Blossoming as if for the first time

I wrote last week that I have been noticing the cherry blossom sweep the neighbourhood, slowing down enough to watch it happen, day to day, street by street. The tree I photographed last week has shed its entire blossom. Its mundaneness has returned.  The beauty is fairly fleeting, but almost overwhelming.

And this week, more than ever. A street 3 blocks away from me has reached peak majesty. I have walked these streets for years, at this time of year, but never have I seen such wonder. I took a lot of photos of the blossom; and only partly because I could capture Lori at the same time. Is this the best year ever for cherry blossom, or is the art of noticing just working better in COVID times?

Llama time

This is the best #COVID19 business reimagining I have seen so far, and I have been trawling the interwebs for pivots and innovative breakthroughs. You can book a llama to join your #zoom meeting. Beautiful, simple, memorable, engaging.

Sharing the pain

My Mum’s dog was experiencing toileting trouble for a few days last week so she arranged to visit the vet. Unbeknownst, the dog was ravished with pelvic cancer with no cure or treatment. She was advised to put down the dog, poor little Pluto. With strict physical distancing protocols in place, she had to say goodbye in the carpark and the dog was lead away to its sad fate.

I have been reading about the terrible, sad end of life circumstances for COVID-affected families, with FaceTime replacing hand holding and kisses in the goodbyes. It seems such a double whammy of desperation and sadness – that we cannot be there for our loved ones at the end.

The abruptness of the divide between us, in our quiet and comfortable self-imposed isolation and them, on the other side of the tarp, is shocking. I have been feeling the feels this week that ‘this is not how it was supposed to go…’

Broken Spoons

Every day, 7pm sharp, we are out on our deck or front stoop, banging pots and pans, clapping and cheering for the front line workers keeping the world afloat in this sea of uncertainty. It is a community endeavour.

Within the first week of commencing this new tradition, we had broken several wooden spoons in our cavalier and frenzied salute. Last week on Next Door, a neighbour asked for the fragments to photograph for an art project, and this delighted me. We need these social objects to codify and memorialise these times.

The golden age of travel

Lori had to go to YVR Airport last week to drop something off. It was a ghost town. It felt very 60s travel era – I could have left the car curbside and sauntered into the terminal for a coffee if I chose. We would have been through to the plane is 5 minutes door to door.

There was a peace and tranquility therein; not the stressed and gaunt modern-day airport experience. Is this the rebirth of a different pace and experience of life, where holidays and travel are remarkable and luxurious again?

This Much We Know.