Bits of Fun

Everyone keeps on talking about how much extra time they have these days. I admit I'm a little mad about this because, well, not a whole lot has changed for me. I'm still writing, though I don't get as much done as I should. I attribute that largely to not having a hard deadline, but a little bit to the state the world is in. I'm still doing my usual exercise routine, which was indoors anyway so no change there. Construction is still going on across the street, into the 2nd year for this particular house, and almost 10 years of continuous construction on our street.

One big change is that I don't go out on errands much anymore. Not that I went out much before. Now it’s even less. Only when absolutely necessary do I venture into the great unknown. My husband does most of the grocery shopping. I only occasionally accompany him.

Still, I find that I probably don’t have the best of attitudes these days. I get more annoyed about things, especially the idiots across the street. Hey, you deal with not knowing if you can get out of your garage when you need to and picking up their lunch trash every single day and you’ll get annoyed too. I’m coming up with all sorts of scenarios I could work into a story some day. So that’s good, I guess.

Still, I find that bits of fun can change how I feel about everything. So here are a few things I’ve discovered that you might all find fun. They give me a little relief from life’s annoyances and the grim statistics I read about every day.

Google Fun: 

You can search on “Google Fun” in your browser and find all kinds of fun things. My favorite is the Wizard of Oz:

• Type “Wizard of Oz” into google. 
• Click on the red shoes in the results window. (Be sure you have your sound on.)

Jigsaw Puzzles:

If you’ve run out of physical jigsaw puzzles you can go to jigsawplanet and do some online. You can also create a puzzle using your own image. These can be either public, available to everyone, or private, ones you can only play yourself.

Best British Home Cook:

Then there’s the Best British Home Cook, which I recently discovered on Hulu. I’m not sure where else you can find it, but if you get a chance check it out. The cooks on BBHC all seem to genuinely like each other and they often help each other. A really lovely attitude that I wish was more prevalent these days. Plus Mary Berry is one of the judges so if you miss her from the Great British Baking Show, you can get your fix here.

Music:

Someone sent me these links to 3 version of “Ode To Joy”. The first one is a quartet playing together from their balconies. The other two are orchestras playing the piece together from their homes. Really enjoyable, all of them.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B861wmQ8li8&list=PLc6r63evhcfJktSKNNQ3np0_kur2s4XJU&index=4&t=0s 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG29VFMphpo 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZHOJHP33Ps

Furry Friends:

We haven’t had any cats in our household in quite a while so I’m making do with cute kitten videos. Here’s my favorite:

I know it’s not much, but that’s my little contribution to your mental health. Stay safe and healthy, everyone.