My last two days of Covid isolation were pretty much the same as before, though I did get out for a short walk down the street to post a couple of postcards, it felt good to move my body and be outside. I looked at my pedometer app for the first time in a week and was shocked but not surprised by the very few steps I had taken. My daily goal is 10,000 steps and it is a rare day that I don’t meet it. During my time in New Zealand I have often been at 200% of my goal, but this week I hit only 15% of my goal, barely over 10,000 steps in the whole week. But my body needed to take it easy, I did not feel the restlessness I get when I haven’t been moving enough. Hopefully the fatigue is behind me now.
I finished a second jigsaw puzzle, and started third, this time stretching out to use the dining room table in the main house. Mary and her family are out of town at a family reunion and offered me the use of the house so I could have a bit more space and a change of scenery. I ordered dinner from the Indian restaurant down the street. The delivery guy was very curious about whether I liked my time in New Zealand and would I want to stay. I told him the same thing I’ve been telling everybody else – that I would love to find a way to split my time between New Zealand and the US.
I also finished a funny and touching book of personal essays called Can You Tolerate This? by Ashleigh Young, an editor living in Wellington. The essays center on her family and become increasingly intimate as the book progresses, so much so that when a tragedy strikes her family I felt like I really knew the people involved and felt grief at the loss.
I’ve continued to observe the unfurling fronds of the ponga trees near my deck. They have always fascinated me, so much so that the one tattoo I have is a heart with 3 unfurled fronds inside, symbolizing my kids and my connection to New Zealand.
