life / pandemic

day 67: six-feet-away birthday.

• by kerri

Here I am, twenty-nine.
I’ve not quite moved to “social distancing” proper yet—and I likely won’t for awhile. I’d say I’m still closer to something resembling self-isolating, but given I saw a friend today, outdoors, I’d not say I’m quite there still, either.

The pandemic birthday.
Michelle in Singapore and Elisheva in Israel sent birthday greetings before midnight. On Sunday, Guide Dog Murray came back to visit, so just after midnight I took him outside and we went to bed. I woke up to Murray sniffing my face, to more texts and Facebook posts and messages and tweets (and LinkedIn messages – I love y’all but that’s a weird function of LinkedIn?), and went back to sleep after taking the pup outside.

My aunt, Linda, gave me an ice cream maker last week – she could not wait any longer to give me my birthday present as she’s had it since like January. So I got up eventually, after cuddling with Murray on the bedroom floor (prepared nicely for him with foam puzzle mats, pillows and a blanket), and made ice cream.

Then I groomed Murray and brushed his teeth and made him all fancy puppy to see his Daddyface AKA Steve. 

The people who make it special
But first, lunch with my mom, grandma and other aunt, Karen.
We took Murray for his last visit of the visit (weird?), to have Subway and Jeanne Cake squares in my grandma’s back yard. I mean, Murray wasn’t having Subway or cake. The weather was perfect, though, and despite putting Murray on his long tie down he didn’t really go anywhere except briefly getting somewhat “stuck” (confused) under a picnic table, he didn’t really wander anywhere—as he tends to if he’s on a tie down.
We visited awhile, Murray got his goodbye pats, and then we went to take him home, with a detour to pick up Steve, wearing masks in the car, and going to the park for cupcakes (for Steve and I) and coffee (for my mom and Steve). Amusingly, I handed Murray’s leash back to Steve as we headed across the park, Steve using his cane, and as soon as we sat down he handed Murray’s leash back. Hello, isn’t this dog bored of Small Fry by now?

We ate cupcakes (second cake of the day), watched the geese (note: geese are terrifying), and saw the physical distancing enforcers wandering the park in their vests once. They didn’t talk to us as we sat on either end of a bench and on a lawn chair. Eventually, we put our masks back on and got in the car to take Steve and Murray home, thankful for the visit and having Murray over for 4.5 days to shift my focus from pandemic/work/Animal Crossing to a better set of Murray/work/Animal Crossing (and I think I played less Animal Crossing, honestly – in exchange for playing with actual doggo animal?)
It was one of the most “normal” things I’ve done in the last 3 months, a lovely visit with one of my favourite people and my favourite dog—and still, so, so abnormal. So abnormal I haven’t done those things for months. That I still haven’t gone into a store. That everyone is positioned so strategically, clearly differentiating couples and families and those who don’t live together.

I got home to find a text from Kayleen confirming I was home. At 6:55 – 15 minutes ahead of schedule – a bag from Stella’s Bakery appeared at my door, containing a piece of chocolate tort and a slice of chocolate cake. There was another, yes, another cake in my future so I held off, but damn, does getting cake from a friend delivered to your door make a person feel special! (I hope we are actually able to go places with a more reliable sense of safety for Kayleen’s birthday in August – even if we still have to stay 6 feet apart).

My aunt, Linda (of the ice cream maker gift!) came over for a visit, cake and home-made ice cream. (She also left with homemade strawberry sorbet – talk about a great gift, it’s been used twice already since I got it on Monday!). Cake #3 of the day was Jeanne cake but with strawberry curls. The cake was super cute, but I’ll admit the chocolate ones taste better. Also, a few hours after this I’ve eaten a few bites of cake #4, Stella’s torte, and cake #6, Stella’s chocolate cake, but I am still very full of other cake and also pizza despite it nearing midnight.

Oh yes, while my mother put candles in the cake, there was no lighting or blowing out of candles. Because honestly, why did it take a global pandemic for us all to figure out that eating a cake someone has breathed all over is kind of weird?  

While opening some gifts from my parents, Daryl called. This led to the delightful missed call of Daryl leaving his “lounge lizard” version of Happy Birthday on my voicemail, which I will tomorrow figure out how to rescue out of my phone somehow. Daryl’s mom and I share a birthday, and this year he got to sing for me on my birthday as he did for her for many years which is super special! Of course, this little surprise on my voicemail meant my mom also got to enjoy the recording, exclaiming “You have such NICE people!!”

