I can’t believe how time flies! We’re soldiering through another lockdown so not even going out anywhere exciting or doing anything much other than taking walks, eating and drinking. Yet I feel as if I go to sleep on Monday and wake up on Friday!
This is quite scary! Not only has a year been ‘wasted’ thanks to COVID, but I don’t have anything to show for it! A few more wrinkles and half a stone doesn’t count! Losing much loved family members is not what I want to look back on when thinking about 2020! I want to think of the good times, all the memories made and being blessed by having known them!
So I’m going to try desperately hard to find some positives! Sitting looking out of the conservatory window at the grey sky, naked trees and dead ferns and shrubs is not making this easy! Autumn was always my favourite season. I loved the smells, the beautiful colours and the almost tangible feeling that nature was winding down, getting ready for a well earned rest.
I have really appreciated living where I do, a stone’s throw from the countryside and long wonderful walks. I have seen, first hand, the arrival of spring. I have watched snowdrops, then daffodils, followed by tulips, primroses and the first bright green shoots appearing on the stark, bare trees. I have heard the spectacular dawn chorus as the sun rose above the hill on those clear, crisp, icy mornings.
On my walks I have seen so many different types of butterflies. Staying at home I have regularly fed the birds and become excited when nut hatches, woodpeckers and goldfinches joined the blue, great, long tailed and greater tits who usually feed throughout the year. Sparrows and pigeons are also regular visitors and we seem to have had a population explosion of grey squirrels. This is not good as they are classed as vermin, but they are quite cute.
I have also learnt to appreciate freedom! Meeting up with family and friends, enjoying evenings out at our local pub or restaurants, going to the gym. Spontaneity, going shopping, planning trips abroad, spur of the moment visits to National Trust stately homes and gardens, booking short breaks. How I appreciate and now miss something I always took for granted!
I am grateful that my husband and I are fit enough to go for long, brisk walks. Being at home all day we can often choose the time and duck the showers. I am lucky that my home is big enough for me to have my own space to write or listen to music. I am isolating with my best friend and this is also something I really appreciate! Life could have been a whole lot worse.
I am in regular contact with my children and their extended families . They are well and adhering to the COVID rules in this country and the US. My son has retained his sense of humour, a highly valued tonic and most appreciated!
The sky is still grey. I’m looking out the window at the bedraggled garden and bare, lifeless trees. But I do feel some optimism that we’ll get through this and reach the other side. I’ll never take freedom for granted ever again! This has to be a good thing! And how I long to hug my children and grandchildren. I’m focussing on that day …….👠
Jenny Burrell 