We had another warm day today.   The bunny did not turn up all day. He must be cheering somebody else up in the neighbourhood.

Here at the southern tip of Africa in a small place that hasn’t had a single Coronavirus infection, we may be a little complacent.  We tend to be a little less vigilant about our movements.   How can we catch something that’s not here after all?   We are grateful that nobody can come in from the outside world to infect us but at the same time, you never know what can slip through the cracks.   Produce is still sent in from outside and is handled by a chain of people before we get it from the grocery store and to our homes.  We still come into contact with people when we’re on a shopping excursion.  You can never be sure what might slip in through the cracks.  So everybody has to be vigilant.  A friend of mine is finding the restrictions too severe though.  Our beaches are deserted.  Half the homes in the town are empty.   What harm would it do to have a walk on the beach or a swim in the sea?  So he took a chance and went down for a swim – and was caught!   He has to pay a fine of R1000.00!  ($55)

Don’t swim here – Don’t swim anywhere.  Stay Home Stay Safe

Today I am joining in with the 2020 Photo Challenge 16.   The brief is:-

Converging lines. These convey a sense of depth and distance, try to have something of interest at the point where they appear to meet. Or position them on the diagonal to infer motion.

Here is my take on it.

Salerno, Italy

Salerno, Italy

Pompeii

The weather has warmed up again.   Our sunsets have been stunning too and it may be my imagination but I think everything is brighter and fresher since frantic travel has been reduced.

According to our health minister,  Zweli Mkhize, most people infected with Coronavirus in South Africa are only showing mild symptoms.  However, we now have 3052 cases and 52 have died.   The numbers are increasing – not decreasing.    Does this mean we will be in Lockdown for another few weeks or even months?

Whether we get an extension of Lockdown or not I believe we still have to practise social distancing for a good long time until this is all over!

Today I am participating in Linda’s Stream of Consciousness challenge and the prompt word is practice/practise.

They say that ‘practice makes perfect.’ And certainly, if you need to perfect a skill you should practise it regularly.  It won’t do you any good though if you don’t practise it properly.  But is that last statement actually true?   For example, I got into the habit of knitting in what was considered an incorrect way.  I did not hold the needles properly.   Being a bit of a stubborn child or having some co-ordination problems I simply could not get the hang of the prescribed way to manipulate those pins.  As I grew older I simply practised my own style of knitting and eventually produced a few pretty good garments.  Today I seldom knit but when I do I still take up the old style that I practised all my life.  I have tried to correct my grip of the needles but it simply doesn’t work for me so I have given up and continue to do it my own ‘incorrect’ way.   The cardigans and jumpers that I have made are not half bad so does it really matter that I practise the skill incorrectly?   I don’t think so.

As a school teacher, I have tried to teach my learners the correct way of holding a pencil.  It is considered a very important initial skill.  You simply have to get those infants to practise the correct way to hold a pencil.  Beware if you don’t!  Your teaching skills will be seriously questioned if you don’t get that child’s pencil grip right.  And I must admit it is something that worries my teacher’s mind if I see the poor little soul getting that grip wrong.  All sorts of methods are used to correct this blight.   But there is always that one child that simply can’t get it right but is managing with his/her schoolwork quite perfectly thank you.  So who am I with the imperfect knitting needle skill to be making a fuss about a pencil grip that works perfectly well for such a child!

In my humble opinion, I think, that we should all indulge in practices that work for us.  My daughter and I are practising Yoga during Lockdown.  I am sure we are not doing it perfectly but it is certainly doing us both the world of good.   We have to rely on video lessons without the interference of a live teacher and I think we’re doing pretty well.  We have to practise better listening skills too, so as to follow the instructions properly and quite frankly, I like not having a teacher telling me I’m doing it all wrong! The great thing about Yoga, of course, is that you can do it at any skill level and there is no competition to prove you’re better than the next person in the class.   That is a practice I can live with!

I am trying to do a challenge per day during Lockdown but did not get round to one yesterday.  Today I am doing the Share Your World Challenge from Sparks

If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make them?

One would hope that we did indeed learn from our mistakes and certainly some of the time we do.   I’m not sure the world has learned too many lessons though as History tends to repeat itself.

