August 06, 2021 - Crafts on Hold

 One of the things that has really changed for me in the last six years are that certain creative activities I used to do every year, almost without fail, I have either done only a few times or not at all since June 2015 when my Mother died.

Specifically, I have been thinking about the cooking and canning that used to take up a lot of my time each Summer and Autumn. I would venture into various farms and fields to pick different fruits, and obtain vegetables. Then a weekend would be spent prepping, blending and canning. These are activities that I realized last year I was not actually doing anymore.

However, I think there are two reasons for this. The first being that since Mom passed, I have not been hosting Exchange Students. And they were a large factor in how quickly I would use the canned items I had in the pantry. So that each year it felt as though I was “re-stocking” the larder. Where as right now it would only feel as if I was creating new inventory that I would just need to find storage for.

 

I also am finding that over the last 15 months my desire/motivation to make meals from scratch has diminished quite a bit. In part because my depression has been really bad and that has affected my appetite.

I also used to explore some medieval style items, but as there have not been any in-person SCA events to display or provide largesse for. There were no in-person Quilt Guild meetings or parties, so that meant I did not “need” to have items as gifts. Additionally, since I have not worked in an office since early 2018 where I used to make gift baskets for co-workers, that has not occurred either.

 Perhaps when the world gets back to something more resembling “normal” I will have cleared out more of my current stock and have groups to prepare new items for.