113 - Long Covid Creativity 2023

Episode 113 of the Long Covid Podcast is an incredible showcase of creativity inspired by Long Covid. These wonderful talented people have shared so many different varieties of creativity and it was such a joy to witness.

Links to all the participants are below - please do check them out - and all the visual elements - paintings, collages, crochet & nail art are on the website creativity page - check this out because it's amazing! Not only does it have this years' participants, but the previous two as well.

Louise - poem

Juliana - paintings 
IG jtbgart
Facebook

Vee  - @vaveenails on insta, facebook & TikTok

Skyeris - website
Book available here
Instagram

Wendy - collages FB page

Miriam Pasquier - crochet instagram page link

Ann Wallace - "Days of pressure & fog" "Ties that bind" "Synesthesia"
Website (including info about upcoming book release)
The WildStory: A Podcast of Poetry & Plants episode discussing Long Covid poetry
Follow on Insta/threads, Twitter & FB

Jess

For more information about Long Covid Breathing, their courses, workshops & other shorter sessions, please check out this link

(music - Brock Hewitt, Rule of Life)

Transcript

Jackie Baxter  
Hello, and welcome to this episode of the long COVID podcast. Today's episode is our annual creativity episode, where I have the honor and the pleasure of collecting together wonderful creativity from all sorts of different people in all sorts of different places, who have used creativity as an outlet or as something that helps them with their long COVID. And let me tell you, you are in for an absolute treat today. 

The creativity that you're going to hear from is a variety of different types of visual art, and written, spoken word, poetry, and possibly, if I get my act together, some music. So this really is an exercise in making something beautiful out of something horrible. 

Part of what I really love is that a definition of creativity can be such a wide thing. So in the long COVID support and creativity Facebook group, people post all sorts of things from paintings and drawings and poems, and all sorts of things that are more quote unquote, traditionally creative. But there isn't really any limits on creativity. So we've had people posting hairstyles and incredible looking food that, you know, we might not have thought were traditionally creative, but absolutely are. 

So you know, I think really, you know, creativity can be whatever you want it to be. So if you think, Oh, I'm not creative, because I can't draw - well, you don't have to be good at it to enjoy it. But also, if drawing isn't your thing, then maybe there's something creative that is. 

And for everyone whose contribution is visual or has a visual element, they're all displayed on the podcast website on the creativity page. And that link is front and center in the show notes. It's also longCOVIDpodcast.com/long-COVID-creativity. So please check out all of them because they are absolutely fantastic. 

So I think what I'm going to do is get out of the way, and let these wonderful, incredible, talented people speak for themselves. So pull up a chair, settle yourself in. And let's go.

Louise Dickinson  
Hi, my name is Louise. Before I was ill I was an actor. And I also ran a youth theatre. I've always written poems in times of struggle, I suppose. Times where I've been carrying a lot of emotional pain. And it's always been a really useful tool to kind of release that and get it out. 

It usually comes out in quite a stream of consciousness kind of way. I've sort of in the past, I've never really shared any of my poems before, or certainly not at the time when I'm kind of experiencing the trauma. I think it's because I often feel that sort of vulnerability, that I find difficult. And I know I've felt this, just as I've realized this is being submitted. So I'm trying to be brave. 

But there is a school of thought. I think Gabor Mate is someone who talks about this, and some other people who say that there is a link between chronic illness and kind of emotional repression or oppression. I think specifically with an illness like long COVID, or chronic fatigue that is so linked to the nervous system. I can like 100% see how that is true. And because our nervous systems are so fragile, we feel emotions in a very intense way to the point where it can be completely unbearable. 

And so I think writing and creativity are tools to release that emotion that is stored in the body and is actually just as important to a period of recovery, as you know, eating the right things, doing basic exercise. I've been ill around for about three and a half years now. And I would say it's only really now that I'm starting to talk about it because I'm that bit stronger, I think. I think it used to be this huge insurmountable thing that actually most of the time I was so exhausted and so depressed that I actually struggled to speak the words and say the things and ask for help and say I'm feeling very lonely and I'm feeling very sad. And now actually being able to do that is very healing. 

