Ravenous Camellia Monster Returns

Remember the Ravenous Camellia Monster? Well, it's back, gnawing up my neighbor's pink camellia blossoms. I've been finding shredded petals near the garden fence, and yesterday I caught it in the act. I can't be sure it's the same Camellia Monster, of course.

The handymen finished their work yesterday on our new garden gate area. There's some fresh cement over there that we have to avoid for the next few days, but that's fine -- we rarely use our side alley anyway. Now we have a gate that locks and newly rebuilt (and much safer) steps.

I did some minor trimming in the front garden to neaten up their work. (They left a lot of scraps lying around.) I also planted three of our foxgloves there -- we had some growing wild in the center of the garden a couple of years ago, but they disappeared when the bushes got too overgrown. Now that the jungle has been tamed, maybe the foxgloves can prosper once again?

I planted the rest of our foxgloves -- nine of them -- in the back garden. It's SO GREAT to have them all in the ground. They looked like they were suffering a little bit in their pots, with their lower leaves yellowing, as you can see. They've come a long way since I planted them as seeds last July.

We haven't heard yet whether we'll be back at school on Monday. Coincidentally, I've been having a respiratory issue unrelated to COVID, and I was supposed to see a doctor that day. But now my doctors have essentially closed the office to walk-in appointments and all previously scheduled appointments will be done by telephone. They're understandably concerned about COVID exposure, probably both to themselves and their other patients. So we'll see how that goes.

Meanwhile, I walked to work both ways last week in order to stay off the Tube, and yesterday I was home all day. (I didn't shake the handymen's hands, and they politely declined our offer of tea!) I worry about all the small businesses and restaurants that rely on foot traffic -- Dave and I talked last night about what we could do to safely continue participating in the local economy. I understand the concept of "flattening the curve" -- delaying infections so we all take on this virus more gradually, without overwhelming the medical establishment. But shouldn't those of us without significant risk factors somewhat balance the self-isolation? We have to sustain our communities, too. (Then again, Dave does have risk factors -- being on immune-suppressing drugs for his Crohn's -- so I have to behave cautiously on his behalf.)

This is such a weird time to be alive.