A New Normal: Establishing a Daily Routine

Yesterday turned out to be a terrific day, so I'm thinking cycle and repeat until life opens up a little more in, hopefully, the next few weeks.

For me currently, the formula to having a positive day is to get outside, and stay outside, for as long as I possibly can now that the heavy spring rains appeared to have moved out of our area. So our New Normal COVID-19 Shelter In Place (SIP) routine is roughly as follows:

5 AM - 8 AM  Wake up somewhere between 5 and 6 AM, enjoy coffee and Kindle internet reading (blogs, news, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
8 AM - 10 AM  Household chores
10 AM - 2 PM  Get outdoors, generally via a long walk to the beach and back. Bring or purchase a to go lunch, and shoot to eat it while sitting somewhere scenic.,
2 PM - 4 PM  Downtime. We generally recover from our walk or hike with sun tea out in the yard, then take showers, then nap and/or read.
4 PM - 6 PM  More household chores, sometimes outside in the yard, plus make dinner.
6 PM - 7 PM  Eat dinner, hopefully outside in the yard if the weather is pleasant, plus clean up from dinner.
7 PM - 8 PM  Play a game or work on a puzzle together.
8 PM - 9 PM  Turn on TV and stream something light.
9 PM - 9:30 PM  Get ready for bed, light Kindle reading until about 9:30 PM. With all  the exercise we are doing each day, it's impossible to stay awake any longer!

There are also a good number of scheduled things beginning to pop up during the day as well - video conferences, online learning classes, etc. - but in generally this is turning out to be our go to day-to-day routine.

We are also trying to vary things on the weekends to keep them exciting to look forward to. For example, in general we refrain from drinking alcohol during week days, so Friday night is always anticipated because we get to open a new bottle of wine, or a new can of craft beer. We are also continuing to schedule weekend Zoom video dates with friends and family, giving us reason to get a little dressed up - from the waist up at least!

This weekend we have an eight person Happy Hour video conference, another 'normal' Zoom video-date with different friends, and a family Zoom video date where we'll be playing a robust game of Outburst. Outburst, BTW, is great for video conferencing. My husband and I will be on separate teams, and since we have the game here in our home, we will be the lead team members reading the cards to each of our video teams. So easy, and so fun. Another ideas we're going to try out going forward will be video conferencing Trivial Pursuit.

Starting this week, our daily walks have been positively glorious due to the weather here - mid 70's. And because we have no pressing need to get home by a certain time, we are discovering lots of wonderful new things during our walks. Yesterday, for example, we stumbled across a butterfly garden we hadn't known existed, a night heron nesting tree absolutely replete with heron, nests, and babies, and a gorgeous pocket park overlooking the ocean that is just begging to be returned to at sunset with a picnic dinner. We've also discovered new eateries open for takeout, random farmer's market produce stalls, hidden picnic tables, a variety of open restrooms (so important when determining where and how far to walk and/or bike), which beaches are currently permitting walk through and bike through traffic, which markets do not appear to have lines (and which do), where to buy to-go coffee, and where wild spring flowers are beginning to bloom.

Night heron nests aplenty. Next time we walk here we'll bring binoculars so we
can try and catch sight of the baby heron now in the nests.

And to repeat what I've stated many times before here - all of this activity is being done on foot and with proper social distancing, including the pulling up of our face masks as we walk past other people, most of whom are doing same. There is a balancing act between staying healthy while remaining socially distant, which I think my husband and I have found. Already we are considerably stronger than when we began our daily walks a few weeks back. We can now knock off eight to ten miles, including lots of hills, without feeling tired.

My husband and I are in agreement that once our current restrictions begin to lift, we will work hard to maintain the wonderful aspects of walking outdoors for hours each day. One of the silver linings of the current situation for sure.

A New Normal: COVID-19 Spring Break Staycation

It looks like we have a string of gorgeous days coming our way, much appreciated after almost a full week of gray skies and rain.

I'm yearning to get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine we're being gifted with, so per current CDC guidelines for maintaining health, we are planning a week's worth of walks that we can undertake from the house, therefore aligning as well with our current California COVID-19 guidelines regarding exercise, plus a week's worth of take-out food lunches to go along with, also aligning with our current California COVID-19 guidelines regarding food purchases, whew!

