All local councils have now been given the power here to impose local lockdowns if spikes in figures change. One such town, Leicester, was put back in lock down some three weeks ago and is now gradually being released bit by bit. I think it is probably the best way forward to prevent any new outbreaks. It also serves as a deterrent to those who are a bit lax and never follow instructions, simply because they are instructions …. they do not want another lockdown so are at least following guidelines Phew!! I mentioned last week about the mask giveaways we have been holding at the community hub, they have been so busy and we held a pop up giveaways on Saturday which wiped us right out of masks ….. Hopefully more will come in this week as the sewers work their fingers to the bone to complete them.

What is nice about the giveaway is that you get to meet all these really lovely people, four at a time, who really would love to stay and chat but we have to keep moving because the queue outside gets longer and longer. The quilt that I told you about last week is completed except for the square which will hopefully come in this week ….it is exquisite, here are some photos to whet your appetite – i had not thought of sewing and machining as being particularly creative, now I cannot wait to learn to use the sewing mariner properly, these pieces of work are beautiful, like little pieces of glorious art, each one so different but all made with love, what a great legacy this is going to be to hang in the hospital eventually as a reminder of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. There are over 170 people who sewed scrubs, now we have those who are making masks – for many of these people, sewing has been a lifeline in these times, many of our sewers are on their own and do not see many people, these scrubs and masks and gowns have kept them busy with little time to think about being lonely!!!

And we had a a royal wedding. Princes Beatrice, daughter of Prince Andrew, was meant to marry earlier this year but as lots of young people have had to do, they cancelled the wedding. This was kept very hush hush and was held at Windsor Castle Chapel. Windsor Castle is where the Queen and Prince Philip are living during lockdown. They both attended their granddaughters wedding, keeping a social distance of course. The Queen lent Beatrice a dress to wear which was altered slightly to fit her, and the most beautiful tiara….in the attached photo you can see the Queen in the dress some 60 years ago and beatrice wearing it last week. I think it looks amazing. In fact, this was the first Royal wedding behind closed doors for 235 years which was when George IV, wed his mistress in 175 in a furtive ceremony in her Mayfair drawing room …..can you imagine what a scandal that was !!!!Everyone loves our Queen, she is amazing and straight after the wedding she knighted Captain Sir Tom Moore who at 100 years of age started to walk round and round his garden very slowly a few laps at a time, caught the imagination of people around the world and his final total as something like 15,000,000 lbs. an amazing amount of money… everyone who knows who he is now. The Queen rarely takes part in the ceremony these days but she wanted to Knight this lovely gentleman herself. He stated afterwards that he is not telling anyone what they talked about it was the proudest moment of his life. He has inspired many people to follow his lead and Tobias is one of them, a young 9 year old lad who has a condition which means he has to use a special walker, he walked every day in his home town, up and down the street in which he lived, every day all his neighbors would come out and applaud, he made thousands for the NHS. ( national health service)

We are now having family meetings at my sisters allotment, community gardens which can be rented at a low annual rate for people to grow vegetables and fruit. I told you how popular they are here and over the lockdown period people had time to work their plots and they all look amazing with an amazing array of veg and fruit an abundance. I love the scarecrows made to scare away the birds who love to eat the seeds and fruits. Some people leave a small part of their plot to grow wild with corn and wild flowers growing together, they grow flower in order to have fresh flowers at home all through the Summer, they look fantastic, nature is a wonderful thing. And when lots of us get together it’s a great place to social distance and chat and eat. More and more of our shops are opening having made the necessary changes to keep people safe and it is lovely to see little local shops which we love coming to life again. This little tea room and Barkery will usually be filled up all day but to take away instead of eating in. It’s better now Nanny Egg’s is providing tea and food to take away instead of eating in. It’s better than nothing as the food is gorgeous, home made scones with cream and jam, cakes and sandwiches all created to make a take away picnic. Some of our high streets are suffering as people are still wary of visiting areas where there are lots of people around, hopefully this will change and our high streets will boom once more. I am hoping that everyone is well and staying safe, following orders from those in power who are trying to keep us safe !!! Just when you think that this awful virus is going away,m up it pops again sending figures higher again.

