Like probably all of our readers, I'm clearly suffering from pandemic haze, where one day just leads into the next without my having accomplished much of what I thought I "should" get done. The blog clearly reflects it. After all, we've had Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and even Groundhog Day without a peep from me on this forum. I can't wrap my head around doing a retrospective post even for those highlights, so I'll give my general impressions of what's been going on.
We have elected to maintain a family lockdown throughout this period. This seems the most prudent to us, not only to protect our health, but also to protect that of our neighbors and fellow townspeople. What does this look like? It means no going out for pleasure (or even exercise, more about that later) or any reason other than legal (we had a condo meeting, for example), health (medical appointments), or the weekly food pickup (Jeremy only). It is so very fortunate that we were already well ensconced in the house and all the work had finished (ha! More about that, too) before this hit, since it means that we all have our special, comfortable spaces to be. Had we been in our old place, this would have been much more difficult.
For Thanksgiving, we roasted a turkey leg (it was huge!), and did the traditional dishes, including stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce (I had canned some a previous year thanks to a US excursion during cranberry season; cranberries aren't available here), and pumpkin pie. The four of us put a pretty tablecloth on the table, pulled out the silver and crystal, and celebrated our health and that of our loved ones. And then we enjoyed our feast for a few days (yay, leftovers!).
Christmas we actually celebrated on St Stephen's, aka Boxing Day, because Jeremy had gone to Turin for a required test and only arrived home on the 12th of December. Since we wanted the two-week quarantine, it meant a delayed meal. That worked out fine, and we ended up doing the Thanksgiving menu again because it was so popular the first time! Zoom was an important part of our celebrations, and we managed to have a lot of good cheer despite only having four of us physically at home. We certainly missed the girls, though!
In December, seven of us started a Dungeons and Dragons adventure. For those not familiar with the game, it's more of a choose-your-own-adventure experience, where you take roles and make decisions about how to complete quests and navigate a fantasy world. Michael bought a beginner's kit, with a prepackaged adventure, when we first started quarantine. Jeremy and I loved it, and since that time, we've been on a huge variety of adventures! For a larger family experience, we got Eleanor and Matthew and Florence hooked up by Zoom (Ashley had other plans!), and have been playing every weekend. It's been a really good way to clap eyes on each other.
New Year's was actually lovely. We stood on the balcony of Michael's office, each with a glass of bubbly, and enjoyed the fireworks all around the valley. I'm not sure who was setting them off, since at that point community gatherings were banned, but we were delighted to see probably 40 displays in a 180-degree view.
And now we're in February. The schools were re-opened for attendance in person at the end of January, but James is electing to continue distance learning while we keep an eye on the situation. Sure enough, they are already considering closing the schools back up.
We now have a home gym! That's a really snazzy way of saying "there's an exercise bike cluttering up the bedroom." While it admittedly takes up floor space, we have it parked right by the doors to the terrace. This gives us the most beautiful view of the valley, which certainly adds to the charm of the stationary bike experience. Since we weren't able to get out to walk or run, it seemed like a good idea to add this to the family's possessions. So far, it's working quite well, in that it's being used for the intended purpose rather than for hanging clothes on. It arrived I think at the beginning of January, and was quite a lug up the stairs (thank you, James and Michael!).
Remember the repointing work we had done on the exterior walls, where the mortar holding the stones together had to be redone because it had crumbled away? Well, the law of unintended consequences is having the last laugh. Our house is made of a variety of stones, including tufa. Tufa is a very, very porous rock which, curiously enough, is soft when in the ground but hardens with exposure to air. You saw the word "porous," right? So, when the wind drives the rain against the walls (as it has for most of the winter), water is forced into all the cracks and holes in the tufa. Prior to the work we did, we presume that the water just drained out through the nonexistent/sandy and friable mortar that was there previously. Now that we have mortar that will hold the stones together during an earthquake, the water has had difficulty draining, and is now forcing its way through the walls. That's right, we have wet walls and peeling paint in our bedroom and hallway. Just when we thought construction was over! The only solution is to wait until spring and the complete drying out of the walls, then we have to spray the exterior surfaces with a water-repellent coating. This will last for 2-3 years in this particular location (we have dramatic winds on this corner of the house) before needing to be redone. The good news? This work does not require scaffolding. In the meantime, we're living with a wall that appears to have dandruff and sheds copious amounts, and two dehumidifiers running fulltime in our bedroom.
There you have it! The general update on how we are and what we are up to. Oh, and during this time I've knitted 4 sweaters and 4 privacy curtains, re-covered a footstool, and made a pair of wool slacks for Jeremy. The time hasn't been completely wasted, but I certainly feel uninspired at times.
Love,
Alexandra
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| The bunnies thought the tree was a treat! |
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| View from the home gym |
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| Lace curtains for the bathroom window |
