Globally, as of 14 June 2022, there have been 533,816,957 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,309,633 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 7 June 2022, a total of 11,864,214,773 vaccine doses have been administered.
But wait …. there is more…
As of 8 June 2022, 1285 laboratory confirmed cases and one probable case have been reported to WHO from 28 countries in four WHO Regions where monkeypox is not usual or had not previously been reported. This represents an increase of 505 laboratory confirmed cases since the previous Disease Outbreak News on 4 June 2022 when 780 cases were reported. As of 8 June 2022, there have been no associated reported deaths in these four Regions.
OH come on now! if we cannot laugh about it…. what can we do (I MEAN please wash your hands and wear a mask if you’re in public.)
There is so much I should be telling you all…. beside the fact that I am alive…. but … you guessed it! Ive been fairying… tis the season…. so just know I live… I love…. I laugh… the end.
Oral tradition tells us the earth began when Crawfish dove into the watery depths of the world and built the first landmass from mud at the bottom of the ocean. From these early beginnings, all things good sprang to life, including Me! So sit right back and I’ll tell a tale ….
Friday the 25th I went to the Dentist at 9 am to have a broken tooth fixed…. that I had cracked … on bread?? two days prior. This is where it started. The dentist felt my jaw crumbling underneath the broken tooth…. extracted it… did an emergency extraction of a molar on the opposite side… cut out the crumbling portion of my Jaw…. resectioned it… and put in bone grafts…. this gave me two black eyes and a black jaw line…. and apparently Covid.
I tested positive Tuesday…. Surprise! TWO YEARS!! for TWO YEARS I have done anything and everything they suggested to not get this…. and here it was finally.
Pause for the gratitude I feel for the fact that it was now… when there are medicines… vaccines… and room in the hospitals.
and it is a good thing… because even though I am fully vaccinated… and it is supposed to be a mild variant… It tried to kill me with in the first 24 hours. It is really disgusting to tell you about this… but I am a story teller so you get all the details!… I wake up feeling like someone has poured hot cement in my sinuses and chest everyday… Today for the first time, I had the presence of mind not to panic when this happened and choke down advil, which once it has kicked in allows me to be able to cough and swallow until I can breathe.
I’ve been quarantined in my bedroom since Tuesday- literally haven’t left it…. Mr Amazing just keeps sliding me what I need into the room. Ironically when we came to work at home- I bought this hospital tray as a desk…. bahahahaha soooo here I am using it in bed really in bed, not just sitting on a bed.
Why do I tell you all this? Well… because im not very professional.
While fevered I bought Mr Amazing a Digeridoo… and the cats an automatic laser pointer…. so this has not been for nothing <shrug>
Today was my secretly chosen date for Fairy Citys Annual Emergence (NUMBER 7!!!) obviously that is not happening… Luckily because I made it up- it can be rescheduled … there is something else eating away at this hippy heart and soul of mine… Ukraine. I have already donated every dime I can to help… and I feel completely helpless… I know that this will not mean anything to anyone but me… but I am dedicating my Fairy City this year to those brave people… to anything Anti-Putin …. all the words I paint… all the art I make… it is being acted out right now by those brave souls…. from the farmers laughing as they use a tractor to take a tank… to the people returning to fight…. to the people going to safety to return to fight another day…. they represent everything brave… and good… and kind… as well as the Syrian refugees… and those suffering in Myanmar… no… no not you… trucker convoy people… not you…. them! So on that note… So much love and light to all of you… and as always… We will be the hopeful
Globally, as of 27 January 2021, there have been 99,638,507 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 2,141,468 deaths, reported to WHO
I find myself blogging less and less about the pandemic as we are at its one year mark… maybe because I have gotten used to being in my home all the time… maybe because though my heart hurts without my adult children and grandchildren… my heart hurting is starting to feel normal… the vaccine is making its rounds… front line workers first… educators… then the elderly… as it should be… it has not reached me yet. I went to the outside yesterday just to have some routine lab work done and you’d have thought it was an event… rather than 45 minutes outside of my house. I even wore a bra.
