14 Days in Quarantine Day 2 - 7

 The excitement this morning was the Woolworths delivery.  I asked for it between 6.00am and 9.00am.  Got a text at 7.00 to say they were on the way.  Then another at 7.30 saying I was next.  Lovely man arrived with a trolley and the groceries and placed them on the doorstep.  Simple process hey.  

Then Jenny arrived with a frozen chickpea curry which I accepted with gratitude, I do love a chickpea curry and knowing I have a meal that I don't have to think about is handy.  Did the dance on the driveway again.  Fay came with a fresh chicken so I can cook some for Jac, I'll cook that this afternoon.  Realise that I do need to be organised.  Planned to make some beetroot relish but realise I don't have enough vinegar.  Do I ask someone to buy it for me or maybe put in another order with Woolworths?  I'll worry about it tomorrow, by then might realise there is something else I need.

Hung out today's washing, so much easier to get to the clothesline now and found 3 pumpkins growing on the vine and another 2 passionfruit.  It's those little things that can be exciting, knowing that something I planted from seed is actually producing, even if it is taking over the back garden. Mind you when I planted the pumpkin seed I though they were zucchinis, so I have no zucchinis and tow very prolific pumpkins.   The passionfruit I was despairing of as it had flowers but something kept eating the flowers, however obviously these three and one more that is still half flower, half fruit is making it.

Now cooking the beetroot - can put in fridge while I make the decision about the vinegar and doing the capsicum with red onions so I can use it in whatever I cook or on a slice of bread.  Have a lot of eggs that have been left by various visitors so thought I might make a cheesecake.  Weather getting a bit cooler now so putting the oven on should be fine, though it might be better to make that an evening project rather than using up time when I could be out in the garden.

Tea in the front yard again, wave to the neighbours across the road, they are friendly but don't actually initiate contact, if I say hello or start a conversation they are fine but don't initiate it themselves.  Same with the young couple next door, friendly enough if I start a conversation, but don't initiate anything.  Do like having young children next door, there is something quite comforting about hearing the sounds of children playing in the yard.   

Wrote a letter to the Weekly Times in response to another one on climate change, I don't have much luck with getting climate change letters published although I do when it's around coronavirus, almost 100% hit rate.

Had my Covid test, doesn't matter how many I have I still linch - they are most unpleasant.

Day 7

Result of test was negative.   So far so good, I feel like I am having an enforced rest and luckily the weather has been a bit cool so don't feel the need to breakout and go for a swim.  Our Dan is talking about making most of Sydney an orange zone and if they do that I presume I will be able to finish quarantine as that only requires isolating until you get a negative test result and I already have that.

Been making bread each day, experimenting a bit with different things - yesterday made rolls and put yogurt in the mix and they were lovely and light.  Also made a cheesecake but realise now i had the temperature too high so it got a little burt but still tastes good.  Will have ot order more cheese and eggs so I can try it again.

Lots of weeding and tidying up the garden which has been good and getting rid of rubbish.  Next challenge is back ot my clothes - I really have many more bits than I need and it just takes up space, as well as getting rid of all those little jars that have had candles in them, hold on to them because I think I might do something with them and, of course, I never do.

Jac has been picked up by Fay a couple of times now, bribe her to get into the car with treat.  However Fay said the second time she walked a short distance and then just stopped and would not walk any further.  Have found she will chase her squeaky ball so I throw it up the driveway and she enjoys that for a little while and then stops.  But it's running up hill so good exercise for her.  I'm definitely not getting my steps in - not good at repetition - like walking up and down the driveway, it's boring and I cannot motivate myself to do it for very long.

Did make the beetroot relish, got another Woolies delivery, at least they use compostable bags.

Have found listening to audible books has been good, I can have it going in the backyard while I am working in the garden or cooking.  Just finished Infinite Splendours and enjoyed it.  Now listening to a crime novel by Chris Hammer called Scrublands, it's quite engrossing, can't wait to hear what happens next.

Day 8 and final day

So today Vic changed the zone of most of Sydney to an orange zone and then I got the text from DHHS saying I no longer needed to quarantine because of the change of zones.  Feel a bit cheated!  Had psyched myself in to 14 days of not being able to do much at all and now I have no excuse.  Still at least I can walk Jac myself, and go for a swim, weather's getting warmer so I'll enjoy that.  

A boring post - not travelling with Jac or 14 days in quarantine Day 1

Day 1.  Yes I went to Sydney, yes I knew before I arrived that there had been new community transmission.  Might I say, apparently arising from hotel quarantine, and how it has happened has still not been explained.  Yet the media are not going after the Premier there the way they went after Dan Andrews.  Anyway, it meant that Victoria closed its borders to NSW and I had to apply for an exemption to be allowed to come back to my little haven near the sea.  A condition of the exemption is that I quarantine for 14 days at home.  So this is day 1 of the quarantine.  And that is what this post is about - how I pass the time in quarantine.

