Coronavirus = No garden walking in April. 31 days until garden walking....I hope... Stay Safe, Stay in.

So the count down to walking the gardens will begin again.

There may be some tulips when the gardens open in May.

If the gardens open in May.

Well one project I have been doing while staying inside has been 

sorting through all my flower photos. 

I am putting them together by type of flower.

As I go through them I am editing them a little,

and deleting the ones that I don't like.

I have always wanted to make a "Flower Meaning" book

and a book with flowers and poetry about them. 

I have never had the time because I've been too busy 

out walking in the gardens and photographing to 

sit down and actually organize everything.

Now with the stay home, stay safe directive I have the time.

So as I sort through all these photos I will share them with you 

and perhaps as I progress I will then share the flower meanings and

some poetry that I have found.

 I have had the last 4 days off.  It has been so nice to relax.

I am also during this time of needing to stay home decluttering

my office, again.  I tend to do this often, but this time

I am getting rid of even more.

We do still go out for walks at the lake.  It is 

in our county and we stay away from the rest of the world.

I will share some photos of that later.

Oh how I miss my garden walking.  I am thankful that we are all

staying healthy.

I will be printing out some photos later and sending cards.

I guess I will need to make an online order for ink and photo paper. 

I really don't want to go to any store I don't have to go to.

I am trying hard not to watch the news today.

I have a fascination with the Coronavirus map.  

Then I get sucked into reading stuff, and then I get a lovely panic attack. 

So I have to distance myself from the never ending gloom.

I think really more people will survive than die from this.

There are probably people who have it and don't even know they have it. 

We are lucky, we are all healthy.  I am thankful for that. We are all doing well with 

staying home.

I hope this all ends soon, and less people die than they think will.

I hope all this staying home flattens the curve. 

Until then I will look through my thousands of photos.

I will pretend I am walking the gardens.

when the weather gets warmer I will work on my own gardens which I have

neglected the last few years. 

And then a bright day will come, this virus will be done,

and we will all be able to go out again.

I think we will be so ready for that day.

The things I have been doing lately to rest and relax are

reading books.  I have tons of books I have bought and 

not read due to my love of going places on my day off,

so now I'm reading them.

Watching movies.  I love that you can just rent a movie from

amazon and watch it.  It is a nice way to end my day.

Getting my life organized.

Going though my family history paper work and getting rid of stuff I don't need

and keeping just the vital records.

I have been doing family history everyday again.

I used to be such a family history nerd.  So it has been fun to start doing that

again. It amazes me that I still find more people in my family tree.

I'm going to start making a master cook book and put

all my favorite recipes in it. I am keeping in touch by making

cards and sending them to friends and family.

I'm listening to podcast.  Mostly about cats.  Right now my cat is 

sitting on my hand as I type.  This is not easy.  Ugh.

I am going to start to look for quotes, poems, and other 

garden things and put some new photography books together.

I'm also exercising.  Thank goodness we have a treadmill.

I need to also do exercises for my back. 

I keep doing something to cause it to hurt.  Ugh!

I'm daydreaming of being a few months out and back at the gardens.

I think if the sun comes out and it becomes warm I will just sit on my back porch and

soak it in.

Stay safe my friends. 

Stay home if you can.

We can get through this.

G.G.

The interesting sings of our time... Things you see posted at stores because of the Coronavirus pandemic March 2020.

Our world at the moment is going through a very scary time. 

Covid-19 has become a pandemic and life as we all knew it has changed.

Here are some of the signs that I have seen around the store I work at. 

This top one is at the time clock.  If you are feeling ill you are not to come to work.

Here is one of the signs that tell you how to keep from spreading germs.

another sign about the Coronavirus symptoms.  I'm assuming that 

the orange thing is what the Coronavirus looks like.

We have to ration toilet paper when we get it.  Which is very sad.  Just two packages per person. There are a lot of other items that are out of stock.  Butter is one that we haven't had in the store in awhile.  Flour and Sugar and yeast also remain limited also.  

There are plastic barriers between associates and customers.  Customers do not 

like this and try to find ways to stick their heads around them.

We are constantly asking people to please stay behind the barrier.

Social distancing is the new word in the world.  As an introvert I love stay away from people.

We have to social distance ourselves from co-workers and customers.  6 feet is the recommended

amount of space you should have between you and others.

Another reminder to the public to stay away from the workers. 

It's an easy thing for someone like me who is an introvert, but for the extroverts of the 

world this is not easy.

