Yellow Azalea

9 November 2021

Today is Day 83 of this long, long lockdown. Most people I speak to are over it, over trying to harness mother nature. Tonight at 11.59 pm Auckland will change to Alert Level 3, Stage 2. The main difference – we will be able to go to the shops (wearing our masks) and we can gather in groups of up to 25 – OUTSIDE and with multiple households, in place of the two household bubble.

I will now be able to return to work after 12 weeks and having used up all my holiday pay I am pleased to get back to it. Because I work for a Company that trades nationwide, they have not qualified for the Resurgence Subsidy, meaning that as I have a Stand down clause in my contract, there is no pay. Mostly, I consider myself lucky to work for a Company that is still operating, as there are many that have shut their doors. However, sometimes I feel angry that I have had to use up my annual leave through no fault of my own either. Thankfully, we are able to support ourselves on Phil’s income and as we have needed to care for Mitch, I would not have had time to work anyway. Unprecedented times for sure.

Yesterday, I went into work and unpacked boxes and bags of stock that had arrived. A massive job, to unpack, tag, steam and merchandise all the clothes. I really hope people will support our shops once they open. With clothing, if people are not ‘going out’ they don’t buy as much anymore and there is still an uncertainty around events and gatherings. The restrictions mean weddings, funerals, Christmas parties and all that goes with summer are in jeopardy. I know I have grown rather attached to my tracksuit bottoms and T-shirts. In other ways, it will be nice to dress up again – even if we can not get our hair cut and coloured yet. It is one of the strange quirks of lockdown that hairdressers are still not able to open.

The last 2 weeks have been slightly better as Mitch has been able to go to school for 4 hours per day, 3 days per week. He is having some one on one time with a Teacher Aide, and it seems to be giving him a bit of routine to his week. This morning he sat bolt upright in bed and signed for school and I had to tell home – not today. I tell him we are in lockdown, but I am not sure whether it has any significance or not. I have to accept that I will never know how much he understands.

I am now 4 weeks into the Dr Libby programme and the last couple of days I have been craving a coffee. I am 3 weeks free of Caffeine, Dairy and Gluten and almost free of sugar. I have to admit to having had a bought dressing which had a tiny bit of sugar in it – but the rest of the time I have been eating real, wholefood. Energy wise I am feeling better than I was, but I’m not bouncing off the walls yet. I had a sore back after golf last week and it made me a bit sluggish and unable to do any yoga. It’s better now so I can get back to yoga.

I have completed a couple of scrapbook layouts that have been in the pile of work in progress ones for some time – it feels good to finish something and to look back at some good times! This one is celebrating Holly’s lead performance as The Artful Dodger in Oliver!

Then a simple pocket page about a golf tournament I went to with a group of the ladies from Windross Farm. I do find myself gravitating to a more minimalist style of scrapping these days – it’s pretty basic but it is able to be put in an album – instead of just being a pile of photos in a box. That makes me happy.

17 November 2021

Yesterday was our 30th wedding anniversary. Amazing now to think I have been married for more than half my life. Lockdown meant another night at home as we still have no restaurants, bars, casinos or indoor entertainment venues open. It’s feeling crazy. Mum and Dawn came over for lunch and Mum put a colour in my hair to help hide some of the greys. As I am not a person who has set appointments with the hairdresser, it is almost certain I will not get a booking once the hairdressers can open under the traffic light system. Mum did a pretty decent job I think!

We had another 1 pm announcement about travelling around the country. Finally, it was announced that we will be able to move out of (and into) Auckland from the 15th of December. I am beyond happy about this as both my brothers and their families live out of Auckland and it is our turn to host Christmas. This means we can go ahead.

It was also proposed that on 29 November we will be advised when we can changeover to the red light system – this is our country’s new suppression strategy based around vaccination rates. The system was designed to push us to achieve a 90% vaccination status so that most of the population have some resistance to covid before we all gather again. It’s been slow going, and on the surface it doesn’t seem as though there are many differences, but the biggest ones are that hospitality will reopen and that we will be allowed more freedoms if we are vaccinated. Those who are not vaccinated will not be able to access some venues. It’s a tough and divisive rule, if you are sitting in the unvaccinated camp or you have friends and family still holding back.

Not much time for the art journaling of late, but here is a little page that I got finished to remind myself to take time to look around and notice. Inspiration is everywhere. In the Get Messy season of cultivation one of the prompts was Colour Chroma with Lisa Solomon. The idea was to use an object as inspiration for a colour study. Ironically, I did this the other way – created the page on the right and then added the magazine image, which I think pulls it together.

20 November 2021

I haven’t had a lot of time to put into my seasonal journal this month – been very busy with Mitchell and adjusting to being back at work has made a difference. But I am still moving ahead with focusing on my BODY this month and finding that reminding myself about what is important to me (my values) is working in my favour. When I was working out what values to choose, I started with a list of 10 and then narrowed it down to the 5 I am using for my seasonal year.- Family Happiness, Health, Creativity, Achievement and Energy. Again – I have used the colours from the horse as inspiration for my journaling.

And that’s about it for today, otherwise this little summary of the last couple of weeks will never end.

Don’t forget to notice what is around you.

Cherie