But as the sun came up this morning unnoticed behind a grey cloud filled sky I took a trip down memory lane… which for me… with short term memory problems… was quite a bit of magic within itself. I have completed my prep work for Fairy City’s annual emergence. I say prep work… because my trip down memory lane showed me how much more I do once it is out…. who knows what this spring will bring… I do know my San Diego Fairy is coming to set up… and at the moment that is what I look forward to the most… Spring will bring warmer temps… and the return of outside time with my friends and family (and babies!!!) until the vaccine can be widely distributed and I have hope we can put this pandemic to rest finally…
Ode to my San Diego Fairy: guys… this girl… when I got the tumor and had an existential crisis about my new normal… I thought I’d have to give up my shenanigans… I already depend so much on #MrAmazing and my kids to take care of me … this was too much to ask… so this daughter of mine from another mother… and father… said she’d be my legs… she flies herself out here to lil #bountifulutah to put my art out… and to pick it up… and I just couldn’t be anymore grateful #fairycity wouldn’t exist without her and I love her like my own. (And I love my own sooooooo much) and we recycle everything!!
From my Facebook page
I looked at the very first fairy doors I made in 2016 (they can be found with enough research either on this blog or on my insta) it was april… I made six doors just as a random act of kindness and asked someone to be my get away driver… because I didnt know how they would be recieved (thanks fluff!!!) … I ended up doing about 40 doors… some mushrooms… some lady bugs…. that year… I got my first thank you note from kids… and I was hooked… That was the very year I got sick… though we didnt know what it was yet… it certainly was something… and I often painted and hot glued in bed the second year- 2017 -I made my first flowers… I wanted to branch out and gave the Thought Bubble project a trial run… along with about 80 fairy doors here in town… I shipped another 20 or so all over the country… and a few even internationally. In the fall of 2017 I did the arts festival… and the reason box campaign (yes I would classify these as campaigns of kindness) In 2018 (Year 3) the thought bubbles gave way to rocks… as I was constantly trying to get rid of the few remaining pieces that were not biodegradable (the wire, the glaze) 2019 brought those solutions… the project was now fully nontoxic and biodegradable…. This fairy season between year 3 and 4 also brought the Tumor… the Lymphoma… and a Lupus diagnosis.
2020… Rumblings of quarantine were around… but I had prepped my biggest year yet… this was the year of the street signpost… and the opening doors… this was the first year I was going to try to do more to remind people of more than kindness… to do more… and on the first day of quarantine… fairy city emerged… all at once… in a big way… because I couldnt see staging it with all the hope deflating from this planet like a popped balloon. I put out around 100 doors… many tiny games… and small fun items… the fairies joined in the “Black lives matter” movement… and the health initiatives about masks…
It is now 2021- I have a new goal of Upcycling all of my street art… making it from things that were something else before… of having no waste… and still being completely biodegradable and non toxic… I would estimate I am 99% there… I say that though some of the material was bought… it was bought in the pandemic… when businesses needed support… it was given to me as gifts… for my birthday… for christmas… as acts of love and kindness… I consider this an upcycle… as it served 2 purposes…I am six weeks away from the San Diego fairy coming for the great emergence…. This is the year of the Fairy Houses. Im nervous and excited. I hope they find who needs them the most. I hope however they are received they bring joy… and if not… they have brought me much.
Joy even in the pandemic.
Here is to year 6… Happy Birthday Fairy City…. and many more.
and now… to think upon year 7… what shenanigans can I get up to?
Before I go onto my story I would like to mention this pandemic is still raging out of control… but there is hope in the spring… the vaccine is coming.
Globally, as of December 3rd there have been 63,719,213 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,482,084 deaths, reported to WHO.
Worth mentioning however…. this will be my first post since the beginning of this thing that is not about this thing…. maybe with hope is coming some healing.