If you touch money you have to go wash your hands, so I have resorted to wearing latex

gloves most of the day.  Because my job is basically touching money.

I never thought of all the things I touch each day until touching things became

possibly a way to catch the virus.  There is too much in the store that I touch that

can't be wiped down, so gloves are my best way of protection, and also not touching my face.

The empty shelves.  They are actually beginning to be filled again.

This is what my boss put on our computer screen.  I think this is the most important sign for me.

A reminder to relax, and breathe and do the best you can. 

I have to say I've had a few anxiety attacks lately.  I need to just stop and breathe.

Are you seeing different signs posted due to the coronavirus?

How are you dealing with the shut downs?

Are you still working?

How do you stay positive with so much negative being around?

I'm so ready for this to be done.  I think everyone is ready for it to be done.

How do you stay strong and keep going?

G.G.

3 Days until the gardens open....I am still hoping they will open despite the Coronavirus. A little about life in the grocery store.

Hello Friends,

I had started counting down to the gardens opening over a month ago.

Who would have ever dreamed a pandemic would 

arrive and possibly stop this event from happening.

I have walked at the gardens every week for about 3 years now.

I can't imagine not getting to go from the beginning of the season.

There is this small hope that they will open, because usually there 

are not many people in the gardens except for when they have their big events.

Many mornings I can walk and not bump into anyone else.  Which

being an introvert I love.

I work in a grocery store, so even though many people are staying home 

I still get up everyday and go to work.  The crazy panic shopping has stopped.

We have special hours three times a week for seniors, disabled, and immune suppressed

people. 

Our store is slowly getting restocked.  The things that don't

stay on the shelf right now are toilet paper, flour, sugar, yeast, eggs, deli meat and

sliced deli cheese.  Slowly though things are staying in the store longer.

We don't have any disinfecting wipes and a very limited supply of hand sanitizing gel.

Every day there are new rules.  We now have plastic partitions between us and

customers.  Customers don't really get it and poke their heads through any space

that is blocked.  We have signs asking people to stay six feet away from each other.

We have signs telling people where to stand in the check out lanes.

We have to wash our hands if we touch money. I have just given up and wear gloves

all the time.  We have to clean constantly.  I feel like I wipe the same spots off over and over and over.  I sometimes think I have to have so much disinfecting spray on me that nothing could survive.

There are signs asking people to not take large quantities of items,

and signs saying you can only buy certain quantities of items.  You can

only buy 2 packages of toilet paper right now.  People fight with each other and 

us on that rule.

Life is tense in the store.  Employees are exhausted.  Even though the hours 

for the store being open have changed, none of us have gotten much rest.

Sometimes you get 2 days off in a row and sometimes your days off are split.

I find that I sleep most of my day away on my days off.  Some people are finding it 

hard to fall asleep at night.  It takes a while to unwind when you get home.

I had my life very scheduled before this all started happening.  My first week of the crazy

shopping all my at home routines got thrown off, but this week I have been easing back

into it.  I have also started a new routine of having a cup of lemon honey tea when I get home.

It's full of vitamin C and very soothing.  I am working towards walking on my treadmill everyday again.

I have tons of projects, one being going through my thousands of photos,

so as soon as I leave work I go straight home and stay at home.

Looking through my photos, looking at the gardens helps me to relax.

I have had a few anxiety attacks.  Which I am managing. 

I am trying to limit how much I read about the pandemic. 

I am glad that I had distanced myself from social media before all of this happened.

It seems there is so much out there, knowing what is truth and what is false can be hard.

So many of us just want this done.  To be three or four weeks away from this.

I take time each day to think of those things I am thankful for.

To count my blessings.  I am thankful I have a job, and my husband too is still working.

I am thankful my children are home and safe.  I'm thankful for our new 

Sunday schedule of having church in our home.  That has been a wonderful blessing.

I am thankful I continue to stay healthy.  

I am thankful for the Hand of God in my life.

Each day brings us closer to the end of this crazy pandemic.

I look forward to the day when we look back and say it is over, and

we take lessons from this to make the world better. At least I hope that is what we do.

What are you doing during this pandemic?

Do you still have to work?

Are you staying home and working from home?

Are you feeling stressed? 

Are you feeling blessed? 

Wherever you are I wish you good health.

Stay safe and may we all get to that day where we look back and it's just a bad memory.

G.G. 

Hope you enjoy the spring photos.