Visiting During a Pandemic

On Monday, I had 4 stitcherly friends over for a socially distancing visit outdoors on the deck. We all wore masks and sat 2m apart. I provided hand sanitizer and gloves if anyone felt they wanted them. The powder room on the main floor is accessible from the side door. I stripped it of towels and provided disposable hand towels and bleachy cleaner if anyone needed to use the toilet. My guests brought their own drinks and drinking vessels and entered the yard through the gate rather than coming through the house. It was so nice to see them in person for the first time since mid-January before Skip and I left for TX.

One of our friends is very nervous about catching the virus. She has had serious pulmonary issues in the past and also an elderly father whom she hopes to visit at his retirement home next week for the first time since mid-March. With all my safeguards in place, she will be coming over next week for a visit - her first social outing since all this began. It should be fun to be able to visit in person. I have tried to do everything possible to reduce any transmission risk and make her feel comfortable.

Skip and I picked up our completed taxes last week. Since I turned 65 in 2019, I now qualify for some tax benefits and for the first time I get a refund and Skip has to pay! We await his notice of assessment and this time make sure to pay before the September 1 deadline. There weren't any late filing penalties after all because I didn't qualify for any of the benefits that had to be applied for by June 1. Phew!

To celebrate, we picked up some lunch and went down to the waterfront park, found a picnic table in the shade and enjoyed our lunch. It was the perfect temperature and there was a light breeze.

On our way home we visited the donkeys again. This time we brought clippers so we could cut some nice grass from across the street to feed some of the donkeys a treat.

The baby donkey that was born on June 1 is doing well. His coat is fuzzy and it shone in the sun. His ears are pretty big.

He doesn't stray far from his mum.

These guys came over to try and mooch treats from Skip.

These two always come over to check us out. They like being skritched on the forehead.

It's so serene there. Every once and a while one of them bellows out some 'hee haws' and the rest go on munching the grass. I can almost feel my blood pressure going down just standing there.