Lockdown juggle

Quarantine love and hate part 1

Not much time passed to have a real and honest perspective on the global pandemic. Honestly, it’s a subject others will cover better. Many many articles and schools and academies will discuss this for years. so I intend to document some of what it was like for me.

 

 

A horror film

The title song suggested something was coming.  A ripple of anxiety coated everything. I washed my hands so many times they blistered. I was scared and like many- suffered mild to severe psychosomatic reactions which manifested as “flu-like” symptoms. Going out entailed tense muscles and by the time I arrived home I was eager to wash up and change. Saying all that, I had to keep a smile on for my little girl and it allowed a blissful distraction. Even when I wanted to scroll down eternally at the dooms and horrors the news fed me. I couldn’t. March 12 arrived with a buzz of something bad around the corner. One day later. we were home. sealed shut.

Lockdown

I worried for a few days. I thought about existential stuff. Unknowns and meanings. Life is short, I thought. How hard it is to be human now.

And how do the little ones take it? Is it easier for them than for adults? Sometimes as I explained and talked in simplistic terms, it made it easier for me. I mean… worrying got old after a while.

It came down to something very basic. It is what it is. If life gives you lemons – Might as well make lemon pie.

March and April were a roller coaster ride on the emotional scale.

Creating art helped

When I put a pencil to digital paper I was transported. or temporarily displaced enough to take a full breath. It turned from a very fearful time of social isolation and anxiety of the unknown into a space for creation. My daughter and I became a factory of crafts. And the main star of the craft show was Origami. Oh my…so much paper folding was going on, I began feeling guilty about the waste!

The fox was the very first one we made. From then on, we could not stop. really. it was ridiculous and wonderful.

I was inspired to draw a version of it. I named it “Borrowed time” because while my daughter folded away I was given a very rare gift of some free time to do my own thing. But I was soon summoned back to create sets of paper animals. As if Noa would arrive and whisk the paper survivors of the pandemic into a great big ark. We had birds, mice, rabbits, and sharks.

Some times it didn’t go so well. I think this one was supposed to be a squirrel. Way above our current technique level.

More more- give me more

The next thing which happened by accident- was an urge to juggle!

With stores and shopping malls closed – we had to make it ourselves. Thank you, Pinterest.

The power juggling is amazing. I learned to do it in a few weeks. The effect of concentrating on three balls and having them stay in motion was amazingly therapeutic. A mindfulness game. I loved it.  My daughter got annoyed by my new hobby. So we hit another craft session. it resulted in another cloth product.

A cat doll. Made from recycled bits of fabric in the house.

Black socks, old overalls, frills, lace, and buttons. I had such a good time. I think I became obsessed at one point. We made another. Unfortunately, the kitty did not make it to fruition. She shall never walk.

Enough already

Oh, there was so much more. I began fearing our Crafting frenzy. We were a little industry of made-up stuff. I admit I needed to fill a hole where activity and social interaction were missing. It was fun for my daughter and me. At times I wanted to rest and read a book. But with a bored seven-year-old, I just had to give it a lot more attention than I wanted to. We sculpted a clay Elpaka pencil holder, miniature FIMO fast food, dollhouse made of an old laundry detergent bottle, and much much more.

The balance between fun and crazy was crossed a few times 🙂

But life goes on

On a Fondant craft session, an idea of a massive birthday cake bloomed into reality.

“Can we bake two layers of cake mommy?”

“Why yes child, lets!”

A few baking sessions later. Four chocolate cakes were stacked one on top of the other. One huge cake for a household of four – is a lot.

We still have some left in the freezer. It was happily converted into cake balls. Many cake balls. Much too many.

All in all – We had a nice Birthday quarantine.

 

…To be continued