Self isolation month of April 2020

I have more time to set words down right now, as I expect many have, so thought that I would try to keep my blog somewhat more up-to-date even though my Etsy shops are closed for the foreseeable. I am trying to keep up with renewing items that have expired but have decided to add any new items that I might photograph and describe as 'drafts' which means that they are not seen live. It would be annoying for potential customers who see new items appear on their notifications list to then go to the shop and find it closed. Surprisingly, although I have quite a lot of stock I could add, I am not getting on with it very fast, especially during the last two weeks when it was unseasonably warm and I spent more time in the garden!
I am still reading the books set by the two book clubs that I belong to even though we haven't met for a couple of months. In this context I have read A Month in the Country by J L Carr, The Taxidermist's Daughter by Kate Mosse, Dark Tide Rising by Margaret Drabble and Transcription by Kate Atkinson. One of the groups has arranged a Zoom meeting to discuss the books and the comments but I haven't joined in with that as yet. I also read other books, so have also read since lockdown Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, The Confession by Jessie Burton and am currently reading The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. We have also worked our way through all of the Harry Potter films, eight in total, which was a nice trip down memory lane as the last few we saw with our son and daughter whilst they were still children.
I was interested to read an article on the Art UK website about the artist Gwen John, who I have always admired since I was in my 20s, and discovered that Margaret Forster, a writer I have also admired for many years, wrote an historical novel about her called 'Keeping the World Away', the words being taken from John's diary. One of my favourite novels is Forster's 'The Memory Box' which I should like to re-read together with this one, about Gwen John. No excuses now!

We are lucky to live in the countryside and have a largish garden which means that during these unprecedented times we have room to move around though we rarely venture outside our gate and have everything delivered. I clean all the groceries that arrive and leave post for three days or so before I open it. It may seem over-cautious but as it is likely that both of us would be quite ill if we contracted the virus and might need hospital care, so I think that it the best for now. Keep safe xxx