ARE YOU/WE BEING PRODUCTIVE WHILE QUARANTINED??

The ongoing saga with COVID-19........

My friend HELEN in AUSTRALIA sent the following in a recent email. I find it CALMING and hope you do too!

A priest in Ireland shared this (you don’t need to be religious to appreciate the sentiment): 

 

LOCKDOWN

 

Yes there is fear.

Yes there is isolation.

Yes there is panic buying.

Yes there is sickness.

Yes there is even death.

But,

They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise

You can hear the birds again.

They say that after just a few weeks of quiet

The sky is no longer thick with fumes

But blue and grey and clear.

They say that in the streets of Assisi

People are singing to each other

across the empty squares,

keeping their windows open

so that those who are alone

may hear the sounds of family around them.

They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland

Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.

Today a young woman I know

is busy spreading fliers with her number

through the neighborhood

So that the elders may have someone to call on.

Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples

are preparing to welcome

and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary

All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting

All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way

All over the world people are waking up to a new reality

To how big we really are.

To how little control we really have.

To what really matters.

To Love.

So we pray and we remember that

Yes there is fear.

But there does not have to be hate.

Yes there is isolation.

But there does not have to be loneliness.

Yes there is panic buying.

But there does not have to be meanness.

Yes there is sickness.

But there does not have to be disease of the soul

Yes there is even death.

But there can always be a rebirth of love.

Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.

Today, breathe.

Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic

The birds are singing again

The sky is clearing,

Spring is coming,

And we are always encompassed by Love.

Open the windows of your soul

And though you may not be able

to touch across the empty square,

Sing.

My niece posed the question on FACEBOOK this morning, "WHAT DID YOU CLEAN OR STRAIGHTEN UP TODAY?"

I think her point was to find out if everyone is being productive in some way. I didn't "clean or straighten up" - instead, I spent the morning online comparing SKYPE with ZOOM to find the right format for my BOOK CLUB meeting later this week. My research found that SKYPE allows 110 minutes FREE and ZOOM allows only 40 minutes FREE. With 9 women I don't think 40 minutes will be enough!

Soooooo, FIVE of us did a trial run on SKYPE and worked through some difficulties and I was feeling very CONFIDENT that we could make this work, despite the poor quality of the transmission of video AND audio.

Then tonight I spoke with CLOVER!!!'s NANNY, NICHOLE - my trusty, SMART COLLEGE STUDENT, who told me that SKYPE is not the way to go. Oh geez....... Back to the drawing board.

We postponed the BOOK CLUB until the end of APRIL, so I now have plenty of time to come up with a better solution.

JOAN