Fun in Times of Pandemic

A cool day in the Casa de Campo wild parkland west of Madrid. A huge pool from recent rains, the reflection of a dead tree. The kids throw in some sticks – ripples! Click! … Rotate 180 degrees, the tree is upright again! Take it home, have fun with photoshop. Over the top colours, over the top filters. I love it!

Time to buy some paints I’ve never played with before. Gouache or acrylics – or both! Time to make some heads with clay, to cook flapjacks and eat them somewhere cold. Time to watch more of the newer Woody Allen films – I smiled all the way through ‘Magic in the Moonlight‘ this weekend, so I’m going to watch lots more. Time to find ways to cook outside, like Hugh in the wonderful old episodes of River Cottage we’ve been watching with the kids. Time to dance on my own in the mornings any way I like while the family is still asleep. Time to revise the books on my bedside table – too much Gandhi (can’t get enough Gandhi) but not enough fun. Time to keep getting into nature whenever possible and walking new paths, time to keep seeing friends in sensible ways however these crazy times allow.

All this is Vitamin F – Vitamin Fun! It’s essential to the health, and an obligation we have with ourselves. The obligation to have fun, whatever that means for us, pandemic or no pandemic, no matter what is going on in the outside world.

Here, a mantra, an affirmation, I’ll stick it up around the house:

“I have an obligation to have fun. It’s good for me, my health, and for everyone around me. I shall not shirk this obligation but enter into it with all my heart and soul!”

… starting with the paints and walks and the films and the flapjacks, I’ll document it all here… except perhaps for the early morning dancing, I think I’ll keep that for myself 🙂