Day 12 - bit of a roller coaster....

WOW, twelve days in... 

Bit of a roller coaster today!  Up early and oh my goodness, it is soooo light. I love this time of the year in the mornings, but I am not so keen at all at nights. Off for a run I set myself a challenges of 5 laps of the steps.  I made it... but oh my goodness, my legs were shaking soooo bad. However did I think 10 laps would be possible... slow and steady, I will persevere. 

I work for a most wonderful company CORE Education, Tātai aho Rau, and we are used to working online, but oh my goodness this is tough. 

My first Zoom meeting was at 8am, and they went all the way through the day. My fun new word of the day...

People are honestly so clever, coming up with all of these awesome memes. Anyway, back to my day. As we prepared for a session we were hosting at 12 today, we checked out this reading again.

Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure

This really is a great read. A couple of quotes that we highlighted are: 

“Understand that this is a marathon. If you sprint at the beginning, you will vomit on your shoes by the end of the month.”

“Let go of all of the profoundly daft ideas you have about what you should be doing right now.”

“Devise a strategy for social connectedness with a small group of family, friends, and/or neighbours…”

“For most people, our minds have not come to terms with the fact that the world has already changed… essential process of acceptance, which will allow us to reimagine ourselves in this new reality… on the other side of this journey of acceptance are hope and resilience.”

I am not sure about you, but my inbox and social media feeds are buzzing, there is just so much happening that info-whelm is real. I have not been impressed with myself, I seem to skim and scan, I really am failing to deeply immerse myself in what I am reading. I notice I have literally filled pages and pages of my work book with notes. I guess we are all finding ways of working differently in these times. 

I worked with a couple of schools today and I really am in awe of how hard educators are working to make sense of this time and find new and exciting ways with distance learning.

I worked with colleagues creating resources, prepping for schools, and sharing ideas. Tania and I are working on a range of options for schools, including thinking about a possible 'school day in distance learning'. 

Finally, 5pm rolled around, and I got back outside. WOW Grant really is making a HUGE change in the backyard. Teehee, so much more planting space. I truly can't wait for the weekend to get back out there planting...

After a walk around the garden, I headed out for another walk. I just love how creative people are being. There are bears and toys everywhere in windows. There is artwork on fences and pavements, and on the side of the rail line today, this heart. So special to see people are taking the time to share love at this time. 

Teehee, and just as I thought, sunset not much after 6pm, not so much a fan of this at all... 

Day 11 - Sunday sunny Sunday

Waking up on the first morning of the end of daylight saving, and I failed to capture extra sleep... aghghghgh

I did stay up late reading, and finished this great book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and indeed had that very real feeling of sadness finishing a great book, a kind of yearning. Fortunately I have a lot more to dive straight into. 

Sunday started with a delicious brunch, then time reading my House and Garden magazine in the sun. I am literally too sore to garden today. 

Discovering a pile of jars in the garage last week, I noticed a lot of coconut yoghurt jars, all a great size, so over the past few days I have been removing labels and preparing for a pantry tidy... today is the day. WOW so happy to have done this. I am now much more aware of the supplies we have, and we are committed to working our way through these.

A break from the pantry tidying to prep pizzas for tea, then a great walk in the sunshine. 

Finally, one pantry to be very proud of. Teehee, now to try and keep it tidy. 

Day 10 - a little broken, but oh so happy

Day ten already... wow where are these days disappearing to?

My day started with an alarm wake up on a Saturday. What an awesome catch up with Barbara and Cynthia. It has honestly been far too long, and this is yet another wonderful thing to come from Covid19. We've kept in touch on twitter for the past three years, but today was our first 'face to face' Zoom. Wow, it was just like we were in the room together carrying on our chat from when Barbara and Cynthia were out in NZ three years ago. 

We literally have so much to catch up on. I can't wait to start working on our joint blog post, and then maybe, just maybe, that podcast we've been talking about for so long. Agh what a wonderful start to the day. 

Next up, another awesome 'meeting' on a Saturday morning. 9.25am and there we go, Tracey and I off on our virtual walk. So so so good to catch up. We even managed to share autumn pics. this pic shows three patches of poplars on my walk down Puddle Alley - hard to believe the variation in such such close proximity. 

I met a lot of people on my walk today, totally stayed 2 metres clear, but oh what wonderful catch ups... Didn't make it home til after 11am.

After breakfast we headed out to the garden in the sunshine. WOW, there really is something to be said for literally unlimited time. We really took to the jungle today. 

Hard to believe we have been here 20 years now, and we planted most of this. Over the years the plants have moved beyond manageable and there is a lot of overgrowth and die back. Today, thanks to Covid19 we are not pressured. We have time, real time to take it slowly and make a difference... and a difference we made. 

What began as a simple weeding and cutback quickly became major maintenance. We also dug up all the remaining hostas and split them along with the heucheras, up to the top. 

Another of the very many highlights in the day was finding this red top. My favourite childhood book was the red tops... and finding the first one I've ever found in our backyard was awesome. We were also so aware of the cacophony of birdsong and our constant companions the piwakawakas. 

This stunning maple has been squashed and squeezed, but we have created it space to grow and spread. 

What a difference the clean up along the front of the garden made. 

I think this year we have literally split up and replanted hundreds of hostas. I truly can't wait til next spring. I transplanted a couple more of my peony roses out to the back garden too. It will be really interesting to see how they grow out there. 

Absolutely shattered but oh so proud of all we have achieved today. 

...and this is only one of three piles awaiting mulching or composting... Imagine how much there will be by the end of this wonderful time of isolation. 

So bone weary, we are relaxing and resting... tomorrow, we are right back out there! Can't wait for another MAGIC day gardening... 

