Who's Getting Us Through It?

I'm off (in more ways than one)

Good thoughts come from letting our mind stray. Bye all

Safe and sound, in mind and body!

Parker, good luck with the essay! I'm going to take some time away from my computer, but will check my email after dinner Lloyd - thank you! Peggy, I think you may have signed off, but it was really great to have you and Susan here too!

Colleen, check your email for light and fluffy!

Just wondering - Susan, are you still here?

Oh, I can send you some light and fluffy. But unfortunately they are currently all on my cellphone and I don't know how to report them onto my desktop. I need some like Parker to come (oops, no you can't come into my building!) and help me with my electronics.

That being said, I think humour is a good survival mechanism. Where are you finding sources of levity right now? Are there any particular comedians/shows/books any of you can recommend? I know that a lot of the humour these past few weeks has tended towards gallows humour, and it can feel wrong to laugh at something so serious. But as they say, "If you don't laugh, you'll cry."

Thinking is tiring, and articulating thoughts is tiring. The thing about right now is, there aren't a lot of light and fluffy conversations going on.

Since I have a calendar on line I keep being reminded about meetings or get togethers I can no longer attend.. For example, no more choir rehearsals, but my calendar doesn't know that and I presume they will eventually restart.

It's harder for me to keep track of all the different aspects and threads.

Lloyd and Peggy, you both make good points. I also appreciate the fact that, even if we don't have the same concerns, we take one another's concerns seriously.

If I can circle back a bit, do you find yourselves experiencing any screen exhaustion from conducting so much of your social interaction remotely? My phone tells me that my screen time was up 78% this past week. And I'm not watching a lot of shows or playing games online. That primarily represents the amount of time I'm spending video chatting or conferencing. Yikes!

Sometimes our innate conversations lead to deeper thoughts. That’s just us!

I'm not sure that we have gone off on tangents today. You asked what we're doing and the responses are telling you. We're just not on the same wavelengths. And perhaps we don't hare the same concerns.

And, for Parker, it'll provide a nice contrast from writing an essay. No need to streamline your thoughts here! Basically, we have some stream of consciousness writing happening.

It's not the first time this group has gone off on tangents in our conversations! I think the circle about fads and trends showed us just how easily we can shoot off in different directions. It's all good.

On really important (to me anyway) issues, I am fortunate to be in touch with port chaplains all across North America. Our Exec Director send out regular and irregular news letters and he's very tech savvy ... I just the other day watched an interview he coordinated between the Lutheran port chaplain in NYC, the port manager in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and a RC chaplain from I think it was Louisiana. They tell of how their ministries have changed in that the seafarers cannot leave their ships and the chaplains can't visit them aboard, either. Yet the ships still visit North American ports.(except those on the St. Lawrence Seaway. Shipping stops currently at Montreal.

I've also been asking myself daily, what action can I be taking during this time of inactivity. One of my strengths is my writing skills, and since we are now needing to lean more heavily on writing as a means of communicating, what can I write that will make a difference?

Thanks to Parker a new topic has opened up.

So, maybe this whole situation is giving us a time out for bad behaviour? We all need to sit in the corner for awhile, and think about what we've done.

In a way, it's analogous to chronic versus acute illness. Right now, we're suffering an acute crisis. But this doesn't mean the longstanding ones go away - climate change, for example. Or our broken relationship with and broken promises to the Indigenous Peoples.

This health crisis will cause great harm to our indigenous population. Shame on us ,mans in humanity to man.

And this raises another question for me: how do we make sure really important issues don't fade from our attention while this current crisis looms in the foreground? So much harm can happen when things are allowed to happen under the cover of darkness.

Up until a month ago, I was participating in an online group called the Reconciliation Book Club led by Pam Palmater, an academic and social justice leader from Mi'kMa'ki. If you need any recommendations of source materials, let me know. Dr. Palmater has introduced us to some really important books on the topic of injustices perpetrated against our Indigenous Peoples.

I took indiginous studies at Brock. Your essay topic will keep you engaged. There is so much to learn from it.

Parker, with that topic you should not run out of material.

What's the topic of the essay?

Thanks Peggy, I know you did, but what I a actually did was to take the bowl from the oven, remove the loaf, and then, without thinking, put it in the sink to cool and tutne on the cold water. Pyrex shatters! Surprise! One of the women in this building was helping another inmate (oops I mean tenant,) and she had cleaned the oven with heat and managed to shatter the glass in the oven door.. That was also a nerve shattering experience.

I am fortunate to have access to technology, so I can still communicate with my friends and family through phone calls, texts, and social media. Schoolwork is now being assigned online, so I have been keeping myself busy by catching up with that. This whole thing is just as weird for me as it is for you guys though

Here's a question: when you're interacting with people online (like right now), do you find yourself multi-tasking, or limiting yourself to one interaction at a time. Be honest! I ask because I'm trying to develop new habits here. Instead of interrupting one message/chat to flip to another, I'm trying to be present in one virtual space at a time. This is not a criticism, if you're doing it differently. I think I'm just trying to simulate in-person contact more now that I can't have as much of that.

Us old folks sometimes feel like teenagers.lots of walking also, strangers appreciate the long arm gesture and a smile. Lloyd I told you not to throw the bowl at the cat! Peggy

Do you mind sharing, from a teen perspective, how you're adjusting to the social distancing and changes to the regular run of life? (Everyone knows I'm talking to Parker here, since he's the only one here who qualifies as a teen!)

True. At one time when I was under a lot of stress I liked kneading bread and then discovered the no knead method but it takes forever, like about 20 hours. Have to time it right so that the twenty hours doesn't end in the middle of the night!

Parker, I was just about to write that it might be wishful thinking to imagine the students will join us here, and then you appeared!

Lloyd, maybe it'll need to be biscuits now. You can mix those in a pot!

This may be the first Say It meeting I have't been late to and won't have to leave early

Tried my hand at baking a no-knead bread recipe. The second loaf was better than the first, but alas do to the shattering of my largest pyrex bowl, there will be no more bread.

I'm actually alone in the house right now. The other 3 are all out walking. It feels strange (but a little bit wonderful) to have the place to myself.

I'm still getting out to take long walks, alone or with one of my household members. Daniel (my eldest) and I were just out for a stroll, and were talking about how quickly it's starting to feel normal to give a very wide berth to anyone we see approaching. And yet, there's no feeling of coldness about it. Everyone understands. And, as Susan said last week, I think people now are making more of an effort to connect in the way they can, with eye contact, a smile, and a quick exchange of pleasantries.

Lots of creative cooking going on also must eat it all. As heard on tv. Try on jeans occasionally for fit!

Yes, accounts I've read from Italians who have been going through this for much longer than us suggest that we'll eat and sleep a lot more during these months.

We have an interesting rhythm around our house right now. Except for Tim, who is still in morning to evening meetings on Brock University business, the other 3 of us sort of cycle from room to room, sometimes doing things together, sometimes just sitting in one another's presence but immersed in completely separate activities.

I also sleep a lot more!

Peggy, Lloyd was telling me that you're providing him with reading materials. For a voracious reader, this is a true lifeline! Like Susan, I'm fortunate to be in mutual isolation with Tim and two of my three children (adults, but my children, nonetheless).

child

I play games on FaceTime with my grandson who is an only

I read and send frequent texts to my kids near and far and farther.

Family and friends all keeping in touch. Never alone..Just an aside does everyone know about hoopladigital.com,download app, need library card. Lots of free movies, books and music for those who miss our library.

My husband Ron is elping me get through this, and visa versa.