So, anyway, I hope you enjoy the poem or find it useful. Thank you for listening. 

Sound pierces my skin like sharp nails on a chalkboard. Light strikes my body, shocking my eyes and coursing through my veins like an electric scar, smell splat and linger with a pungence that should be reserved only for sewers. 

Sometimes, when you touch me with the lightest caress it hurts. On days like this opening my mouth to speak is a weight lifting session, the words drag slowly, like giant boulders. My mind is lost in a daze. Short circuited, the fuse dies before the wires connect to breathe Is exercise. 

And my heart is a light bulb flashing erratically at the end of its life trying to keep the light on for warmth but drip drip drip dripping into lightless tears. Everything's impossible. And emotions are a universe each themselves so huge my body cannot bear. 

Soothe me with smooth green leaves and sea and skies, hold me in the quiet and teach me to breathe again. Offer me the laugh in the form of a whisper,it must be gentle, it must be quiet. Run silk across my palms and wrap me in wool, touch me with your breath but not your hands. 

Let me float on the ocean until my waves are calm again. Let me sleep with the rising of the moon and the rising of the sun, judge me not. Hold my hand and tell me I'm winning because I am, because I will. 

Play me music that is sweet and soft and will caress my ears like honey. Wake me up with lavender kisses and let me yawn a 1000 Oranges until nightfall. Do not question my needs. Do not hate me for asking them to be met even when the world has to bend for me. I can no longer bend to it. Or to you. Do not ask me to carry you when I cannot carry myself. Know that saying no is a positive that breathes life into a bud trying to flower, just as holding someone up with a yes when there is no reason to say no can be medicine to the one who needed to hear it. 

Bathe me and olive oil and let me drink the bathwater with a spoon. Lie with me on a forest floor so we can drink in the earth. Show me pictures of the sunrise, it's been three and a half years. And make an occasion of the hours I'm awake. I will learn to meditate. I will learn to relax. I will learn to forget what I missing. 

Teach me to walk again. Teach me to talk again, teach me to smile in the rain. Be patient of overcomplicated plans and the need to nap at regular intervals. Push me within the wheelchair even if you think I can walk it, because if I could, I would. 

Know that I wish I were more present in your life and I hate canceling plans. Offer me alternatives like coming out to cook for me or lying on the floor to listen to vinyl. Understand that your refusal to travel half an hour to see me when I've been to see you 1000 times despite having government funding free travel because leaving the house is a marathon, hurts. I thought you were a good friend. 

Let me know you love me, because exclusions are only wild and every day is exhausting.

Juliana Borgiani Geiger  
Hi, my name is Juliana Borgiani Geiger. I got COVID in March 2020. And ever since then, I have not been normal again. Before I ran marathons, half marathons or jogged a lot. Now I cannot do that anymore. Instead, I paint and it helped me cope  when my new life will be. Every day in my life I feels a symptom, long COVID symptom, but luckily I'm not in bed like I used to be in 2021. 

So painting has helped me tremendously especially with concentration. It's not the same as before, but definitely it's a lot better. When I'm painting I'm free of pain, because otherwise when I walk, I have chest pains and I have a lot of stomach pains, a lot of headaches. But painting is definitely my, when I feel it's like a meditation. 

And I started showing my art, and I had an art exhibition already, I'm gonna have another one. So just a new life because I used to work in finance, I cannot do that anymore. It's just just too much stressful. Definitely don't want to jeopardize even more my health. And painting is pretty much what I can do. And what I love doing, I want to do what I love. 

Luckily, I have a husband that supports me, because getting financial help from the government, it's been a struggle, it's almost three, two years and a half fighting for it, still waiting for an approval. And I started selling pet portraits. So I'm gonna, hopefully I can make some income from my art. 

