Life in Silly Valley

Over the weekend, ThingTwo and I slept out in our tent in the back garden. We didn't need the fly sheet and our tent has a mesh roof, so at night we could see the stars.  My favourite part was seeing nature unfold at dawn. We miss so much, living inside. First the stars gradually disappear and the sky turns purple. Then birds start flying quietly overhead. Busy on their commutes from roost to... where? Just a few calls at first, then a deluge, the dawn chorus begins. I don't know if I've never listened before or if it is different this year - so much birdsong. The sun takes a long time to make an appearance. The first signs are a few golden leaves in the old yucca tree catching the glancing beams from beyond the horizon. When the sun does rise, so much light flares from the tiniest sliver. The garden is bathed in gold, but then 'dawn goes down to day', and the spectacular is replaced by the familiar.  All around the world , nature has been enjoying a human-...

Forty-two days of shelter-in-place. Saying it in days is a pretty big impressive number. We just heard today that the shelter-in-place orders will be extended until the end of May (from May 3), with some small revisions that will be revealed later this week.  I keep thinking we've reached some sort of routine, a new normal, but then something crops up and throws it all to the wind. This week ThingTwo had a complete collapse. The reasons for her being so upset were unrelated to the virus (and I've vowed to keep that between us) but it became clear that my hands-off approach to how she spent her days wasn't working. Thing Two has an uncanny ability to analyse her own emotions while she is having them - quite unlike anyone else in the family. So after all my lame attempts to calm her down she suggested we play cards for a while and then explained that she thought it might be good if she planned out each day the evening before and that she would like to do more things toge...

The English village where my parents live has started an online email group to communicate with each other during the pandemic. Initially the concept was to connect people who couldn't leave the house with volunteers who could do shopping, pick up prescriptions, and so on. But, at least for my parents, it has become entertainment - a window into the wonderful nature of English eccentricity.  Over the past few weeks highlights include an announcement that Alpaca poo was available to those in need (apparently it is marvellous for the garden). Recently a lady emailed that she would be placing her model of the Taj Mahal in her front garden for viewing as people took their daily walks. A local painter is painting a series of lockdown-inspired paintings - she sends out a message when she has placed a new painting to view in her window. And last week a boy put his scale replica of the village church crafted in cardboard out on display to celebrate Earth Day.  In Italy there...

We've been at home for five weeks now.  I think that must be the longest we've ever been all together as a family, all day, every day, in one location. If there is a silver lining, it is that under normal circumstances we would never have this rare time together. Over the last week or so there has been a lot of talk about 'how do we come out of lockdown?' The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who is, I think, handling the situation pretty well so far, said, " If we're ultimately going to come back economically, the worst mistake we can make is making a precipitous decision based on politics and frustration that puts people's lives at risk and ultimately sets back the cause of economic growth and economic recovery." On Tuesday he laid out a 'health-based' framework that needs to be in place before California will ease shelter-in-place: 1. availability of widespread testing and tracking,  2. ability to monitor vulnerable populations,   3...

A common theme in the media these days seems to be articles where experts tell us how to fill our days. Yes, there have always been review sections in the papers about the best ways to direct our precious leisure time, but now 'Culture' sections are full of long lists of pandemic-appropriate movies, books, TV shows to binge. "Here's our guide to the best time-melting boxsets to watch when boxed in." Perhaps spending leisure time at home has become a lost art? Perhaps during 'normal life' people don't spend much time at home other than sleeping, cooking/eating, and Marie-Kondo-decluttering? I do remember the mad rush of life  back in the days when I was working full time. Being at home felt like an extension of work - an endless to-do list of half-finished projects. But since moving down here our lives changed quite radically - the kids have no weekend activities and I have more time in the week to work on my to-do lists. Given the increased opport...

It has really come to something when the headlines from Trump's daily briefings almost scare me more than the virus! More than headlines such as 'One in five deaths [in UK] now linked to Coronavirus' or  'World faces worst decline since 1930s depression' or 'German zoo may have to feed animals to each other' or even 'One Direction speaking about reunion'. The BBC North American editor Jon Sopel wrote an amazing editorial following Monday's briefing where he said, " This has been the most dizzying, jaw-dropping, eyeball-popping, head-spinning news conference I have ever attended."  The purpose of the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings is supposedly to provide medical information to the public. On Monday however, the briefing started with what was essentially an election campaign video trying to re-write history on Trump's response to the coronavirus.  How unbelievably distasteful. When the room of bewildered repo...