It’s now mid-December, approaching early winter 2020. Who would have thought in March of this year that it would turn out as it has? Certainly, not me! By now, my husband and I planned to have had a week in Italy this summer, and more visits to National Parks this fall.
However, by choice, and of course by recommendation, we have not had those trips nor strayed far from home. We have made more use of our cabin, three hours away, but now get our food before we go and take it with us. Honestly, I think we are spending less on food this way and certainly leaving less in the cabin’s cupboards to expire and grow stale. I also really like knowing what we will eat before we go.
The cabin got its cedar trim re-stained and we did some basic landscaping nearest the exterior of the building. We also started clearing brush for some walking trails on the 2 acre wooded, lakeside property. This was inspired and augmented by being able to enjoy summer and fall hikes through the greater Northwoods of the state of Wisconsin.
The cabin projects are not finished, however. We decided, this summer, that we needed another bathroom at our cabin. Luckily, when it was built, 15 years ago, we had an area in the basement plumbed for another toilet, sink, and shower. My husband is handy, so he set about enclosing the new bathroom and getting all the utility connections set up. On our last visit, he put in the shower “pan.” This task was met with trepidation but came off easily for him, as I watched the Great British Baking Show reruns on PBS and put up a Christmas tree in the cabin’s great room for the first time ever!
Putting in another bathroom has been a “pandemic project” of sorts. I’m not sure we would have done it had we not started spending extra time there. But, it is time well spent. This week we picked out the tile for the shower stall. We are going with something traditional and easier to instal than the mosaic tiles we put in our bath at our primary residence several years ago. And, of course, one of the colors of 4 x 4 tile we picked was out of stock, so we had to select another accent color to go with the mainly white tile. I’m still happy with the choices, though. The bathroom will have a nautical theme, perfect for a cabin on a lake in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. I’m excited to look for some accessories and towels once we are at that point.
Personally, my projects still exist but I haven’t made much progress of late. I am still making fabric face masks and I finished a National Park themed quilt. My next, and still waiting, project is a set of roman blinds. I mis-read the pattern or it lacked specific enough directions (or a combination of the two) and I cut the fabric too small, not adding inches for seam allowances. I can fix it, and will, but haven’t done so yet. I guess it took the starch out of me. Or, at least, it took the fun out of making the shades. I plan to get back at it this week.
The pandemic has been good as far as getting projects done. But, for us, it did not allow for the travel we had planned. At this point, we are planning a trip to New York State to visit my parents before we go anywhere else. We just need to be sure we can get there safely, have a safe stay, and a safe return home. This has been compounded by the fact that I’m a rule follower. Sometimes, I wish I wasn’t.
The Apples in My Orchard 
You made good use of the extra time, lets all hope for this to be over soon
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Yes. I hope so too!
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