At first, When I became sick… I felt like my life was falling apart… doctors suggested it was stress… and thanks to Mr. Amazing I was finally to a point in my life that I could stop being the breadwinner and live a bit more simply…. So I left my big world traveling career… and with a book in mind… that a publisher friend whom I’d sent the synopsis to had already shown interest in… I left… I wrote the book… It won top mentions in writing circles… I never even submitted it for publication… because I wasn’t happy with it… and didn’t want to put the work into it that it would require to become great… Don’t get me wrong… I have it… and I will one day… when the wind blows me that way.
Hold on tight… The wind blows me all over the place in this back story to my super hero life.
Out of nowhere… I began to paint… Yep paint… Id dabbled here and there… but when you make a list of things you can do to be mindful and release stress… Travel (I did this quite a bit as well) … Painting…. etc… you get the idea… Infact ALL of this is captured in the posts of this blog.
Well guys… I’m a worker bee… a real over achiever… and I have been working my entire life…. So soon my home was overflowing with Paintings… everyones room had them… my friends had them… and soon my street art project was born (Fairy City- Search it)
During this time I contracted for a while… doing the same type of work as I had in my career… but part time… two years in fact I did this… and regardless of what happened with that… I feel like we were wildly successful.
But I was getting sicker… sneaking into the office early to disinfect everything I had touched because I had strep… or pink eye…. or whatever else happen to be the case at the time… and the sicker I became the angrier I became…contracting ended and I did an art show (like hurricane force wind changes)
I knew until I got healthy I was never going to be able to work like I had before… so that became my focus… I applied for a job at the state… not for the pay… but for the benefits…. but in order to work… I knew it was going to have to be something I believed in… So I headed to education… because I had at this point figured out I was a superhero of the streets (again… Fairy City LOL) but I needed to feel good about my daytime work as well… how could I affect the change in the world I wanted to see? Education. But, I needed no stress… and nothing hanging on me incase I disappeared due to whatever invisible thing was trying to kill me. So I landed a job as Executive Secretary in the EXACT right place… my disguise was almost complete…. add a couple tumors… some lymphoma…. chemo drugs… oh and kill the hamstring. PERFECT! No one would ever suspect who I really was… including myself.
Pause for a moment:
I HATE THE WORD SECRETARY- I HATE IT… yet, I applied for it… and loathed it even more. I have a degree… my mind is brilliant! unless I am forgetting simple words… or have brain fog… it works a thousand times better than my body at this point… and it works fast… it thinks of new ways to do things… better ways… it thinks out of the box! It gets shit done guys! My pride became my nemesis… My ego was mountain high… and it wasn’t okay with this new title. I had a lot of work to do on it…. and luckily as I went from hospital bed… to cane…. to wheelchair… back to walking sticks… I had the time to do so.
Story Continued: Job openings have been posted… and my DREAM job was one of them… a director position in Equity…. The REAL ability to put all those ideas and words I painted on fairy doors into action. I had the qualifications… and the reputation in the building (or so my ego, coworkers, and husband tells me) … and I stopped short … I have an autoimmune disease… I am barely hanging on sometimes… I have to lay down after I shower…
How could I maintain any kind of ethical integrity and apply for that job knowing I am no longer able to do it… Knowing that walking into a campus is all the walking I can do for a day… and suddenly… I didn’t hate the word Secretary any more… Most people with my diagnosis would be on disability… I am a force to be reckoned with… one these diseases have not faced before… I AM THE SECRETARY!!! I am affecting as much change in this world as I am able… and a bit more… and that is good enough….
Moral of this story? Sometimes the phrase “It is good enough” is literal… I am good enough.
Globally, as of 29 September 2020, there have been 33,249,563 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,000,040 deaths, reported to WHO.
Today I attended Judy’s funeral … via zoom… This new world… it amazes me… and terrifies me… I saw faces I havent seen in years… but missed seeing the faces of those in the audience… So much.
Judy passed away from Cancer… but to mourn her death on the day the world mourns this milestone feels surreal… and heartbreaking…
I miss seeing people from the shoulders down…. I miss Judy… I miss Jamie and Erin (and the others) and their children so much.
I screen captured this- just because it felt so unreal… but I was so grateful to be connected how ever I could be… thank you to the family so much for making that possible.
