Entries in piano (62)
Day 137 in 2020 (isolation days)
Current times call for interesting measures. Today was the day Jon had scheduled the recital for his piano studio. He has twelve students, including Calvin, when the state went into lockdown, or quarantine, or stay-home-stay-safe orders, he rather seamlessly moved to teaching all his students online from our library (which is really just the front room where we keep our books and our piano, but we like to sound fancy, so our library). That has meant that for a couple of hours five days a week the house has to kept calm and quiet. It has worked out well that when we assembled our family schedule last fall we overlapped Calvin's various afternoon activities with Jon's teaching to maximize family time at home, and, since our internet has been able to handle it, that has minimized the amount of time I've had to keep Gimli quiet, since they are both busy with their Zoom, or what-have-you, meetings at once.
And for recital weekend, Jon assembled pre-recorded videos from each of his students into a slide-show of sorts that he presented, one student at a time following each student's live personal introduction and followed by live applause, to a Zoom meeting of students and their friends and family. It was seamless, but it was nearly so, and I think everyone was happy and fulfilled. He did a wonderful job. 
365_2020, Pandemic 2020, piano 
Day 77 in 2020: isolation blog day 2
Sometimes reality hits you like a rake handle to the face.
We've been floating along absorbing rapidly changing realities without batting an eye. Schools closed? No problem. Work from home? No problem. Stay in? Eh, we're introverts anyhow. Looking forward we've done very well accepting first postponements, then reschedulings, then even cancellations. But looking back can be jarring.
Today we got a package. I saw it on our mail list for the day and wasn't sure what it was, couldn't remember ordering anything as of late. But it wasn't something I'd ordered as of late, it was something I ordered almost two weeks ago with the idea of having it to enjoy over this coming weekend, which was to be a busy time for all three of us with Jon away at a conference and Calvin performing in both a big band to-do and his first ever dance competition. I had been so excited when I placed the order, not even two weeks ago, yet now here it is, a rather sudden reminder of all we have lost, and how quickly we lost it.
We are still here floating along, taking the punches as they roll, but it's important I think, too, to note the changes that are thrust at us, and sometimes to mourn them. This is not life as usual, and it, too, shall pass, but it will take oh so much with it. Let's just hope that, by giving up so much, the majority of what it takes will be moments of the past, not moments of the future.
(Jon teaching piano from home via Skype while I keep Gimli quiet in his favorite perch, the front window, or take him out and about...just part of our new reality)
365_2020, Gimli, Pandemic 2020, pets, piano 