Hello from England where things are gradually coming alive again…….it is very much like emerging from a long sleep similarly to Snow White except there is no Prince to be seen. Hearing children’s laughter coming from the school is a sound I love, people talking, shopping, swimming, having tea in the garden with friends…….all these things are what normality is all about and yet there is something not at all normal about the situation. The children laughing in the playground is somewhat depleted and they stand apart, shops are restricting the number of people entering as lines if people wait patiently outside, there are large gaps between people on the beach, this one I love as I am a space hugger on the beach, claiming my space with a large blanket or beach towel hoping to stop people from being so close you can hear them snoring as they sleep in the sun, kicking sand on you as they emerge from the sea and flop down shaking their towel as they do so creating a mini sand storm!

Tea in the garden no longer starts with a hug, no squashing up on chairs or the grass close to each other to make room for everyone. Now we choose our group wisely, not wanting to offend, we are careful about our cups, our plates – no sharing or giving someone else a bite of our sandwich for them to taste.

Trips are back but not the old normal …. we went out on Monday to a favorite garden. We are very fond of gardens here in England and the Royal Horticultural Society has many beautiful open gardens around the country, usually in the grounds of a stately home or palace. One of our favorites is Hyde Hall, beautiful gardens landscaped across Hugh swaths of land. The house itself is not open and walkways are signed in such a way to avoid coming to close to others , one way walks, queuing for tea , food and toiletries…..all taking much longer than usual because of the distancing. BUT it is NOT normal as we know it, but it is better than nothing and hopefully, life will at some time revert to what we all know as normal.

It is mandatory here to wear masks on public transport in enclosed places such as shops and banks. To this end we have been making face masks, Hospital scrubs are still being made but not in the vast quantities that were required at the beginning. Last Monday we saw the first Monday Mask Giveaway…. it was excellent, we had our mask tree outside the Hub so people could see type of masks on offer and then come in to the building to collect them. Obviously we had to restrict the numbers coming in but it was fine. All masks had been sprayed with anti bacterial to get rid of any germs before they were put in bags. I know I have said this many times before about community being amazing in the face of adversity and this bears testament to that. The machinists making masks do so without question and will go on until they are not needed. …. like scrubs we will keep a reserve for people we have left out or who need replacements.

Little Free Libraries are still being erected and a new one arrived last week when my yoga teacher expressed interest in having one in her front garden. It always creates a bit of interest when a new one is places., I still get a buzz from that. I have to say that the libraries have been very busy during this period of lockdown as the public libraries have been closed and people have more time to actually sit down and read!!! Always a silver lining. ….. she is holding a bag of bunting which is now gifted out with every library to be used on high days, holidays and special occasions!!

A quilt is being made at this moment by Carolyn, the co-ordinator of the sewing group, which will be exquisite. It is made of 4×4 square which have been sewn by all the people who have been involved in and contributed to the scrubs project. They are all beautiful, I see something I have not seen before every time I look at it and marvel at the skill of these people. I will show you next week when hopefully, it will be completed.

I am so intrigued by the living walls that are becoming so popular now I love the idea and they look so superb in almost any setting. My nephew has just set up a company making them, I’m fascinated by the idea…… do you have many in Lake Worth? I cannot recall seeing any.

I belong to a sketchbook circle where everyone involved around the country share sketchbooks with each other. You are put into a group of three and every month you send your sketchbook to another person in the triangle and they send theirs to you. So I am A and send mine to B or send theirs to C who sends theirs to me, at the end of the month the process is reversed. It’s interesting and intriguing to watch other people react to your work in other mediums. Next week I will share some examples with you, it is certainly something artists in Lake Worth Beach * could start it’s huge fun too. I will collect pictures and more information for next week on this topic ….. I hope the week ahead is kind to you and you enjoy it, stay safe, healthy and happy . . . . .

* editors note we do have one and Chris is invited .

Friday was here and I thought it was Saturday with its expectation. Everything has become same old, samo kind of day, unless it gets punctuated. Stream of consciousness must serve, it worked for some and as to Proust, the past will be here when I finish this blog. Thursday FB surprised me with yet another memory. “We care about you ……..”

