Christmas in the new normal

Interstate travel is pretty limited right now, but my parents and I found a way to make it work. We all quarantined for two weeks (following rules that we agreed upon and wrote down, because I am nothing if not a project manager) and then I drove straight through to Ohio one evening. I changed my trip timing to avoid some winter storms, which turned out to be a good idea although I hate driving in the dark with a passion.

My mother and I took a walk almost every day. There are real advantages to owning 42 acres during the Covid times. It's easy to social distance when the only living creatures you'll run into are squirrels and deer.

Covid also led to a new family activity - haircuts for all. I cut my mother's, and my mother did the rest of them. I was so relieved that she liked hers, and I've never cut a woman's hair before (other than my own, and I am forgiving of myself :) I had my heart set on an authentic vintage cut. I was ready for a change from pinning my hair up every day. I was lucky that my mother was up for it, since it required repeated viewing of instructional videos and two hours of cutting with careful use of a ruler. Pretty much no one gets this particular haircut any more, even though it was *the* haircut of the 1940s and 1950s. This haircut, known as the Middy, looks good when you set it into pincurls, and only in that case. If you ever get lazy and wear it straight, it's a mullet.

Other than that, we cooked, ate, fixed things, and did a video Christmas gift opening with the rest of the family. Considering the times, it was a great holiday.

Everyone, together, at least in spirit.

 

Marking time

Like many people right now, my life seems to be an autopilot, without differentiation in my day. I get up, I work, I stretch out on the couch and read a book or hang out with Star Trek friends on Zoom, go to bed, and then do it again.

Only when scrolling through my pictures from the last month can I see I've actually been doing things.

I finished another sewing project, a fully lined summer skirt. I have never sewn slippery fabric before (needed for the lining), and it gave me the excuse to buy lots of new sewing equipment.

My father welded together a custom flame sensor to solve a long-time, intermittent furnace problem for me. Alas, we didn't plan correctly, so I can't install it. I'll bring it back to him at Christmas and hopefully we can alter it.

The Star Trek Christmas tree is up. Worf says, "Qapla' and Merry Christmas."*

From the seat of my bike. They close one of the roads through the parks on weekends, and that makes a good, decently-long ride.

The woods are pretty, even in winter. It's more fun biking in the cold because there are fewer pedestrians to dodge and I never overheat.

 *I always have to look up the spelling of qapla'. For the record, I tried to learn Klingon for about fifteen minutes one time and realized it is really, really hard to learn.