Days of a Plague, Season 2, Week 4

Day 22, September 2. Ben's Holiday 3/14. A year ago today I boarded a plane to come home after three weeks helping siblings clean out mom's condo and move her into a care facility. It was a tumultuous trip and I had stuff on my mind. Though I've written to and spoken with Mom many times, and communicated with my sister and one friend electronically, I wanted to write to them once the dust settled.

After coming home I bought nice Kiwi design cards, but I was never sure what to say. Finally in November I filled up the cards and bought NZ chocs and nice smelling soaps but never got around to posting them. It was a busy-ish summer and/or I might have been avoiding sounding OK with everything or felt I hadn't said enough. Came the merry season and we ate the chocs and used the special soaps.

It's these letters I was going to write yesterday, in addition to the scribbles inside the cards. I wanted to type and print them because my handwriting is difficult to read at best and it's easier to edit while typing. I felt I had to say something... meaningful... in addition to Corona, the weeding, cooking and the temporary absence of weaving. Put some thoughts into them.

Except the printer broke. Or Ben broke it. Whichever, it has served us for many, many years and, as much as I hate throwing things away, especially plastics, let's face it, it's nigh on impossible to get old electronics repaired these days. Especially in a small town. So that's on order. I drafted the first letter.

It's really been a LONG and VERY short year.

Day 23, September 3. Ben's Holiday 4/14. Planned to go outside as soon as I washed the dishes, but remembered we bought veg to process, so I thought I'd do them quickly.

We love lacto-fermented beans and beetroot, but I fail more often than not, so I used smaller jars. Also roasted beetroot; prepped sourdough that'll go in the oven tonight; made mayo. Remembered I did a load of laundry yesterday so gave it another rinse cycle, sniffed, and hung them; tried to take an old stain out of mom's jacket... And... it was nearly 2PM.

I have to change the way I spend the day; the sun is getting stronger so I should go outside in the morning to weed, come in when the sun is strong, and do whatever, rather than the pattern I fell into during the autumn/winter lockdown. Starting tomorrow.

As long as I didn't go outside, I promised myself I'll finish the letters instead. It's OK, there is six more hours of today left.

Was-Pink

Was-Purple

Was-Purple

Still-Slate

Day 24, September 4. Ben's Holiday 5/14. I was really really tired today. Alert Level 2 (and 2.5 for Auckland) was extended; Cabinet will reaccess on Sept 13.

Day 25, September 5. Ben's Holiday 5/14. Photo Day 26. Last night I was planning on an early night and checked FB one last time at around 10PM. I stumbled upon the start of Reuters' live coverage of Beirut rescue attempt and watched it for four hours. Between a dozen to twenty folks, men and women, took turns removing rubble using hands, gloved and otherwise, two shovels and two pick axes, occasionally assisted by large dust sucker/s, a large shovel attached to a vehicle, and a vehicle attached with a large pillar-like thing that can extend and pull/push, which may be the same as the shovel vehicle, and I'm sure you know exactly what I mean. It was a painstaking, slow process, occasionally made worse by what the comment section said was helicopters raising such bad dust the screen just turned brown. There were a few small drones as well. Reuters turned it off when yet another sensor/scanner was set up and everybody with a heartbeat had to leave and all the communications machines had to be turned off. Today I kept looking for an update and found none.

(Two guys never lifted a finger, just observing, talking, giving orders. One of them had a snack while everybody else was working, and took a selfie with the other boss guy.)

I also remembered I joined an NZ succulents FB group a while back and switched back on their feed. Who knew succulents had proper Latin names, different sub species, and oh-so-many fans who spends hours and dollars loving them! I'm only interested in keeping mine alive and propagating when possible.

Day 26, September 6. Ben's Holiday 7/14. Hopefully the last of the yucky sucky days. The weather wasn't great in the morning so I tried to take care of as many small unfinished jobs as possible; among others I wrote aforementioned letters - four not three. Now we wait for the printer. I also looked up Beirut rescue gazillion times; that appears sadly more or less over.

Second week of Ben's holiday we sincerely hope to get some yard work done. Honestly.

Day 27, September 7. Ben's Holiday 8/14. We didn't feel like going outside, but hey, this is the start of Week 2 of Ben's holiday and this was supposed to be a weeding/gardening holiday, so we went outside, took up our respective stations of choice, and worked all afternoon. And we feel great, though Ben's lower back and my legs are tired.

This tulip bulb is about 20 years old. Though the flower has become smaller and smaller, it never fails to bloom. This year the plant is about 20cm tall, but see, the flower is ready. I planned to finish weeding the two main hellebore patches, but ended up weeding/pruning/tidying the pots. Tomorrow, hellebores.

Lately as I weed, I've been listening to the audiobook of Roth's "The Plot Against America". It's mind-blowing how he knew authoritarian tactics so well. It's... what's the word... breathtaking in a astounding way. And no weird sex in 7/12 of the book.

Day 28, September 8. Ben's Holiday 9/14. We must have had a good day yesterday because we both slept soundly until 8.30. Today was a beautifully sunny, cool day with a slight breeze, but neither of us went outside, because, ladies and gents, Ben definitely pulled a muscle. There is a Japanese word for this "injury", but we don't know if there is an English equivalent. Ben's done it in the past, and so have I. We stayed inside, Ben taking it easy but stretching regularly, while I nagged, coaxed and nursed to make sure he did. I'll go outside tomorrow, though; I get so frustrated when he doesn't mind me.

Plague Project Ideas that Might Have Been

I still like many of my ideas for Plague projects that popped up earlier in the lockdown in March and April, (or I might have forgotten ideas I didn't like,) and I can still work on any because they come from my various one-day/back-burner lists, many projecting my usual, (i.e. peacetime,) desire to learn something specific, or "do/finish" little-at-a-time projects. I'm trying to remember them as best I can this morning.

*Learn the Italian national anthem. (Yes, those balcony vids!)
*Learn the NZ national anthem Maori version.

