- Let's get started this month with my list of quarantine activities. You know what is so beautiful about this whole situation? I have relearned how to play. I got my urge to be creative back. I'll follow any urge and interest because why not? It's not unlike how a child would spend their day. I have so many new projects and even though I feel like I don't really accomplish anything these days I actually do so much. My balcony is lush and green, the first seedlings have sprouted and found their way towards the light. Like a little garden. I am cooking and baking almost every day, trying new and exciting recipes. I draw and make collages, I got a new carving knife and I love sitting in the afternoon sun on the balcony, making a mess, working on my little wooden bird. I found happiness. Stillness. I'm good at being on my own. There is no pressure - only freedom. I'm so scared this feeling will go away again as soon as I have to go back to work.
- Mushrooms.
- An iridescent nail polish called Mermaid Fantasy. The 90s are back.
- Cherry-flavoured diet coke (man, I LOVE artificial cherry flavour). Peppermint tea with milk.
- Finding out that I have the same sun sign (Taurus), moon sign (Gemini) and ascendant (Virgo) as Sophia!
- Losing my feeling for time. Only knowing what day it is when I take my vitamins in the morning (the weekdays are printed on the lids). Daylight saving is a bitch as well.
- Eliot kissing Charlton in the very last episode of The Magicians. I'm so hot for Hale Appleman.
- The BA test kitchen staff filming videos of themselves working from home.
- Gerstaecker (resin!) and Amazon (raised bed planter!) orders getting way out of hand. But hey. I won't be able to spend my money on plane tickets so I gotta have the right supplies for some fun stay-at-home projects.
- Sunset hour = rainbow hour because of the crystals I finally hung up over the balcony door.
- The forest. I feel so at ease there. The colours, the light, the smell, the quietude. I have one right behind my house, I should really take a walk there more often. Walking on the soft, almost bouncy forest floor makes such a difference. I usually walk on asphalt all day - hard, cold, unforgiving. I cut some twigs with budding green leaves for my kitchen. And I spotted a cat in an alley - I actually turned around on my bike just to watch it more closely.
- The word nohow - is that the opposite of somehow?
- All those birdies visiting my balcony (now that there are interesting nesting materials and seeds to be stolen). I love how snatchily they keep turning their heads, it looks a little bit like a laggy glitch in a computer game.
- Duolingo's story feature! You read and listen to little short stories (or longer ones - yesterday I read The Tell-Tale Heart in Spanish) and answer questions. So much more fun than those boring translations. So far I've only seen this feature in the English-Spanish course.
- Smelling of honey after roasting a batch of homemade granola.
- Thai curry. I still know how to make it. It's been a while.
- "And Ally loved contradictions." Lena Dunham's novel Verified Strangers - she publishes a chapter every weekday on Vogue.com and the readers get to decide how the story goes on. She says a romance novel is the best way to distract people from the horrible reality these days.
- Listening to Marienova's community podcast before falling asleep.
- Watching Studio Ghibli movies for the first time ever. I LOVE them all so much, believe the hype! Super magical. I think Spirited Away might be my favourite so far but man, Howl's Moving Castle? Princess Mononoke? I really can't decide. I absolutely adore the tiny creatures the keep featuring like the soot sprites (Susuwatari) or the tree spirits (Kodama). Oh, and half way into Spirited Away I realised that Yubaba's German voice is Nina Hagen!!!
- A really lovely letter from Lena.
- Deciding to go out. Sitting down at the edge of a field, enjoying the late afternoon glow shortly before sunset. I make an effort to leave the house every day now during quarantine and it has been so good for me. The morning walk to Neuried, having breakfast in the sunshine, my visits to the forest. I love reconnecting with nature. It's such a big difference compared to my usual ways around the city - subway, asphalt, traffic.
- An Easter walk through the forest with Adrian. Human contact! Gasp!
- Wearing make-up for the first time in weeks. I love how it makes me look but perhaps I could start wearing it less when all this is over.
- Applying my favourite Garnier sun oil on my arms just because of the smell. It reminds me of summer, the beach, time with friends.
- An evening walk: almost stumbling over toads three times on a forest path / meeting a friendly black and white cat in front of one of my favourite houses / seeing the plushy toy penguins lined up on a shelf in the supermarket window. Walking past back gardens. A party, people in a whirlpool. Chalk graffiti on a lamp post. Venus shining bright.
- The Virtual Orchestra makes me cry.
- Playing a magical online escape game with Frank.
- A break from FOMO. This phase we're going through is such a gift for me but I know I'm in a very privileged position.
- Easter Monday was extremely cold but I really wanted to go to the forest so I went anyway. I love being alone in there, avoiding people whenever possible, taking the small, unbeaten paths. It was windy. I hugged a few trees and when I put my ear onto the trunk I could hear deep moaning noises because the wind made the crowns sway and the wood had to adjust. Eerie. I had never heard that before or maybe I just didn't pay enough attention.
- Regularly thanking past me for being so clever and considerate, for thinking of everything and preparing accordingly. I love my new hands-on approach, it really serves me well.
- Learning about Japanese pavement markings (oudanhodou ari) since I had always wondered what those diamond-shaped markings on the road meant.
- Using a leaf care spray on my house plants. So shiny!
- Talking to my neighbors. Learning that they're calling the big red cat that keeps walking through our backyard Garfield (I have a different name for him). They also saved me when my apartment door fell shut and gave me a ladder so I could break into my own flat by climbing on the balcony. Oh and Franky gave me his power drill because I needed to drill a hole in the balcony ceiling. More plant hangers! A project for next week: Makramee! I both hate drilling (scary, messy, have I mentioned scary?!) and love it (because it makes me feel like a feminist badass).
- The smell of sunflower seed bread and sticky walnut cinnamon buns in the whole apartment.
- Love in times of Corona. I'm so happy to be alone right now. I've stopped searching. I am enough.
- Working with warm yeast dough.
- That day I went to the forest with Manu. He arrived in my backyard and simply said Let's Romeo and Juliet this! (Doch still, was schimmert durch das Fenster dort? Es ist der Ost, und Julia die Sonne!) because he didn't want to come inside. We also tried the Rapunzel-method when I let my hair down to make him climb up the balcony but that obviously didn't work. On our way to the forest we found a plant garage sale and I couldn't resist, I took three pots and donated some money. Manu said that it was one of those moments when I get shiny eyes because I'm so happy or joyful. When we sat down in the nest made from branches a lady approached us after a while and asked us to help her friend who had fallen down. Those things only happen when Manu is with me, I swear.
- Peeling a melon in one go without breaking the peel.
- The mason bee makes its nest from flower petals.
- Buttermilk.
- Louise Bourgeois getting her fears under control.
apr 1 2020 ∞
may 6 2020 +