Today’ is Illinois’ first full day of sheltering in place, my hometown’s fourth, and my own eighth. I’ve gone more than a week now without leaving my house and yard except to walk the sidewalks of my neighborhood. I’m a little bit stir crazy, but I’m okay.

I have big plans today: virtual Church of the Informed Citizen, via Skype, and a fire pit social at the edge of my front yard with my next-door neighbors. How will we manage the fire pit, you ask? The plan is: Fire in the center, two chairs on our side, two on theirs, always 6 feet apart. I think we can do it!

Goal setting

I think goal setting is probably a good idea while we’re all sheltering at home. I can easily get up in the morning and fritter away an entire day, so it helps to tell myself early in the day what I’d like to accomplish.

Here’s how yesterday’s goals tallied up for me at the end of the day.

• Chicken pot pie—check
• Dog walk—check
• Exercise walk—nope, just with the dogs
• Laundry—check
• Place my seed order—check
• Read—only at bedtime, but check
• Create something—check
• Photo of the day—check

I added the photo-a-day goal mid-day. Being cooped up in one place, I think challenging myself to take a photo that’s worth sharing each day might be a good way to keep from falling into a rut. I’m pretty good at ruts. I need the challenge.

Photo of the day

I over-achieved yesterday on the photography front. We walked past someone’s terrific sidewalk chalk art on our walk, and that’s the picture shown up top. Rolo got in on the action later by being too cute for words, twice. Here’s one of the results:

And then, of course, there was the chicken pot pie. Rarely can I resist the urge to take a photo of a pie that I’ve baked, be it savory or sweet. It’s not great photography, perhaps, but food porn really isn’t about the photography. I can assure you it was delicious, served with a side salad.

Yesterday’s creation: poem art

A while back—a long while back—I bought an old book of illustrated children’s stories to transform into something. I was thinking at the time of some sort of altered book, but that idea gave way to poetry at some point. Yesterday, I took a page of it, found a poem in it, and then looked for a picture to go along with it. The result: a teeny-tiny poem called “The growing darkness.” I had a lot of fun putting it together, I think largely because it made me work with my hands. Here it is:

I think next time I might start with a picture and find a poem specifically for it.

Goal setting

Here are today’s goals:

• Photo of the day
• Dinner from scratch, by me, probably spaghetti carbonara
• Create something
• Read
• More laundry
• A tidy table in my living room

I added cardamom to my coffee this morning, three firm shakes in the basket with the beans before grinding. It’s a treat I usually save for weekends, when I have more time to savor the morning brew.

Working from home, I have that little bit of extra time now, to sit with coffee in hand or at my side, listen to the birds outside, read some news, or watch the sky lighten behind the houses to the east.

A poem for today

I started my day reading Billy Collins, one of my favorite poets, because his words are deceptively simple and accessible, and because he’s funny. We all need laughter, and funny poetry can be very funny. Billy’s a really good reader (see how I’ve put us on a first-name basis? It just feels right with Billy!) Here he is, reading one of my many favorites among his poems, “Consolation,” which I think is a timely poem for those among us who are reluctantly canceling travel plans right now.

#AmWriting

I wrote a poem of my own this morning, too, one that I think will need a bit of work to polish but perhaps not too much. It happened because I opened up my computer and discovered that all of my browser tabs were gone and I couldn’t recover them. Sadness ensued, followed by poetry, and all was well with the world.