On the way home I listened to an audible book - Sophie Laguna's Infinite Splendours, confronting in part, but captured the romance of an artist with the Grampians, much discussion about light and colours and shapes of mountains.  Thought how a solid grounding in place and connection to the surroundings supports mental health but also can act as a prison.  Mused about the way in which driving through Australian countryside gives you such a strong sense of space and size.  The wide blue skies continually opening up in front of you, the rolling hills dotted with trees.  The hills look like a yellow velour blanket has been draped over them with the yellowing of the grasses over summer.  Was conscious of need to maintain isolation while travelling so used the trusty old canister gas stove to make my coffee by the shores Lake Nillahcootie between Benalla and Mansfield.  Even had a quick dip in the lake as I know I won't be able to have a swim for a little while.  A few people around but large enough area to keep well away from them.  

Yesterday I arrived in the afternoon, was tired from the trip so really did not do much, sorted out the fridge to find lots of beer left from one of Beci's friends so thought I should not let it go to waste and sat on the deck and drank two cans.  Don't feel under any pressure to unpack the car as I've got plenty of time, but I did bring in the shopping I had done in Albury where I stopped overnight before crossing the border.  I walked around the garden, mostly everything looks reasonably healthy although the Mexican cucumber I planted has not grown at all, well it might have one more leaf than it had 4 weeks ago.  Tomatoes are going gang busters with quite a bit of fruit but still mostly green, two roma tomatoes that were reddish so I picked them.  Today - which is really day 1, I had an outing, a trip to the respiratory clinic for my Covid test, reminded me of how busy this place is now that they have allowed campers back along the foreshore.  The trip that should usually take 10 minutes took 20. My fourth COVID test - had to have one to apply for the exemption then another one now I am back.  I do feel sorry for the people doing the tests as, no matter how much I try to psych myself into it, I still flinch at the nasal probe.  Nurse told me that she had a client actually slipped off the chair trying to lean back to get away from it. .   Now waiting for the result.    Changed the linen on the bed yesterday and washed the old linen today and hung it out.  It was a warm day so it dried and I could bring it back in later with that lovely smell of sunshine on the sheets.

I ventured into the garden, tried to get the tomatoes under control so they are not falling everywhere, attempted to check out the pumpkin but it is now taking over half the backyard and I did not have the energy to follow it.  Pulled out some of the native geranium which goes crazy, grows over everything. 

There have been a few people staying here while I was away my niece, my grandson and some mates, then my daughter and family with some friends, so spent a bit of the day finding where different things had been put away - the coloured glasses in the wrong place, the teapot in a cupboard when everyone surely knows to leave the teapot on the bench.  A friend rang to ask if I wanted anything so picked up  milk for me so I can make some yogurt and we did a little dance around the driveway while she put what she had bought on the grass and then moved away so I could pick it up.  She has offered to take Jac with her dog to a park where I walk Jac with other dogs.  That will be interesting as Jac often won't go with others when I am home, we will see tomorrow.

Back to the garden, thought I would make a point of sitting out the front each day so I can at least see people passing by, but when I made a lovely cuppa and went to sit out there all I could see was the weeds waiting to be pulled out.  Which I started to do, but no rush can do it tomorrow.  Found a couple of cucumbers hiding where the cucumber vine had grown under one of the unruly tomato plants,  Picked them, some rocket - rocket is indestructible like the native geranium, carrots - now that was a discovery - found that carrots have quite beautiful flowers if left to go to seed.  But still managed to pick 3 good carrots and picked the flowers to put in a vase.

Noticed when I was hanging out the sheets that one of the ti trees has fallen a bit more while I was away - I love the way ti trees fall, none of this showy crashing to the ground, just a gentle 'oh I'm a bit tired of standing so tall', and just gradually sinking down ever lower.  So got out my little saw and cut off enough of the branches to get to the clothes line.

Made a loaf of bread in the air fryer - love that, makes a small enough loaf that is all I need so that will do me for a day or two.  The exciting thing was getting onto the Woolies delivery - did try IGA but they don't deliver in this area.  Trawling through the Woolies list and put in an order which gets delivered tomorrow morning.  I am though a visual shopper - I like to look at what I am buying.  Discover they sell potatoes end tomatoes by the piece - so you can get 2 tomatoes and 2 potatoes for instance.  How weird is that - what happened to good old kilograms.

I should make a list, I should plan for what I am going to do.  Instead I have a jumble of ideas in my head - to only eat the bread I bake, to weed the gardens, to read and, importantly (thank you Em) to record what I read on Good Reads so I can look back and be reminded and not start a book I have already read unless I choose to.  Make some beetroot chutney and cook up some capsicums with onion and oil.  Challenge is the exercise, today I only accumulated just over 5,000 steps so need to work on that.  And Jac and walking, we will see.

Rice salad with red cabbage and garden harvest for dinner with some tuna.  Now it's bath time - one bonus of being home is my bath - I love the shape, I love sliding into it, I love lighting candles and losing myself in it.