Well, all the good intentions of the past have not led to a regular blog … even with all the time on my hands with Covid-19 lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, etc.

11 March 2021 – we are told to stay home or, if outside Canada, get home. I got home from Belize on 10 February 2021 and haven’t been further east than Oakville or further west than Point Pelee since. Twice in September I was camping – once at Rondeau Provincial Park, once at Wheatley Provincial Park – at a time when the numbers of covid cases were down, things seemed to be doing better and provincial parks were open. We have been locked down since Boxing Day (for the non-colonials or non-Brits, that is 26 December 2021) and under a stay-at-home order since 06 April 2021 … supposedly to end 20 May 2021. However, the numbers of Covid cases goes up, hospitals and ICU’s are bursting at the seams and that end date seems likely not to be firm. As with so much of this pandemic, the goalposts keep moving just out of reach. At first it was “weeks”, then it was “months” and now we are well into our second year.

With vaccines available, one would think we should be near the end but the virus now has new variants that are more transmissible and less amenable to the vaccines already on the market. Not only that, Canada manufactures no vaccines in-country anymore where we were once a leader in vaccine development and manufacturing. Sadly, we seem no closer now than we did a year ago to being able to produce vaccines in Canada – we have not taken advantage of the past year to either build a manufacturing facility (although we have Mirabel Airport sitting in mothballs which is surely big enough and could be converted) or negotiate licencing agreements to produce the vaccines in Canada. So, with the inability of our politicians to think out of the box resulting in a botched vaccine rollout, the percentage of our population that is vaccinated is low (approximately 34% have had a first dose). The additional problem is the Covidiots – those that deny Covid is any worse than a cold or flu; who think masks are unnecesary and that their “freedoms” are being impinged upon by Public Health orders. This, before getting back in their car, putting on their seatbelt and driving away. In the meantime, the compliant are beginning to breakdown from Covid-fatigue.

I know I have struggled throughout … prior to this, I was retired but working contract work for my previous employer. Covid ended that and now my income is half what it was. My contracts were international and I travelled extensively (and lived for weeks or months at a time in other countries) and, when I was not doing that I was travelling on my own dime either for pleasure or to see my children and grandchildren who live far away. Now I stay home. M is a home body and did not, for the most part, travel with me so M has not really been impacted and has difficulty understanding why I do. M volunteers twice a week at the food bank and I have dragged out my sewing machine (then bought a new one) and have been making masks and donating them to the food back – well over 500 now and counting! I have 25 folded and ready for the final sewing awaiting my doing in the near future.

We have also formed a “household” with a daughter, her husband, our two grandchildren, his parents and brother with whom they live. Her husband works (not from home) while our daughter works from home. The children have spent significant time with us when the schools have been closed – as they are now. Difficult for all concerned but the least we can do. While the schools were open we did not see them at all. Fortunately now, M and I, our daughter’s husband, and his parents all have had our first vaccination. Her brother in law has his soon and hopefully she will get hers soon now that it seems it will become a free-for-all (or at least those over 18) in mid-May.

So, just a bit of catch up – will try to get back into blogging … I suspect it will be a combo of past travels, current comfort food, gardening/preserving successes and, perhaps a kitten picture or two – Kitu came to live with us on New Year’s Eve and has been a delight: she was a rescue so her birthdate is unknown but suspected to be September so she is about 8 months old now. She loves to play fetch with a small plastic spring. She does not always bring them back so there are about 30 scattered throughout the house: most in spots inaccessible to a kitten.

Until the next time,