Home Alone Together

Well, here we are, Posy and I, home alone together in our little cottage in Tasmania for an uncertain period of time, but likely for a number of weeks at least. I took Posy out of school two weeks ago so we have had plenty of time to shake down to being alone alone together. Posy loves being at home. She has been agitating to get back to homeschooling ever since I sent her to school age six. She thinks she was shortchanged by being the only child in the family who didn't do proper homeschooling time. Well, now is her chance.
The truth is, homeschooling now looks exactly like homeschooling did at our place ten years ago. In other words, it's a disgrace. Posy sleeps in, scrambles through her required curriculum as fast as she can, then reads, watches movies, bakes black forest cakes, tends to her succulent collection, and over the last three days she has taken up embroidery. This is not the kind of embroidery my grannies did. Her latest effort is a denim patch for her hoodie which reads EAT THE RICH. So obviously, political economy is being covered as well.
I have to say, I miss the six hours of the day that were once child-free. Not because I don't enjoy Posy's company - I very much do, and I'm glad to have an excellent companion to be home alone with, but I do miss that sensation of being completely and utterly alone. Still, there is plenty to be thankful for. Posy moved into the attic a few weeks ago, so I often have almost all of the house to myself, I have a garden, we have a house full of food and we have a safe roof over our heads.
For those readers who aren't Australians, here is the state of play in Oz right now in these times of covid-19. No-one who is not an Australian citizen is permitted to travel to Australia. Any Australian returning home is quarantined in a hotel as the 'guest' of the Australian government for a period of two weeks. The state borders are closed. Any residents returning home across state lines are required to self-isolate for two weeks. As of the Monday night just passed there are to be no gatherings of more than two people indoors or outdoors (excepting your own household, of course). There is to be no travel except for buying groceries, delivering groceries to the vulnerable, seeking medical attention or exercising. The shops are closed, the streets are deserted. Dogs are suddenly getting more walks than they have had in years.
On Monday I delivered two weeks' worth of groceries to my parents and filed their prescriptions at the pharmacy so they can get their medications delivered. I left them with strict instructions not to leave the house. They have been very compliant, only going for their daily walk out towards the countryside and not towards the high street of their little country town. Good parents.
Paul and I have been self-isolating for the last two weeks. We could see the writing on the wall and decided not to wait for official shut downs. Still, those two weeks have seen me with a constant low-level agitation, due to making lots of decisions. I hate making decisions. Do I take Posy out of school? Do I quit my last gardening job? How do I respond to social invitations? Should I leave the house at all for anything except groceries? I did take Posy out of school, I did quit my last job, I said no to all the invitations and felt like a party pooper, I didn't go to the library on the day before it closed when library patrons could take out 30 books for six weeks. It almost killed me not to do that. I did get the gas bottle refilled. I did pick up the parts for the broken wood heater so Paul could fix it.  And then I stayed home and worried. Now that everyone has to stay home and there is no wiggle room to do almost anything, I am actually relieved. No more decisions to make, just stay home and work in the garden and write and make dinner.
Paul is up in his mountain cabin, relieved that no-one can come and bother him as he has a huge work project to finish by the end of April. He sits in front of his computer screen and codes, and when he wants conversation he talks to the skinks, the birds, the wallabies, the bees, and occasionally he picks up the phone and calls me.
So that is where we find oursselves right now, reading, weeding, planting, preserving the harvest. Posy continues to dye her hair a new shade every other week, I am beginning a new novel, both of us are procrastinating on cleaning the bathroom. It is good to be home alone together. We have each other, a nice black dog, a tortoise shell cat. We're doing the best we can by staying home and baking snacks.
And here is where I raise my tea cup to the people who are actually keeping the country running. Turns out it is the nurses, the doctors, the farmers, the truck drivers and the supermarket shelf-stackers* who do that, so many thanks to you all.
*Oh, and the folks at the toilet paper factory. Well done, you chaps.

Tell me about your days at home in this time of uncertainty, tragedy and oddity.