Monday, March 30, 2020

My Grocery Store Map


Life has changed quickly. 
I am staying home with 2 exceptions:
Outdoor exercise and food shopping
For me, the grocery store poses a double hazard:
I am allergic to chemical sanitizers.  
I need to be out of there FAST.
Enter my aid: A Shopping MAP. It works well.
Do you have any new adaptations/aids during this time?
Be healthy and safe, friends...

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Home-Time in My Small Town



Since retirement, my home-time is very pleasurable. 
I have "stations" around the house for:
Painting • Drawing • Zumba & Exercise
Special Projects • Writing • Reading.
I am grateful for a working kitchen.

This is one time where being an Introvert comes in handy.

My life is less disrupted than are many others' lives.
In my small town the changes don't seem drastic to me,
 even though we do run out of toilet paper. 
We are lucky that we can afford to be calm & accepting.

We walk outdoors, & passersby are pleasant.
We are still a town of Hello's & waving to strangers. 
Yesterday as I was walking the Harbor Walk,
 a woman on a bench called out to me:

"We can still do this!" & she did a thumbs up,
& I replied "Yes, we are lucky!" 
and raised my thumbs to her.
 Kathy at the blog Catching Happiness 
(click Here
has a post about "Staying Positive..."
She mentions "Stress Cleaning."
I've been enjoying "Stress Organizing," like
taking inventory of my colored pencils. 
At some point I will do a phone order/roadside pick up 
at Fiddleheads,
my local art shop, which is closed...
Temporarily.
 Oooh, order & labels for my fountain pen inks!
(the small ones are samples I get from Goulet Pens.)
 Writing in my journal remains a daily pleasure.
On this day I was listening to France Bleu radio
& decided to create a sort of dictation & to search words
in the dictionary (Reverso online).
I just started a new Rhodia daily journal.
A new Lamy "Turmaline" fountain pen arrived from Goulet 
just before things shut down. 
Goulet is a small business with heart, 
that is paying its employees during this time. 

VoilĂ . 
Nice to reinforce good feelings via online networks 
in a time of physical isolation. 

How are you occupying your time 
in your "confinement" and "sheltering."?

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Sketching Small & Fast: Boston



Train trip to Boston. View from the window.
I've been longing to go for many months,
with my Midori Traveler's Notebook, 4 X 51/4 "
The Italian North End. 
Dense with cafe's, restaurants,
& pastry shops.
Bricco • Cafe Bella • Ristorante Fiore
Cafe Paradiso • Ristorante Quattro
Trattoria il Panino • Ristorante Saraceno
Lucca • Dolce Vita Ristorante

And 19th century churches. And Sunday church bells.

 A distant view as we walked 
from the North End to North Station.
 Museum of Science. The Butterfly Garden with 
a hall of terrariums outside their giant room
is alone worth the admisson.
I mean, have you ever seen insect eating plants,
or a Stick Insect (that looks just like a twig/branch!!)?
Science, nature, art, enchantment, magic
as colors sparkle and flutter through the air. 
Knowledgeable & eager student assistants
are like butterfly encyclopedias.
Better than Google~ the real thing!!

It's like we were in a giant tropical terrarium.
And you had to check yourself before exiting
to make sure a butterfly hadn't landed on you! 
Butterflies on a city view window
with the Charles River right out back. 

Exhilarating day, indoors & out!
Sketching made it more so!