So far we have felt very comfortable on our daily walks in that almost everyone we see and/or pass appears to be going out of there way to observe a minimum of six feet distancing. And our takeout experience to date has also been positive. We check our city's website of local open restaurants, order and pay online ahead, then simply walk in and pick up our tagged order without any human interaction, other than a sincere 'Thank you!' called out to the restaurant staff as we depart.

Currently most of our nearby parks and beaches are still open to locals, meaning those that can get to them by foot or by bicycle. It helps that parking lots and nearby streets have been closed to parking, keeping recreational usage here down to a minimum. There is actually slightly less traffic at the beach currently than there is in our immediate neighborhood. Not really sure why, other than that our area is really, really hilly, meaning that the majority of people walk downhill when heading toward the beach, but then need to walk uphill back home. So, the return uphill piece may be what is keeping people away. Fortunately, my husband and I are in good enough shape to manage the roundtrip walk, and then some. The round trip distance to the beach and back from our home is technically a just over four miles, but we generally add on enough additional distance to come in closer to seven or eight miles. Starting next week we'll probably up that to a couple of ten mile walks each week, dependent on weather.

I should add that just because our immediate parks and beaches are open now doesn't mean they'll remain that way, so we are motivated to enjoy the privilege for as long we can. Particularly in that almost every other beach in Orange County has been closed due to excessive traffic. Fingers crossed our beaches and parks here continue to remain crowd free.

What our beaches are looking like currently - nice and uncrowded.
If that lasts, we'll continue to be able to walk along them.
If it doesn't, they'll get closed as well, so fingers crossed non-locals continue to stay away. 

A New Normal: Doing That Which Is Difficult

We had two solid days of rain earlier, on Thursday and Friday, during which I developed a massive case of cabin fever. So, with the sun shining when we awoke yesterday morning, our immediate thought was to get outside, and stay there for as long as we could. We set off on foot with a packed lunch, heading due west toward the ocean.

On our way down the hill from our home, we walked over to a Pacific Coast Highway-adjacent shopping center we had not previously explored, primarily to see how it's supermarket looked (well stocked), whether there were any open coffee spots to get takeaway (there weren't), and what restaurant take out options might be available. As it turned out, there was a vegetarian fast casual restaurant that looked terrific, so the next time we do this walk, instead of packing our lunch, we'll order ahead and pickup to-go sandwiches. Then, from the shopping center it was a quick trip over PCH and to the beach, where we found a quiet grassy spot to eat our lunch and enjoy the views.

The Ritz Carlton, where in normal times we like to go pick up sandwiches from
their take-away cafe and find a bluff top spot to sit and enjoy our meal.
Today, with the cafe temporarily closed, we just looked at it from down below on the beach.
Still a darn lovely view, even in reverse.

After lunch we headed home, stopping in at another shopping center along the way that we'd also been ignoring, in order to mail a small package we'd brought with us. While there, we noted a gourmet sandwich deli offering takeaway, a craft brewery doing same, and a small kiosk selling ginormous spring strawberries.  We picked up a basket of strawberries to serve over ice cream, and continued on home. By the time we got back to the house, we felt as exhilarated and 'normal' as we did before COVID-19. Because being outside and in motion for long periods of time is always when I feel my best.

Which reminded me of the wisest maxim I've ever read, from Ernie Zelinsky's excellent retirement primer, The Joy of Not Working - 

When you do that which is difficult, live becomes very easy. When you only do that which is easy, life becomes very difficult.

The difficult in our day was the 8 mile walk we took. The easy was everything that came during and after. Why I have to relearn this lesson on a regular basis is beyond me.

With COVID-19 and Shelter In Place mandates likely to be here in some form for months, if not years, to come, I continue to look for ways to thrive even in it's midst, and daily adventure walks continues to be at the top of that list. Also on that list is a renewed commitment to our work with our county's largest food bank, temporarily on hold due to our ages being above their current COVID-19 cutoff of 55. This particular food bank doesn't take individual donations (our job there involves breaking the bulk items down into household quantities) due to receiving most of their items in bulk from large manufacturers of food, but our smaller, local food banks do. So for now, we will continue to pick up food bank donations items during each food shopping trip. Having worked at several food banks, I'm now cognizant of the importance of shelf stable items in the lives of those that struggle with food insecurity. Things like jarred spaghetti sauce, dried pasta, canned beans, canned vegetables, canned fruit, peanut butter, tuna, condiments, rice, and easy-to-assemble sweet treats. So much need, and such a small, small effort on our part, humblingly so.