To hear her life sketch…
its very different when you aren’t there in person afterwards… to hug them and talk to them its… just final… and lonely.
He talked about her love of this season we are entering… her love of seeing the leaves… I knew this… I learned it from her… so we took a drive sunday and spent a moment in the outside remembering her away from the monitors and news stations
I miss so much… but as I sit here… broken hearted… I hold out belief that one day I will see you all again… below your shoulders…. without a monitor… So much love and light to you.
Globally, as of 23 September 2020, there have been 31,425,029 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 967,164 deaths, reported to WHO.
This post is not Covid-19 related… In fact it is not even Cancer related; though it is what is to blame… It is related to Judy Wight… My Aunt… My Friend… My encourager… My laughter inspiring blood relation who I will miss fiercely … passed away 23 September 2020.
After the phone call Friday I frantically racked my brain… my memory of our last conversation… it had been only two weeks prior… had I told her? did I tell her how much I admired her? loved her? appreciated her?
I had.
and as a side note… I encourage each and everyone of you to make everything that comes out of your mouth and keyboard in conversation about portraying that… because you never know when you are going to get that call…
I did not go see her… in her hospital bed… I couldnt (thats how the pandemic applies)
But I did send her the HUGEST bouquet of flowers I could.
and let her children know how much I wished there were anything I could do to help them…
I’ve known Judy my whole life… but when her father (my grandpa) passed away we became close… maybe not close as others… but for me? Who is so “lone wolf” it was very close… I admired the woman… I love the woman… I have done service with her… The most recent being a nursing home phone call program she put together…. oh have I laughed with her… our appreciation of mischief and irony are so well aligned…
And now whatever way our stories end. I know you have rewritten mine By being my friend…. Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better. But Because I knew you…I have been changed for good
“For Good” Wicked Musical Soundtrack
I’ll share a few times we have made each other laugh… and leaned on each other.
To say we related to each other may be a given..
And I will share a few photos of the many we have… because you can see what I mean… about her being so beautiful… so clever and witty… so loved.
When my time comes… as it will… because that is part of living… I sincerely hope people are as peaceful about it… as I am for Judy… I hope I have lived so well… and always have that next trip planned out overseas already… like she. I hope my life leaves them no doubt that it was such a well lived adventure… that though they may miss me… I didn’t miss out on anything. I hope my life is so well lived, that the conversations they have with me are about gratitude for each other, admiration and love, Like She.
21 August 2020, there have been 22,536,278 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 789,197 deaths, reported to WHO
Our story in Pictures….
First Day of school!!
Off she goes!
She is so excited to be outside!!!
She has her mask ready!!!
Seems dreamy right? after 5 Months of being shut ins… well … it is a dream. There is NO WAY we can send her to school… we are high risk… and people still think this is a HOAX! Still!!! I just cannot even… So here is what really happened on the first day of school….
Off She Goes!!!
First day of 9th Grade.
Had my Adult Children over last week for a Pandemic dinner party… We havent been indoors together since march… here is how this new normal looked…
Entry – like 5 bazillion? 5 months today I have been quarantined… 5 months… There is a sense of a false light at the end of the tunnel… but it is a lie… and the second wave is coming.
Every year on the last day of school we head to the lake… weve been doing it for over a decade… not this year
July is full of birthday celebrations and adventures… not this year
I don’t really know what I would’ve done to celebrate my sons engagement- but it would’ve been something nice… a nice restaurant… something. But we didn’t.
We are trying to stay afloat financially… and trying to give everything we have to those who cannot… supporting local business is how… so here is what we did this year… end of school year… birthdays… engagement… end of summer… all in one.
and it helped… a little… The Tall, The Smalls, The Tinies… all had so much fun…. I think a lot of people are feeling it… look who I saw!!
My little sister
Our first pandemic visit… our first visit in years really.
Im gonna paint her some masks… make them a little more snazzy.
And then ofcourse this ridiculousness is trending on social media… I thought about posting it … but it is too honest… so here it is.
Its like watching myself die.