We are afraid to make mistakes because there just might be consequences to them that we can’t fix.  It pays to be careful but we should take positive risks too and then if we fail we can get up and start again having learned where we went wrong.

How do we know that pleasure is good and pain is bad?

I think it has something to do with the hormones serotonin and dopamine.   They tend to tell the brain that something is pleasurable.  It is also probably to do with years of conditioning – pain is caused by something that will hurt you so the brain registers it as an unpleasant thing to warn you to do something about it and vice versa.

What problem or situation did TV / movies make you think would be common, but when you grew up you found out it wasn’t?

TV and movies are larger than life.  So whatever you see in a show is exaggerated to make it more appealing to the viewer.   Certainly, when I was growing up I did not understand this fully.   The thing about movies and fairy tales is that the story is usually biased toward the hero/heroine so the viewer does not try to see it from the point of view of the villain.   I realised when I grew up that there were always two points of view.   Today when I see a movie with my daughter she gets irritated because I always point out that real life is not like that.   Perhaps I should go back to just enjoying the show no matter how unrealistic it is!

If you drive, do you speed when no one is watching?   Have you ever run a red light late at night on purpose, particularly if it doesn’t seem to change very quickly?   If you don’t drive, what minor law may you have broken?

No, I don’t speed when nobody is watching.  Yes, I have been caught speeding because I wasn’t paying attention to the change in restriction and not because I thought I would get away with it.  No, I have never run a red light but when I have stopped at one and it hasn’t changed then I’ve slowly moved forward and driven through otherwise I might have stayed there all night!

What positive things are you finding to do to occupy your time right now?

As I am retired I have more time on my hands than I used whether it’s Lockdown or not.  I also live in a small town where nothing much is going on.  Usually, we have lots of visitors, something different tends to crop up every day and we travel a lot.  Now that none of the above is possible I have had to get into some sort of routine.  Having my daughter with us helps.

The household chores take up a lot of my time.  I study Italian on Duolingo, I read, I blog, I keep a list of birds seen in my garden and I exercise.   All of this tends to fill my day.  New things to the list of things I do that I didn’t before Lockdown include researching information about Coronavirus, going on virtual game drives in the Kruger National Park, group chatting to the family and cleaning more obsessively.

Screenshot of what I watched on Wild Earth

Last night our whole family group chatted online.  Lisa and Jay were in Cape Town, Lauren, Allan, Shannon and Simon were in Plettenberg Bay and Josh was in Hungary while Lollz, the Earl and I were here at the southern tip of Africa.  How awesome was that – so far apart yet so close!   My grandmother was in isolation during the Spanish ‘Flu epidemic in 1918. What would she have thought about our gathering last night!  It would have been beyond her wildest dreams.

The second phase of Lockdown began today.  We were looking forward to freedom today but are thankful that our government is taking the right precautions to ensure the safety of its citizens.

Today is calm, warm and slightly overcast.  The washing is on the line, the house is clean and so I am settling down to do a photographic challenge. Today’s black and white challenge from Cee requires the subject to have double letters in its name. Here is my take on it.

Bunny chomping my flowers!

Ground Hornbill in Kruger National Park

Hippopotamus on a grazing expedition

Wattled Lapwing

Cheetah with a full tummy  – yes that is blood on his nose!

Giraffe in sepia

Grey-headed sparrows

I did not get around to blogging yesterday!   Who would think that a time like this I would not get the time!   By the time the end of the day came, I realised that I had not got round to blogging.  I had been sitting at my computer for a fair amount of time but it was to edit photographs!   When one does that, dear readers, one loses all sense of time!

I wanted to find a photograph to share on Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge the theme of which was based on this picture.  The idea is to pick a topic inspired by the photograph.  It could be:- coffee, store logos, red, green, black and white, round, ball,  Ferris wheel, snacks, fake flowers etc.

I wanted to find some coffeeshop photographs of which I know I have many.  But as I was searching through my archives I got distracted and started naming and tagging all my old photos!   But here are some that I did find plus two I took this morning while out  grocery shopping.

Store logo topic:-

The Blue Cow sign – Barrydale

Diesel & Creme – Barrydale

It’s usually a struggle to get parking outside this coffeeshop – Sad to see it all closed up.             Cape Agulhas

Another establishment to grab a drink and snack outdoor – or you could hire a bike and take a scenic ride!    Cape Agulhas

Yesterday I also had some feathered friends visiting my garden.  The Cape Robin fits the topic ‘red’.

