I’ve Been Quiet

 Posted by at 8:39 am
Aug 012020
 

I’ve been quiet – purposely so. It’s been quite a hard time for me – but compared to so many I haven’t anything to complain about. I’m not invalidating my own worries and mental health, but figured that not moaning online about it all was the least I could do.

Back when I last posted in May, my overriding worry was that I wouldn’t get home to my family this summer – it really did consume me.

Well, I’m home now. I have been here for 13 days which means that tomorrow we get to break out of self-quarantine. It was all a lot easier than I thought it would be; for a while when the EU first brought in a travel ban on passengers from the US, I thought it was done and was very, very down. Turns out, though, that the restriction didn’t apply to travel to Ireland or the UK for me, and although I had to fly out of a different airport 5 hours away, it meant we could get home.

Please note that I have been really vigilant all through this – I was the one not allowing my kids to see their friends long after everyone else thought it was all right, and have been nowhere but the supermarket for 4 months. New York state as a whole has really beaten this virus, and in particular our county had not had any active cases for weeks. The girls and I were tested before we came, and I had my parents tested too. In Northern Ireland, daily cases are around 5 or less, and there have been no deaths in the whole country since the 12th of July. As mandated by the Irish and UK governments, we filled in tracking and locator paperwork, and have self-isolated for 14 days. We wore masks from the moment we got on the shuttle bus to the airport, all through the flight, all through the coach trip from the airport, until we got into mum’s house – an 18 hour journey. Please, I do not want to hear anything about being selfish or irresponsible because that is not the case. My journey was pretty necessary for a number of personal reasons, and I for one am very glad to be out of the US and feel much safer here.

The US feels like a different world now. People here and around Europe in general are still being careful, but there is an out-of-the-woods feeling – at least for right now. There is the knowledge, perhaps even the expectation, that things could get bad again, but there are measures and preparations in place. A bit like NY really, which seems to be one of the small beacons of light, hope, and sense in the middle of that clusterfuck. The selfishness of a certain type of person in places like Texas and Florida should shock me, but it doesn’t. Having lived there nearly 20 years now, all the US seems to me is a rich 3rd world country – almost proudly backwards and ignorant, and steeped in tradition and superstition (religion). The handling of the pandemic has shown the rest of the world exactly what they are, and it’s not pretty.

The measures they needed to take were pretty clear – and there was a roadmap from other European nations to follow who were several weeks ahead on their curves. But no. Oh no, no, no. Individualism and freedom at all costs, but no responsibility. Like a bunch of fucking whining toddlers.

Let’s see how long it finally takes the US to get this under control, and how much the lag ends up being. So much winning, right?

It’s A New Week?

 Posted by at 12:08 pm
May 042020
 

I meant to post yesterday with a weekly roundup, and now it’s today and it’s a new week. But my socks say Saturday, and every day is like Sunday, to quote Mozza – so we’ll allow it.

We’re another week further on – that’s always the first comfort I take.

School has been cancelled for the rest of the academic year – that means when they do go back they will have been out for 6 months. Wow. Distance learning is going OK for my girls – but they long to return to school and were very disappointed at the news. We know it’s for the best, though.

My squirrel continues to eat from my hand. She took a nut from Niamh too, but bit Caoimhe on the finger when she tried – so I know she is a creature of rare judgement and exceptional taste. LOL.

My azalea bush is trying her best, bless her wee heart. I bet she wishes she hadn’t bothered – but she was lulled into a false sense of security by a couple of milder temps between last week’s snow and today’s 45 degrees.

I hate gardening, but I like that bush because hummingbirds come to it. I doubt it this year, though – it’s still cold and I bet she will have stopped blooming by Friday.

Reasons to be cheerful

In what I like to think of as an exercise in hope rather than futility, I began my shawl competition entry for the New York State Fair (which has not yet been cancelled).

It’s the beautiful Aquarelle by Lidia Ziginova, using gorgeous Love Potion #3 from Gossamer Web. I wanted to begin it by April, instead I started May 1st. Oh well, still a full month earlier than I normally begin it – the goal being to have it done and sent before I go to Ireland in July. Yes, I am still hoping we can go home in July. Please do not tread on my dreams, anyone – they are keeping me going right now.

It’s a little acorn now, but just watch…

I have finished all my pre-requisite courses for my Masters – no more studying for me until September! Somehow, I ended up with a 99.3% average in Biology, although it befuddles me and I’m not good at it. I have no idea of my Sociology grade because the teacher has not graded one thing – assignment, test, paper – since the course started in January.

I have assignments that I submitted in January that are still ungraded. I submitted my final paper and finished the whole course on March 27th, and still not a single grade.

So yeah – not particularly happy about that. But it’s Sociology, I’m sure the grade will be OK…

Weekly Wins

 Posted by at 6:09 pm
Apr 262020
 

Another week in lockdown down – grim, but tolerable, and grateful that I’m in a position to be able to stay home and work and study from here.

So I thought I’d try to focus on the positives (for a change) that happened this week:

  • We’re a week further on. A week closer to some semblance of normality, and being able to see our loved ones again. Here in NY hospitalizations, deaths, and new cases have been dropping steadily for a couple of weeks now, and I hope we’re turning a corner – although it has meant so much tragedy for so many families.
  • My daughters have done really well with online learning this week – they’ve settled into a routine with a good balance, and have handed all their work in on time. I daresay they might even be enjoying it.
  • I’m almost done with the prerequisites I need for the Master’s in social work I’m starting in September. By Tuesday at the latest it should be all done and dusted, and I have an A+ in all courses.
  • I have lots and lots of design work on – more than I can keep up with. I’m getting new ideas constantly, and it’s just getting the time to work on them. Oh, wait a minute – I have that!
  • I cut my own hair last night and it looks fine. Is it even? Probably not – but I have curly hair! You can’t tell!
  • I saved the best until last! One of my garden squirrels took a nut out of my hand! She’s done it 4 times now over the last 2 days. I am beyond excited – I have been trying to get to this point for years. I feckin love my wee squirrels!

What about you? What were your wins this week??