I Can't Win ...

I have received some wonderful private messages from friends here on The Hill, and other sources. I thought I was giving everyone a “break”, because I’ve been known to be an adamant and frequent user of words, both in live conversations, text messages, emails, and blogs. However, the messages are checking to see if all is well at our patch of land, has our ‘isolation’ become a ‘seclusion’, or have I been distracted by more interesting activities. Well, here comes a ‘deluge’ of words that I’ve been saving up!

According to the media, public opinion, and assumed expert advice, my husband and I are in the most vulnerable age group, so we began our voluntary personal isolation in early March, and thankful that we are still able to enjoy rural living. My husband spends many hours each day in his shop… fixing, painting, sorting, rearranging, and sometimes, trashing long preserved items. One never knows when the saved items would be just what is needed, saving a trip to town. He also can have a short ‘uninterrupted’ nap in his favorite chair in his shop. Meanwhile, I am content in our warm home, doing a bit of cooking, a bit of cleaning, completing some items on my ‘to do’ list. I am thankful for my cell phone, my computer, the many albums and boxes of photographs in our library, and my favorite chair by the window that gives me a ‘bird’s eye view’ of our beautiful river valley. If you have visited my profile page here on The Hill, you may have seen the posted photos of the wild life that have stopped, some only long enough to have their picture taken, at our patio.

A long-time friend invited me to join a private group on another social media website, to help with a ‘craft’ that I enjoyed years ago. It sounded like fun, but I soon learned that I wasn’t as good at repairing and refurbishing vintage and damaged photographs as I once was, and my software needed to be upgraded. Learning new things has always grabbed my attention, but it seems to take a lot longer to get the information through my thick head. I’m fascinated with the tools available now, and I’ve been spending a lot of time on this ‘learning curve’!

I’m posting this photo to end this blog. We know only one person who tested positive with the Covid-19 virus.  He was quarantined at home, but not admitted to the hospital. He is well now but needs to be retested before he can return to work. He has been told that he will not be retested for at least another six weeks, which is making the time move very slowly for him. He is a train engineer, and nearing retirement, but is still anxious to return to his job. He is one of only a few engineers who are still licensed to operate a steam engine.We no longer see any steam engines travel through our valley, but I thought I would post this photo that I took a few years ago. He was the engineer on that day, and told me that the steam cloud was to let me know that it was him at the controls that day. I love that photo; brings back memories of the numerous trips I have made on a similar train in my younger years. It was how I traveled to the city from my nursing job in a small town. I did get my driver’s license when I had my 16^thbirthday, but I couldn’t afford to own my own vehicle. Here is the car that my husband owned when we were married… and I got to drive it many times. It was often referred to as our pink ‘boat’!