Situation in numbers (by WHO) as of August 11, 2020 Total (new cases in last 24 hours) Globally 19,936,210 cases (216,033) 732,499 deaths (4,268)
Total (new cases in last 24 hours) Globally 18,614,177 cases (259,344) 702,642 deaths (6,488)
Seems to be slump time again… collectively mankind seems to fall into slumps during this… right now seems to be a big one…. Im picking fights on facebook… QAnon has riled up the right wing masses… the blaze reading…. hannity hearing… bigoted believers? too far? maybe into this #SaveTheChildren thing… and you know what? Im here for that… I mean im always here for that… do I think #PizzaGate is a thing? not really… but do I think hollywood elite and political peeps are abusing children and trafficking them? yes, I know they are… so im glad something is coming out of that group that may be constructive? we will see
Trump is a hot mess… as usual… I watched his Axios interview one night over and over again … not sleeping at all… because well… it just made me happy? why? i couldnt explain it…. maybe it is because he was so helpless in the face of reality… he was less scary
I live behind a screen…. from a phone screen to a computer screen to a TV screen and back to a phone screen again… I am not eating right… not exercising…. not sleeping… not even showering often enough… im eating mashed potatoes for breakfast… but I did renew my aclu membership… so there is hope
I am here for that – What I am not here for is that I look just like my sister in this photo… sigh
I went to the outside this week… this is what the outside looks like for me
But I am alive… and that is something no one should be taking for granted right now… there was a HUGE explosion in Beirut… thousands of people dying of Covid-19 on the daily… Hurricane season is in all its glory… protests and police brutality are still a thing… as well as the karens… I mean… I seriously have nothing else to say… other than… WONT SOMEONE THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN??? oh wait… QANON has that…. how about… nah…Still working from home… still wearing masks… seeing my peeps only through snap chat and facebook…
I got nothing… here… have some hope… because this is all I got going for me right now…
and there is yet another riveting entry in my Corona Chronicles.
I should have been tagging these posts… This life… this pandemic… this quarantine… this Covid-19… as images of the Spanish flu are resurfacing… I cannot help but think one day… someone will show mine… That is why I take so many pictures of the changes in my life.
July is a serious Month in my little patchwork family… SO MANY things happen… Two Holidays… Four Birthdays… (previous posts) I have been writing letters for years to my children on their birthdays… Let me show you what seeing my Tribe looks like now…
I decorate main street
I work/Practice my fight moves with my grandsons
This is how we 4th of Julyed
This was our big summer outside time
The grandkids are becoming Video Chat pros
This is how you show the baby a kitty!!!
They adore each other!
LOL
This is how you airhug your grandpa on your birthday
This is how you see your mom and sister on your birthday and open presents
Pandemic Life
This is what my Grandbabies wanted for their respective Birthdays at the end of this month… not only did I volunteer to make them… I cried a little that they are so excited for Birthday Masks
So cute… and ominous
My Soul brother Facetimed me so my Soul mother and I could see each other… I havent hugged her in almost six months
I love them so much
THIS is how my son announced he had proposed to his beautiful now fiance… you guys… my heart cant take anymore. They let me take pictures through the screen of my window…
I am so happy for them 🙂 Love is still the greatest force on this planet.
AND my street art project achieved virtual stardom this week with the HIGHEST possible honor… and I still cannot contain my joy about this…
Wizards Unite (Niantic Games)
Wizards Inn
PokemonGO (Niantic Games)
Pokestop!!!
All I have said to anyone for the last 24 hours is BUT I AM A POKESTOP!
Globally, as of 17 July 2020, Total (new cases in last 24 hours) 13,616,593 cases (237,743) 585,727 deaths (5,682)
This is how you celebrate your new engaged only Sons (only biological child) 21st birthday 🙁
Cheers!
Lets pretend he has never done this before
Happy Birthday Son
Virtually
Wait for it…
Cheers!!
I love these faces
The Whole Tribe Came!!
What comes next… who knows… the entire world is changing week by week… I guess we are surviving… I don’t know about Thriving…. but we sure do love.