And it's just more for my mental health I do it, and it's a lifesaver. I'm sharing with you some of my paintings, my self portrait, of course, with all my symptoms, and some other paintings about the long bridge, because we are crossing that long bridge. One is about a bridge been on maintenance. Yes, we always gonna be on maintenance apparently. And another one, crossing from the darkness to brightness. 

Because you do go through those dark moments. You don't know what's happening in our life to your body, if you're gonna come out of this, but you do need to reach for that bright light. You do need to find something you can do, if you're new body. And painting has been that new thing for me that brightens my life. Thank you guys for listening. I hope you can follow my art.

Vee  
Thanks a lot, Jackie for inviting me to share how I got into my new creative career. Basically, I work in a nail industry, from home, painting pretty nails. Before getting COVID I used to work in a primary school, then I lost my job to long COVID. While still poorly and trying to support my mental health, I started painting my own nails with gel polish. I trained in the beauty industry, now the makeup nearly 20 years ago. So it's been something I've really enjoyed. 

I knew I wanted to work again. But it had to fit with this new long COVID. After discussing it with my husband, the only thing I can think of was painting nails. He was very supportive. And therefore I enrolled for a manicure refresher course with nail art. I never thought I would enjoy nail art to be honest, however, I was completely wrong. Soon after starting my course I joined the world of Instagram and to this date, that's how I get inspired. 

The nail community is very supportive. And I have made lovely connection from there. For the first time in my life, I have a passion for my work. So it's not all bad. When I'm working with clients, I love the social aspect of the job. And working never feels like a chore. I also create digital content for my social media platform. And as a real pleasure to be as creative as I want. 

I always look forward to my work. It takes me in a very happy place. And the adrenaline makes me forget about the fatigue, the headaches, the brain fog, and Time just flies. Being self employed, I can manage how much I work and when. My fatigue can be very unpredictable. And more recently, I've had a relapse, which meant I had to give up work for three months. Luckily, all my clients were so supportive and understanding. It was a huge relief. But I felt extremely sad and angry I had to give up work because of long COVID. However, I'm now planning to return to work with my clients in January and I can't wait.

Skyeris  
Hi, this is Skyeris and in November 2023 I published my memoir about my first three years of long COVID. So I'm really excited to be here on the long COVID podcast and share the beginning of that book with you. It's called "still moving". 

As of writing this it's been nearly four years to the day that a man dismissed my symptoms as resistance to meditation. You'll get that story in the earliest pages gentle reader, so I won't continue it here. This work is an attempt to capture the first three years of my psychospiritual experience of SARS cov two. 

This is a personal story about a specific illness now called Long COVID, and those with it called Long haulers. That said, many moments in my long COVID experience are also true for the broader experience of living with chronic illness. If you live with chronic illness, I hope these pages validate and provide insight into your experience. If you don't live with chronic illness, I hope these pages illuminate struggles that are too often invisible or invalidated. 

This book is not a log of my symptoms, not a medical record of stats and patterns. Nor is it a diagnostic tool or reference for long COVID. Rather, it is an account of my intensely visceral experience. In reading, you will encounter many facets of that intensity. So please consider this your content notice for illness, ideation, relationship struggles and other difficult subjects. Nor is it a neat, steady narrative. The timing and pacing are inconsistent, which reflects the dissolved time of those years. 

Speaking of time, you might have noticed that this book begins in 2019. COVID was not widely known until 2020, which means that when I first fell ill I was without the full context. I was an early adopter, albeit unwillingly and unknowingly. Since then, the combination of blurry memories and cultural amnesia and overwhelming global events has rendered the recollection of significant moments and developments foggy for many people. For this reason, this book has an appendix with relevant resources and a selected timeline. 

In the first year and a half of my long COVID experience, I didn't want to talk about it. When I finally did, I hated it. So much so that I regretted saying anything at all, and I stopped. Eventually, though, many caring thoughtful people in my life started asking me to share. I was grateful for their genuine interest in my health. I still didn't want to talk about long covid. But I also wanted to answer honestly, and I couldn't condense my Calabasas into a few paragraphs, which led me to writing about it, which was another thing I didn't want to do. 

