This post is not about quilting at all.
As we begin the 8th month of the year after Covid hit, life is in flux again. Enough people are not vaccinating themselves, that a new variant of Covid 19 is now on the rise. The new Delta is easy to transmit and to catch. Vaccinated people who catch the new variant, will probably have a lighter experience with the illness. Non-vaccinated people are more likely to crowd the hospitals to get care. I've been seeing people quoted from their deathbeds saying they wish they had taken the vaccine, and other families saying they are waiting for more data to determine which vaccine to take.
Early on, as the vaccines were almost released, I listened to a researcher describing the different ways they worked. During the zoom Q&A, my question was do we make the decision on which to take, or does our doctor. And the researcher said really it would be a matter of what vaccines were available rather than making a choice. And I felt a bit relieved to not have to be the one researching the different kinds that were being developed. I am not a scientist nor a person with medical background. I'm happy to have the experts make informed decisions for me. I'm glad there are experts.
It's really a sad, unfortunate and preventable state of affairs that we may be on the way to another shut in. Many, but not enough, of the eligible US population now are protected with at least one dose of the vaccines, and there has not been mass incidents of infertility, deaths from vaccines or other side effects being pedaled by Fox or Facebook and more.
We can see that where people are not getting vaccinated or masking the rate of hospitalizations is higher. Where we live in California, thanks to federal and state government plans, the vaccine has been available for people ages 12 and up for a while. I'm happy to wear a mask when I'm around others to protect myself and them. I just hope enough people will vaccinate in time so a stronger variant will not develop and the current vaccines do not do the job.
During the upcoming shut-in*, I hope to finally, really be able to take advantage of this extra in-house time and to actually go thru our possessions and to make better decisions on what to keep, what to store, what to donate, what to toss, and make arrangements for repairs and changes.
* During the initial shut-in I spent an enormous amount of time planning for food and medicine - and worrying and exercising.
So this past week, I've been building off the work I previously had done** and I am really doing a better job of going thru the stacks of papers that I have accumulated since the initial shut-in. Working about five hours most days. It's difficult to work for longer on this stuff. We are even getting carry in food so I not have to deal with meals! I have been putting this off forever, mainly just boxing things up and moving those around.
** I went thru the house and garage and pulled together boxes with papers in my workspace so they are in one place. I also went thru and boxed up items that are for my DH and DS to go thru - these are mostly in a storage unit now. There is at least one more area to go thru but instead of continuing that I'm processing what I have in my work area now!
Now I have gotten rid of a bunch, and have filed away most of the rest. Planning to be done with the filing and then will go back to putting information into Quickbooks... then I will be ready to sew again.
As a bet with myself to be done with going thru the boxes I pulled out to work on (from the office and garage, now in my working space) before the autumn. I went a little wild and signed up for online zoom Sept and Oct classes thru EBHQ to reward the future finally-done-with-these-boxes me. I'm looking forward to being able to sew again - and to not have these boxes filled with papers taunting me every day....
Ah, the fires. They are getting larger and larger. We had fires here several years ago so I know the people near the fires now are in poor air quality - hopefully since we are all aware of masks, they are wearing them and it is helping them. But better to stay inside, if there is an inside to shelter in.
And water. It hasn't really hit us here in the south but in the middle of the state the farmers are having to make decisions on which crops to plow under and which to try to save. They do not know what quantity of water they will be able to get. Years ago we took out our lawn in the front, so just have a little patch in the back area now. It is now only watered enough so it doesn't completely die during all the heat filled days.
And voting rights/elections/conspiracies/power hungry/unkind people. And more and more.
Everything is connected. It's overwhelming to be aware of all the badness and potential badness in the world. I am thankful that there are educated and dedicated people thinking about all this. And I will do my part.
So to distract ourselves we have taken to watching television in the evenings. But it hasn't been distracting enough. The English Doctor season two has episodes on how they handle smallpox in a small mining town in Wales in the 1960s. Trust Science, Stay at Home, Social Distance, Wear Masks, Get Vaccinated! We haven't seen all the episodes yet but the series is several years old so Covid wasn't an issue when it was written or produced.
Tales from the Loop so far has different stories about different kinds of time and space travel. The second episode upset me so much. I had two friends tell me perhaps I shouldn't watch any more. DH and I had watched the third - but I think I will pass on the rest.
The episode where the two boys switch bodies on a lark - one dies so the other is stuck in his friend's body, life and family. And because the parents and boy did not/do not talk very much - they do not even notice that it is not their child sitting at the dinner table with them! Cutting too close to reality I fear. Would my family notice if a replacement me was sitting with them? They might notice in the back of their consciousness.
One of those friends (who suggested I not watch the rest of the series) told me to pretend I was replaced with a person who got thru the boxes - so I think of that as I look at the contents to toss, or keep. I think/hope the boxes I've set in my workspace to go thru all contain papers. So at least there will be no repair or replacement needed.
When I finish these then there are boxes in the garage with non-paper things to go thru too. I hope I had already found all the paper boxes. I plan to enjoy a bit of time after I finish the ones in this challenge are processed. To sew, exercise, plan/prepare new meals, learn new things, do more with my family and friends. Hopefully travel.
Then to continue by setting up a new sets of things to go thru... and maintaining what I have done better than before.
