Been doing things...

 I've done a bunch of things around the house for my mom. She has bad wrists, so anything requiring much hand strength is harder for her to do. I replaced a toilet seat (it was one of the original ones the builder put in in the late 80s! And he CAULKED the base of the hinges to the bowl! I have never seen that before, and I had to break the seal with a putty knife before changing out the seat). I also re-caulked her bathtub in her bathroom, and helped her put up a new shower curtail rod. 

I also cut a bunch of brush and mowed the lawn again.

And something struck me: I have done many of these things in my own house, why do I feel so much more competent when I am doing it for someone else than when it's for just me? I don't know. 

I've also been keeping up somewhat with walking and am struck with how walkable and nice the neighborhoods are here; where I live, it's preferable to go to a designated walking trail because you can't always trust people not to have mean dogs, or there not to be reckless drivers on the streets without sidewalks. I would like to keep up walking when I get back home (in addition to the morning exercise) but it does make it hard when I have to at least drive up to campus for a trustworthy walking trail. 

I got out to one place: the local boba tea shop is still going (at least now), but they have no in-store seating currently, and a one-way line, and *absolutely* require masks (to the point where they say on the door "If you don't have one, call us at 309-xxx-xxxx and we will bring your order out to your car" - unfortunately they don't have a drive through, though there were a few people passing through the shop at the mid morning time when I went (also college was not in session, and they are on the edge of campus, I bet they have more business when college is in session).

But I just hope.....I hope this virus does reduce in its spread so places like that feel comfortable relaxing their precautions. (Though now I think of it: when they did have seating, did they really sell more coffee and tea? It seemed a lot of people would go and "park" there for a long time and just buy one drink, so they may be doing no less business now). 

I finished  a pair of simple socks (the Rusty Unicorn colorway - sort of a burnt umber and turquoise and white). I was not that taken with it when I finished them but my mother admired the colors and I asked her if she wanted them, so she has a new pair of socks. (That's fine, I have a lot of pairs already and I'd probably seldom wear these). Starting a new pair of pink socks using the Jaywalker pattern, and I had to backdoor into Ravelry on my phone to get the info from the first page (luckily just the stitch count and the stitch pattern for the leg) because somehow I got off without my printout of the first page. 

Been here a week, it seems like less. I'm already not really looking forward to having to go home and do summer research out in the heat and be mostly-alone for the summer again.