Covid-19 Life: Autumn Doldrums

It is mid-September and in Michigan that means I brought out a warmer quilt. In the early fall I use this Sunflower quilt, a pattern from Mountain Mist, because it is heavier than it looks. It was my first applique quilt. It is heavily hand quilted and the backing fabric is heavier than typical quilter's cotton. Perfect for later summer/early fall.

Grandpuppy Sunny is going to school--for obedience training! Just a year old, Sunny is all joy and exuberance and running and jumping. Her mom has taught her all kinds of tricks, but now she must learn to sit and stay on command without treats being involved.

Sunny shared her birthday cake with Ellie.

But sadly, grandkitty Hazel underwent an operation to remove a tumor that was found to be cancer. This beautiful and loving kitty is twelve years old. The kids have a hard decision to make.

Hazel and Ellie were good friends.

My brother recently took this photo at Cass Lake, MI.

We are going through books and deciding what we need to keep. Looking at old cookbooks we found some old recipes that once were very popular, like Russian Tea.

Our little city is divided politically. We picked up signs from the Indivisible group. Two doors down are signs for the other party's candidates. They have been very friendly over the years...Will this election make bad neighbors? I have never before put signs up in my yard.

Talking of signs, the city post office has one, too.

My only new TBR book from NetGalley is The Decameron Project: 29 Stories from the Pandemic from the New York Times.

I am excited that in November the library book club will read The Bear and will Zoom with author Andrew Krivak! And, we rescheduled Miracle Creek for February and will Zoom with author Angie Kim! We were to Skype with her last March.

I am still working on the Water Lily quilt borders. 

Summer is gone. With a pandemic taking 200,000 lives, who knows which of us will see another? I always loved fall's colors and cool weather, but as I age, I know autumn means winter and snow and ice and days stuck indoors. Will we be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas alone? What risks will we take if we join with family?

The stress has affected me. Oh, it was fine in March and April, I was busy with reading and reviewing and quilting. But as the months drag on, it  becomes harder. I am too aware of mortality, already living 11 years longer than mom and being the age my grandfather was when he passed. I was never afraid of death...until it became more probable. So there is fear and there is the longing to hug my family and there is remembering to find the beauty here and now.

But it is more than my own paltry existence that I grieve for. It is the wildfires and the floods and the hurricanes and the droughts, the rising sea waters and the warming of the planet. It is the endless injustice and racism that America can't seem to escape. It is the victims of disease and violence. It is the daily reality show of Trump's White House, politics that has lost all moral centeredness, wealth that purchases privilege and power.

We watched The Pickwick Papers, an old British miniseries. It was such absurd fun, until it wasn't funny. Pickwick goes to Fleet Prison and it opens his eyes to his privilege. He sees poverty and suffering and starvation and illness. He changes his life and helps those less fortunate.

Like Dicken's A Christmas Carol, the story tells of a transformation. Pickwick was an innocent abroad. He sought experiences and pleasure. He saw how others lived and then acted to help ease the life of the less fortunate.

 We need a moral transformation in America today. A rebirth. 

Choose hope, not hate.