Yams and other lockdown delights

Today is day seven of an (at least) 21-day lockdown here in Canberra. We had more than a year go by with no local cases of COVID-19, then it all kicked off again. My partner and I – being fifty-plus and the antithesis of anti-vaxxers – are fully vaccinated, but know we need to take the restrictions seriously. Only venturing outside of the house for approved reasons and wearing face masks when we do. Very grateful that we can still earn a living from home. So, anyway …! If we can't go out we look for things we can enjoy at home.

Yams! I've written before about my ongoing craving for NZ yams and my repeated unsuccessful attempts to grow them in Canberra. Sigh. I recently discovered that a Brisbane company sells big boxes of yams, in season, by mail order, so I bought (ahem) five kilograms. Bliss. We're gorging on them.

Gardening. Spring flowers are starting to appear :-)

Boot camp. My boot camp instructor has been providing video workouts we can do at home. Yaaaay! It's especially fun when his dog Daisy and cat Bella join in too.

Books. As always, I have numerous books on the go. Just finished the gorgeous novel China Room by Sunjeev Sahota, and currently reading the beautiful but harrowing memoir No Matter Our Wreckage by Gemma Carey. (Both borrowed from our wonderful local library.) I'm also wading through a whole bunch of books on my Kindle right now: Spoon-Fed (food science) by Tim Spector, Limbo (sociology) by Alfred Lubrano, River of the Dead (murder mystery) by Barbara Nadel, The Human Tide (demography) by Paul Morland … and more. I tend to read a chapter of one book, then switch to another book and read a chapter of that, and so on. Oh, and I'm receiving a steady stream of editing work (economics, environmental science, social work, law and history, this month alone) so if I'm not reading for pleasure I'm reading for profit. Nice.

Last but not least, podcasts. Current favourites include China, If You're Listening; The Trap; Big Mood, Little Mood; Dark Poutine; RedHanded; Democracy Sausage; Dr Death and Killer Psyche.

Sending warm fuzzy thoughts to everyone in lockdown.