Yes, I sure do, don’t I?

Looking… somewhere.
So. Twenty-nine.

I’m not at all sure what I’m looking for this year, or what it will bring. I do know twenty-eight led me to many amazing people and things, including Kayleen and working with Deb and Daryl. 

Given the state of the world right now, I’m certainly looking ahead but to an unclear spot on the horizon. I don’t know what this year will bring and I’m not going to try to guess. I hope for more stability. Twenty-eight was a pretty great year, and despite its uncertainties, I hope twenty-nine is similar, bringin friends new and old, new opportunities, and new puppies.
Okay, honestly, I’d be cool with more of the same puppies… or puppy.

12 of 12 / life / pandemic

12 of 12 – may ’20, lockdown edition (day 57)

• by kerri

The last time I did a 12 of 12 was in 2016. I may have been one of the last hangers-on of this thing I learned of through my friend Mike. 12 of 12 was a thing where we took, for months on end, 12 pictures on the 12th day of the month and blogged them. (This is my 26th 12 of 12 on this site, and I did others on old sites. I kind of can’t believe it.)

So at 12:23 AM I texted Mike my first picture and said “12 of 12 lockdown edition, you in??”

I got a text back at 12:24 am: “Let’s do it.”

12:23 AM

Good night. Had to show off my awesome dinosaur bedding, purple blanket from Steve, handmade octopus from Keri-Lynn (who swears she will never make another so I feel special), and guitar my cousin Dean made me long ago. Oh and the decorative painters tape that’s been on my walls for years.

9:38 AM

Morale boost flying across the country. The Canadian Forces Snowbirds took to the Manitoba skies this morning. Great view from our deck on Manitoba’s 150th birthday.

10:47 AM

Little Animal Crossing before I get to work. Got bored of the Trudeau press conference today which means the options are either work or video games.

12:30 PM

Editing my fourth-ever podcast for work. Still needing to google things to remember how GarageBand works.
Also I need to clean my MacBook screen.

1:08 PM

I was going to listen to a live recording of the Rational Security podcast because I’m a giant nerd, except it’s not til tomorrow and I have another Zoom scheduled then. Whoops.

2:01 PM
 
The video version of the podcast above. Little did I know at the time I’d have to do the tags all over again on both YouTube and Facebook because I didn’t update the title in the video intro and had to fix it, export it, and re-upload it.

6:27 PM
Happy birthday, Manitoba. My province is 150 today.

7:39 PM

We got a grocery pickup slot today. Giant strawberries that are delicious!
(If you care about our level of pandemic, yes, we are disinfecting most packaging, such as the strawberry clamshell I placed my strawberry atop.)

8:24 PM

Giant strawberries. Tiny watermelon. 

10:29 PM

Actual footage of my expression when I realized I bought this tropical shirt on the island twice.

11:59 PM

I love having cute CNIB Guide Dogs on my kitchen calendar! Hiya, Potter!

—–

Thanks for joining in on a slice of my lockdown life. Check out what Mike was up to (his is a lot more interesting, and pretty, than mine!).
Anybody up for a 12 of 12 resurrection? If so, I hope June is a bit more interesting! 😉

friends / life / pandemic

self-isolation: day 50 – 7+ weeks in

• by kerri

Manitoba is beginning to open up. I am continuing to stay home.

I don’t really have words anymore, but I will not be going to a patio, a store, a mall.
And I am pleased to see that many Manitoba businesses are continuing to serve customers in safe ways until we figure out better what is going on with COVID-19.

Breaking the monotony.
Week 6, last week, I had a non-human house-guest. Now, I understand there is possibility that pets may spread COVID-19. Steve and I had both been home for 5+ weeks. We felt safe enough that we do a distanced handoff of Murray, wearing masks, so Murray and I could entertain each other a bit.

I somehow got work done last week which was shocking as I generally just want to stare at/cuddle Murray when he comes to visit. He also got lots of walks between my mom and I, and got a change of scenery. (Okay, he practically takes himself for a walk. I honestly clip him to my belt loop sometimes, and he does nothing more than casually glance at other dogs – meanwhile a man asked if I wanted to trade dogs (obviously not), and I saw a woman struggle getting tangled in her dogs while I just kept walking with my perfect Murray – seriously, makes me so damn proud. To all the people at Guide Dogs for the Blind and volunteers that were a part of his journey – beyond amazing work going on there.

