The View From Here – It’s Almost The Long Weekend

So it’s almost the long weekend.   We should be celebrating.  We should be gardening.   We should be camping.  Going without showers.  Sleeping uncomfortably in tents and trailers.  Eating s’mores and burnt hot dogs over the fire.  Maybe, in the spirit of the camping I’m missing, I’ll stay in my weekend clothes, not shower, and eat burnt hot dogs anyway.  (smile)

It’s hard not to feel sad, mad, frustrated and disappointed.  Usually the long weekend is something we look forward to.  We count down the days.  We plan. We pack. We prepare.  We get excited.

This year is very different.

Typically we get into the gardens.   First, it’s been too cold to enjoy much time outside.  This weekend is expected to rain. A lot.  Not sure how much I’ll be in the garden.  To be honest, I’m the person that plants things in the fall and forgets.  Or I dig things up and move them around. And forget. So right now, every day leads to a bit of a surprise.  I’m still waiting to see what pops up where.  And then I’ll start shopping for new plants.  And trying to find ways to make my garden space a bit bigger without my husband noticing.

Goats. 200 of them.  Wandered a community in California.

They had one job. (smile).  They were supposed to be clearing dead weeds and brush from a hill in California and they found a way to get loose from their enclosure on Tuesday and ran wild in an east San Jose neighbourhood.

And the comments on Twitter are hilarious.

“The earth is healing. We are the virus.”

“Damn, even the goats are tired of staying home.”

“Wait, they’re not wearing masks. They are crowding together.”

A rancher DID wrangle all the goats in about five minutes and put them back in their enclosure.  A few damaged flower gardens, but no humans injured by what some area jokingly calling “The Great Goat Stampede of 2020”.

And a reminder to be kind.

I know there is a lot going on and we’re feeling all kinds of emotions.  It makes me sad when I hear of cashiers getting yelled out or saying things like “I just want to go home. I’m done with rude people.”

Sarnia we are better than that.  Nobody is experienced with this.  This is uncharted territory.

Be kind.  Lord knows people need it.

Be compassionate.

Be understanding.

A smile, a thank you – goes a lot further than complaining about standing in line, or not getting your order as fast as you had hoped.

I think everybody is just trying to get through it and they are doing the best they can.  Through the worry and fear, just like everybody else.

Categorised in: Afternoons

This post was written by Carrie Buchanan