My gallery about the size of our PB Cultural gallery space, perhaps a bit larger. Lots of memories there. A new show each and every month, so many artists needing to be seen. Had a car show, not just on the walls. Regional Treasures all five over the age of 72. We staged our one Ear Society group for the Mangohttps://youtu.be/K14OwgPnEss Strut here. February was our Corporate Art Show ( oversized art work ). Every artist had an opportunity. During the time we were up in Woodstock we lent the gallery to Children Services of Miami for their successful soirées. Quite a few kids got adopted having been showcased on our walls. The gallery literally became the Groves community center. The Grove needed xmas decor on its streets, we pulled out tables and made them there. To benefit the merchants and driving traffic to their stores we painted coconuts, for the Coconut Hunt! Saturday nights the Krishnas danced thru the gallery regardless what opening or event Hari Hari. Always took it as a blessing.

Continuing w art this from Instagram, some of my favorite!

Have distanced from kids when they drop by, I ask “where is your mask” [at home] “go get it”. Being cautious as I’ve been sequestered since the beginning. Fancy Nancy comes to check on her Sunflowers, which she sowed.

Thirty days till school starts up and no thoughts of studying so I prepared a excersise book for her so she can return to school, hopefully up to speed. 30 pages, one to do each day ( a calendar of sorts) and when it’s finished it will be time to go to school with a new skill.

Maria comes by to admire the sunflowers as they came from her seeds. We chat and she critiques the eyes of the kids on my LFLibrary that I’m painting. So easy to critique as a none artist. Lol. I share that on the back I’m painting Pablo Neruda doorway of Sebastiana, segway she is able to quote some of his work. We have a lovely discussion that’s what I mean by punctuate. We end as I discovered my very first Poinciana blossom on my 5 yr old tree. I quoted the song I can’t sing. She never heard it and so played her Bing Crosby’s “Poincianahttps://youtu.be/vhJ-_D-f5Fc”

And here I am again from a cloudy and windy England although the weather should be sunny by this afternoon……I hope this finds you well in Lake Worth and keeping very safe. I was thinking about you all on Saturday 4 July and all the wonderful times I have had in Lake Worth and Rhode Island on Independence Day. I suspect it was quieter this year for you all but nevertheless a day for getting together in a small group and having socially distance fun together. It was rather like Independence Day here as well because the 4th was the day we got our independence back …..restaurants and pubs were allowed to open at last were free to to go out and eat and drink, somewhat differently to before as many changes were made and social distancing which had been reduced to 1metre ,was complied with meaning glass partitioning erected and no standing around the bar which is so popular here. Pubs are such a tradition here that many people were desperate for them to come back

From what I can gather, most people behaved responsibly and enjoyed a Saturday night out once more. It is quite a tradition to be out on a Saturday evening, particularly for the younger generation. And so for now, life seems to be back on track. And weddings, now that is a different matter this photo shows the differences …..no more than thirty guests and social distancing must be maintained. it looks so strange.

And what about this …..at last hairdressers are open and they all have bookings galore. I think this was the one that most people were excited about opening!

And woohoo , we travel to other places and stay overnight. If you have a camper van you can actually use it. … the traffic was considerably busier as people excitedly took to the roads heading for a staycation for a few days

The Little Free Libraries are still flourishing, another one was planted last week, soon to have a children’s library next to this one.

I want to share this last photo with you because I think it is quite wonderful. This brass band found a great way to practice miles away from anywhere where they are able to socially distance as well.

Finally day 101 of lockdown I put out the last Thought for the Day Board. Whoever thought we would be in this predicament for 191 Days !!!! The board will now come out for high days holidays and special occasions. Today was the 72nd year of the National Health care Service at 5 p.m. everyone went out from their house to once again applaud for the NHS and the wonderful nurses and doctors who have been so selfless in their unstinting devotion to saving as many lives as possible. It is always a nice experience, slowly one by one you see the doors opening and we wave and shout hello to our neighbors and clap like mad for five minutes…..vvWe are all aware of our behavior as we have been threatened with being put back into lockdown if our area standards and numbers drop below the required amount. Already we have one town back in lockdown having failed to hit their targets. I hope you have an amazing week enjoying the beautiful sunshine……see you next week.

Why is this year different from all others. Because we are all in the same boat! We’ve shared so much and this blog goes back more than ten years. It started New Year’s Eve the year I moved here. Now if you are curious, at the bottom is an index by month, year or specific title enjoy.

This covers our quirky little sea side . Want more? Scroll thru archives.