I never wanted to give words to this experience. Never wanted to imbue life into it via language. But all that not sharing revealed that if I didn't write this, one day I would start screaming and not stop. I wrote this because I needed to make mental and emotional space to clear out the cobwebby muck. More of that later as well, so that I can do other things, and to share once for whomever is curious, rather than tell the story repeatedly; a task which I know in my marrow I cannot do. 

Instead of waiting until I'm cured, I decided to share about three years after my first symptoms appeared. The story is ongoing. Life continues to emerge. Life itself, ever indefatigable reasserts its inevitability.

Wendy  
Hello, my name is Wendy. I think in March 20, when we had the first lockdown, I started doing a bit of collage for something to do really, I mean, I've always been a bit creative, done watercolors and things like that. But I started doing collage and I did a couple - one called social distancing, and one social isolation. And they were really sort of about how I felt about being locked down. But I was fine. There wasn't anything wrong with me. 

And then September 2001, that's over a year later. I didn't do much collage during that time. But I'd got COVID and by December, it was clear that it was Long COVID. I was hoping it was just going to last a few months, but I'm still not out of it now. So I started doing a bit of collage. I did some portraits. This was the beginning of 22 I think. 

I was pretty bad. You know, my, my actual situation was quite bad. I had to cancel holidays. I've got a rollater to help me walk. I couldn't do much at all. But collage, I suppose cutting out bits of paper and sticking them on. I could just about manage to do, and I actually did a course in May 2022. It was online, so I didn't have to go anywhere. It was a few sessions. And that gave me a bit of inspiration. 

I started to get a bit better in about August 22. And I thought oh that's  it, I'm better now. So I'm just going to go out and do things and exercise and walk. I've had a couple of holidays. But of course I also had some relapses and I had to recognize, you know, I think what we all do is sort of accept where we are. So I've got a bit more sort of serious about my creative side that didn't really use much energy. 

So in January of this year, I started doing more collages regularly. And that was with an aim towards having an exhibition in my local Park Cafe. I've got I've an art page on Facebook, Redwens art, it's called. And I was putting up the collages onto that page. And people were giving me lots of positive feedback, mainly friends and family as they do, they say, Oh, well done and everything. So, but I thought, well, I'll give it a go. So I started sort of doing collage quite a lot. 

I mean, each one takes me a couple of weeks. And then I'll have a break, usually, to do them. And then I'll carry on, and I live by a river. So I started to do barges and river scenes and things like that. And I was really enjoying that, getting quite a lot out of it. And it was a bit of sort of problem solving. And then, at the end, having this, you know, nice piece of work. 

So in June, I put them up, I had help from my partner and my niece and put them up in the cafe. It was 22 I put up, and standing back and looking at them really gave me a lot of joy. I mean, the process gives me joy anyway, but actually putting them up into on an exhibition. I mean, it's just a cafe. It's my local cafe, and they have exhibitions all the time. 

So up, they go for a couple of months, June to September it was, and you put your details up, you know, email and phone number and everything, and I put prices on them. And I got a phone call from someone who wanted to buy one, you know, it was so nice. It just, it was someone I didn't know. I mean, friends had bought them. And you know, and I'd given some money as well. But when someone I didn't know, wanted to buy one, it just was - I was smiling. You know, it was really sort of good. Oh, my goodness, this is something. 

And then in July, at the end of July is my birthday. And I organized a picnic in the park. I couldn't do anything else, you know, I mean, I was feeling a lot better. But not, I couldn't do any dancing or anything like that, you know, so it was a picnic in the park next to the cafe. And so people came and obviously some people, my friends bought some of the collages. So by the end of the exhibition, I'd sold 12 out of the 22. 

So the cafe manager was very pleased. And he's agreed for me to do another exhibition next October. So I'm working towards that now. And I'm continuing to do the collages. And like the barges in the rivers and things and I also do portraits. 

