Covid exposed, start of school and keeping the camera close by

Every fall brings me back to the point of starting homeschool, with a student body of one. There's something about the excitement of all the kids going back to school, whether it's to first grade or freshman in high school or freshman in college, that grabs my heart and makes me want to head to the drug store and buy a Big Chief tablet and a package of new crayons, the one with 64 colors and a sharpener on the side, of course. 

Our grandkids are in a smattering of situations - some are doing school online from home, some are doing school online from home for awhile. Some are starting a few weeks later. Some are homeschooled. 

My word, how complicated has our world become? God bless all the parents. 

For me, this year, I'd already made plans to study several subjects - okay - a handful actually, then I was unexpectedly exposed to Covid recently, so that I find myself self-isolating for the next couple of weeks. 

Perfect. 

We've been running like hamsters on a wheel for the past more months than I can even count, and since the beginning of 2020 it's been nuts. 

It feels funny to think of being crazy busy while we've all been stuck at home, but that's what actually happened to us. Cub Sweetheart had knee replacement; we isolated so no little people accidentally ran into him. Then as soon as he was able to be out and about covid started up and we all crawled inside our homes and locked the doors, pretty much. 

Then we sold our house in Texas and bought another one, moved, and 17 days later flew to Idaho. 

During all that time I was never knowlngly exposed, but that changed this past weekend. 

I certainly don't want to minimize the risk, or how serious the disease can be, but for me it feels so blissfully wonderful to be stuck at home, no commitments, nothing on my calendar, no obligations, no getting together with anyone (I'd always, always rather just stay at home with my people). 

I've been staying busy cleaning the entire house,  catching up on the finances, baking a cobbler from fresh peaches that CS brought home from the local produce store. I've sewn doll clothes for my recently repaired American Girl doll, Emily, put up a gallery wall in our downstairs family room, rearranged shelves and closets and drawers, practiced piano and read. 

But I've also studied. A happy moment was when our oldest grandson gave me his no longer needed Chrome book; he apparently needed something else for his freshman college classes, so as soon as I stopped squealing I went to the Life is Good store and bought myself a decal for the front of it. 

CS tells me my love for all things Westfalia is a part of my inner hippie. 

I supposed some would find it a wee bit strange completely weird that a grown adult would 'go back to school' every fall; I find it weird that everyone doesn't. There's certainly a lacking I'll never get over, that I didn't attend college, but it's much more than that. There's just so much I want to know, understand, learn, and I not only want the knowledge, I want the process of learning something brand new to me. My school years were less than spectacular, partly because I didn't really care back then, partly because we didn't have a family history of emphasizing academia, but also our home wasn't exactly conducive to fostering  anything except surviving. 

So every year I go 'back to school', some of it making up for high school lackings, some of it college classes I didn't attend. 

This year, this school year, I decided to study:

Piano (self-teaching year 3 right now due to covid) - my teacher is immune compromised

Photography (Great Courses classes)

Literature - classics, Pulitzers, Newberrys and C.S. Lewis' books

American History and Government thru the election, then maybe the Civil War

Math - starting at arithmetic basics refresher so I can move onto pre-algebra sometime this year

Study of the top 20 composers of music

Study of major artists, more European than American

This week's assignment from my first photography class was to 'see'. Here's a smattering of photos I took, without worrying about the setting on 'the little black box' as the class instructor put it - he told us 'go see':

I love the sweetness of Mallards, and especially love the ripples in the water in this photo

The visit to feed the ducks with my granddaughter also included a bit of time on the playground

Apples knocked from a tree to feed to the deer from our deck

My favorite position to photograph ducks - bottoms up!

I found out from my bird book, purchased at the local Wild Birds Unlimited store, that these are pine siskins. Not gold finches as I originally thought. They're fiercely territorial. 

A nesting house that has been on our property for three years and I've never checked out what's inside. It would require an extension ladder.....

I love that little spot of brilliant color on a mallard's feathers. Blue, purple, or green - beautiful!

Comical turkeys that show up in the evening behind our house. Not very pretty but they make me smile.

Mama had a brood with her. Turkeys are very opportunistic and it's amazing how much the babies grow throughout the spring and summer. Stop growing! Someone will want to eat you in November!

The photography instructor told us to 'keep your camera with you all the time. Be ready. But also 'be ready to pet the whale' - in other words, be aware of when you should just put down the camera and be engaged in life. I love that approach. He said he completely photographed the birth of his first child, with stunning photos, but was so focused on the photos that he missed the entire event. I think I'll love learning from this man. 

So that's what I'm up to - staying away from people, nesting in our home, studying and getting out and about when I can stay six feet away from people. 

Back soon with why I quit reading my Bible......