Shift happens

Shift happens

Hi there

Thanks for popping in. Bank Holiday Monday? Who for? The banks are closed, 7 million furloughed people are at home anyway, many millions more work from home. So Bank Holiday Monday. Mmm. I’ve worked all day anyway, because this Monday is just like any other to me.

Shift happens, doesn’t it. The goal posts move, the lines get blurred. The rules change, the focus moves in and out. Nothing stands still. Shift usually happens gradually, almost surreptitiously. We barely notice it a day at a time. Until of course, you are slammed with a global pandemic, which creates a massive and instant shift.

Now more than ever, we need a routine. Well I do. I have to know where I’m headed. I am not clairvoyant, and I can’t predict the future, but I can decide when to get up, what to wear, where to take us all on this week’s virtual Doodle-Shack trip – I CAN DO THOSE THINGS, and many more, so I make a list and I work my way though it.

I have switched off from the politics of it all. It disgusts me. Whilst we are still losing hundreds of people to the pandemic daily, the finger pointing, wouldacouldashoulda second guessers are posturing and deflecting. It makes me wild, so I choose not to let them live rent-free in my head. There are enough in there already!

Yes. Shift happens. When I compare my life today with my life 6 years ago, or 6 months ago, it has changed dramatically. And not all for the worse. Now I just need to grow into my new situation and make the most of it.

How about you?

Time to go for a walk in the sunshine.

Love always,

Barb xxx

17 thoughts on “Shift happens

  1. I allow myself five minutes on the BBC website so I can keep up with the rules and spend as much as possible of the rest of the time in the garden or out learning, so I don’t think about it. The Hay Festival is online this week and the Royal Albert Hall had a drawalong this weekend, so technically I should now be able to draw something like it…. yes, well, it was entertaining! I’ve yet to catch up at the shack. Hope you enjoyed the sun. Stay safe, everyone.

  2. Piccadilly Circus out on the forest today, everyone trying to make the best of things. I retreated to my garden to enjoy the sun, and try to dispel the dark clouds gathering. I agree, an update once a day is enough, otherwise it all gets too much. Oh well, tomorrow is another day, with crafts, sewing and gardening to lift the spirits. Not forgetting my ever faithful Labrador who is so happy all the time it’s infectious! Keep safe and well, everyone, don’t let the mindless idiots and corrupt people get anyone down xx

  3. Loving my garden now we have just built a wildlife area with a pond and tadpoles and pebbles and plants and a solar fountain! I tear myself away from it for the SHACshac everyday (since Session 1) and go back out into the sunshine of my garden to search for tadpoles and just “to stand and stare” for the whole of the rest of the day, sometimes.
    If I come inside it is to check out everyone’s posts on clarity worldwide and to read the encouraging comments. Such a lovely, friendly community. Then to sort out my craft stash and have fun with the new and the old stamps/stencils/dies etc.
    I am hooked on the poetry stamps especially the Davies poem, as you may have gathered from this post already.
    Why am I so chilled? Because I have the SHACshac and my garden. Nothing else needed for the time being. So very grateful xx

    1. So looking forward to seeing it all Ros. Didn’t expect it to be so long until we could catch up at your new house. Xxx

  4. Could not agree more. Doodles this morning. What a workout! Well worth it all. Sorry not brave enough to show. Big thank you. Looking forward to tomorrow and then taking hubby for his retina check up. Hope the motorway is quiet

  5. Enjoy your walk. I took myself out for an early walk today, before SHAC-Shack. Actually it was lovely, not too hot (yet), really quiet on the pavements, and I diverted down a green lane, which was full of birdsong, beautiful. Might have to make it part of my daily routine
    Take care all, Claire

  6. Bank holiday? Woke up really early this morning. Decided to get up and get on with sewing (7 sets of scrubs on the go) but woke hubby up. At 6.30 we were up on the Ridgeway! Magical! Saw several Siskins. Never seen them before. We are so lucky to have gardens to sit in and blue skies and countryside.
    Loved drawing the African people today. Looking forward to penning them tomorrow. Xx

  7. I likewise do not watch the politics of it all too closely as it only adds stress and there are so many who have their own political agendas which have nothing much to do with the present situation. I sometimes wonder whatever happened to the British common sense attitude to things with a bit more backbone and a little less fear, but never mind, hopefully eventually we will get it back when this thing recedes, though I know for some time to come we will have to be keeping our distance and taking sensible precautions. There are some good things about this present situation and mother nature is ever inspiring us and we have more good weather this coming week which certainly lifts the spirits. x

