Making the Most of Things While Social Distancing

What a strange time this is for everyone. With schools, museums, movie theaters, sports arenas and some stores shut down, working from home and canceling social activities, we’re already feeling a little restless. Ideas for creative ways to fill up our house-bound time are most welcome.

We are doing our bit to try to avoid a steep covid-19 curve and to flatten and stretch it out. That means social distancing and avoiding places where it could be difficult to maintain the 6 feet or more from others. We are washing, washing, washing our hands. I’m trying so hard to not touch my face (my nose itches as I write this).

As soon as we started work from home, my perspective changed. In spite of already working from home three days a week (and having had jobs in which I worked from home every day), I feel a little isolated.

I will miss the face-to-face interaction with my peers during my two days in the office. I like the people I work with and I enjoy spending time with them. I’ll be relying a little more on Slack and Skype for human interaction.

Humanity in the Face of a Crisis

I was listening to Brian O’Donovan on WGBH and before he signed off he talked about our current situation. He said that when all of this is over and we look back at it years from now, what we will remember is how we treated each other. He went on to offer encouragement and wishes for everyone to stay well.

On our local neighborhood network, people are posting messages offering to shop for groceries and provide services to the elderly and other residents in need.

The Independent shared this incredible video of a street in Siena, Tuscany one recent evening. The residents are leaning out their windows and singing.

Indoor Activities

While it’s a great time to catch up on spring cleaning and our endless “to do” lists, we also need to reward ourselves with more pleasurable pursuits.

We all have books we’ve been hoping to read and movies that we’ve been meaning to watch. One child in our neighborhood is planning to watch all of the Star Wars movies.

Here are some other ideas. Thanks to friends who shared some of this information on social media.

• Take virtual museum tours. Travel and Leisure just shared this article about 12 museums offering video tours that you can watch from home.
• View more art. Kettle.org has this article: Paris Museums Put 100,000 Images Online for Unrestricted Public Use.
• Online tutorials. You and your family can look for free online tutorials, such as learning to draw, play chess or embroider. You’ll find plenty of free sites and YouTube videos.
• Listen to podcasts and audio books. There is a wide variety of podcasts online and you can download audio books from your local library.
• Milk Street’s online cooking classes are free through April. Here’s a link to their classes.
• Listen to music. If you like opera, you’ll like this news: Metropolitan Opera, After Shutting Its Doors, Will Offer Free Streams From Live in HD Catalog.

DIY Projects

Besides the usual games, movies and TV series, people are sharing fun ways to fill our time at home. My friend bought yarn to make a scarf. I also have a knitting project I’m working on. There are all kinds of fun DIY bloggers sharing projects. Here are a couple I like:

• Geneva Vanderzeil of Collective Gen has so many clever DIY projects, such as this fun tassel skirt, these four DIY ideas to help ditch plastic bags or these moon cycle painted pots. Here’s a link to Geneva’s DIY style projects list and one to her DIY home projects list.
• Honestly WTF has terrific DIY projects. I made a different version of these pearl embellished jeans and a couple of these pearl charm bracelets. Check out this raffia fringe straw bag. Here’s a link to Honestly WTF’s DIY project page.

Fresh Air and Exercise

When the weather cooperates, getting outside might be the best way to cope with our homebound situation. Hopefully you live near a park where you can get fresh air while practicing social distancing from other people enjoying the great outdoors. There are signs of spring everywhere.

Not only will it be a nice mental break to be outside, getting exercise will keep us healthy. Exercise, eating well and getting plenty of rest will help us stay strong.

Food

I do most of the cooking and I really like a break from it on the weekends. We always eat out on Saturday nights and we eat out or order out on Sunday nights. We didn’t do that last weekend.

We’re worried about the restaurants and businesses that we frequent. I just read a great suggestion to buy gift certificates from those places now, to help them survive this crisis. When things calm down, we can enjoy a dinner or two out (or shopping).

As I write this, restaurants are still open for take out, so we can still get a meal cooked by someone else. However, I expect that we will all be eating in more.

There are plenty of suggestions about what you can cook from your supplies.

• San Francisco Chronicle 6 recipes to cook from the pantry during the coronavirus outbreak
• New York Times Pantry Recipes
• Washington Post Readers Share Tips for pantry- and freezer-friendly home cooking
• Food Network Cooking from the Pantry

And if you have children at home, you might find this Washington Post article useful: How to cook for and with your kids during the extended coronavirus school closures.

Here’s the recipe for the Cashew Cranberry Granola shown in the picture above.

Final Thoughts

I recommend checking out Liza Donelley’s cartoon Love In The Time Of Corona Virus on Medium.

Passing along something that A Cup of Jo shared last weekend, I recommend visiting The Calm Place (New York Times).

Stay safe and healthy, my friends.