Normally, I would write a light hearted and amusing blog centred around my escapades on my walks with my camera.
With lockdown and the strange times we are living in has found my roots firmly grounded on my home turf. Turf! Now there’s a topic. The wettest eight months I’ve ever known raised the water table in my garden to new heights, leaving my turf looking for water wings and fighting for survival. Spring heralded lockdown and some of the hottest weeks for some time turning my swamp into cracked earth, with just a few Turf Warriors hanging on in there. The unpredictability of the weather is like the unpredictability of life. Shifting sands.
I‘ve had to learn to live my life in a different way. The lack of freedom to wander the fells I love, to drive to my favourite haunts for a walk with my camera, to be unable to work the way I choose and to see my family and friends. Instead, I have re engaged with my garden and in nature, in growing plants and vegetables from seed, in taking photographs of the flowers and wild life. I have been given time.
I have found new ways to engage with customers and to sell my work. I have expanded my social media networking and I am going to be updating the web page and facilitating new avenues of online marketing and selling. I will be blogging more regularly, doing a newsletter and more emailing marketing. I have been given time.
I have had to connect in different ways with family and friends, no hugs, no light lunches, no cappuccinos and chip barms, no travel, no holidays. More time to phone, to video call, to text, to whatsapp and to virtual hug by emoji.
This year, the unpredictability of life has caused devastation; sadness, anxiety, hurt, fear and sadly great loss worldwide but it has also given us hope, kindness, love, community spirit and a realisation of the importance of family and friends. Shifting sands. Stay safe.
