Ten Little Celebrations – March 2021

The overarching celebration of the past few months and March is family staying healthy. I’m listing 10 additional ‘little’ celebrations from my notes about March. The weather got warmer in March and 5 of the celebrations are outdoors!

  • Pine cones – Early in the month, before much was blooming – I celebrated finding pine cones on the ground at Centennial Park to photograph…quickly since there were too many people around to be comfortable for longer.

  • Howard County Conservancy outdoor greeter (volunteering) – I am beginning to volunteer again…outdoors and distanced and masked…but enjoying the interactions with people new to the place and the people I’ve met in prior years. I’m celebrating the small step toward a restart of activities I missed during the pandemic.

  • A day warm enough to walk without a coat – Celebrating springtime.

  • Finding a feather to photograph – Finding a feather is always a serendipity event. This time it was a tiny feather mixed in with tulip poplar seeds I was sweeping off the deck. It was a double celebration: finding the feather and then the photoshoot with a macro lens.

  • Skunk cabbage, shelf fungus, daffodils, crocus, plum blossoms – So many things to photograph. Celebrating the sights of spring.

There were two celebrations related to the vaccine:

  • My husband and I getting vaccinated – We were so relieved to get an appointment…and then to get the first dose of the Moderna vaccine 6 days later. It was something to celebrate….and a beacon of hope. We’ll get the second shot in early May.

  • My daughter and son-in-law getting vaccinated – Also a big relief because both are working at a university that has stayed open (with a mask mandate). They got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine a few hours after they were notified of the availability.

And then there are three miscellaneous celebrations:

  • Spice cake muffins – My husband was bored with our usual meals….so I made muffins as a special treat. We celebrated the tasty (and different than usual) treats.

  • Getting everything on the grocery list – It seems like there is always something that is not available in the store when our shopper fills our order….and then we had a time when everything was in stock. It was a celebration just because it hadn’t happened before!

Successful road trip practice – I am practicing driving at highway speeds to be ready – once I am fully vaccinated – to make road trip (and extended visit) to see my parents. I am celebrating the successful practice and the anticipation of seeing family that I haven’t seen for over a year.

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/23/2020

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday – a rainy day in Maryland:

Wearing copper feather earrings from New Mexico. I bought them on one of our trips to the state…more than a decade ago….maybe more than 2 decades. It’s fun to shift through earrings, finding a pair that I haven’t worn in a long time, remembering where they came from, enjoying them for a day. Repeat with another pair tomorrow.

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Cooking a meal in the oven. We usually cook on the stove top or grill or have meals that don’t require coking at all. Today we had a meal from the oven:  chicken and potatoes (sweet for me, russet for my husband), and spice cake muffins (the recipe called for applesauce and they were yummy). It felt a little like a holiday meal – which was a boost on a cold rainy day.

Deciding to do curbside pickup at the grocery store rather than going into the store. This is big deal for us but probably a good ‘next step’ in increasing our social distancing. It will take a little longer for us to get our groceries and I’ll just have to accept the produce that is selected for me. The services are stressed right now in our area; evidently a lot of people are going this route and the hiring of extra personnel has not kept up.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22