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Planning

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This post is borrowed (with permission) from Nancy Farmer, as swimmer and artist from Somerset in the UK. You can see some of her art Here , but she is also active on Wordpress and Facebook. I did not include any of the pictures of Roger.  This morning I have mostly been drawing naked people. Well, ok just one naked person six times. This is Roger. A fellow artist complained that she kept going off the edge of the paper, I said she just needed to take a bit of care and plan where to place the drawing on the paper at the start. To which she said, slightly aghast 'oh I don't like to plan!' ...see, this is a problem, you can't be fabulously spontaneous without careful planning first, otherwise there is a danger that you will - maybe metaphorically - fall of the edge of your paper. Don't look at me as if 'Plan' is a four-letter word  ;-)””. This may be the most brilliant thing I have read all week. Planning is absolutely essential toalmost ever...
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Shedding Things

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On January 2, I am turning my mind to things I can let go of. I have read Marie Kondo’s books, and watched her Netflix show. Some of those things made a lot of sense to me (keep the things that spark joy, thank the unwanted things for their service and let them go). I grew up in a household where we didn’t have much money and we moved often; things got lost or broken during moves, or got packed into long-term storage so we didn’t have them when we needed them. My mom came from a poor farming family, born during the Depression in Alberta, where you hung onto things for seven years in case you needed them, and then another seven years just in case. On top of that, I have my own environmental ethos (repair, re-use, repurpose) and a rich and active hobby life. Those things combined to make me reluctant to get rid of things I didn’t like, didn’t really need, or thought I could use later, because you never know when something will come in handy. Over time, I have learned to keep a small la...
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The COVID-19 new normal?

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I went to my second-last swim practice for a while. There was more social distancing than usual as we didn’t all crowd into the showers afterwards - opting instead to wait our turn while talking about measures being taken in our workplaces. That’s when you realize just how complicated running an economy can be. One colleague works in government procurement so her office is scrambling to acquire everything from medical equipment to additional secure bandwidth so employees across the country can work from home. Friends from the barn where Fancy lives have posted that there are lots more walkers on the streets and hiking trails. It appears that families are looking for things to do that allow social distancing while getting some exercise, especially for the kids. The introvert on the hiking trails found it a little crowded for her comfort, but the extrovert said the neighbourhood felt much friendlier than usual as everyone passed greetings as they walked. Local media are even starting t...
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