The end of August
Well, my grandma turned 85. There was no big party, but I did talk with her on the phone. She has been in the hospital after a fall, so she was just happy to be out for her birthday. I saw pictures of her with a cake. Not the same as seeing her in person, but I am glad she celebrated.
Hadley had an appointment to get her braces adjusted, so that was pretty exciting for her (and me really), as she only goes in the van for this every 8 weeks or so. The appointment is only 15 minutes, and we use sanitizer and masks, but we still come home and shower right away as we don't know if a door handle, or a chair that we sat in at the appointment was contaminated.
Brian is still working from the basement. Hadley is working on Gatcha character editing online, and discovering new music almost daily. Easton is playing video games with his friends online, and we all try to exercise, clean, and learn something daily. I have successfully grown peppers, green onion, potatoes, celery, tomatoes, beats, and one sunflower that was actually a seed from Easton's sunflower from last summer and strawberry leaves. The strawberry plant is growing but no actual fruit. I paint when I need to feel creative. I have found online courses that are free and fun. I have been working on de-cluttering. I have tackled the kitchen. All counters, the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen... and now the counters need more help again since I went through everything and things now need actual homes. However, I feel like this is an accomplishment. I did toss a bunch and place a bunch in a donation box to be donated at a later time.
There have been a number of three hour long board trustee meetings online about back to school, nothing will be perfect, we will all learn through this, it will be different. We will do our best and I am confident that we made the right choice to do online learning at this time as we will be safe, and healthy.
Hadley did two online courses from the University of Ontario. They offered two free online coding classes for grade 7/8 girls. She created a game of air hockey and a flappy bird game, but she changed the bird to a unicorn. She seemed to have fun with it. Easton and I worked with chrome music lab to play around with music online, and we had some board game (Settlers) fun while she was doing her courses. Another fun part is that two kids from her school were online and her friend Rachel from skating.
I enjoy walking down our road, and every once in a while I convince my kids to join me. I admire the wildflowers around us. Nature has such beauty. My allergies think otherwise, but I prepare for the end of August knowing it is just that time of year.
I do miss seeing my family and friends in person, but keep reminding myself that this is a chapter, and how we write it will be how my kids re-tell it for their lifetime. They will be able to say that we did all we could to keep them safe and our loved ones safe. I am forever grateful for country living.