Almost every weekend, Maria and I say let’s have a quiet, peaceful, relaxing weekend. We will be with each other and the dogs and other animals, sit outside and read the books we are waiting to read.

We will drink in the quiet and peacefulness. We will honor the wonderful day we were brought today after a hot mess of a summer.

There is a beauty to confinement, especially if you love the person you are confined with.

It took Covid-19 to get us to do it. We both are sick, exhausted, and constantly coughing and wiping our noses. We are also loving and helping each other, and that is a powerful experience.

I don’t recall ever being so drained. Maria is coming out of it and tired; I’m just trading places with her and going into it.

 

 

(When we first go outside, the birds vanish. After 20 minutes, they all decide it’s safe and come out. Maria can watch them for hours with her binoculars. She is getting to know them and today, she identified them for me.)

We are both sick together, a first.

Yet ironically, the isolation of Covid – we can’t go anywhere for at least five days – has given us the gift of the weekend we have always wanted but rarely get to have.

We are very work-centered and driven; we are always on the move, doing our work, creating, and thinking of this or that. Tomorrow or Monday, she plans to work in the morning and resume work on her chicken potholders.

I plan to blog.

My doctors and nurses are calm about  Covid.

Maria tested positively today after three days of sickness, I’m still negative, but that will change shortly, I am told. The thing we once dreaded is not so scary now, but it is still pretty exhausting and disruptive, at least for me.

 

This afternoon, we gathered with Fate And Zinnia to sit outside under the Apple tree and enjoy the beauty of our farm. We sat in our friendship chairs (we had to cancel plans to sit there with friends this afternoon.

It was a beautiful day. Maria brought binoculars out so she could study the birds.

Maria also spent some beautiful time with the donkeys and fed the chickens some gourmet snacks. They communicate with one another; I’ve seen it day after day.

Maria is getting better; I’m getting sacked. I could hardly stop coughing enough to read my excellent short story book by Jess Walter (The Angel Of Rome).

I’m swilling my cough syrup.

 

I didn’t expect to enjoy this day, but it was beautiful in many ways.

We talked, sat in silence, cared for each other watched birds, read a bit, and felt a wave of quiet and the beauty of confinement and solitude.

We are fortunate to live here and don’t appreciate it enough. The farm is a meditation all of its own.

The donkey is a beautiful animal to communicate with. They are intuitive and soothing. They adore Maria. I’ve been with them for 15 years, we know one another well.

When you can’t do anything but rest and read in quiet and talk to one another, then you do.

 

I tried to capture the beauty of this day in photos.

The doctors and nurses seem to take Covid-more in stride these days. Few people are rushed to hospitals, put in ventilators, or die from variants, especially those vaccinated and boosted.

A few years ago, someone my age with my chronic illnesses would have been rushed to the hospital immediately.

The nurse and I agreed to wait until Monday for me to be tested positive, which she was sure would happen since Maria tested positive today. I have every symptom.

We’ll take it from there, she said. They might want me to get an antiviral shot, and they might not.

That’s different. Right now, I feel as if I have mean flu. That can be serious for me, but it doesn’t feel alarming to me.

I’m signing off for tonight; I hope to be blogging in the morning. Thanks for all the lovely messages; we will be fine. We love peace and contemplation.

We love being together, especially in a peaceful and close way.

I was in an artsy mood sitting out in the pasture with my book, Maria, some tea and my camera. I played around with exposure and liked this image.

Have a good night, I have to say the news is pretty arresting.