Any excuse to post a bird photograph!  Okay – so it’s more orange than red – but it’s close enough! And green is also a topic – so the grass is there too!

Today marks the 21st day of Lockdown in South Africa.   Tomorrow would be the first day of freedom but unfortunately, we have a further two weeks to go.  We are fortunate that we were pre-warned by the rest of the world and our government got us into Lockdown before the virus spread too wildly.  Health services were all prepared to admit thousands of people for hospital treatment.  They are still waiting for the wards to be filled.   To date, 90 050 tests have been conducted. There are 2506 confirmed cases.  34 people have died.

Now during this second phase of Lockdown, some of the restriction will be eased.  Electricians, locksmiths, glaziers, plumbers and roof repairers may return to work to do emergency work.  Motor mechanics may also be called to repair cars of essential workers. We still can’t buy alcohol or cigarettes and supermarkets may not sell take-away meals.

When we first heard of the extension we were worried that we would not have enough alcohol to last us another two weeks.  However, I found I had squirrelled away a few bottles of beer, wine and gin in a deep dark cupboard.  Cigarettes, fortunately, are not a problem as we don’t smoke!  I am relieved that the ban does not extend to chocolate!

Yes, I know you all thought I was a strict health freak but really at a time like this you have to balance it all out with wine and chocolate – so give me a break – give me a KitKat.

I sincerely hope your Lockdown has not driven you all totally insane.   Hang in there – it will all be over soon!

It is Tuesday, the beginning of a new week after the Easter Weekend.   I know many people don’t even know what day of the week we’re on as they all roll into each other with the sameness of the day before.  Whateverday is becoming the new name for each day!

It amazes me how some people are reacting to this Lockdown thing.   There are so many conspiracy theories going around, some of which might well be true but there is pretty much nothing we can do about it.  Unless such theories can be proven to be so I prefer to ignore them and to concentrate on the problem at hand.  We are all pretty much in the hands of our governments.   We can only hope and trust that they make the right decisions regarding our health, wealth and wellbeing.

This is not a war with guns and bombs but it is a fight to prevent a tiny organism from destroying our species.   We have to face it with bravery and fortitude as our grandparents/great-grandparents did during the first and second world wars.   People went through great trials and there was absolutely nothing they could do but endure it.   Imagine those little children wrenched from their homes in London, separated from their loving parents to be taken care of by complete strangers in the countryside.   And the agony for those parents having to let them go not knowing whether they themselves would survive the Blitz.

This isolation thing just doesn’t compare!  We know this will be over soon.  Our children are safe in their own homes with their adoring parents.  Those parents may be stressing over homeschooling and other such minor irritations but at least they have their children safe at home with them!   I know it’s tough for young parents trying to work from home, to be away from the office, to try to work from home while taking care of the kids and dealing with their own and their kids’ anxiety.  But there are no bombs falling and the likelihood of dying from this virus are slim if we take the right precautions!  Many of us are worried about the economy and how we’re going to fare regarding our income but at least we can apply for aid.   There are shortages in the shops, we can’t buy cigarettes or alcohol, sometimes there are queues to get into the grocery store and we have to wear masks.  Shame!

I am not trying to make light of a serious problem but I do believe we can make the most of a bad situation.   Many of those who went through the war reported that they had a ‘good’ war.  Those were the ones who made the most of a very bad situation.  They appreciated every good thing they experienced during those dreadful days. Let us all take a leaf out their book!  Let’s concentrate on the positive things we can do with our time.  Let’s build relationships, do tasks we never have time for, teach our children new skills. Make the most of a bad situation.  We can do it!

I have just finished reading Eve’s War by Evelyn Shillington – excellent during this time of trial.  If you’re feeling you’re going through a tough time try getting hold of a copy.   It will put things in perspective for you.

The one thing about Lockdown is that those of us who are coping very well can’t get out to help those who aren’t.   I would love to be able to pop in to help a struggling mom with her fractious children, not that I know anybody with young kids here in Struisbaai but you know what I mean.  If I could, I would. But what I can do is make a phone call, send a message, drop off a food parcel – properly sanitised of course and left on the doorstep without touching the recipient!   If any of my readers are struggling please call a friend, chat about it, try to find the positives.   Don’t try to get through this entirely on your own.

