Five Simple Things (May 15)

 Hello.

Hope you are staying safe, wearing masks, social distancing, and respecting others around you. Whether you feel, believe, or even want to wear a face mask, you should. There's been protests here for the lockdown and the face mask requirements. I just find all of that ridiculous. The protestors are literally protesting protection. Makes zero sense, but everyone has their opinion, even me with this post. But, the numbers just keep going up and a lot of them are able to recover. I am glad to see a lot of them are recovering to almost 100%. I just hope there aren't any long-term affects of this years from now with the people that have gotten the virus. Another reason I am glad that I am recovering from my surgery during this time. I am considered a person of vulnerable health, so I do not want to take any chances. Jeff has been adamant about coming in the side gate, through the garage, and leaving his things in the garage. Showering, and handwashing has been a huge plus, too. If Skylar goes with Jeff to the store, or to get supplies, they shower immediately upon returning, and everything is left in the garage for at least 24 hours and then sanitized before being brought inside. My room is another very sanitary area, so I am not worried about germs coming inside. I hope over time everything gets better for everyone. If you're someone that has been affected, physically, medically, or even mentally, during this time, I am sending as many positive vibes as I can. You can do this! Stay strong. Here are five things from this week.

1. This Sunshine.

Morning sunshine through the windows helps with my mental health during this time. I want to get up, but the pain is rough some days. I am glad to be able to sit up and eat on certain days. This week was hard on me and the pain I feel in my chest bothers me a lot. Again, I will speak more on this and do an entire post on what kind of surgery I had, and the extent of what was done. It's something I should have done in my 20s, but was too scared. I am not sure how I feel right now about it; whether, I am glad I had it done, or not. Hopefully, that mindset will change as I heal up more and can do more with my body. But, back to the sunshine, this week it came through the curtains and passed through the school bell we have in the front yard. The silhouette on the curtain made me smile. 

2. This Labyrinth.

(Source)   

I've been drawing up plans for a Labyrinth of our own, either here were we currently live, or on the land we are looking at buying. I would love to have something like this at both locations, but we are limited on space here. I want to design one that's at least a five mile walk around, but being here, I may be able to make it at least a mile and a half. I love some of the great layouts that you can find online. Here are a few of my favorites.

(Source)                                              (Source)

3. This Recipe.

A lot of quarantine cooking has been happening with many people, and we are no different. We followed a recipe online and made these roasted red potatoes and onions with rosemary, similar to the Olive Garden's version. They were delicious and soft enough for me to eat, too. This will definitely be a recipe I will post on the blog later. In the meantime, you can find a similar one here.

4. This Road Sign.

During my last checkup for my surgery, this road sign across I5 was present. And, of course, it was raining. This sign was the first time I actually got to see anything related to the Coronavirus pandemic. It was quite strange to me. It was nice to see that the Oregon Department of Transportation and Governor Brown were putting forth some efforts to make people aware of the seriousness of the virus. Hopefully, people took it seriously enough that were traveling through the state.

5. This Meal.

 

I've been able to eat a bit more solid foods the last few days and this meal was amazing. Jeff brought it to me on Mother's Day this week (May 10) and even though I didn't eat all of it, it was still nice to be able to have something more than just mashed potatoes and other soft foods. I eat all of my meals in the bed right now, but this nice setup made me feel special. 

Positive affirmations this week: "What adventure would completely excite you right now?"

Purchasing a Sprinter Van and traveling across the United States and take pictures of all the sights that bring me joy. Although, this plan is not completely out of reach, it is something I would love to be doing right now. Here's to future planning!

Have a nice weekend.

Golf Game

When the golf courses were opened back up, we took the opportunity to take advantage and work on our long and short games. I was only an observer, of course, but I still had fun hanging out with Skylar and Jeff.

My bumblebee putter Skylar and Jeff got me. Although I couldn't use it then, I do love it and I think it will be a lot of fun to use when I can play golf again.

Road Trip to Chemult, Oregon, Amtrak station

Yesterday we decided to get out of the house again, but this time we drove to Chemult, Oregon, and check out their Amtrak station that's literally in the middle of nowhere. It's somewhere that Skylar found online and with everything going on, we figured it would be a lowkey road trip just to explore. And, we were right, there was no one around and it was almost eerie. 

Raising Snails

 

Our snails got a new habitat this week and they are loving it do far. As we were preparing the dirt to add to the new habitat we found hundreds of babies in the soil. We ended up putting them in the front flowerbed away from the ducks, and we wished them well. 

There's a great unit study at Woodlark about snails. We have enjoyed keeping ours and following the progress of Woodlark's snails, too. There's a lot of great things that snails and slugs can go and a lot of them meet their end here in the Willamette Valley because they are seen as a nuisance. They may eat vegetable leaves and some fruits, but overall, they are just trying to survive.