I’m developing an ever stronger affinity for Bill Murray’s character in the movie “Groundhog Day”.

The thing about this pandemic is that with restrictions on travel, and restrictions on gatherings, it creates days that all resemble each other. Please don’t get me wrong; I’m happy that we’re safe and healthy – life is just starting to feel monotonous.

8:00 a.m. Wake up. Look at the digital clock. No “9” yet. Roll over and go back to sleep.

9:30 a.m. Wake up for the second time. Clock indicates that staying in bed any longer would mark me as either lazy or depressed. Need to keep fooling my husband (who has been up since 7) that I am neither, so force myself to get up.

Shower. Get dressed – no need to think beyond jeans and a t-shirt, since we’re not going anywhere. Make a cup of coffee in the Keurig. Check the weather app on my ipad for the forecast beyond what I can observe myself from the deck. Scarf down some yogurt. Pop a vitamin D to make up for living in Canada.

10 a.m. – noon. Check Facebook. Check emails. Play one of the PuzzlePage games to guarantee that I don’t lose the “daily bonus”. Peruse Collingwood News online. Try to avoid going down the wormhole of playing online games all morning.

Make the bed (it “needs” to air out for a while first).

Settle in to read my latest library book – while also doing laundry if it’s Monday. Wait…. IS it Monday? Who can tell?

Sometime around noon, have lunch and more coffee. Caffeine is my friend; we’re not allowed contact with any of our other friends right now, except via Skype.

1:00 – 4:00 p.m. If the weather is nice, head out for a trail walk for a couple of hours, unless it’s Thursday (is it?), in which case grab a mask and a couple of reusable totes and do the weekly grocery shopping.

4:30 p.m. Wine time. Thank goodness! That means it must also be time to think about prepping dinner.

6:00 p.m. Sit down to dinner. Probably with more wine – after all, we’re not going anywhere.

7:00 p.m. Load the dishwasher. Make another cup of coffee. Must be time to re-check email and Facebook.

8:00 p.m. Time to binge-watch some TV. We’re currently subscribed to Britbox, so our evenings are full of Agatha Christie mysteries, the UK version of Antiques Roadshow, and the panel show QI (Quite Interesting).

Midnight. Bed.

8:00 a.m. Wake up. Look at the digital clock. No “9” yet. Roll over and go back to sleep.

Just to reinforce the metaphor, the adorable photos included here are from a recent afternoon at Millennium Park in Collingwood . This chubby little fellow got quite close to us, likely perceiving that in order to stay sane during COVID we humans have had to become too Zen to pose a threat.

Groundhog day.

Indeed.