*I’m back to a long ago habit of using a fountain pen!*

I hope this finds you as healthy as can be and that you are coping well during the COVID-19 “plague”. Our son and his girlfriend have moved in temporarily, and though frustrating for them to need to do that, it’s been fun to have a “quaranteam”, helpful in alleviating the sense of isolation that others likely face. (Cocktails and late night card games have become a popular distraction!) I DID NOT hoard toilet paper and am actually in danger of running out of it during the current shortage, so I may have to go round to the neighbors to beg for some, though on a perverse whim, I did purchase laboratory wash bottles in case we needed an alternative method of bum-hygiene. Think nerd-bidet!

Challenged to do new things (though I’m at no loss for hobbies), I’m taking an online drawing course with Sketchbook Skool (what fun!) and am having a blast doing blind contour drawings, where you put pen to paper and don’t lift it once, nor do you look at your paper. You keep your eye on your subject, and just draw the outline and a few critical characteristics. I’m quite fond of the results and may never graduate to other related skills. I’m most surprised at how accurate the angles are - I don’t do that well (yet?) when I look at the paper! Below are some examples from my sketchbook: from left to right, a silver coffee pot, Elias Howe - inventor of the interlock sewing machine (who looks kind of like a Furby), and a selfie done by looking in a mirror and not at the paper! I believe I could give Picasso a run for his money.

I’m also trying another new thing with my newsletter/blog. In the past, I’ve composed my newsletter in Constant Contact, and then cut and pasted the text and images into my blog on my website. But - and we’ll see how this goes - I can share my blog to my mailing list as an email from my website platform. I’ll be curious to hear how this might change YOUR experience of receiving the newsletter; it certainly will save me time! You, dear reader, will now be able to comment on my bloggage, so if you feel like it, let me know how you are coping in this challenging time!

In keeping with my previous newsletter/blog, at least for a little while, I’d like to share some pleasant distractions with you. Here are a couple of cool or amusing videos to watch:

Stems - a little stop gap animation that is beautiful: https://vimeo.com/264137664
Me singing backup vocals for Neil Diamond: https://www.facebook.com/celia.ramsay/videos/10221707009721211
Neil Diamond’s original video: https://www.facebook.com/upliftnews/videos/614463346077776/

And here’s what I’m reading at the moment:

BTW, I am lucky not to depend on a job that has been COVID-cancelled. (Fortunately people drink wine during this kind of crisis rather a lot if they can afford it!) But I worry for the folks whose jobs have essentially vaporized. In particular, I worry for the staff of the Freight & Salvage - most of them were laid off as soon as we had to close. You can donate to them at this GoFundMe campaign if you’d like to help.

MY QUARANTEAM - HOW ARE YOU COPING?