How can it be that so much and yet so little has transpired in the last 250 days? The sameness of every 24 hours and yet the strangeness of these days is hard to wrap your mind around.

It's been more than 35 weeks since the world seemingly came to a screeching halt because of the Coronavirus and so it feels like the last 8 months (and potentially even more) have been lost. The countless big and little changes to our daily lives including the curtailing of school and college for millions , the move to work-from-home for anyone that can, the end to dining in restaurants, going to the theatre, the postponement and cancellation of myriad social events, vacations, and trips, crowd limits in stores, and the list goes on and on, have all made for the weirdest and, if I'm honest, the most unsettling year. Add to the heap: mask-wearing (becoming oddly politicized) , social distancing, no handshaking, Zoom (teleconference) calls for work and home life, household paper shortages, diligent hand washing, ubiquitous hand sanitizers, and most significantly the anxiety that comes from constant concerns about your health and the health of others. Especially sad are the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. FINALLY, cap it all off with a presidential election, the 59th since our country's founding and a particularly polarizing one, and 2020 is epically strange. 

I'm going to endeavor to post more often, as my intention was to record some of the details of this unique time in the world. Of course, many of these things I'd just as soon forget but others have been worth chronicling. I'll see you soon. 

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Gratitude for Life’s Small Gifts

Hummingbird feeder (and guest) outside our kitchen window

Endeavoring to make lemonade out of  lemons (which I can assure you does not come naturally to me) of the stay at home order and coronavirus, the last 100 or so days have come with several new, renewed, and beneficial activities, including lots of time looking at  and feeding the birds. Mind you, I’ve always loved birds or the idea of birds, anyway. Hummingbirds, in particular, with their incredible lightness and ability to fly up, down, forward, backward, sideways, and also hover, are fascinating. This year, I was excited to learn more about the feeding and behavioral habits of these tiny fast-flying creatures. Most interesting is that no hummingbirds are found in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, or Antarctica (Western Hemisphere, for the win). 

The two hummingbird feeders I placed in our yard in March are far enough apart to appease the hummingbirds’ territorial nature but close enough to our windows to enjoy viewing.  It’s an exercise in patience (yet another thing that does not come naturally to me) to put the feeders out weeks before they begin migrating and to wait for the hummingbirds to arrive. This year, I placed a small hummingbird swing adjacent to one feeder and am delighted to see them rest there (guarding their food source, the literature says). 

Though difficult to see, that's a heart-shaped hummingbird perch, on the left. 

I’ve had a hummingbird feeder or two in the past but never endeavored quite so ardently to keep it clean, ant-free (ants love the sugar water), and full.  It’s a pleasure; watching hummingbirds arrive daily, most often very early in the morning as well as late in the afternoon, and trying to learn and embrace some life lessons from these little creatures. Hummingbirds are said to represent living a life filled with joy, light, and sweetness. Moving from flower to flower, they are fully present in the moment. Who couldn’t learn something from that?

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National Oatmeal Cookie Day

Speaking of cookies, as I did yesterday, today is National Oatmeal Cookie Day, as well as National Raisin Day, (they go hand in hand, I suppose,) but I'm not a fan and judging by the number of memes, there are lots of folks who agree with me.

My husband is a huge oatmeal raisin cookie fan, however. They are his favorite. 

This hilarious meme sums it all up pretty nicely.

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