My Action Plan For Today:

1. Body (health and fitness)  It's looking to be a cold, overcast day here, so a session of YouTube yoga, plus strength training in our garage, is looking good.
2. Spirituality  Watch Andrea Bocelli's Easter Concert, streaming live today on YouTube. 
3. Spouse/Family   Zoom with our family as we all gather to eat Easter supper in our respective homes.
4. Creativity Marinate the strawberries I picked up in a lovely balsamic glaze (equal parts water, sugar, and good quality aged balsamic vinegar) so they can macerate ahead of being served tonight over ice cream. So divine when topped with a sprinkling of freshly ground pepper!
5. Intellect/Learning  Practice song #4, Killing Me Softly, on the piano.

A New Normal: Goodness We Go Out A Lot!

I have spent a couple of mornings following up on refund requests for the many activities we had purchased tickets for, that have now been cancelled due to COVID-19 Shelter In Place guidelines currently in place here in California. I'm talking, concerts (lots!), plays, featured speaker talks, and special tours . . . really, it has been a bit of a wake up to see how much of our time was spent paying to be entertained. I will add this to the list of things in my life that I would like to revise going forward - I need to be OK with staying home more than we have been!

On the bright side, however, we should be receiving refunds in the amount of about $1,000 $50 ($950 in refunds now received) once all is said and done.

I'm also awaiting refunds of about $3,000 $1700 ($1300 in refunds now received) for cancelled or altered airline reservations. Our May/June flightsto Spain were altered significantly by Norwegian Airlines prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, giving me the right to cancel our flight without charge at any point up until the day of new departure date and receive a full refund. A trip to Kentucky a little later this month was cancelled by the airline (I'd been playing a form of chicken, hoping the airline would cancel the flight before I was forced to), and the email I received about it from Expedia was a bit confusing in that it referenced receiving a credit instead of a refund. My research this morning indicated that the Federal Government has been very clear in mandating that refunds must be given if the airlines cancel a flight, regardless of the reason, including COVID-19.

So, with a combined amount for the above of approximately $4,000 $1,700 (as of 4/25), it's well worth my while to stay on top of all of things until they are all processed and received.

Other than that, the majority of the money flowing outward at this point is just for our normal run rate expenses of insurance, home utilities, taxes, and grocery/food, plus a couple of new technology items. For example, we are currently subscribing to basic level Zoom at $14.99 a month. We are also spending a few bucks each week to do live Zoom yoga with a local studio. And we've decided to do Saturday night takeout in order to spice up our weekends a bit while supporting some of our local eateries. Other than those items, my husband is indicated that our monthly spend is down about 50%. That sounds about right to me because we're spending zero currently on clothing, gas, entertainment, hobbies, home items, travel, and restaurant dining, the later largely driven by our various social engagements, most of whom we are now enjoying for free via Zoom video sessions instead.

I'm also realizing/accepting, that most if not all of our normal summer activities will likely not happen this year. So, more refunds are likely in our future for Laguna Beach's Pageant of the Masters, a trip to Mammoth Lakes with our oldest daughter to attend the Blues and Brews festival, and even further out, the Palm Springs International Film Festival next January. Regarding the later - until a COVID-19 vaccine comes out, I can't imagine going ahead with a film festival that draws over 100,000 people, the majority 65 years of age and older, and that involves standing close together in line for up to 90 minutes ahead of each tightly-packed film screening.

Instead, we hope to entertain family and friends here once it is safe to do so, and indulge in oodles of time at the beach, plus lots of scenic walking, running, hiking, kayaking, biking, and paddle-boarding. You know, the kind of stuff you generally go on vacation to do(!).

Hopefully, this COVID-19 timeout will leave me with a renewed sense of appreciation for what is right here already, and put a damper on my incessant need to seek out new experiences elsewhere.

