe for the month of June, with restrictions ... maybe not until September, and then no doubt still with restrictions.

Some Canadian universities are regretfully planning to maintain online learning when the Autumn term commences, rather than physical classes. Maybe they can begin meeting again in person when the second semester begins in 2021 ... ??

The huge Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto (end of August) has been cancelled this year. This is only the second time in its 141 years of operation. The first occasion was for five years throughout WW II, when the expansive facilities were needed for a Training and Recruitment Centre.

The world is changed. I feel it in the isolation. I feel it in the quiet. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost; and many now live who remember it.

Yes, the Ruby Princess was a disaster for NSW. South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, and Tassy have had many days of zero cases. In WA, we have had one known case in the past 10 days and this case was someone returning from overseas. This is one time in my life that I am thankful for living in the most isolated city in the world. I hope NSW and Vic get their cases under control soon. Although, compared to the majority of the world, cases in these states are very minimum.

It is lovely to hear from you, IlF, & glad to hear you are okay. Yes it is a bit isolated in Western Australia. From today some of the restrictions we have been having are being lifted, & restaurants, pubs etc can have up to ten patrons at a time. Many of these businesses point out that such low patronage isn't really viable. They are still dithering around about school attendance & maybe in a week or two TAFE will be restarting for apprentices, because for so many jobs there needs to be "hands-on" learning in suitable learning installations. It is not only the teachers, many of them being both casual & seasonal, it is also the ancillary staff, such as the canteens there to cater for any students, attending classes, who have suffered.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of Sydney Morning Herald's Column 8 a couple of days ago, it was reported that someone had seen a van with a notice on it saying "You lied! My children are not a joy to be in class". There will be many parents, unused to the idea of home-schooling, who will be very relieved when school gets back to normal, & grateful for the put upon teachers.

In a new suburb called Caddens 2 km away, across the nearest large intersection, there is a retirement village, still in development only five years ago, which we had put our names down for, as it is close to all our local facilities. Unfortunately, the aged care facility has been the focus of media attention due to the COVID-19 deaths of about 16 of the elderly residents there. It is bad enough reading about the horror stories elsewhere, not only about the Ruby Princess, but it still is intensely sobering when it comes to one's own neighbourhood.

The world is changed. I feel it in the isolation. I feel it in the quiet. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost; and many now live who remember it.

Yes, & winter is coming, too. Not a good time for our oven to pack up & become unfunctionable. But let us look on the bright side. It will save electricity consumption at any rate.

We're having some restrictions lifted in England, sort of — some parks are re-opening, some people are allowed to go back to work, people from different households can meet up if they stay two metres apart, and so on. It's all a bit vague and nebulous, though. None of it makes much difference to me personally, as I've had my full time job all through this and very little has changed about that, except for heightened requirements for hand-washing and sanitising and PPE, as well as very strong restrictions on visitors at our care facility and quarantine requirements for anyone coming back from overseas or from any distance away. Happily, all our staff and residents have stayed well and safe throughout all this. (And my family back in Australia are all well too.)

The hardest part, really, has been our management's understandable and wise decision that we live-in staff mustn't go outside our grounds at all except within walking distance for exercise — no driving anywhere or going shopping at all (but we can order our own personal shopping with our facility's weekly grocery order from the supermarket, which is a relief). But things could be far, far worse and I'm so grateful for all we've got. Most of all, it's such a blessing to be living and working in a community where we're all supporting one another in prayer and knowing that God's love is sustaining us and the wider world through these difficult times.

If there's one good thing in this "Dark Island of Covid-19", I would say it's that it's brought on such an outpouring of love and gratitude in the wider community for all those "key workers" who are doing all they can to help bring us through, from those working in hospitals and care homes to those who are keeping our supermarkets stocked or collecting our garbage or whatever else is needed to keep society functioning. I was in central London this week for a home nursing visit and while it was strange to see the streets almost empty and most of the shops closed and shuttered, there are posters and billboards everywhere with inspiring and encouraging messages. Some I saw were "Please believe these days will pass"; "Be kind. Let's look out for one another"; "Let's thank our NHS heroes" (that's the UK's National Health Service) — and one quote for which I couldn't make out the attribution, but this is basically what it said: "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end." I hope that when this dark time does pass — as it will! — we'll find we're living in a kinder, more inter-connected and more caring world than we were before.

I hope that when this dark time does pass — as it will! — we'll find we're living in a kinder, more inter-connected and more caring world than we were before.

I couldn't have said it better. Thank you!

The hardest part, really, has been our management's understandable and wise decision that we live-in staff mustn't go outside our grounds at all except within walking distance for exercise — no driving anywhere or going shopping at all (but we can order our own personal shopping with our facility's weekly grocery order from the supermarket, which is a relief).

Sounds like a bummer.

The hardest part for me has been the library being closed. It should be partially opened next month. But it's pretty far away from where I live. (My family only goes there every two weeks.) And by the time I arrive, the maximum people allowed inside will probably be there already.

I have tons of books at home. But I'm not in the mood to read any of them. All I can think of are the books at the library I want to get. (Roughly 8 plus DVDs.) They're like an itch that I can't scratch.

I really shouldn't complain. Neither I nor anyone I'm close to has gotten sick. I have all this technology at my fingertips to keep me entertained and keep me in contact with my distant friends. Compared to people during the Black Plague, I'm in Paradise. But frankly I've been counting all these blessings for months and I'm a little sick of the exercise.

