Someone recently asked why I hadn't blogged in a while. The idea I had behind the blog was just to tell about Australian adventures, not, for example, our trip to Europe, because lots of people go to Europe, but very few come here. So why no blog? No adventures locally to tell. And now it looks like there won't be any for a while longer.
We do have a few in mind. Joel wants to go to the Bungle Bungle Ranges, which I totally thought he was making up when he first mentioned it, but no. It's a very remote part of Western Australia and you need a camper van to get there because there are no hotels - it's that remote. Looking forward to that, although after a couple months of shelter in place in Australia I may need a little more space from the fam than a camper van would allow.
Joel also wants to go to either Lightning Ridge NSW or Coober Pedy SA, to look for opals. The latter is also a camper van extravaganza probably, although there are some underground hotels that sound interesting there. I had wanted to go to Kangaroo Island in SA, and we were thinking we could combine the two into a 2 - 3 week South Australia bacchanalia, but Kangaroo Island was destroyed by the bush fires, so again, that might have to wait a year. Not that anyone's going anywhere soon anyway.
So where was I? Right, update from right in my house. Our Prime Minister has come out with stricter social distancing rules - no more than two people together anywhere. You can go out of your house for four reasons: work (if essential, not that much is open anymore that isn't essential), exercise, to get food (and then only infrequently), to go to the doctor (only if absolutely necessary). To be honest, the family isn't suffering that much from restrictions. 3/4 of us are complete introverts and don't mind it. Joel absolutely LOVES it. He'd socially isolate all his life if he didn't have to act like a human being for work every once in a while.
So what are we up to now? Ruth still has online/distance learning for the next three days. I'm on holiday from school for two weeks but am still marking the last few test papers so students can get some feedback in a reasonable amount of time. Because all non-essential doctor's visits have been cancelled, Joel's work load has dropped about 80%. His practice has asked anyone who has leave to take it, so he's off work this week, and I believe the plan is he rotates one week off, one week on with the other guy who does skin work in the practice. He's taking this week to build a retaining wall in the back garden. Isaac is also on holiday for two weeks and is very busy playing . . . Fortnite? Minecraft? Can't even tell now. He's also helping Joel with the retaining wall. We take the dog for four to five walks a day. She got spayed two weeks ago and finally destroyed her cone of shame so we removed it two days early. She seems fine.
In our neighborhood, the lawns and gardens have never looked uniformly better. People have nothing but time on their hands, so the landscaping is on point. Neighbors are still friendly and yell hello from a couple metres away. The house under construction is still under construction but with only a few tradies there at one time.
Food is readily available although at times I've had to compromise on the brand or type I want (full fat yogurt rather than low fat, Coles wheat bread rather than Helga's, chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts - you get the idea). Stores are eerily quiet, and remind me of the shopping scenes in The Handmaid's Tale. The last time I went shopping, the guy at checkout in front of me, sneezed without covering and made me want to kill him. Next time, I will be going out in the protective gear suggested by my husband,
We will have to cancel the kids' b'nai mitzvah in Minnesota which was scheduled for July. No one is flying from Aus to the US except United. We were going to fly through HNL, but Hawai'i is requiring a 14 day quarantine if you go there. Australia, if they let you back in, is also requiring a 14 day quarantine. We can't fit 4 weeks of quarantine in our 2 week holiday. The kids were less upset than I thought they'd be. They're more upset they won't see their cousins than the fact that they won't have a b'nai mitzvah. Ruth is more upset that they cancelled SIX - the tickets were her birthday present.
Projects I have in mind to keep myself busy:
- I have about five books that are half-read that I want to finish.
- I'm relearning German on Duolingo, because Isaac is taking German this year, and I am pretty certain he'll have to do some distance learning after the two week holiday.
- I'm slowly deep cleaning the house - just one room at a time, because if I run out of rooms, I'll have to take the dog for her sixth walk of the day.
- Starting to plan all the online lessons I'm pretty sure I'll have to start giving in two weeks.
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not actually complaining about anything (although I'm sad I can't have a family seder and a US b'nai mitzvah). Joel and I both have jobs for the moment, and we are all healthy. The NBN is holding up amidst all the online learning and Netflix use, and we aren't going hungry.
Wishing you all good health.
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