I am, however, looking very much forward to our local craft breweries reopening. A late convert to the craft brewery scene, I am now a big, big fan, and nothing available at our local markets comes close to replicating what the many craft breweries in our area are able to do. And don't even get me started on the Hard Rootbeer my favorite one puts out! 😆

How about you? Any 'ah ha's' that you've been experiencing due to COVID-19?

A New Normal: Thankfulness And Meditation

A funny COVID moment this morning, when I woke up and had to concentrate really, really hard to remember what day of the week it was. Wednesday as it turns out!

Things I've been thankful for over the last few days-

• Being able to see the ocean from my home. It's so vast, and so beautiful, and my heart skips a beat every time I see it, even after three years of living here.
• The sights and sounds of nature. I've heard a barn owl hooting several mornings in a row this week, and there is a Nuttall's woodpecker working on a tree next door. The woodpecker in particular is giving me many moments of delight, even as my neighbor is considerably less enthused. 🤣

  

  
  

• Zoom video conferencing. We purchased the $14.99 monthly level subscription, and it has been an absolute lifeline for this extrovert. We've already spent many wonderful hours visiting with family and friends over the last few weeks, and it has been almost as nice as being together in person. This Easter Sunday we will be doing a supper time Zoom with our daughters and their families, with everyone placing their devices on their respective dining room tables as we all sit down to eat together. 
• Daily walks with my husband. We live in a very hilly coastal area, so we have lots of challenging up and down walks and hikes we are able to do from our home, with endless views as we do so. We currently have snow covered peaks we can see to the east, the ever changing ocean to the west, our many canyons are now a vibrant green due to recent rains, and the spring yellow-purple-orange wildflowers of mustard, lupin and poppy are just beginning to appear.

My daily goal list has been a tremendous benefit, grounding me each day, so that I have goals to focus on rather than swirling down an endless hole of depressing news stories. My husband and I continue to do what we can to ensure we remain healthy, so I need to continue to let go of the things that are currently beyond my ability to control. And you know what ? It's absolutely OK to find joy in our days in spite of the terrible things that are happening. As my go-to emotional health guru Eckart Tolle says, 'We have to take care of things, absolutely, but we don't have to be miserable, to worry, and to stress as we do so.'

Along those lines, daily meditation has been of tremendous help. Recently our spiritual congregation put out a helpful guideline for beginning meditation, which I've been using with success. I share it here for those of you also looking for meditation guidance:

Meditation can be a useful tool to cope with anxiety. One of the main objectives in meditation is to reduce anxiety by stopping the internal monologue, the labeling and the judging of things in your mind. By stopping the flow of words you can begin to simply experience sensations. 

Here are three basic tools for meditation you might experiment with to get started:

Body scan 

You have probably done something similar to this n a guided meditation. But you don’t need anyone to coach you through it. In a body scan, find a comfortable position, ideally lying down. Focus your awareness either at the top of your head or the tips of your tows and VERY slowly move that awareness across the length of your body. Notice the smallest possible details. Is there stress in your jaw? Are you inclined to smile? Are you eyes relaxed behind your closed eyelids? Where there is tension, try to relax that area. Where there is pain, practice compassion for yourself. Where there is pleasure or comfort, pause to notice and enjoy the sensation. A body scan helps us reconnect with the physical sensations of our body, to be in the present moment, and focus the mind on something other than the internal monologue.  

Pay attention to breathing

By far the simplest form of meditation, and my favorite is to pay attention to your breathing. It may help to consciously deepen and slow down your breath. For longer sessions of meditation you can simply pay attention to the natural flow of your breath. Notice the sensations in your body and experience a sense of flow. Meditation on breathing can be done for 20 seconds, taking just a few deep cleansing breaths, or you can do it for half an hour. The other great thing about breathing meditation is your an do it anywhere. This isn’t such a concern now, but when we return to our normal lives, you can focus on your breath sitting on an airplane, at your desk, in the grocery store checkout line. You can do it anywhere without drawing attention to yourself. 

Mantras 

Mantras are especially useful when your mind is really racing. A mantra is a short phrase that you repeat over and over in your mind. Often they align with your breathing so it connects with the exercise of paying attention to your breath. Some examples include: Breath in peace, breathe out love.