I don't actually buy magazines, I'm not a magazine person, because that's what I use. I use magazines. On my little estate, we've got a WhatsApp group, and I put out a plea for magazines. And some of the women here obviously, are into fashion magazines. And also there's an architect, and she's given me some building architect magazines, and I get the sort of Tate magazine. So that's got some images in it. So that's really good. So I've got lots of magazines that I use. 

And I do my collages in my bedroom. And I've got a window overlooking the river, it's very nice. But I must say, I'll get a lot of joy and it's really helped me. I'm feeling a lot better now. But it's helped me during my sort of darker times, as well my weaker times, you know, sometimes when I get that COVID head, that sort of fuzziness, I'll go and I start doing the collage. And it takes me away from it. It doesn't necessarily make it go away, but it takes me away from the long COVID sort of symptoms or whatever. So you  know, I have discovered something that I really enjoy.

Miriam  
Hi, my name is Miriam and I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina. And I developed long COVID after my initial infection at the beginning of 2022. So my initial infection was really mild and I wasn't hospitalized, but about two months later, after the infection had passed, I woke up one day and I just couldn't breathe. And I was put on so many different medications. And, you know, eventually I started to feel like myself. 

But one day, in the spring, I had to go to the ER. And after that, I was bedridden for months, and I was in pain. I couldn't walk by myself, I needed help to shower sometimes. It was the worst time of my life. And I felt like I was losing so much like, it wasn't even just my health anymore. Like, I lost my independence, I had to stop working, all of my relationships changed. Everything was changing so fast, and it was so hard to keep up with, it's like, everything around me was spinning. And I just felt like I was drowning. 

And eventually, I just found ways to accept that this is my life now. And I know that there's no magic pill or treatment to cure me. But there's only time. I eventually just started focusing on hobbies. And when I couldn't get out of bed, when I was bedridden, I spent a lot of time watching YouTube tutorials on how to crochet. 

And one day I just bought the cheapest crochet hook and yarn I could find at the dollar store. And it's been ongoing since then. I think I've been crocheting almost every week since I've been sick. And it's the one thing that really does bring me peace of mind, it just, it helps a lot, especially during the times I've had to go to doctors, and they just, I just end up feeling more lost and disappointed when I don't have any answers. But that's not the mindset I have now. But it really did help me back then, when I just didn't know where to turn. 

And just I think it's because when I crochet, it's like nothing else matters. I just kind of focus on the number of stitches I'm working on and the project I'm working on. And it's like, I don't know, it just brings me joy. And it's given me a new sense of purpose. 

I remember when I was a kid, I used to draw like dresses and clothing and I wanted to be a fashion designer. And that never really happened. I ended up going to college and getting my accounting degree. But it kind of feels useless that I have that now since I can't really work with my symptoms. But I really do think it's healed a part of me that, you know, my inner child that wanted to be a fashion designer, it's just really nice when I make something for myself, and I wear it and someone tells me like you made that?! And there's just like excitement in their voice. And it's, it's really nice to know that I can still do this and just finding the abilities within my disabilities. 

If there's anything I've learned from this journey that myself and hundreds of 1000s of people around the world have experienced, it's that it's really important to find joy in the little things. Because sometimes the smallest things can bring us the most happiness. And I think it's really important to remember that we're still in a state of recovery, and that this won't be permanent. Like there might be symptoms and things that are going to linger on that we all need to adapt to. But we are still recovering. 

And I feel like this is the time that we need to do things that we love in whatever capacity that may be. Like you shouldn't have to wait until you're fully recovered. Because a lot of us we don't have a special day that's going to where we're going to be 100% recovered. Like that's not the truth. That's that's not real. I think it's just everyday, we're changing. And we're growing, and we're progressing. And a lot of us don't realize that because it's so easy to focus on what we can't do yet. 