Okay I know you just care about the pictures, here’s the sweet pupper. (I am trying to figure out how to embed the album, but this an API is apparently more than I can handle at 10:59 pm?) 

 

Thanks Steve for letting me have him for a few days. He can come back and visit anytime. (But I hope we can have coffee again sometime, too. I mean, human we, not Murray.) 

Gifts from the Internet
Last week’s gift from the internet is this delightful remix of Ontario premier Doug Ford calling protesters at Queen’s Park “a bunch of yahoos”, and getting remixed.

And I would be a terrible blogger if I didn’t mentioned the original Canadian pandemic remix “Speaking Moistly”. 
It is a key part of the Canadian COVID-19 pandemic experience now.

Yeah, shit is serious out there. The internet is keeping many of us some degree of sane (especially those like me who have not been in a public place for 50 days.)

Oh, my last gift from the Internet (that I had to pay for) was that I finally entered 2012 and downloaded Animal Crossing: New Leaf for my 2DS. With everyone talking about Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I had to refresh myself of the basics of what it was about. 
It’s been very worth the $32 thus far and I’ve only had it like 24 hours. 

Canada / pandemic

self-isolation: day 37 – 5+ weeks in.

• by kerri

Edit: I seem to have lost track of the days since this all started; when I posted this yesterday, I wrote day 35 – it was actually day 37.

Even if you’re not going anywhere, pandemics are exhausting. I can’t even imagine being on the frontlines or being an essential service worker. Because I am just living a different-ish version of my normal life but at home and today, I am tired.

This week I’ve learned to make a podcast and start getting it distributed, I’ve edited videos and had an amazing phone call. Also my internet was failing and had to have MTS out this morning to fix it—thank god the problem was outside the house and they replaced a corroded wire and they were done by 9:10 AM, I was pretty impressed for the most part other than the guy on Twitter who told me he was not detecting any problems with our line yet the person on live chat told me there sure was an interruption in an outside line!
ALSO It’s only Tuesday.

I’ve had reasons to smile – a lot. Last Wedneday, Steve surprised me getting cookies and cinnamon buns from San Vito Coffeehouse delivered (also coffee for my parents). If you’re in the Peg and haven’t had San Vito, give them a call (or an instagram and check out Geordie doing Kitchen Karaoke). They’re our usual Thursday stop and having not had archery in 4+ weeks it has been a long while. People, they drive around with a coffee urn in there so it stays hot – brilliant! Thanks for continuing to be great, San Vito.
I’ve seen the good continuing to come out of people – like all the people on the MAS Mutual Aid Society Winnipeg group who have stepped up with no judgement to help a woman whose partner is getting out of prison in a few months, while she is 7 months pregnant and trying to get together what she can for his release and reintegration—people opening their closets for men’s clothing and shoes and baby clothes for this family as they prepare to start a new chapter. At a time things are chaotic for many, people are really doing their best to come together and that is incredible.

And then there is the sadness that goes beyond this virus. The families and communities left in turmoil after Canada’s worst mass shooting over the weekend in Nova Scotia. The people killed senselessly in a place where we have heard community is everything. The full impact of the shooting, and information about the 22 victims, is still unfolding. We are changed as a country in more ways than one—especially in Nova Scotia.

And yet, in the heartbreak, moments like this happen, a pilot in his single engine plane tracing a heart-shaped flight pattern in the skies above Nova Scotia.

Image from Huddle

We will be a different country, a different world after this is over.

I hope we will be a better one as we learn to care for one another and pay attention to the good things in the midst of chaos, heartbreak, pain and loss. I hope we continue to give as we can to one another—whatever that may look like.

pandemic

self-isolation: twenty-one days in.

• by kerri

Here we are, three weeks in.
I truly meant to update last week but apparently I became very busy while self-isolating, which means as usual, I forgot and/or was uninspired.