Right here right now, I am safe. Let go, restore. There is a virtually endless list of mantras that you can use to refocus your mind on a simple affirmative thought. Brain science tells us that simply saying to ourselves that we are safe, dramatically reduces the chemicals associated with anxiety. 

Today's A New Normal Goals

1. Body (health and fitness)  Squeeze in a six mile walk to the beach and back in between expected rainstorms, homemade blueberry muffins snack break at the beach midway.
2. Mind and Emotions (psychology and beliefs)  1) Re-read Chapter One of A New Earth by Eckhard Tolle. (Pushed for days, oof!), 2) Do a Body Scan Meditation session from above.
3. Relationships (spousal/significant other)  Focus on the positive relationship aspects that have surfaced during our Shelter In Place time together during our above walk to the beach. We're both rising to the occasion we are discovering!
4. Family  Play around with Zoom in order to learn how to display photos of a book for my granddaughter look at via the Share Screen function, while I read the text aloud to her.
5. Intellect/Learning Watch an Art History lecture on Cezanne that my art teacher posted to You Tube.
6. Social/Fun  Zoom with friends after dinner tonight, Zoom video date number #10 I think? Losing count, which is a very good thing!
7. Money/Finances  1) Contact the Pacific Symphony ticket office to reschedule their just-cancelled May concerts, 2) Notify our travel insurance company that we wish to take advantage of their offer to reschedule our Spain 2020 travel plans into 2021, 3) Rebook our airline-cancelled April flights to November at Thanksgiving instead.

How are you coping where you are?

A New Normal: Setting Daily Goals

Had a really good day yesterday, finding that setting daily objectives while under Shelter In Place provisions here in California providing a much needed sense of normalcy to my day, plus spending four hours outside walking and talking with my husband under sunny blue skies was a real mood lifter.

So here are my goals for today, followed by the results from yesterday's goals:

1. Body (health and fitness)  A three mile walk (it's lightly raining here, so less miles today), weight training with our 5, 10 and 15 pound free hand weights, and a 30 minute yoga session via YouTube.
2. Mind and Emotions (psychology and beliefs)  Re-read Chapter One of A New Earth by Eckhard Tolle. (Pushed from yesterday)
3. Relationships (spousal/significant other)  Make a batch of Chocolate Krinkle cookies for my husband. He loves my homemade cookies.
   
4. Family  Send the answer to yesterday's photo game to my granddaughter. She guessed 'steel,' a good guess! The answer was actually 'a tree/tree trunk.'
   
5. Intellect/Learning 1) Attend spiritual congregation Zoom meeting to discuss this month's read, The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi.  2)  Read another 1% of our next quarterly Book Club book, Angle of Repose by William Stegner.  3) Research and email a photo of a favorite art work that I would like my Art History professor to discuss in her next Zoom lecture.
6. Social/Fun  Zoom with some friends tonight, plus start on my 2020 Christmas ornament needlepoint project, Santa Claus-themed ornaments this time.
7. Money/Finances  Contact the Pacific Symphony ticket office to reschedule the remaining 2019/2020 season concerts that have been cancelled due to current Shelter In Place provision. The upcoming 2020/2021 classical and pops concert schedule was just released and it looks good. Boz Scaggs and David Foster will be performing, and I am excited for both!
8. Spirituality  'Attend' Sunday services via Zoom live video.

Yesterday's goals, and how I did:

1. Body (health and fitness)  Go on an exploratory hike with my husband, leaving from the house on foot, currently denoted as 'OK' per California's COVID-19 Shelter At Home guidelines.  ✅  We walked a total of eight miles.
2. Mind and Emotions (psychology and beliefs)  Re-read Chapter One of A New Earth by Eckhard Tolle.  No! Ran out of time, a good thing overall I think? So I'll move this forward to today.
3. Relationships (spousal/significant other)  Phone ahead and order a pickup lunch from one of our local eateries at the end of our hike, then find somewhere quiet and scenic to relax and enjoy eating it together.  ✅  We picked up a burrito from Baja Fresh to share.
4. Family  Look for an interesting photo op during our hike, and text it to my oldest granddaughter. I'm thinking of something along the lines of 'What is this?', where I'll take two photos, one a super close up that she'll have to think about, and one of the object itself from afar, the 'answer' in other words. We sent her a digital camera last week at my younger daughter's suggestion and she is enjoying the heck out of it, hence my idea above.  ✅  Sent her a close up photo of a tree trunk.
5. Intellect/Learning  Read 1% of our next quarterly Book Club book, Angle of Repose by William Stegner. (This is not a 'fun' book, it's a meaty, Pulitizer Prize winning novel, hence why I'm slotting it here and not below.)  ✅  
6. Social/Fun  Two Zoom video dates (with wine!), one with an east coast friend, and one with our long time best friends here on the west coast.  ✅
7. Money/Finances  Revise our 2020 Budget to reflect the reduction in Travel, Restaurants, Entertainment, and Gas that the fallout of COVID-19 will most certainly have on our spending choices for the remainder of the year. While the stock market plunge has been significant, it has not yet affected the portion of our portfolio that we budget off of, however common sense would dictate that we move to a more modest budgeting stance until things stabalize.  ✅
8. Spirituality  Meditate one time today, plus review the daily readings from my two spiritual books of choice.  ✅

A New Normal: Change Of Attitude

I had a bit of an epiphany this morning, as I got out of bed and wondered if it was going to be a good day, or a bad day. Prior to this global pandemic, I awoke pretty much every day with a sense of excitement because there was so much in my life to look forward to. We had plans, we had activities, we had family and friends, we had wide open outdoor spaces to explore and enjoy.

With all of that either drastically limited or completely off the table for the foreseeable future, I've been struggling, really struggling, to retain a sense of contentment as I move through my day. I don't want to fall into a trap of just slogging through each day, waiting for an end to this situation that may or may not arrive quickly.

This morning's epiphany occurred when I realized that I need to stop thinking of this as a temporary state of being, and instead think of it, and approach, it as our new normal.

So beginning today I'm going to beginning planning out my day with an eye toward covering the following areas to the best of my ability, in the hope that life will begin to once again feel joyful even in the midst of this pandemic. I can't change the outcome of our current situation, but I can change my attitude as we are going through it.

My Eight Daily Categories

1. Body (health and fitness)
2. Mind and Emotions (psychology and beliefs)
3. Relationships (spousal/significant other)
4. Family
5. Community
6. Social/Fun
7. Money/Finances
8. Spirituality

And here is my plan for each of them today:

1. Body (health and fitness)  Go on an exploratory hike with my husband, leaving from the house on foot, currently denoted as 'OK' per California's COVID-19 Shelter At Home guidelines.
2. Mind and Emotions (psychology and beliefs)  Re-read Chapter One of A New Earth by Eckhard Tolle.
3. Relationships (spousal/significant other)  Phone ahead and order a pickup lunch from one of our local eateries at the end of our hike, then find somewhere quiet and scenic to relax and enjoy eating it together.
4. Family  Look for an interesting photo op during our hike, and text it to my oldest granddaughter. I'm thinking of something along the lines of 'What is this?', where I'll take two photos, one a super close up that she'll have to think about, and one of the object itself from afar, the 'answer' in other words. We sent her a digital camera last week at my younger daughter's suggestion and she is enjoying the heck out of it, hence my idea above.
5. Intellect/Learning  Read 1% of our next quarterly Book Club book, Angle of Repose by William Stegner. (This is not a 'fun' book, it's a meaty, Pulitizer Prize winning novel, hence why I'm slotting it here and not below.)
6. Social/Fun  Two Zoom video dates (with wine!), one with an east coast friend, and one with our long time best friends here on the west coast.
7. Money/Finances  Revise our 2020 Budget to reflect the reduction in Travel, Restaurants, Entertainment, and Gas that the fallout of COVID-19 will most certainly have on our spending choices for the remainder of the year. While the stock market plunge has been significant, it has not yet affected the portion of our portfolio that we budget off of, however common sense would dictate that we move to a more modest budgeting stance until things stabalize.
8. Spirituality  Meditate one time today, plus review the daily readings from my two spiritual books of choice.