*Memorize Kipling's poem, "If".
*Memorize Bruce Mason's "End of the Golden Weather". When we came to NZ in 1994, I took out a whole lot of New Zealand plays, short stories and some novels from the library. This was the first, and we lived in the area of the North Shore where the story took place, in the right season, so even though the subject is perhaps not my usual, just the title brings back memories of our earliest days in NZ.

*Read Shakespeare's plays in order they were said to have been written.
*Read Van Gogh letters.
*Read the rest of Van Gogh biographies I already have.

*Put a long warp and weave a little every day as a diary.
*Alternatively knit somethings that are not anything specific, (i.e. abstract?) using different yarns/colors, adding every day.
*Alternatively knit small somethings by adding every day but completing/cutting off weekly/fortnightly.  
*Work on a one-ever-day project in the sketchbook.
*Alternatively work on a more in-depth weekly/fortnightly project, e.g prints.

*Pick a cookbook and cook everything in it or one whole section of the book.

I remember some I gave brief thought to but knew I wouldn't last more than a few days. Any would have been worthy but considering how restless I've been especially during the first Level 4 and 3 lockdown, I put the "failure" to give these further thought to my knowing better how I... operate/live. 

*Learn Maori (language.)
*Learn Italian.
*Learn NZ sign language.

* Clean the stash room and downstairs work space. (I have done little bits but I've contemplated a grand overhaul since I've come back from Japan a year ago because I wanted a setup that suited what might be the "rest of my life" weaving style, whatever that may be. In the first instance I was busy weaving immediately after I came home so that was halted. I also needed to sort/store/give away Mom's clothes I brought back. I've washed everything early in the lockdown, cleaned out my closet, sorted and given away lots, but haven't gotten enough space to store what I'd like to keep, so they are sitting on the stash room floor. And, you know, I have to be in the mood for a big tidying for this mammoth job. Yikes.) 

I contemplated living normally, but I felt acute FOMO if I were not to live intensively in this shared period. Also if a Plague couldn't provide a switch/addition to how I approach making and life, I knew I'm a dead soul.

Looking back, I'm not sure as yet if it's had a long-lasting effect on my making in particular. I "enjoyed" the sense of camaraderie shared by "the world", even though in Feb/March/April it was mostly Asia and Europe plus some of us who read/watched obsessively. I feel just as disappointed not having a productive day as before, but I may now place equal value to a day spent weeding, cooking, knitting something I might unravell,  or reading, as I do weaving or working on a project. Even watching endless YouTube on interesting subjects.

I'm less angry at myself for having unproductive times/days, which at once worries me, (you can't get slacker than me, I tell ya,) but this allows me to start afresh whenever/whatever. I think the expression here is "less apologetic", and that can only be a good thing for someone who's apologized profusely, (to whom?) for not living up to (whose?) expectations. I get the feeling this was already happening pre-Plague due to my old age and decreasing mental stamina and stickability. But if I'm turning into one of those people who "talk" less and work away quietly, I can like myself little more?

Did you/have you worked on a Plague Project? Did you share on social media? Let me know; I'd love to have a look. 

In Search of Good Ideas

I've been thinking about designing/not-designing for over a month but my focus keeps morphing/moving/disappearing I better jot down what I can remember at this point.

Some days joy-knitting goes fast and without worry; then several days in a row I just stare/glare and see no solution. Some days I don't want to do anything else but knit, while on others I want to unravell the whole lot. When the going is good, though, it's not just enjoyable as something to do, but the process of thinking-but-not-thinking intriguing. In fact, thinking/counting produces less attractive solutions, while following mostly what (I think) I see has produced most attractive results. And I feel lucky to have stumbled upon those options.

In contrast to what I've read/studied about designs, the thrill of this kind of process is most urgently felt when I've gone against rules, or in spite of them. As in, when a random curve is more attractive than a well-calculated alternative. Of course it doesn't happen this way all the time; in fact there are plenty more patches of bad ideas, but when something does work, I enjoy being surprised. And of course knitting is easier to undo than weaving, so if something really doesn't work, hey, presto!

I wonder how to approach designing, weaving in particular, so as to invite these surprises, but not resorting to a hit-or-miss approach. Weavers tend to plan (everything) ahead of time; this is the nature of our craft. But if we can slip in the unplanning/unthinking element in our... plan? The making would be so much fun.

Joy-knitting has been a positive experience, including the bad days, but the overall look? Ummm... ex-peri-mental. This particular scarf, if it becomes an unusable Plague Project, I'm OK with it.

In May, we signed up for a correspondence course in lost wax technique of jewellery making. In a way it's not as hard as it sounds; we carve wax, Tom casts the metal, and we polish and wear them. On the other hand, it's 3D, and what I think of as "reductive" making, (we're removing the unwanted bits,) rather than building up, and it baffles me how some folks can see things that way. And I'm unfamiliar with the material and tools.

I wanted to hold on to my new way of designing/undersigning and had my mind set on making something abstract. (Also, I'd be less disappointed that way if my piece doesn't turn out to look the way I had intended.) So while Ben just started carving, I spent many hours looking up images of Bronze Age jewelry, (because bronze is one of our metal choices,) fish and dog sculptures, (I like their shapes,) Minoan drinking cups, (I like pictures and objects based on everyday objects,) and sculptures of masks, (I've always liked faces and masks though I never looked into why.) I thought to doodle a few in a sketchbook and got thoroughly distracted.

At first I couldn't find the right sketchbook, then I found some interested stuff I've done in the past. I fell in the rabbit hole of trying to mark the dates use on the sketchbooks, which took a heck of a long time because I only date some pages by month and date but never years. Also I go months and sometimes years without using sketchbooks so I had to check this blog and try to remember when I took which classes and travelled where, etc.

I found one more, from 2010 to April 2014.

I did doodle a few mask ideas, but haven't made progress on the wax project.