But we are getting better. And even if it is 1%, that is still growth. And I think that's has to count for something. And I wholeheartedly just send love to all of you who are still at the worst stages of this journey and don't give up. I know, it's easy to think that things don't get better from this, but they do. It may not be what you're expecting, and you may still struggle with things, but any improvement is still progress. And I hope you'll all find something that brings you joy, and can help brighten your days during this difficult time.

Ann Wallace  
Hello, everyone. And thank you Jackie for inviting me on to the long COVID podcast. My name is Ann Wallace and I am a poet from Jersey City, New Jersey in the United States. We're right across the river from Manhattan, from New York City. And my 16 year old daughter and I both became sick with COVID in March 2020. And we are both long haulers doing much better now, but still struggling with symptoms. 

And my younger daughter who is currently 17 years old, contracted COVID a year ago, and she is now also dealing with long COVID and a pretty severe case of it. 

So I've been writing poetry through our illnesses since March 2020. Trying to create some kind of visceral record of the experience, bearing witness to what we've been through. And when I started writing poetry, when we were acutely ill, I thought I'd be doing that for a few weeks or a month. Little did I know that this illness would go on and on and on. 

So today I am going to share some poems that are in my forthcoming poetry collection called Days of grace and silence, a chronicle of COVID long haul, which is forthcoming from Kelsay books in winter 2024. 

Days of pressure and fog, my daughter laughs at my muddled questions asked on repeat, I forget not just the answer, but that I have already inquired about schoolwork, dinner, weather, what else. I cannot remember if I've been talking to her or to myself. I fight to break through this neural haze, thick, so thick in the pulsing darkness, noisy and closing in, always in, on the center of clarity growing small, and smaller week upon week. 

I close my eyes and exhaustion against the drumming inside my head. My brain swoons and constricts and I feel myself diminish. As my blood runs low on oxygen. I fight not just for air, but for words, logic, for narrative. I fight to remember the story of me. 

Ties that bind. This illness breaks me into three tied and tattered threads, mine, hers, theirs. A long narrative that ruptures, compounds once, then again, just when we thought it was all coming to it's overdue, post viral close. One mother, two daughters, three years apart in birth, and now an illness. Nothing alike. But in this wretched timeline, 16 is an age of possibility, spoiled and spoiled again. This ending remains out of reach, and it does not resolve with an easy breath, or a wish blown upon a candle.

Synesthesia. I was thinking about hungry birds and spring and the returned fever of my daughter, but these things do not inspire hope. So her sister suggests music, and plays a song she says is orange and pink, and sounds like a painting. And now I know we both hear color and texture when others are stuck listening for the words. 

Thank you so much. You can follow me online at AnnWallacephd.com. And as I said, my book is coming out this winter, from Kelsey books, Days of grace and silence. Thank you so much.

Jess  
Hi, I'm Jess and I live in Leeds in the UK. Thank you for having me on your podcast. It's been really nice just to sit and reflect upon my relationship with creativity at the moment. I am a qualified art teacher, and a special needs tutor. I am also a professional artist as well. 

And I contracted COVID in December 2021, just didn't get any better for months and months and months, wasn't able to go back to work. And a very traumatic experience really, as a whole. Felt like such a failure. Felt that I'd let everybody down, you know all of those emotions, and was too ill really to, to make any artwork myself. 

And about a year in I thought to myself, when I do start to feel better, I want to do some art workshops for people with long COVID. I want to you know, give back to the long COVID community by running some art workshops and you know, doing some journaling and really reflecting on where people felt that they were, you know that stage in their life but also was really passionate about teaching new skills. 

Something that people with long COVID say is that they can't don't do these things anymore that they used to do, you know, walking the dog, and going for a run, running around with their children. And there's a massive hole in people's lives when they can't do those normal things. So I thought to myself, why don't I deliver some low demand, you know, calm, relaxing art sessions for people and teach them new art skills so that people had another hobby, whilst they were recovering. And trying to think about people's well being and you know, all the rest of it. 

