C R A F T S
It was such a beautiful late September Sunday afternoon when Natalia and I finally came out to photograph my office poncho. The leaves had just started to shift color, but the temperature was mild enough to make walking barefoot perfectly comfortable. Granted, I don’t get cold easily, but still. Natalia likes to have me pose halfway immersed in a lake, especially in autumn. I didn’t mind. That whole afternoon was such a beautiful moment in time.
Now, it is with mixed feelings I enter into November. Winter darkness is the time to binge TV shows and knit, to read books and drink tea by a lighted candle. All activities I love. My living room table currently has five separate knitting, crochet and cross-stitch projects in different stages of progress strewn across it.
But on Thursday, new, stricter COVID restrictions were announced for Stockholm. Suddenly, my little single household felt so much more isolated. With the dark and the cold and the rain, socializing outside is going to be so much harder to pull off than it was during spring and summer. Moments of shared creativity and play, like that Sunday afternoon photo shoot with Natalia, will be so rare.
We will have to see what winter brings. Stock up on yarn, tea and continue with the Buffy marathon. And: Josh just left after spending the afternoon. We agreed to be in each other’s Covid bubble, two single households in a shared orbit. Then he started playing on my piano and I sang. With a regular dose of Damien Rice, Jeff Buckley and Regina Spektor, I feel like I’ll be able to weather this storm too. One day at a time.
Katja Malmborg 