Days of a Plague, Season 2, Week 3

Day 15, August 27. Photo Day 16. The day was still and lovely but my muscles ached and we had quite a lot of rain overnight, so I looked for/made up housework needing doing all morning. Still, the hellebores called, so I went out in the afternoon; these days if it's sunny I can see until almost 6PM. I collect only singles, and in this area only dark pinks, purples and my favorite, slate, but slates don't produce many seeds and self-seeded babies don't survive. This, much darker in real life, may be the only transplanted self-seeder that survived in the 20+ years, although hellebore colors aren't stable so I can't tell for sure. Plants started from European seeds several several years ago finally flowered; they are beautiful slate, much darker than Kiwi slates, but are only 60% in size. There is even a white one with pink edges came out of nowhere. Cute, but mixed feelings; I find myself discriminating against it on basis of color.

Day 16, August 27. I checked the forecast first thing to plan my day among hellebores; wind to die down around 1PM, cool but cloudy to sunny all day. So, although it was warm in the morning I did housework, and went out armed with tools, podcast and a ginormous To Do list at 1.15. First thing was to put bags over slate for seeds; I hate that they look a little like Abu Graib prisoner, and the red bags are ugly... but seeds? Then I put a few robust seedlings in the gaps. Shortly after I hunkered down near the new babies to weed, the sky turned dark and the temperature dropped. I kept going while watching the sky, then droplets started, so I put away tools, speaker, camera, etc. Just as I finished them away, it cleared, so I pondered, but rain came back so I came inside and had a shower. When I came out the sun was out, grrrr.... but then it turned dark so I just gave up. As I'm typing, the sun was brilliant one minute, but now it's darker. Never mind, I've got things I have to do inside, too.

Considering there's a worldwide pandemic going on, I'll have to call this a good day.

Day 17, August 28. I worked for five hours, digging out Convolvulus roots downhill while sitting on higher grounds, among other things. And for the first time ever, I cut some and brought them in.

The color difference is exaggerated by the camera. The new slate is a little less blue and the old purple is a little more, but see what I mean by the new one being smaller? Also, where hellebores are concerned, I can now squish aphids with my bare hands.

To tell you the truth, I think they look better in the garden than cut and stuck in a jam jar inside, but still lovely.

Oh, what? Only a day and a half later. I'm never going to waste potential seeds by bringing the flowers back inside! Id did the blame against the cut stem thing, changed the water once a day. Where did I go so wrong??  

Day 18, August 29. Photo Day 19. I was so keen to get back outside but the sun was so strong I almost needed sunnies inside, so I "decided" I was too tired. 😃 I knitted, read, and paced around the house all afternoon, while Ben roasted a few tons of beans.

I've been keen on young adult novels for the last few years and Frances Hardinge is one of my favorite authors. Her newest, ninth, though I started in late July, I've had a really hard time staying with it. I've read six of her novels so far, all of which had young girl protagonists who found themselves having to be courageous. This one's hero is a boy, a juvenile delinquent; on good days I read two or three pages, then had several days "off". But boy, on Page 55, things suddenly picked up. Frances did not disappoint!

Day 19, August 30. We had a lovely morning coffee with Ben's friends. I revised Level 2 rules with Ben several times, because I shocked an elderly friend when I saw her in front of Volume last Tuesday, but let's just say this morning rules were inversely adhered to, i.e. all of us stayed within 2m of each other, hugging and everything.
Afterwards, since we were in town anyway, we contemplated having lunch or checking out the shops but we couldn't think of anywhere inviting, so we drove out to Richmond to get posh cheese and salami. And boy, did we.

We got home at 2PM, and brought out smoked salmon, bread, finger veg, and red wine, followed up with a nap. It's OK because it was too windy for weeding anyway.

Day 20, August 31. Ben's Holiday 1/14. I've always felt celery was more punishment than nourishment, but Ben reminded me we have free ones this year, and if it's just to add texture, I suppose I could live with it.

Wind was still strong in the morning, so Ben smoked pork while I prepped a chicken with celery and kumura in the stuffing. By the time I was finished, the wind died down, and I knew I had a few seedlings I wanted to put in the ground since rain is forecast tomorrow. I fluffed around, but the chicken went into the BBQ, and I went out. We now have seven (or was it eight?) Sea Hollies we'll be able to see from the kitchen, behind the hellebores, if successful. Yay, me.

And with a big chunk of pork and a whole chicken smoked, we won't have cook so much the first week of Ben's holiday. Yay, Ben.

Day 21, September 1. Ben's Holiday 2/14. Today is the official start of spring in New Zealand, but I think Nelson's started last Saturday. The quality of sunlight changed suddenly; glaring some times I need sunnies inside the house. But most importantly, tuis stopped coming.

We've noticed last week we hadn't heard their loud but pleasant calls from early morning, or the flapping of their large wings when we go outside. We haven't seen the one small one always getting bullied, hanging upside down on the kowhai. They call louder on wet days, and we've had the first rain in a week, but nothing. I wonder where they go in the warmer season.

We had a breathtaking tui season this year; I still remember being astonished to find three in our kowhai last year, a first, but this year, five, even six, in our place, on top of the maple, banksia or cherry, hanging from the kowhais, tiny sasanqua, pineapple sage, and even one digging the veg patch on one occasion. Yup, the same small guy. Have a good summer; come visit anytime you like. I wonder if we'll see some of you again next year.

Rain was forecast for today so I had lined up a bunch of trivial jobs that had piled up in the house. It did rain, but kind of enough so I can't say it didn't with brillian sunny patches in between. I didn't get much done but ordered three packs of seeds. And gee, it's September, peeps.

Days of a Plague, Season 2, Week 2

Day 8, August 19. Last night when Ben went to retrieved my mail ordered arthritis massage oil from the PO Box, he stopped by the supermarket because he wanted me to make butter chicken. 😃 It's something I learned during the first lockdown, and secretly I think it's the cream that makes us love it. This morning I did the Day 1 marinade part. The recipe doesn't require turmeric or paprika, so it's this color.

