Sunny days again

After a couple of days rain and wind, we had a lovely sunny day again; lots of Vitamin D...

Mary stops by every day to see her Dad who is in lockdown in his retirement home. Tonight I went along. Joe Vandenboom came out and was ready to go along with us....; big no-no with the staff of the residence of course. Tough for them all to be "locked in" these weeks and months....

Mary filled up the bird feeder in front of her father's room (the window right above the bird feeder on the 2nd floor). She has also brought several jigsaw puzzles to keep Opa & fellow residents busy. So far so good but it is tough for the elderly folks....

Shelter-in-place continues

With the sun coming out a bit again, the "sheltering" is easier again. Reading a book today when Mary caught me for this photo. Went for a nice quiet walk afterwards and said hi to Opa...

And making puzzles is done in many places these days.....; way to go Carly....

Another one completed

Mary took this photo a few hours before I completed this puzzle. With cold weather the past week or so, I decided last weekend to start another one (after having finished one in February). It is a good thing to do during these weeks of "social distancing" for people like me who have the patience to do such activities. It creates something and has the grey cells active away from all the news around the pandemic and unfortunate global politics around that. The finished product this time:

April snow

Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed the nice sun outside and this morning we woke up to some more snow on the ground. It will not last long and likely be gone by the end of the day, but still....; it is April 9 for goodness sake. All reports on the COVID 19 pandemic show mostly success in the efforts to "flatten the curve" (a few exceptions here and there of course + still a lot of guessing work about the numbers of infected people). Hilary has now full body suits in her hospital; we are happy that at least her hospital is well equipped and seemingly well organized for its staff and patients. That is not the case everywhere; by en-large we were not well enough prepared.

Home haircut

Mary showed today one of her many talents by giving me a pretty decent (and quick!) haircut. Stay home, stay safe....

Quiet days

Today I made a short walk (my lower back still bugs me). I sat down at the schoolyard of the elementary school near our home where Hilary and Mark both were for 8 years. The quiet streets and playgrounds are something else, but it is the only way we can slow down the virus spread. Most days I stop by for a minute at the place where Opa Vandenboom resides. They do not let the people who live there leave, nor do they allow visitors. But when they have lunch it is a good moment to say "hi" from the outside through the window. This isolation must be hard on these seniors, but it has to be done for their safety and health...

Walks

The best thing to do during this period of "social distancing" and self-isolation is to go for walks. Last week - during the cleaning up of the basement - I pulled a muscle in my lower back, so I had to lay low for a while. But today I went for a nice walk just outside of Fonthill where there are a few apple orchards (Ralph helps out at one of them during "pruning" season)... 

At the end of the walk I passed the retirement home where Opa Vandenboom lives. They were just having lunch. The place is in quarantine at the moment (nobody in and nobody out other than the staff working there in order to try to keep the COVID 19 virus outside), but I took this photo through the window of the room where they have their meals.