5 in 5 - April 2020 - Standing on top of the shed

Welcome to '5 in 5' where on the 5th

of each month I post 5 photos that I have

taken in 5 minutes.

I'm not standing on top of the shed. Though right now, life needs looking at from a new perspective. Coronavirus has caused many of us to change our lives and routines and this is a global situation we could never have imagined. Here in the UK we are currently social distancing or isolating and I am following the guidelines of ‘Stay at Home’.  Other than buying and taking essential shopping and laundry over to my 90 year old Mum, I do not leave the house and I am embracing this time to do some of the things I don’t normally have time for. So, I thought I would share ways I am using my time....

Tracing my family tree.  
This has been on going for years and I have fits and starts. Recently I had my DNA tested and also received a message from a once-met relative who is using this time to research her own tree. She remembered that I had started and wondered if we could share information. I look forward to this. I subscribe to Ancestry which makes it easier and more interesting. I have files for each family line and they are growing in thickness, though I would like stories and not just names. Perhaps these will gradually come. Meanwhile I am asking my Mum more about her own childhood and family because these precious memories will be lost in time. 

Oh.. to clear space! 

Too many emails leave me overwhelmed and they sit on my mobile, laptop and desktop computers. I clear some daily but with over 4,000 emails it's now time to knuckle down and get on top.

  

Meanwhile, I have done a great job in clearing cupboards, and cleaning the washing machine and other appliances thoroughly so they look like new inside and out.  

Luckily I did manage to take some bags to the charity shop before everything went into lock-down. And some of the fabric that I was recently given by a interior designer has made lovely seat covers for the armchair that I re-upholstered some time ago, and had yet to complete. Clearing will be an ongoing task and I would like to be more ruthless but progress is being made!

I have been making face masks for friends and family. I will see if local hospitals or health care workers are in need as supplies have been slow in getting through. 

I was given a pile of Readers Digest for a community library, but nobody wanted to read them. So I decided to make a video, showing how I use the covers from hardback books to make new journals.
I have made a couple of videos in the past and it's always something I wanted to do more of, so more will follow. The next will be ideas for pages and how to prepare them. And the third, how to put the book together and different ways of using it. If you would like to see these, here is the first link. And if you do make your own book using these ideas please do show me! I'd love to see what you make.
https://www.facebook.com/withSandie/videos/246230929755975/


And finally, as well as being happy in my own company, I also enjoy meeting up with others. And that doesn't have to stop just because I am staying at home. So one of the other things I have been doing is trying to master technology! I have taken part in many Zoom calls and trainings but never, until now, arranged my own. So, mission accomplished!  There have been a number of steep learning curves and another will follow today. I recently bought a new laptop and already the storage is running out. My son was speechless, but on looking for me he discovered that the setting had downloaded all my photos onto the hard drive, and anyone who knows me I have a few photos!  He helped me to transfer them onto an external hard drive and my next mission is to check they are all backed up, then to delete them all from the laptop. I hope to have them all safely on iCloud and organise a system that works and is simple (even for me!)

Another massive task is to sort out my photo collections as I want to delete, and reorganise many of them. But there are only so many hours in a day, even being home without my usual distractions and activities. And I'm not complaining. I am using this precious time to catch up, learn, meet friends, and to have some down time of course. 

And one last thing in case you are interested, I set up a 

30 day Photo Challenge 

through the month of April. Every day there is a simple prompt and you are invited to share on your own social media. Please let me know if you join in so that I can follow, and there are more details on the link above.

Thank you for visiting and I hope that what ever you are doing, you are safe and well. As always I invite you to join in this monthly 5in5 photo challenge. It's very simple, and it offers a new way of looking through the camera lens and adding a spark of new ideas.

So here's how it works: 

1.  Choose a location.

2.  Have your camera ready.

3.  Set a mobile timer for 5 minutes.

4.  Take as many photos you can until the time is up.

5.  Choose 5 photos to download and share by using the link tool 

   

You have until the 25th of the month to add your photos and if you want to know more about 5in5 there are details here.

And one more thing - when you use the link tool, please click on your post title.  This will show the web address. Please right click, copy and paste this as your link.  This will take readers directly to your '5 in 5' blog page and be easier for them to find.