It started raining last night, and it's been a tad cold, so I studied my free-form knitting, trying to see what's going to happen in the next few cm.

 

Day 9, August 20. It took me a better part of the day to make butter Chicken. I didn't have some of the ingredients, had a extra of others, so it's slightly different from how it might have tasted the last time, but pretty close to how we remember from the countless takeaway trips. I added extra amounts of most spices, plus some Kashimiri pepper to give it a bite. I told you the last time, it's called butter chicken, but it calls for no butter, but a generous amount of cream.

 

Day 10, August 21. We've been having rain. Usually the day starts fine, sometimes brilliant, so I'm determined to go outside after I clean the kitchen, cook dinner and watch the 1PM update. Except sometime between cooking dinner and the end of the update, without fail the sky turns gray and the wet stuff comes down. First gently and pleasantly, but soon so dark I need the lights on to finish cooking. Golly, talk about not encouraging me.

Today, after the rain stopped me again, I oven-dried the unidentified citrus peel. I don't know who among you remember the flavoured coffees of the 80's - roasted coffee beans came with orange peel, almond slivers, or vanilla something, and we pulverized them in stylish electric grinders. That was my intro to coffee.

I don't know if these will work. They are, as usual, extremely bitter but not very fragrant. If it's no go with coffee, or tea, I'll think of something.

Day 11, August 22. Today was supposed to be, if you believe the Internet, the only non-rain day sandwiched between a week's rain on both sides. It was actually sunny and warm and still and lovely and I'd planned on both of us going outside most of the afternoon.

Except now we plan our days around the 1PM update, and there was none today, and by the time we found there was none, Ben decided he wanted to work on something we committed ourselves to back in May; it's called the lost wax method in jewellery making our friend Tom
is facilitating. We do the wax, he casts the metal, and we polish and wear.

Ben and I talked about our projects A LOT in the meantime, but the more I read about how it works the more unrealistically ambitious I got, and spent yet another afternoon searching images online, while Ben, well, he just sat down, got started, and finished one ring.

I get the feeling the ideas I have for the project is more suitable to pottery or even rock polishing than lost wax, but we'll see. Ben's now talking about possibly getting our own tool or two. 😃

Day 12, August 23. I wanted to keep working on my lost wax project, and went looking for my sketchbook. I'm not big on sketchbooks because most of my pages end up messy and unattractive and I prefer backs of bills and envelopes so I can throw them away when finished. I also cull my pages pretty enthusiastically every decade or so. When I do use them, I work chronologically rather than by subject, so there usually only one currently in use.

At first I couldn't find the current, and picking up an old one, I was pleasantly surprised to find a few interesting pages. I sometimes date my pages but not the year and suddenly I felt the need to mark when I worked in each on the black plastic cover. That was the big part of this afternoon.
I flipped through several sketchbooks, trying to sort them chronologically first, (which turned out to be hard, looking up my blog, trying to remember when I travelled, etc,) then marked start and end month/year on each. It turned out I'm on #5 (A3 horizontal) and #6 (A4 vertical) since the start of 2010. I didn't dare go back further lest I'd waste more time. I did doodle some wax project ideas, but nothing spectacular.

I remember working on these collages - I made five a couple of years ago. I can't remember if I followed instructions on a MOMA modern art online course or I was reworking a Cubism idea I learned in 2013 in Japan. I remember hating them when I did these, but today they all look kind of interesting, something I might develop for something else.

Tomorrow we find out what is to happen to our Levels after Thursday.

Day 13, August 24. Photo Day 14. I worked around the hellebores until it was too dark to see my hands. While I was outside Jacinda announced Auckland will stay in Level 3 until Sunday, then Level 2 with some extra cautions; the rest of us Level 2 until further announcement on Sept 6.
Who doesn't like new shoots, eh, unless one is so far behind in spring garden prep. I have mixed feelings about these beatiful babies because we didn't even trim the one rose bush visible (if I get on top of the footstool) from the house. Never mind, today was better than yesterday.

Day 14, August 25. Ben had a time-in-lieu day, so we had a rushed t rip into town, starting with Skunk Granules at the Mega Store, (yes, there is such a thing,) donation at Salvation Army, (I had winter things and today was a already spring,) Volume, and food. The benefit of Level 2 shopping is one doesn't linger; we spent less than five minutes in five places, 15 in two, (15 minutes in Volume felt like punishment, though,) but almost a normal 50 minutes at Countdown, (because they allow two people to go in together.) Besides Stella and us, I saw exactly two folks with masks: a staff at the Asian Food Market and a shopper at Countdown.

A student musical (?) show was cancelled, which is very disappointing since our young friend heads to Uni next year, and it would have been the one and only chance to see him on stage. Unless the group thinks of something this summer. If I'm not mistaken, though, exam season is upon them.

We finish two weeks of Level 2 as of tonight, and best case scenario, just short of another two weeks. I need to catch up with yesterday's announcements, because you know, I was otherwise occupied.

Days of a Plague, Season 2, Week 1

I am uncertain if it's worth my keeping a diary for myself during our second, milder "lockdown", but for symmetry's sake, I voted for it. So here goes.

Day 0, August 11. Photo Day 4. At around 9.15PM, Jacinda announced family of four tested positive in South Auckland, so Auckland Region would go into Alert Level 3, the rest of the country into Level 2, as of noon tomorrow, Wednesday, for the time being until the end of Friday. For a week or two, we've been repeatedly told resurgence is a matter of when not if, so here we are. And with election looming, there is of course conspiracy theory from opposition she and Top Doc waited to disclose.

On the one hand the country is familiar with the practice because we'd been free only 102 days. On the other, Level 2 has been hard to recall as it was short, and in my mind "the milder of two between 4 and 1." Nevertheless, other than food shopping, I shall stay put for now.

Kate, with whom we had dinner exactly a week ago, was successful in growing a coffee plant to the point of collecting cherries, peeling, roasting and making two cups. She thought we might be able to start a plant from Ben's green beans, even though it would take a long time to germinate. (Clearly she hasn't tried sowing hellebores.) So I asked Ben which he wanted to try and "for starters" and he gave me Costa Rica, Ethiopia and Brazil.

Day 1, August 12. Photo Day 4. I've been pretty good about getting out into the garden these days. But today, with updates at 1PM and 4PM, I dithered in the kitchen just like I used to the last time. The only other thing I did was to have a look at what I hope is the start of a ume plum tree I discovered on Monday, blissfully unaware what might happen in a couple of days. Some time ago Esther​ gave me a pit; though we weren't sure if we can germinate it, this one is in the right position in the right pot, so here's hoping.

Day 2, August 13. Photo Day 4. There was only the 1PM update today, so afterwards I went outside. (And I was pretty pleased about it.) Among other things, I moved some self-seeded hellebores into pots. I usually move them to less crowded, better-suited positions, but I'm still weeding and better-suited positions are not ready for the babies, and ones I moved were too close to the path they got in the way of more work in the area.

These, though, are one of the two pots in which I sowed seeds from my plants last year. I'd never been able to successfully sow seeds from my own plants but back in June I found both pots full of babies. One pot is going strong, all leaves healthy and true leaves popping up all over, but in this pot more than half the leaves were eaten. Can you see some naked stalks? I flooded the pot in the kitchen sink, hoping the culprits would suffocate or surface to be picked out. Which is why the leaves and pebbles have black specks of dirt.

The other pot. I wish I could remember which pot has the interesting pink and green seeds from the "past best-before" rack, and which my most favorite slate, which doesn't produce seeds easily and whose self-seeded babies don't survive.

So utterly sick of American-style parlance and conspiracies by politicians and folks. Stupid is more contagious than the virus.

Day 3, August 14. Photo Day 4. I had a completely slack day, gazing at the screen off and on most of the day. (I've been watching UK's archeology program Time Team chronologically; I started this some years ago but got diverted when there weren't as many episodes online. Now, where there is a will, there are episodes.)

We had updates at 1PM and 5.30PM: we'll stay with Level 3 for Auckland and Level 2 for the rest until the end of August 26 unless otherwise announced.

I did manage to bake an OK spelt/rye bread, (something I started during the last lockdown,) and on the fly, made this crumbled cake. Not a crumble, just a cake that crumbles and falls apart. Tastes great, though, with a combination of bitter organic raw cocoa powder an online pharmacy gave us (!!), and my bitter citrus marmaladey concoction.

I could have gone outside for short spurts and I imagined how happy/proud I'd feel, but I didn't. Didn't even knit. Or fold clean laundry.

I oscillate between acute alertness and a complete void/empty-mindedness. I guess they don't call these "Alert" Levels for nothing. It was the same last time, and though I tend to think of the first lockdown as having been unproductive, I did cook a lot and weeded a bit. I just didn't come up with a tangible project other than a diary here, nothing in weaving or drawing I could point to today as a fruit of my labour from that specific time.

I have been wondering about belated, post-lockdown "lockdown" projects, (some are interesting I might still give them a go,) so needless to say as soon as Jacinda mentioned levels, I wondered if this time I can be "good" and stick to a project and if so what that might be.

So far I haven't come up with anything, and not feeling particularly guilty, partly because my hunch is, this time around it's not going to be long for those of us outside Auckland. Fingers crossed. But also, we had a mild winter and an early spring and I have been in a panic trying to catch up with the weeding/transplanting/already-somewhat-too-late pruning. Also, I've been slow but successful in finishing a few long-standing projects dotted all around the house, and would really like to get them out of the way, off the floor, so I don't keep tripping over them or having to vacuum around them.

At another level, as a psychological (??) experiment, it feels more right ("more right"???) to record what I do organically without interfering/manipulating the... what... flow. Also, that's what I did the last time, and for symmetry-sake...

Day 4, August 15, the day known as The End of War Day in Japan. Once again I had a sluggish start to the day, gazing at screens, watched more Time Team, while imagining how good I'd feel if I went outside. After the 1PM update, (it wasn't even Jacinda,) I made chicken curry for dinner, didn't get around to marmalade but washed the fruits, and cooked cannellini.

Ben picked up a big screen from work so the study looks a little nerdy.

It's cool enough tonight we'll light the fire. It's been warmer in the evenings, with fire it's often too hot and without, too cold. Tonight it'll be nice to have fire, watch a bit of telly, and knit some.

Day 5, August 16. We are both tired. We slept in, uncharacteristically late for Ben. We didn't do much all day. Perhaps I was tired because I wasn't doing anything. We had two cold but calm, sunny days perfect for gardening. I also thought we should go do our favorite walk around the airport. But we didn't.

Tonight we found out Ben's friend's wife passed away after long illness at a ridiculously young age. My friend's mother-in-law passed away from Corona. In the last fortnight a former colleague passed away after a long battle with cancer and an estrange uncle on Mom's side also passed. And a weaver shortly before that, and I found out in the same week another weaver had passed in the last year. And another friend's mother about a year ago.

Is it because we are older so many folks we know are passing? Is it Internet that tell us of these so quickly, even about people we don't know so well?

I feel as though we all need to re-prioritize our lives and do what's important, what please us, but I'm not sure I know what they are at the moment.

Take care, folks.

Day 6, August 17. Ben had the day off; he got up as usual, and smoked pork. I got up late, but not as late as the weekend, and started making bitter marmaladey concoction. We watched Jacinda's 10.30 announcement, (election is delayed by one month to mid-October,) ate, watched the top doc's 1PM update, then we both went outside to weed. Oh, I turned off the stove while we were out, so it's cooking again now.

In the last week I've been sent two seed and one bulb catalogues. They are lovely to read and fantasize, but I don't do bulbs well, and I have leftover seeds, so I'll sow them and limit my wish list to just a few, like cornflower.

Truth to tell, I started thinking about the garden late last night and had an annual panic, which kept me awake until 4! We'll never catch up, but we are 3 hours * 2 person closer tonight.

I had ants in two pots last summer so they had a good soak. Otherwise orchids may get fed only when I remember to get orchid food, and are divided every "several" years. :-D This one, after water torture over multiple days, suddenly showed flower buds in May, which is freakish early. The earliest they've flowered in 20+ years has been late August, but this one has been going for three weeks now. I have three others with buds but they are in various stages of early-ish to normal, which means I'll have orchids blooming until nearly Christmas.

In case you thought this guy still a little tentative, nope. Some orchids seem beaten up because they sat in the windy-and-rain-swept side all winter while we had firewood on the more gentle side. I might move them now since most of the firewood is gone.

Day 7, August 18. Today I was tired all day. Besides cleaning the kitchen carefully well into the afternoon, knitting this side of 9PM! was about all I did. Yikes.

Like a Pro: My Plague Timeline

I copied the italic portion of the timeline from May 3 post for my benefit. It's been a little unnerving not gauging life against Corona/levels timeline in this strange year. As many of you will agree, time in 2020 seem to pass so quickly and so slowly at the same time, and since June 9/Level 1 I've felt as if I lost an anchor. Strange because without anchor/calendar is how I've lived my life for the last several years, and it is not to say I enjoy a plague lockdown, but I also can't hide this strange new comfort I find in the collective, national timeline.   

* February 3, 2020, Diamond Princess quarantined at the port of Yokohama, my home town.
* February 28, first confirmed case in New Zealand.
* March 5-14, there were five positive cases for ten days, prompting now-celebrated Ashley Bloomfiled to reject all kinds of measures because, "We [are] not there yet," which is why I am not a fan. Always reactive, even when proven wrong, (need for testing, PPE guidance/rules regarding supplies to medical professionals, and lay people wearing cloth masks,) he's adamant. We could have done even better.   
* March 21, Jacinda announced the four alert level system. Two cases, #40/#41, tested positive in Nelson.
* March 23, Jacinda announced we would be entering Level 4 on March 26. (In retrospect, with each of her announcements, we entered Level 2 on March 21, Level 3 on March 23.)
* March 26, we started the "initial" four weeks of Level 4 isolation.
* April 28, we moved to Alert Level 3. The most notable change is the reopening of food pickup/delivery.
* May 14, we moved to Alert Level 2. Reopening of different organizations are staggered; school on Monday, bars a week later. For all intents and purposes, most businesses are open under a slightly loosened social distancing rules. Focus has moved to tracking.
* June 9, we moved to Alert Level 1. This allowed us to "go back to normal" within the borders, while the borders stay open only to returning NZ citizens and residents, and people with special dispensation, mostly business-related. 

* August 11, 2020, Day 102 of no domestic transmission, one family in Auckland had four members test positive, though there were no immediate connection to overseas travel. Jacinda announced Auckland Region will go into Level 3 and the rest of us to Level 2 starting midday August 12 to the end of August 14 unless a different announcement followed. We had been warned for some days that the resurgence is a matter of when not if, and I can't help wondering if they knew something, or it's just that other places have had genuine Second Wave around that time. All I remember is Viet Nam, on their day 101.
* August 12, Ben started working from home again.
* August 14, Level 3 for Auckland and Level 2 for the rest of the country will continue until the end of the day August 26 unless otherwise announced.
* August 30, Auckland moved to Level 2.5 while the rest of the country remains in Level 2.  

* September 22, areas outside Auckland moved to Level 1. 

* September 24, Auckland moved to Level 2. 

* September 25, Ben resumed working at work, in town. 

* October 8, Auckland also moved to Level 1.  

* February 15, 2021, after three community cases were discovered in Auckland, Auckland region was placed in Level 3, the rest of the country in Level 2, provisionally for 72 hours. Ben worked from home.

* February 18, even though two more cases were discovered connected to the original three, the spread was deemed "contained", and Auckland was placed in Level 2, the rest of the country back to Level 1. Masks became mandatory on all public transport in all regions.

* February 23, Auckland returned to Level 1 as well. Mask requirement remains. 

 

* February 27, 2021, it was announced starting February 28, Auckland will return to Level 3, the rest of us to Level 2, provisionally for seven days, due to the ongoing February cluster with a new strain. 

* March 7, Auckland returned to Alert Level 2, the rest of the country to Level 1. 

* At midday March 12, Auckland returned to Level 1. 

* June 23, 2021, Wellington went into to Level 2 due to Australian visitors visiting over the weekend testing positive upon their return. The rest of the country remain in Level 1. 

* June 30, Wellington rejoined the rest of the country at Level 1.

* August 17, 2021, one community case emerged in Auckland, most likely Delta variant. Level 4 lockdown was announced starting midnight, provisionally for 7 days in Auckland and the Coromandel, 3 days for the rest of the country. 

* August 20, Lockdown Level 4 will remain in place for all of New Zealand until the end of Tuesday, August 24. Cabinet to meet on Monday to decide what will happen after Wednesday.  

* August 23, Lockdown Level 4 will remain in place for all of New Zealand until the end of Friday, August 27; Auckland will remain in Level 4 until Tuesday, August 31. 

* August 27. All regions south of Auckland will move to Level 3, (known as "Level 4 with takeaway",) from Wednesday, September 1. Auckland and Northland regions' levels will be reassessed on Monday, August 20, although Auckland is likely to remain in Level 4 for another fortnight. 

* August 29. Not sure if it's worth keeping notes on all these announcements, but here goes. Auckland will stay in Level 4 for probably two more weeks. Regions south of Auckland will go into Level 3 on Wednesday, although the definition of Level 3 may be tweaked. Northland is likely to go into Level 3 on Friday. 

* September 1. All regions south of Auckland entered Level 3. 

* September 3. Northland entered Level 3.  

* September 7. All regions except Auckland entered Level "Delta 2".

* September 13. Auckland remains in Level 4, the rest of the country in Level Delta 2, for another week. 

* September 22. Auckland and northern Waikato enter Level 3; the rest of the country Level (normal) 2. 

* September 26. Northern Waikato enters Level 2. Auckland remains in Level 3.

* October 4. Portions of Waikatot enters Level 3 after positive cases and hospitalization. 

* October 6. Auckland enters Level 3 (with picnic.) Waikatot Level 3 (no picnic) areas is extended. 

* October 9. Northland returns to Level 3 (no picnic) for four days.

* October 13. Northland and parts of Waikato remain in Level 3 (no picnic) until Monday October 25. 

* October 20. Northland joins Level 2. 

* October 28. Parts of Waikato previously in Level 3 (no picnic) moves to Level 3 (with picnic).

(There might have been more incremental/localized changes in part of the North Island I missed.)   

* December 3. The country moved to traffic light system Orange, areas of the North Island including Auckland which remained Red. The traffic light system also meant the implementation of vaccine passports; the rules around them depend on the traffic light color, but more largely on the independent councils/businesses/organizations.   

* December 15. Travel in/out of Auckland became conditionally free.  

* December 16. First Omicron case, found at the border, was announced. It was later discovered this was the second case to arrive at New Zealand.
* December 31. All regions except Northland moved to Orange. 

 

* January 21, 2022. Northland moved to Orange, making the whole country at the same level. 

* January 24. I'm loosing the plot on what's happening, the new rules, and the new jargon, (which reflects many folks' understanding of the current stage.) Due to an Omicron cluster being discovered in Motueka, northwest of Nelson, after attending a wedding in Auckland, the whole country moved back to Red. Locatnions of Interest lists were effectively phased out while more emphasis on self-diagnosed symptoms became the main measure of testing requirement.   

* February 13. Anti-vax/mask/mandate/1020 demonstrator gather in front of Parliament in Wellington, parking on the streets, pitching tents, throwing feces at police, and holding concerts. One number I read was 3000 people and 800 vehicles, but haven't confirmed. Demonstrators sometimes use children as human shields to face police.

* February 16. Move to Omicron Response Phase 2, which means shortening of isolation period. Testing/lab facilities overworked and strike proposed; some locations required over 5 hours waiting. 

* February 25. Move to Omicron Response Phase 3, which means a much shorter and limited scope of isolation, i.e. only confirmed positive cases and household contacts. Rapid Antigen test will become the primary testing method, and testing locations increased. (Still unavailable for purchase.)  

* February 26-ish. Locations of Interest no longer published. 

* February 28. Kiwis returning from Australia, if vaccinated, (unclear if 2 or 3 shots required,) and test negative, (within a certain time frame and using a certain method, I haven''t checked because these have changed in the past,) no longer need to go into Managed Isolation. Kiwis returning from elsewhere will follow; this includes Kiwis leaving in future for "a holiday" for example, returning from overseas. 

* March 1. In view of exploding Omicron cases, daily 1PM updates, mainly by Top Doc Bloomfield, resume. 

* March 23. While Omicron numbers, hospitalization and deaths have been skyrocketing, (NZ has a pretty bad per-million numbers in many areas now; little old Nelson/Marlborough, for e.g. had 600 new community cases today,) in the next couple of weeks, there will be no tracing/scanning, allowed crowd size increased, and vaccination mandates scrapped. Only mask-wearing is "encouraged" in some indoor situations, and... for some reason they traffic light system is going to be kept. For what I don't know. So, unless we go into another lockdown or similar, I think this is the end of my record-keeping regarding Plague in New Zealand 2020-22. 

* September 13. Traffic light system was abandoned. All but minimal masking rules, (in health facilities including pharmacies, and aged-care facilities,) was abandoned. Numbers to be reported weekly, but case numbers are based on individuals reporting after testing positive, so it is speculated actual numbers to be around four times reported numbers.
* October 17. While case numbers started to creep up again, and BQ1.1 was found in Wellington on October 13, Ben goes back to work-work. It has been three months since our second, last, booster. NZ government has no plan for third boosters, or Omicron-specific ones, until 2023. 

Déjà Vu

On Day 102 of no community transmission in New Zealand, yesterday, one Auckland family tested positive; Auckland Region went back to Level 3 at noon today, the rest of us Level 2, until midnight Friday or until further notice. Ben and I tried to recall what Level 2 meant; Level 4, the most restrictive, is easy to remember, but Levels 3 and 2 were shorter and not as clearly defined, we were in them for a shorter time, and Ben's work had further stipulation. I'll leave Ben to tell me what/how to do this; I'll just cook and weed, again. 

That 100 day mark must mean something, either to the virus or human psychology; Viet Nam had a positive on their Day 101, remember?

Ben started working from home this morning, but his computer at work assisting remote access from home had a problem, so he went in to fix that, and stopped by the supermarket. He said the bigger already had a queue, (they are more organized, I think,) but the smaller, our preferred, had none so he picked up a few basics, and potato chips and chocs, on his way home. We learned from the last lockdown Chez B&M has enough dried beans and frozen... 1/3 bag of squids, no shrimp this time and rather little veg... that we'll be OK at least until the end of next week. Although fat and juicy humble onions won't go amiss; I just started a grocery list, something we seldom do but became a routine during the last lockdown.

Our return, (and I didn't think of this when Victoria went back, where we'd so love to visit again,) to living with Levels made me think of a discussion had with friends, and I'm asking myself a question hitherto completely heretical, but here we are. While I'm all for precautions and quarantines to protect us now, when there are whole communities uninterested/against prevention/eradication of Covid 19, when travel is so easy, and when... (Oh, I do hate to alarm you but, again, here we are,) viruses have been found even on frozen food packaging originating in South America, stored in Asia... if we seriously hope to not have Corona in New Zealand, we'd have to go into a semi-permanent border closure and import ban, don't we? And we don't know how many sleeper cases there are. So... in a way... what's the use?

And that's coming from a person among the least affected by seven weeks of Level 4 in all of New Zealand.

On the other hand, I'm amazed how much Kiwis travel. In the said Auckland family where four members tested positive, two were in Rotorua visiting family/friends and tourist attractions last weekend. With symptoms. Very early on there was a couple who tested positive and the female visited Rotorua a week after returning from overseas while the male went to a big oncert.

So Ben and I are as "homebodies" we they come. I know there is a big push to promote travel/tourism/local businesses. I also know one of the authorities in Otago University never liked the too early promotion of domestic travel. (Our borders are still closed, except to returning Kiwis and business folks with special dispensations, like film crew and yacht race peeps. Don't get me started on them.) But... heck, my mind is bent.

I've been spending much time weeding; I'm not finished with the agapantus, have started on a couple of other areas, but moved on to more time/season-sensitive areas. Yesterday I abandoned all else and hunkered down on the hellebore area. In the evenings I've been obsessed with that weird knitting, and unravelling. I found both pleasing and surprising within 12 hours my head is totally back in the lockdown mode; I can't explain it, but I'm both distracted and super-focused at the same time. This morning I have been in the kitchen, looking at the screen for most of it, planning meals for the next few days, looking at the weeds I was going to pull out today and yet immobilized to do much else but to wait for the 4PM announcement/update.

Be safe, everyone. Protect yourselves and your loved ones.

Let This Be a Lesson

The left is V3 which I made more or less spontaneously one evening while watching the telly. V6 on the right took me all afternoon, with some counting, some recording, and a wee bit of planning against my initial intentions.

V4, V5, (such a poor imitation of V3 I undid it right away,) and V6 were all intended to improve on V3, mainly the ill-defined outline of the cable's left edge as it curved. The minute pencil and paper came into play, I started "thinking" and trying to outdo my intuitive side.

You can't see it in this picture, but in V6 the pattern on the right started in a numerically strategic progression which made so much sense but looked oh-so-ugly.

So I'm resuming where I left off with V3. Who knows, the next few rows might ruin it, in a hitherto unkown way, but I trust my eyes to know better than my murky gray cells. Besides, this spontaneity is why I wanted to try free-range knitting in the first place, no?

Anyhoo, I am keeping a step-by-step record of this project in a separate post, but I felt compelled to remind myself of this good lesson.

Don't ruin thing by thinking.

Whoa

Have I mentioned it's been a mild winter? That was until July, when it turned normal-cold with annoyingly changeable weather. Quite a lot of rainy days, quite a lot of gusts, which means quite a lot of sunny days as well. And of course the rain-one-minute-sun-the-next days. Most annoying were heavy gray days when the sky just couldn't make up its mind so I'd run outside, in between chores, to see if I could... feel the weather. I was quite keen to weed if I could, otherwise loom or projects. I wasted a lot of time to indecision, but got a lot of chores. I swear, Nelson never used to have these sad, miserable, "Japanese" gray days, at least not this many. It's so dark inside I couldn't do art works or color matching even with the lights on.

I missed out in July, (you know I like it outside when it's cold;) I'm also mad at myself for doing something else or not much in May and June when we had better weather. Since the last week of July, though, it's turned warmer and I've been weeding. We are still the C Street Weed Reserve, but I feel more hopeful.

I talk about the weather a lot, don't I? It's a combination of being Japanese and my mom's kid, having grown up in Minnesota, and finally getting the hang of Nelson's weather around 2000 then facing changes like everywhere else since. And I just read we "remain on a La Nina watch."

Weaving: I last wove the teal-weft piece in the last post on the day after I posted the last post. :-D Warp ends started breaking that day and the tension got weird so I needed a break and... I haven't gone back. Soon! Above was the view on that last sitting; I have been thinking of multiples of wildly saturated wefts for the second piece. 

Knitting: I'm not sure if I reported back but I finished the orange cowl/snood by adding three rows of k-p-k-p, just so I can move onto the next project; I've been wearing it, though, on cold mornings/evenings, and it's nice so I think I'll keep it. The new project is an experimental scarf for Ben; I'm recording observations on FB and will collage in a separate post here.

The Sketchbook Project: Last week I decided I'll keep working on it but ignore the deadline. From memory, returning it late means mine misses the tour but will be available in their library, but because I don't even know if the tours are going ahead, I'll finish first and then decide whether I want to send it in or keep it. The main reason for the delay is I got stuck as to what to do beyond the design of the body. I'm also partial to a few layers these days.

This is the first three you see when you open up the book, unless I add more paper. The middle is white gesso. I've taken out all other shapes and concentrated on just the one, which I often think of as a self-portrait. In fact, I drew quickly folks rushing up and down Trafalgar St between 4.45 and 5.30PM one Friday afternoon years ago, so it's not me.

Left half of the center fold.

Right half of the center fold. The collaged piece is not glued yet because I'm not sure if I like it or if it belongs here.

The last three. I printed out a flipped outline so I can do random collage on the back and cut out the shape along the printed outline, but of course I glued the collage pieces on the wrong side. But I like the way the people are positioned inside this piece. And when bound between a cover, these are the last figures you'll see, so I might get away with it.

Another idea I may develop.


World: Hiroshima 75 years go today; Nagasaki, Sunday. I've had an unplanned deep dive into photographs of that part of Hiroshima-shi before the bomb so it's been a week of "remembering". Reuters reminded me of numbers I think I used to know as a kid plus some: 78,000 dead on the day, about 140,000 by the end of the year, in a city of 350,000. "By 2019 Japan had recognized the total of deaths from radiation illness and injuries in Hiroshima as 319,186 and in Nagasaki as 182,601." I told you about meeting a poet who was six years old that day: she went to a Hiroshima/medical archive in Tokyo in 1995 or 96 to discover people were not identified by name but by "Human:" followed by a number. When she finally located her family's record, it included her mother's three-month-old glaucoma op.

Not "Lest we forget," but "Let's not forget."

Now Beirut. Yikes.