Life with the coronavirus marches on. Nobody seems to know how much longer we’ll have to stay cooped up in our homes to protect ourselves and others from the silent, flu-like disease. 

What we do know about COVID-19 is it’s easily transmittable, there is no vaccine, and it has turned our world upside down.   

Health experts believe the best way to prevent its spread is the exercise of good personal hygiene practices and minimizing activity away from the home. These practices have dealt a heavy blow to the economy and resulted in the federal government spending trillions of dollars to support shuttered businesses and unemployed workers. 

Discovering ways to put stay-at-home time to good use at our home has been a welcome challenge for our family.  

Geanell and I both are fortunate to have hobbies. She is a needle worker from the old school, and I’m an avid reader and gardener.  

Geanell’s latest project is a hand-stitched quilt for Meaghan Gray, our youngest granddaughter. She lucked out by having a pattern picked out and the fabric she needed purchased before the COVID-19 pandemic. She works several hours most days piecing together the quilt with thimble, needle and thread. She does everything by hand, and every stitch is treated as a work of art. 

I usually have my head in a book while she is working on her quilt. I can sit and read an interesting book for hours on end without stopping. She can do the same with her quilting.  

Periodically, we’ll take a break together to watch something on TV or chat about family happenings, national politics or what we want to fix for supper. 

I find it hard to stick with my book when it’s warm outside and the sun is shining. I get the same satisfaction from mowing the grass or working in the garden. I keep a folding chair under a big shade tree near the garden and use it for breaks when I tire from hoeing and tilling.  

The closed businesses we miss the most are Geanell’s beauty shop, big box clothing stores and my barbershop. Geanell is accustomed to having her hair done weekly by the same beautician and misses opportunities to exercise while walking and shopping in big clothing stores. I got my last haircut the day Van’s barbershop closed its doors, and the hair tickling my ears is telling me it’s past time to get them lowered again.