I need some Colour!

It seems that it's been grey and dull and gloomy for the whole of 2021, yes, I know we are only at Day 17, but it's a lockdown too, and I need to brighten up my life with some COLOUR!

I spent an afternoon playing with the gelli pad and some paint, making prints of leaves that I gathered last fall. Some of them can be made into cards.... others might end up in a scrapbook. Lots more leaves left so I'll be making more prints/

And when cleaning out one of the basement closets, I unearthed this tapestry work that I started at least 17 or 18 years ago.  All the tapestry yarns were purchased in a huge bag from the local Thrift Shop for around $8, someone's unfinished project. I had done just two of the flowers before I ran out of ambition.... so I thought lockdown was the perfect time to continue. Looking pretty good so far, although not quite sure what it's final use will be.

A pretty good lockdown time waster, and I love working with colours!

Day Three O Eight

This morning at 12:01am the Province of Ontario was ordered into yet another strict lockdown due to alarming numbers of Covid infections and deaths. In the words of Premier Ford, "Stay at home!" Currently in Ontario there have been 230,000 cases and over 5,000 deaths, mainly in care homes for the elderly. Positive tests are going up by more than 3,000 a day.

We can go out for daily exercise, walking the dog (I don't have a dog), medical appointments, going to work, shopping for essentials. But of course everyone has a different opinion of what is essential. I made sure I had lots of groceries all ready for this. And library books. And art supplies.

The sun came out for the first time in a week today, so I took the opportunity to go for my permitted exercise. It was so quiet.... no traffic noise, hardly anyone about. A couple of dog walkers, that's all. I could have walked down the middle of the road quite safely. (But I didn't!)

This week.... my old breadmaker bit the dust so I ordered a new one. Haven't made bread in it yet, but I will soon, looking forward to it!

And once I bake the bread, I'll have something to spread on it. I was complaining here about the lack of Marmite in the local grocery stores, and blogger emeritus EC in Australia answered the call, sending me a jar of the precious gooey black stuff. Then I mentioned it to one of my British cousins, and guess what appeared in my mailbox last week. So now I can do a taste comparison..... Red top is Australian (actually made in NZ) and yellow top is British. Two Marmite fairies..... thank you!

And there is still a lack of Marmite on Canadian store shelves!

Day Two Ninety Nine

It's Day 299 today, I've been keeping track of the days on my calendar since Covid took over our lives. Positive test numbers are going up here, another 14 positive tests registered in our small town yesterday, making 74 reported in the last 7 days. That might seem a small number, but high when I consider that the majority of people seem to be following the rules, wearing masks, sanitising hands, keeping the correct distances. But there are sure to be more infections after careless holiday gatherings, and the hospitals are filling up.

One bright light in all this is the arrival of various vaccines. At risk seniors in care homes and their carers and hospital staff are being vaccinated first. I have no idea when my turn will come, but as I was watching the National News yesterday, I counted 31 images of arms receiving a needle... and I only watched the 1 hour broadcast for 30 minutes. Too many needle images! I am hoping the next arm I see with a needle sticking into it is mine!

Abject apologies to any blogger who has left a comment on this blog and wondered why it never appeared. I recently found over 300 comments that somehow got missed, no idea how, blogger seems to have hidden them, anyway, I reinstated them, well, the ones that weren't spam. Some were from a couple of years ago. They used to show up in my email but now they don't. Weird.

And on a lighter note, I saw Mickey out on the street yesterday. He was feeling chilly but enjoying the sun.

2020 books

Back in March 2020 when I heard a rumour that the local Library was closing due to the Covid pandemic, I rushed with my library card in my hand and took out as many books as I could carry. I didn't even have time to choose titles, I just grabbed from the shelves before the doors closed.  Some of those books are on this list, and helped keep me sane and busy. The Library re-opened in August thankfully, but with reduced capacity and lots of hand sanitizing and mask rules. But now we're back into lockdown again until at least January 23. 

January 2020
Leaving Van Gogh - Carol Wallace
The Post Birthday World - Lionel Shriver
The Art Forger - B. A. Shapiro
North Korea Journal - Michael Palin

February 2020

We need to Talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver
The Flight Attendant - Chris Bohjalian
The Mandibles, a Family 2029-2047 - Lionel Shriver (I think everyone should read this after experiencing Covid-19 lockdown)
The Juggler's Children - Carolyn Abraham

March 2020
Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper - Phaedra Patrick
The Mighty Franks - Michael Frank.  (DNF)
Arthur and Sherlock - Michael Sims
The Hotel Neversink - Adam O'Fallon Price
Finders Keepers, A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession - Craig Childs

April 2020
Waiting for Tom Hanks - Kerry Winfrey (DNF, a bit too silly and juvenile)
A Madness of Sunshine - Nalini Singh
Cover of Snow - Jenny Milchman

May 2020
The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway (great book)
The Beekeeper's Apprentice - Laurie R King
The Truth According to Us - Annie Barrows
Skizzer - A J Kiesling (predictably silly but I finished it)
The Invention of Wings - Sue Monk Kidd (loved this book)

June 2020
Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo (absolutely loved this book, I read it twice)

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (another book that I loved so much that I read twice!)
Being a Beast, Adventures Across the Species Divide - Charles Foster (very weird)
Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult
The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris
A Spark of Light - Jodi Picoult

July 2020
Oil and Marble - Stephanie Storey
Bridge of Clay - Markus Zusak
Girl - Edna O'Brien
The Wall - John Lanchester
Liberation - Imogen Kealey (very ho-hum)

August 2020

The Mirror and the Light - Hilary Mantel (third in the trilogy)

Night Boat to Tangier - Kevin Barry (DNF)

If I Had Your Face - Frances Cha

Capital - John Lanchester

September 2020

Reservoir 13 - Jon McGregor

The Other Americans - Laila Lalami
Futureface - Alex Wagner

The Genius Plague - David Walton

October 2020

The Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa

Orhan's Inheritance - Aline Ohanesian

The Walk - Richard Paul Evans

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me - Jennifer Teege

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel (apocalypse after a pandemic.... very timely! Good story too.)

Accordion Crimes - E Annie Proulx (I read this years ago, just as good the 2nd time)

A Day Like Any Other, The Great Hamptons Hurricane of 1938 - Genie Chipps Henderson

November 2020

Seven - Farzana Doctor (terrific book)

The Sisters Brothers - Patrick deWitt

Such a Fun Age - Kiley Reid

The Shining Girls - Lauren Beukes

The Sleepwalker - June Callwood (true story)

The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen - Syrie James

December 2020

Between - Angie Abdou

The Signature of All Things - Elizabeth Gilbert (Liked this book)

The Eavesdroppers - Rosie Chard (rather odd)

The Vacationers - Emma Straub

The Mothers - Brit Bennett

Stutter's Casebook, A Junior Hospital Doctor 1839-1841 - E.E.Cockayne and N.J.Stow (transcription of Dr. Stutters notes regarding his patients, their illnesses and treatments while he was a junior doctor in Suffolk, UK..... fascinating reading, and edited by a dear cousin who sadly passed away earlier this year.)

Currently steadily plodding through The Murder of Cleopatra, History's Greatest Cold Case - Pat Brown. Interesting but it's taking me a long time. I'll finish it in 2021.

For a list of books I read in previous years, click on Books at the end of this post.