So I set about planning these art courses, and I was just too ill to deliver them. I wanted to do it in person at a local, a local venue that was going to support me. And it was just so obvious, it just was not going to happen. And I thought, Well, if that's happening to me, and I'm the teacher, how am I going to get people with long COVID to come in and spend their precious energy doing this, when they're trying to hold down jobs, and so anything that is going on in a person's life with long COVID. 

So the idea came to me to deliver online sessions instead. And, you know, we were told to come away from online, get back to the office, get back in person, but obviously, for people with long COVID, that wasn't going to be possible. So I decided to set up a Community Interest Company, which is not for profit, and it meant that I could get grants to deliver art sessions for people with long COVID. Or for people with health issues post COVID. 

And a year on from, you know, losing my job and that experience, I have just received my third bout of funding. My organization is called Restart creative. And we've delivered our pilot project to a small group of people in Leeds, doing really basic art skills and building a bit of a sketchbook for people. Participants with long COVID have really enjoyed it, felt that they were joining an art group with other people who have Long COVID. And who understood, which I think, is part of the reason why the course worked so well. So yeah, I'm I'm really grateful for you for having me on here, and for sharing.

Merel van der Knoop  
Hi, everyone. I'm Merel. And I'll be reading you a poem I wrote. The poem is called Belong. And it was written as part of a project called Art by Post - poems for our planet. This project was a collaboration between the Southbank Centre and National Academy of Social prescribing. I participated in this project after falling ill with long COVID. And I guess, like so many of us, not being able to do the usual things I used to do. 

Really randomly one day, scrolling through my Facebook feed as you do. I saw an ad about this project, and decided to sign up as it looked like an interesting thing to do. Never having written poetry before, I thought it would be a really nice way to try to help me express my creativity in a slightly different way, from what I usually would. I'm a musician. 

It turned out to be a most wonderful experience, which resulted in among others participating in an event at the Southbank Centre, during which I was fortunate enough to listen to other participants reading their poems, as well as recite one of my own. Thank you so much for listening to Belong. 

Belong. Here, in the middle of this ancient forest, the old red oak proudly stands. Withered leaves and pieces of twig are scattered around it on the Earth's dense floor. The sun soft morning rays tentatively peek through the canopy of surrounding trees. Birds tucked away in the auxotrophic branches, eagerly sing that early morning wake up calls. The Racoon after is nocturnal adventures, readily returns to its hidden home in the tree's trunk. While buzzing sounds of bees dancing in the cool morning breeze envelop its crown like a misty veil. Playfully inquisitive squirrels pop up the little heads from behind the oak's robust roots. The whole woodland expectantly resonates and trembles with lives anticipation. Gently placing my hands on its rigid bark. I glanced up to the Oaks leafy cover above me. A comforting feeling of calm contentment wraps itself around my body. Quietly, almost like a sigh, whispering noises reached my weary ears, carried by the winds flowing wave stay, tell me, this is where I belong.

Jackie Baxter  
And finally to close out this episode is a contribution from me. Sadly the long COVID Choir item wasn't ready in time this year. And it seemed a shame not to have any music. 

This is a collection of tunes which I wrote for my brother's wedding, which I wasn't well enough to travel to. Writing music isn't something that comes naturally to me. But there was something about this that once I started, it all seemed to kind of flow out of me. It was getting started, that was the problem. 

Playing the violin was something that I started while I was unwell; it was smaller and required less energy than the cello. And also it had less expectations along with it, which seemed to help me. It was also something my partner and I could do together. We couldn't go up mountains. We couldn't do all the things that we used to do. But we could play music together some of the time. And it's now something that we do because we enjoy it. 

So this collection of tunes had the working title of monsters because the idea started at Loch Ness. If you are sensitive to noise, you may wish to turn the volume down a little. Please don't forget to go and check out the creativity page on the website to check out everybody's wonderful drawings and art and photos of their creations. 

So all that is left to say is to wish you a happy holidays and hope that you are able to find some peace and relaxation as well as some joy however you are spending your time over the next few weeks. The long COVID podcast will be taking a short break, and I will be back in January.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai