Daily Quarantine Questions

Hi, friends. How are you holding up? Someone dear to me sent me the following image and gave me permission to share it. (I’d love to give attribution if I could learn where it originated. So if you created this, send me a message, and I’ll give proper attribution.) So here are some great daily quarantine questions for all of us:

Here are my answers:

1. Oh, God, yes, there are people I desperately need to check up on and get back in touch with. And there’s no time like the present . . . unless of course they’re still sleeping, at this hour, in their respective time zones . . . in which case, there’s no time like after they wake up.

Additionally, I’ve been making an effort to schedule video chats as much as possible. I’m starting to get good at using Zoom. This afternoon, I have a video chat with a friend to talk about business and marketing, always fun topics (IMHO).

2. My arms are still so fragile. Yesterday I worked in the garden, which gave my arms a good workout. That was all fine and good, but then I accidentally banged my arm on the stove overhang thingy, clumsily, while reaching up for salt. While my arm was in that fragile state. Grr! So voice and touch screen only for me today, no computer typing. Normal computer use, on command, is an expectation of normal I have had to learn to let go of.

3. I got outside already today! I went outside to water the plants I put in the ground yesterday. And I snapped this photo of wildflowers randomly growing in my backyard.

4. I can move my body by going on a walk. I will do my best to work that into my day today, and not let depression take over. I can also perhaps plant some more seeds, as long as I take care not to overwork my arm. Here’s a photo I took this morning of my snap peas that seem to be thriving.

5. My creativity is best expressed through reading and writing. I’m writing right now. And I finished one book yesterday, so now I need to choose a new book. I’d also like to buy some books, hopefully some that are more lighthearted than the ones on my nightstand. Something lighthearted sounds appealing right now. . . . Any recommendations?

And I want to give a shoutout to a really cool website called bookshop.org. You can order books online from them, and some of the proceeds go to local, indie bookshops. So shopping with them can help keep independent bookstores afloat during these difficult economic times.

6. Meditation. And a bubble bath.

7. I’m so grateful for my five beautiful egg-laying hens. A friend recently asked me why I bother spending so much time gardening and raising chickens. He wanted to know, is it financially beneficial for me? Am I saving money by doing all this work, instead of going to the grocery store and just buying fruits and vegetables and eggs? Or am I planning on somehow making money through this endeavor? Am I planning on selling eggs and vegetables? Am I planning on starting a blog about eggs and vegetables and monetizing that blog? Well, the answer is, no, I’m not making any money by doing this, I have no plans to make any money by doing this, and it would be cheaper to just go to the grocery store.

The reason why I garden and raise chickens is because I have always wanted to, ever since I was a kid. I’m fascinated by sustainability, and I was always curious about how food magically appeared in the grocery stores. I guess I always knew the day would come when the grocery stores would not be full. I do not think that these times, here in 2020, are the apocalypse! I think the grocery stores are going to fill up again, very soon. But maybe one day, in the distant future, the grocery stores will not be able to fill up again. So I guess I’m a little bit of a prepper. But even more than that, I’m an artist who is amazed and astonished by all living things . . . and here are three of my very favorites: Brene, Ottessa, and Kamala.

What are your answers to the daily quarantine questions?