I have discovered I need a hobby, I learned this week. Well, other than baking – I am not sure if that is exactly a hobby, because if I do it all the time we have to eat everything and um yes that is a self-isolation problem. Yesterday, I pulled out my Nintendo 2DS again and have spent an ungodly number of hours this weekend playing Pokemon Alpha Sapphire while watching Border Security: Canada’s Front Line. I have so many questions about the agriculture brought in by people, honestly. I’ve also made a pandemic playlist, thus far consisting of:

  • Look Happy, It’s The End of the World — Matthew Good Band
  • One of Them Years — Matthew Good Band
  • Panic Prone — Chevelle
  • Blue Vacation — Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
(That last one, for the many now pandemic-appropriate lyrics. Self-isolating on an island maybe? Little southward politics? Y’know. But at least it’s not super depressing?)

I still, most mornings, am watching Justin Trudeau’s morning press briefing. I am no longer watching the province of Manitoba’s reports because I am staying the hell home anyways and I hear all the statistics later anyways. They are, like everywhere, predicting this week is pivotal. I presume if this week ends up not being pivotal we are just waiting for another one, but I honestly don’t know.
I still feel like, even though Trudeau has been good at instilling hope in these “unprecedented” days, this may still instil more panic as we question our access to medical supplies and I slowly freak out about maintaining long-term access to asthma medications as talk of shortages continues; and I think of this in the context of a hospital certainly being the last place I want to go. And then I try not to think about it.

Monday we had backyard six-feet-away coffee with my grandma. We sanitized the Starbucks cups which is probably unnecessary but you know what? If we are too careful, who cares. (Are we all going to have lasting issues after all this? Yeah, probably.)
 

Wednesday I got the call about my Tuesday doctor’s appointment. “Hi, how are you — good, you’re self isolating?”—it appeared my doctor’s assistant could not ask me quickly enough about my staying home for the past zillionty days. As previously announced, it will now take place by phone. This means I can stay in bed, and answer my phone at 8:30 rather than have to go downtown. Also, maybe this can happen forever because that would be convenient. Although, Steve and I had planned to go to the Canadian Museum For Human Rights after my appointment April 7, and clearly, that is not happening (though you can do a tour on their website. Does not help all the tactile things I wanted to show Steve).

Wednesday (Wednesday? Yes?) we played Jackbox games on Google Hangout with Dean and Jackie and Mary (and my mom and my aunt and I). I’ve also played quite a few games of Ticket to Ride with Dean and Jackie and their friends. Because what else are we supposed to do?

Thursday I made these cookies. Highly recommend.

 
 
 
View this post on Instagram

Day 17. #StayHome. Bake cookies.

A post shared by kerri (@kerriontheprairies) onApr 2, 2020 at 6:51pm PDT

Then I made the fancy internet coffee last night (officially Dalgona coffee or whipped coffee, less officially quarantine coffee and internet coffee). I also may have lost count of days as I previously had this labeled as Day 19, not Day 20, but today definitely should be the 21st day.

I don’t even know anymore, time is an endless circle. I am still in a constant state of disbelief, honestly.

It was pretty good, but very hard to stir. Don’t make it as full as the videos do or the stirring part will be terrible even though it will look nice.

I finally got my final flight of 5 cancelled this week, and got my Airbnb credit. Astounding a month ago we anticipated we’d be in Minneapolis right now. The world was a much different place then, even though this had already all more than begun.

And, I finished my first self-isolation project. After procrastinating since September, I ordered a damn green table cloth and set up my green screen. Which, thank God, because I spent 6.5 hours on Zoom on Thursday, so I had to do something to entertain myself. (Many of these pictures are from playing around with it earlier in the week, save for the top two and the lion from Thursday.)

IMG 8553

So now, to go full-circle, I need a hobby.
Or at least a new self-isolation project. 

Drop me your suggestions in the comments.

Oh also, jump on it early: Kayleen and I have a Youtube channel we’ve done nothing with yet. But we plan to record our successes and failures in making internet recipes while in isolation. So subscribe to Delicious or Disaster (and feel free to send us dessert and/or other recipes, preferably vegetarian for me, thanks.) 
I was going to say maybe that’s my hobby but recall, it may be crazy if baking things is my hobby because we still have Christmas baking in the freezer.

Plans for this week: work more hours as per my new contract (beyond lucky—yay!), clean my personal email inbox, make a Youtube video, don’t lose my mind.
AND ALSO A NEW PIZZA PLACE OPENED IN MY AREA. So, order pizza.