On a more cheerful note, Tony Shalhoub has appeared in a YouTube video in which he plays his character from Monk, my favorite TV show, navigating quarantine. It's part of a series of videos thanking health workers. It's really funny. (The video, I mean, not wanting to thank people.)

It should be partially opened next month. But it's pretty far away from where I live. (My family only goes there every two weeks.) And by the time I arrive, the maximum people allowed inside will probably be there already.

Our library semi-opened yesterday. They're not allowing anybody inside, but they are doing online reservations and then you can pick up from the parking lot.
Do you have a smart phone? There are apps out there that let you check out books and read them digitally. I use Libby.

My library hasn't worked out the details yet. They should announce them pretty soon though. They want currently checked out items to be returned June 1.

My country has recently lifted its lockdown to the second-lowest level, allowing lots of businesses, including hospitality, to open, but with specific rules that help maintain low contact rates. It also means schools have reopened for most children this week.

We have had four days with no new cases, which is a reflection on the previous level, and it's encouraging.
Lots of tourism businesses have lost income, so while our borders are closed we are being encouraged to be tourists in our own country.

I'm so glad to hear things are easing up in New Zealand and Australia, at least. I'm sometimes tempted to wish I could be back in Australia right now, but it's a very long way to go and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let me in! Not without at least two weeks of quarantine, that is.

Meanwhile, among the posters I mentioned that I've been seeing in London when I've had to drive there recently, there's a poem that's been posted in several places, which I'd glimpsed many times and wanted to read it properly, but I've never had the car stopped long enough, especially as the poem goes across four large poster pages. This afternoon, though, while waiting at traffic lights, I managed to whip out my phone and snap a photo of the poem, which turned out clear enough for me to read it at last, so I just wanted to share it here as well.

To give some context, the NHS is the UK's National Health Service, which has been doing an AMAZING job looking after all those who've been needing medical help during the pandemic. Ever since the lockdown started in March, it's become a weekly tradition for everyone to come out of their houses, or lean out of their windows, at 8 pm every Thursday and spend about 5 minutes clapping for the NHS and all other "key workers" who are helping to keep people safe and keep the country running. It's a little ironic that a crisis that is forcing us to stay apart from others is at the same time bringing us closer together in spirit, but that really is the effect — there's so much love and appreciation being shown in our communities and, as I said before, I hope that continues even after life goes back to "normal".

Anyway, here's the poem from the posters (copied verbatim — it's printed all in capitals and with the punctuation and line breaks as shown). As you can see, it's doggerel, but very heartfelt and indeed very London!

A QUIET PRAYER
HOLDS OVER
LONDON
THE TREES
BECOME OUR
CITIZENS &
GUARDIANS
IN THE WIND
THE TREES
HOLD
THEIR OWN
SILENT RIOT
IN OUR
HONOUR

WE ARE STOPPED
TO APPRECIATE
THE PEOPLE WHO
CARE FOR US /
A TENDER
PERCUSSION
ORCHESTRA OF
APPLAUSE JOINS
THE COUNTRY — A
FAIRY LIGHT NET
OF KINDNESS.
WE TRY OUR BEST
WE LOVE OUR
NHS.

LISTEN CLOSE
IN THE SKY
ABOVE YOU
WILL HEAR THE
POUNDING
HORSES OF
LOVE.

WE TRY OUR
VERY BEST /
WE LOVE
OUR
NHS
.

My library's reopening has been postponed yet another month. But it sounds like they really are making plans on how it's going to work so I'm fairly optimistic that relief is in sight. And my church is finally going to reopen next week.

(I live in North Dakota if anyone is interested about my area.)

Our library opened for returns and curbside pickup this past week. I'm hoping to get some items next week, mostly western movies and Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books for the siblings.   Items I had requested the library purchase before it closed aren't in the catalog yet, so I will be waiting for those for at least a few more weeks.

SnowAngel

NOTE: There have been quite a number of posts on the old forum that did not transfer here, as they were posted after the migration, so if anyone wants to re-post, here is the link to this thread on the old forum:

https://forum.narniaweb.com/viewtopic.php?p=331019#p331019

I cut my daughter's hair tonight. It was rough, I'm not going to lie. She has very curly hair (though she doesn't really have ringlets anymore) and while it's very forgiving if I miss a spot, it's also nearly impossible to tell if I miss a spot. 😛 Anyway, she's trimmed up. 
The one that really needs it though is the 3-year-old. I don't know what kind of bribery or flashy video screen I'm going to have to put on to get her to sit still because she is wiggly. 

The things I do thanks to Covid. Probably not going to cut my daughters' hair again after this. 

Meanwhile, for a lighter take on things, a friend just sent me this piece (of unknown origin) from a Facebook group she participates in...

Just be careful because people are going crazy from being trapped in their homes for months! Actually, I've just been talking about this with the wall and the toaster while drinking orange juice and we all agreed that things have been really tough. I didn't mention anything to the washing machine as she puts a different spin on everything. Certainly not to the fridge as he is acting cold and distant. In the end, the iron straightened me out as she said everything will be fine, no situation is too pressing. The vacuum was very unsympathetic... told me to just suck it up, but the fan was more optimistic and hoped it would all soon blow over! The toilet looked a bit flushed when I asked its opinion and didn’t say anything but the doorknob told me to get a grip. The front door said I was unhinged and so the curtains told me to ........yes, you guessed it .....pull myself together