Greetings to my Sunday Letter friends who are social-distancing and sheltering-at-home,
Already we have several new buzz words attributed solely to COVID-19. Already they annoy me a bit. But I hear myself saying them (and writing them). I suppose my Sunday Letters are changing along with everything.
E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.
Don’t despair. We will navigate the craziness and come out on the other end. In fact, I have no problem being your Sunday morning cheerleader. This whole situation of hunkering down may be a little easier for me than for some because I’m a homebody by nature. Plus, I’m an introvert. A Cancer. (We Cancers like our alone time.) Compared to many, my routine isn’t drastically different. As long as I can garden, write, and read, I’ll be okay.
Coronavirus Week One
It’s chilling how quickly things have changed right here at home. And I know we’ve only begun to see the effects.
Along with the unexpected changes (like closed businesses and cancelled events), I’ve noticed lots of changes that to me seem very positive. Families are out walking and riding bikes together. Kids are playing in their yards. I saw a man actually chopping wood yesterday. Sure, he may have been doing that pre-coronavirus, but it seemed out of the ordinary to me. Everyone in our neighborhood and in our grocery stores smiles and goes out of their way to be friendly and helpful. It’s a little bit Leave It To Beaver-ish and that’s a bright spot in all this uncertainty.
Will the friendliness and these new activities continue when this is over? That would be a nice outcome.
John and I basically only leave the house to go to the grocery store, post office, and walk the dogs. We did go to White River Nursery on Friday because we were suffering from a bit of cabin fever. And if I’m being honest, I felt a sense of panic to go there, as I worry even nurseries will soon close. There were very few customers inside and everyone stayed far away from each other. So it felt like a safe choice and a good way to lift our spirits.
Even with all the current guidelines and limitations, yesterday turned out to be an enjoyable day made possible in part by SUNSHINE. I planted seeds at Momma’s house and we visited from a distance.
Confession: I haven’t been hoarding toilet paper, but I have managed to collect lots of seeds. I spent some time yesterday sorting and dividing them. The seed drawer in our Little Free Library is now full!
The sidewalk in front of our house? I chalked a message for the neighborhood along with hopscotch for anyone who wants to have a bit of old-fashioned fun.
I wonder if kids even know what hopscotch is?
Feed and Folly
So many small businesses and restaurants are struggling, y’all. Cooking and eating from home are nothing new for us, but just knowing we can’t go to our favorite place for burgers or Mexican food is unsettling. We’ve made it our mission to order out once a week.
Last night, we ordered takeout from Feed and Folly. Feed and Folly held its soft opening on March 15, ONE DAY before Fayetteville restaurants were required to close their dining rooms due to coronavirus.
Fish tacos for me, a Reuben sandwich for John, and we split an order of fries. Everything = Yummy! We can’t wait to go back and dine in when things return to normal. (You’ll be able to find us taking in the views from their amazing rooftop bar!)
For now, they have an online order form that’s easy to maneuver.
Here’s a simple, free way you can help the restaurants you love—write reviews for them on Yelp and on their Facebook pages. This goes for museums and businesses too! I saw this idea on Facebook and think it’s brilliant. I’ll be writing my Feed and Folly review today.
Yay for Friends
Thank goodness for friends who share and lift us up. Small kindnesses go an even longer way right now.
Look what was waiting on our back fence Saturday.
Lemon Poppyseed Cake! Perfect with my coffee this morning. I’d share with you if I could.
Morel Season
Guess what time it is? Morel season!
I harvested these on Saturday.
I told you. Saturday turned out to be a great day, virus or not.
Things Momma Says
I have been trying to organize my neighbors to all sing from our front porches this afternoon. So far I haven’t heard back from a lot of them.
***
Sunday Letter friends, I know things are strange for everyone, but so many have it worse. I like to think that we have built a little Grace Grits and Gardening community here. Even though many of us have never met in person, we meet here most every Sunday. In a way, that makes us family. And family helps lift each other when the going gets rough.
Hang in there everyone.
☺
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
RIP Kenny Rogers
You hit the nail on the head with this letter!
I did tell your Mom I would sing AND that the neighbor cats would cry!
Thanks for writing.
Haha. I think y’all should do it!
Great, uplifting Sunday Letter. Cathy is the only response I got about our singing. Guess that’s out. Stay safe everyone, and this too will pass.
❤️Love you, Talya!❤️
❤️?❤️?❤️?❤️
Love you too! I’m so glad we are neighbors!
So appreciate your Sunday letter. Yesterday I had my “happy time” weeding the gardens. That 5 hour patch of sunshine between rains was perfect for that. My veg trugs on the upper deck as a “deer proof” area are no match for squirrels I discovered. My turnip greens had just reached about 3 inches in height but were mercilessly uprooted by squirrels who must of used my trugs as an easy, soft nut storage place?
Squirrels are relentless! Thanks for reading and commenting!
Missing you! Eager to try Feed and Folly?☘️ Loving Gene Everywhere?☘️
I need to start looking for morels! I found a lot last year. Can you do a post on your favorite ways to eat them.
I spent this day cleaning all my bird feeders and putting out fresh birdseed. It’s the beginning of migration time. Hummingbirds have been seen just south of my area ( central OK) and in Arkansas! One feeder went out today! You never know! Getting ready to hunt morels on my property. Several in our neighborhood have found them in their yards…
I put the puzzle table back out that I had already put away for the winter. Found a pretty spring puzzle! Raking and cleaning out flower beds.
Love the chalk drawing! Stealing that idea!
I would sing with your mom if I was there….
Your comment is uplifting. Sounds like you have a great plan to get through this time. I’ve been thinking about putting out my hummingbird feeder too. Last year they came early.
Nice letter. I love yo momma?. I see where you got your creativity. Have you heard anything about HP Retreat? The Arkansas Writers Conference was cancelled first Saturday of June. Rescheduled for August. Contest deadline extended. Too many mystery, horror, fantasy genres this year ?. Stay safe. Hope to see you at Hemingway Pfeiffer. Six writing events I planned to attend were either cancelled or rescheduled. Four this month. Should fill the extra time with writing ?
I believe HP is in a wait and see mode. Yes, most things have been cancelled which I think is wise. No excuse not to write that book now, Fay.
I spent quite a bit of time pulling weeds out of the back garden. My husband has spent a great deal of time replacing mulch and , trust me, there is a great deal of mulch to replace. Today is looks so pretty out there, but there is much more to do. Rain tomorrow, so there won’t be any mulching done on Monday. Prayers for all of us. We slipped into Costco and everybody was so pleasant. They were cleaning and sanitizing the carts out in the lot and we simply walked the gauntlet, picked up a cart and entered the building. The store was well stocked and even had someone directing traffic assigning shoppers to a register which were ALL open. It was a shopper’s paradise. As we walked out to our Subaru, the line had grown so much that it extended the full length of the sidewalk which spanned the the full length of the building. Of course, by that time they were only allowing a few at a time to enter.
I’m curious why you replace mulch? We just add new mulch as the old breaks down. Yesterday was gray and chilly so no yard work for us. This week looks much better with warmer temps and sunny skies (between a few thunderstorms). Our grocery stores have suffered with empty shelves but they are refilled pretty quickly. All the workers have been so nice. We have much to be grateful for.
We have a high school friend that we haven’t seen since then (a long time), and she lost her husband during this time. The celebration of life she had planned had to become an online reaching out of friends. I sat at the piano and played “The Prayer,” (so badly it was best that she did not hear my personal remembrance to her husband that we had never met) but we shared with her our moment of remembrance. These times make us reach out in unexpected ways, perhaps more personal than we remember or take the time to do when our lives are “normal.”