  8. Got some washing done yesterday, all our personal stuff, but halfway through a batch of towels the machine decided to play silly buggers and finally stopped working. Now how do i get a plumber to come out in this present situation I wonder.
    Yes shift does happen but we’ll cope.
    The weather here has been warm and sunny today and we have been cheerfully following the doodle Youtubes at our own pace. With this and the weekly downloads we have been well occupied but I must get out the cross stitch and finish Henry 8 and his 6 wives, it’s huge and will cost a fortune to frame!!! Worth it though.
    Can’t believe May is nearly over, this year has flown by, and maybe I’m not helping matters as I have been making some Christmas items, a parchment tree, a little angel and a babies crib not to mention tags and bookmarks.
    Going to settle down now to read my new thriller by Jo Nesbo.
    Have a good evening, stay safe.
    🍒🍒🍒

  9. I had three days back at work after my holiday and our visit to the SEC before lockdown happened. I kind of caught me off guard in that I hadn’t quite expected things to move so quickly but I have to say I have adapted very well! What I do work wise is almost unrecognisable compared to how I did things before and I am loving it – too much maybe! I am enlivened by the new way of working and also the fact that I have been able to open doom much time in my garden which was going very well until the rain came and now the weeds have taken over! Not sure how I will ever get it all back under control. However, I suspect it will be one weed at a time. I have also loved our doodling and colouring sessions and the opportunity to learn new skills which means so much to me. The rain brought a new challenge! I decided to gut the kitchen before environmental health closed me down but I am so slow at doing things that it is a work in progress but at least, I won’t be closed down now!!! Lol. I have far too much stuff…… Looking forward to the sun tomorrow again. It was nice this morning and until late afternoon but then the rain came on. Not heavy but it brings the midges with it!! Going to look back now to see what plate Linda used when she used pencils to colour a flower on the Pergamano Show, the fourth or fifth one! Hope you enjoyed your walk. By the way, I don’t give a toss who went where or why and very often avoid the news because I am sick of speculation and journalists being like a dog with a bone! Hope you have had a good day. Take care. Lots of love. Hxx

  10. Hi Barb,
    I can only cope with the news once a day. I too am sick of the back biting and stabbing. Have spent the day in the garden today as it has been a gorgeous day up here. Trying to decide where to put all of my bedding plants and what to put in my baskets. Tried out some exercises for ukulele ( my fingers don’t seem to want to work quickly enough!) Hope you had a lovely walk. Love and hugs,Alison xx

  11. I usually watch the daily update to get the latest information and that’s enough for me. Had a lovely walk in the sunshine with my dog after my daily visit to the SHAc Shac. Going to be a good week in Africa but just hope we don’t need the rifles! Love to all and stay safe.xx

  12. Thank you Barbara, for your trip to Africa this week. Big bowls on heads (Drew my husband drew one with a bathtub on the head) and you made us laugh which is both important and no easy task at this time. Like reading some comments about not watching TV too much. It’s the same here in America too much “shift” happening, and we don’y know who or what to believe anymore. We are opening up way too fast and people are turning up dead faster and faster as a result. We don’t really know what the situation is (we have over 52,000 cases in Florida) and last week we lost people in record numbers. I thank goodness that we have each weekday to be with you. I take care of my dog, birds, yard, son, husband, and that makes the day go by. Till tomorrow, thank you — Ruth – Drew

  13. Hello!
    My garden has changed during these last few weeks! ….although I still have dandelions in the grass…. but I accept that…..the bees need food too! ….. and while this weather has been lovely I have spent daily time in the sunshine.
    For over a year now ….. I have tried to practice….. living in the moment….. it’s now that matters…. and that changes by the second! ….however for a while it all went a bit to pot there with this pandemic…. emotions all over the place( like everyone) ….. but guess what- I am calm as a mill pond again- thanks to finding this ‘oasis in the desert’….. this time together with Barbara…focussed in that gold dust hour in the Shac Shack! ….. with all these lovely people here…. like one big family supporting each other. I can’t join in daily….. but I treasure my Thursdays and Fridays with you all! X

  14. SHIFT happening so regularly over the last 18 months, but after only two days in the SHAC the ‘SHIFT’ doesn’t feel so stinky. 💛💛💛

  15. Hi Barb, so very true, who knew 6 months ago where we would be now. I don’t even watch the update now, it just winds me up. Hope you had a lovely walk. I had to work the whole day Monday, so was a bit annoyed as it was a lovely day. Bx

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