Day 9 - diving into the weekend

WOW Friday... you have been a very long time coming....

Fabulous to report I have had two fabulous nights sleep in a row - oh what a difference that makes... 

The day started with online meetings and continued back to back right through til mid afternoon. I work this way, we work this way, we are used to online, but oh my goodness this is tough going. It is not good for our eyes, brains, posture, well being... Next week I am consciously building in gaps between the meetings... 

Finally I took a break and Grant and I went for an awesome walk. I love spotting Autumn sneaking up on us. 

We walked down to Wingatui and over the tracks to explore all the new building. Not long over the tracks and two trains came by. There is so much more train traffic lately I think - maybe moving produce to keep us all stocked up. 

Back online in time for the best meeting of the week... virtual drinks. How awesome to connect across Aotearoa, all in our bubbles... just a good old fashioned, relaxed, catch up. Thanks team... 

WOW what a stunning find tonight... I thought they were thrown out long ago. I stumbled on a courier bag full of my Bearly Dressed labels, from back in the day, when I had the children's clothing label. I think that was back in 1997 when Bearly Dressed clothes wrapped up. Oh what I would give to find a piece of clothing we created. It really was such an incredible time. I spent so much time cutting the cloth, delivering it to the out sewers, travelling selling the clothes... It really was an incredible time in our lives. 

I rounded Friday night off with creating this little top for a very special little person. 

Now, Netfilx is calling me... YAY for the weekend.

Day 8 - the little things, well they are actually the BIG things....

WOW 8th day in our bubble! I realise I haven't really talked much about the WHY of this time of isolation... that post will come. 

For today, I am talking about the little things, the things that just 8 days ago we took for granted. 

Up early and out for the 5km circuit I was determined to give it a crack to get another PB... wow, another 1minute 30 seconds of the 5km lap. I got a bit of a shock to see my heart rate - right up there for most of the run... And I had to stop to tie a shoelace. As with most days I am out, there are lots of people out, walking, cycling, running. I really am delighted with the progress I am making... so time to set some new goals. My goal for the 5km is now 35minutes... which will get me right on target to go for a 10km in 70minutes. Next week I think I will give the 10km loop a go....

The work day was a mixture of online meetings, sorting, cancelling events out of the Connected Educator calendar... and some very fun meetings with our Whānau Lead lunchtime sessions. A real highlight today was hearing that Tash took our Hazel memorial kowhai tree home to care for... that is truly special. 

Late in the day we heading in to collect our Click and Collect order. We were only able to get a slot at the South Dunedin store a week out from ordering. Very impressed with the service and the process. And even more impressed now we have the app which orders by simply scanning barcodes. On the way home from our pick up we stopped off at a very deserted middle beach and had a wonderful beach walk. Yes a simple thing a week or so ago, now seemed like such an incredibly luxurious treat. The sun, the sand, and rolling waves, just so, so good. 

I was very surprised how warm the water was and absolutely loved the feel of the water lapping my feet. It is less than three weeks ago when I was out in the Chatham Islands where a beach walk or jog was my daily ritual and I took it for granted. How precious today was. 

Home for another small treat, washing the shopping... hahahahaha I am not sure if I am being ridiculous, but after watching 7 Sharp the other night, I find this a simple easy task, and it sure doesn't make us appreciate our supplies. 

An absolute treat in the order, a house and garden magazine, so I treated myself a relax in the sun. Again, I am stunned by the lack of noise pollution. There was an absolute cacophony of birdsong...

So, as the day draws to a close, I am in awe of how many simple pleasures there are in life... #grateful

Day seven - calmly does it...

WOW, just WOW. I am supposed to be on leave today still, but a couple of things came up so I have ended up working half a day. 

I love that Grant and I are literally now visible in our bubble... 

This was created so simply using a free photo editor photo 360 

I am thinking a lot about the word rāhui, as I share this image. This really is a time to calm, reset, and be gentle and kind. I love the image of the hands holding the precious bubble... as indeed, all of our bubbles are so precious at this time. As we rest and calm, we are seeing incredible evidence of positive effects, from air pollution in China, to life in the Venice waterways. There are so many posts to read, so I'm just linking one example.

7 Ways the Coronavirus Is Affecting the Environment

Evidence of a change is HUGE in our own backyard. There is such a significant reduction in noise pollution with virtually no airplanes, and very little traffic on the roads, there is an increasing volume of birdsong. And last night we were serenaded by owls under the moonlight. We have had an abundance of fantails trailing us as we garden and today we had one come right inside with us. Now I know for Mum who was ornithophobic, and Dad, who was incredibly superstitious, this would have beena very bad sign. However I think it was awesome that this little guy just wanted to be in our bubble for a while. (Safely outdoors again now...)

This morning we were privileged to have a Tātai Pūmanawa Session on Manaakitanga. WOW what an incredible session. We heard stories, generously shared, to actually transform the word from letters and sounds, to an etching on our hearts. Thanks so much team for this truly gentle calming session... 

At lunchtime today, the amazing Madeline and I had the opportunity to share a fun session, looking at us all now as work orphans, being in Tari Mai Tawhiti, which has for a long time now been CORE's fourth office. 

We invited colleagues in for a whimsical distraction, re-connecting with the imaginary worlds of childhood memories. We had fun using https://www.remove.bg/ to place ourselves in fun scenes... all a bit of fun, and an awesome writing motivator, or fun activity to experience with whānau or class... enjoy!

Rachel and I are also delighted to have our blogpost out. 

Engaging junior learners and whānau from home I'd love to hear your thoughts on the post. Please comment with what resonates with you. Please also comment sharing ideas that are working for you... 

Til tomorrow....