It’s Easter Monday and the weather is pleasantly cool.  I don’t expect any more summer days from this day on.  Winter is on its way.

Being Monday it is time for the Share Your World Challenge from Sparks

Here is my contribution:-

What do you do to get rid of stress? 

I do half an hour of vigorous exercise every day.  It pumps up the endorphins and gives one a sense of well-being.   I also do at least 20 minutes of Yoga. It is calming as well as strength building.   It is actually amazing how good you feel after a session of yoga.  There are many yoga workouts you can follow on YouTube including Chair Yoga for Seniors

In the past people were buried with the items they would need in the afterlife, what would you want buried with you so you could use it in the afterlife?

My computer of course!  Maybe my phone would be better.  Imagine being able to contact my kids if I still had my phone in the afterlife!   HAHA, Maybe they wouldn’t like that!   My computer – I could still blog and nobody would know that I am dead!

What’s the opposite of a koala?  (this is strictly for fun.  I know what I came up with as an answer, but it was nonsensical.   Alaok.  See?   It’s okay to pass on this one too if you want)

Koala is a marsupial in Australia – it is soft, furry and cute, eats leaves and hangs about in trees.  The opposite to this would be the African Ground Pangolin They are covered in hard, scales so are not cute and cuddly.   They burrow deep under the ground and eat ants.

What’s the creepiest tech out there?  (My interpretation of “tech” is app or program.  If you know what “tech” is supposed to mean, hey!  Great!   Educate us. 

The drone is the creepiest tech as far as I am concerned.  It looks creepy. I have not idea what it’s looking at and I just don’t trust them.

GRATITUDE IS AN ATTITUDE

What method are you using to find your smile right now?   Please explain in detail so others might utilize the same ideas.   Some bloggers have shared a daily (weekly sometimes) method that they are using to keep their spirits up right now.   I’d love to hear from anyone who does and is successful at it!    Have a great week and stay safe!

• Talking to kids, family and friends online. Getting them to talk about how they are coping and hearing their funny stories makes me smile.
• Facebook makes me laugh – lots of funny things posted and also just reading the dumb things people post makes me smile!
• The creatures in my garden make me smile.  Today the bunny chased a visiting cat – I didn’t see it myself but the Earl did and the way he related it make me laugh out loud.
• Other bloggers experiences are also uplifting and make me smile.  I also smile when I think the whole world is going through this.  We may be far apart but we are connected.
• Finally – you’ve just gotta smile.   I used to tell my Grade One kids at school – “Smile because  – if you’re smiling you can’t be crying!”   They could finish that sentence for me!

I have been told that I am quite good at cheering people up so if you’re sad and you know my number – give me a call!

Easter Sunday today and the storm we were expecting did not arrive.  There was a bit of a wind blowing but no rain and it was quite warm.

I am sure that all over the world Easter came in spite of social distancing and lockdown and hope it was enjoyable to you all.

Fortunately, rabbits do not get Coronavirus and they ignore the rules of isolation. We certainly had a visit from the one that hangs out around here!

“This one is for the Earl”

“And this one if for Puppy – Lollz can have the one in the middle”

We spent a relaxed day doing various things.  The Earl made pickled fish with the left-over yellowtail from last night. It is in the fridge ready to snack on for the rest of the week.

He then went to tidy the shed and found a box of old photographs.  I had forgotten all about them and we had fun reminiscing about the old days.   I will be sorting them out and putting them into some kind of order in the coming lockdown weeks.

So far 80 085 coronavirus tests have been conducted. There are 2173 confirmed cases.  410 have recovered and 25 have died.  Tonight there was an interesting item on Carte Blanche about wearing masks.  (Carte Blanche is a South African investigative journalism television series that airs on Sunday nights.) There is a lot of controversy about whether it is really necessary but after watching this I am convinced that we should all be practising social distancing and wearing a mask when we are near other people, both for their and our own protection.

Stay safe everyone!

Here is my contribution to this challenge

The prompt is Night-Time

The super moon two nights ago

Scops Owl in the night at Tzendze Rustic Camp Kruger National Park 

New Year’s Eve – Jubilee Farm, Plettenberg Bay

The kids bonding