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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Around March 15, Brooklyn and New York City went into PAUSE - meaning we were told to stay home and quarantine - (those of us who could afford to.) My partner has prostate cancer and a compromised immune system, so I'm a caregiver and have to be very careful of any interactions I have outside our home, for fear of bringing the virus home to him, and for fear that I might carry it in an asymptomatic way. In order to keep myself calm, and to prevent myself shutting down emotionally, I began to do a sketch in my sketchbook as frequently as possible to record and remember what these days are like. It helped me slow down my own racing thoughts -- and to focus on at least one thing that day that I noticed. I found lots of beauty in the simple things. And gratitude for things I wouldn't have noticed during "normal times." At first, time seemed to stretch out slowly as we were quarantining. When I was kid, I used to to draw to calm myself down from stormy family situations. Now I'm 63, and sketching still brings enjoyment and meaning, and helps me to relax and slow down. These are like sketch meditations. The first sketch is of D. sitting outside in the back garden. We tried to get out back whenever the days were warmer, because we were protected from outsiders there. This is dated March 15, 2020. This is one of my fast pencil sketches. The second sketch is dated March 24, 2020. My son and his girlfriend live upstairs. She is 31 and undergoing post breast cancer treatments so they quarantine deeply. They don't go to the laundromat, so I do their laundry. My dryer was broken at the time, so I had to drape their wet laundry all over the dining room.Every article of clothing seemed a bit stressed and restless, so I tried to capture that -- in this sketch.
January 5, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
My Pandemic Life at the Educational Park Moderna shots received with my husband At the new track facility in my hometown Built, never used as lockdown began First use? CERT volunteers open doors Vaccines from orthopedic surgeons! My second shot given by a young physician. The educational park holds multiple schools Next to this new track facility, now open When I was in a sixth grader only One school on the hillside as cows grazed . I pondered what my grade school self might Wonder seeing this future, 57 years onward. How shocking ? Two shots saved our lives With a year old pandemic sweeping by Catching over three million souls In a wake that also bred mistrust Honoring the flag ? Are you right, left? Ruby shot Oswald but Floyd dead on our screens Fifty plus years ago displayed fallout shelter Placed in our town square - what a sight It might all end in a second, no notice Try hiding young heads under school desks? Now years later masks are new shelters Injected vaccines saving lives cascading past. The educational park holds old memories: A line drive to my eye while pitching A softball to a friend, knocking me out I learned that epsom salts work well I see girls in skirts galloping across fields If not jumping ropes we warred in dodgeball My half-foot shorter eleven year old self Could not see her future husband running An outdoor track to complete a virtual 5k We had run so many BAA marathons Patriots Day ‘21 we donned running gear As golden hued forsythia lit the hillsides. The pandemic issued in unique moments So our 5k, of multiple track loops beckoned Us on that Patriots Day weekend fully Bright sun blinded us,dark clouds arose As first light sprinkles of refreshing rain Turned to hail stones as we ran for our jeep Educational park was named for a neighbor Voted “First selectman” he selected this land The cows moved on, buildings now bearing Names of farmers who worked the hillsides And one field bears a classmate’s name Who was a town coach, his name also honored. We also walked loops circumventing the park Daily with springer alert to resident ground hogs The pandemic has made our routines range local Discarded light blue masks, newly strewn refuse So many seasons passed yet i see my younger self While ahead my husband watches new forsythia bloom.
April 27, 2021