After a year into the pandemic, we hit a snag. My partner couldn't reach his mother on the phone for a few days. At last, he called the superintendent to check in with her. She didn't answer the door. Next came a wellness check. Police were called, and given the right to enter if she failed to answer. They found her on the floor, where she'd been for a long time. Nobody is quite sure how long, but when asked, she felt it had been days.

Through those hours, we spent time preparing ourselves for the real possibility that she had quietly died in her apartment with nobody around to help.

But fortune was with her. Help had arrived on time. She was alive, and already being treated in hospital by the time my partner was able to pay a friend to drive him all the way up to where she lives, a good 4 or 5 hours out of the city. He ended up having to stay there for an extended period of time. When he came home at last, we were hopeful for a secure recovery. He'd set her up with regular visits from different care systems, including a cleaner, who would come in biweekly, to tidy up, but really mostly to chat and check in.

But he had to go back not long after. She had another failing of health, and required more emergency care. My partner ended up spending most of the entire second year of the pandemic away from home. Probably a solid 8 months. If I'm exaggerating, it's not intentional. I'm sure that's how long it was.

In the end, after so many medical appointments and a grinding stressful uphill health battle, she was told that among other things, she'd never drive again.

This ended up becoming a dark silver lining, because now, she'd set her car into my partner's care, and he at last had a vehicle to ferry himself back and forth to visit.

When he finally came home for good, we both needed time away. Unfortunately, due to having a special needs cat (we found out our cat Bilbo has asthma just as the pandemic began) overnights away were not really an option. I have to give her steroids every night before bed so that her lung tissue doesn't swell up. Stopping suddenly is bad for the organs, we've been warned. She's the closest I'll probably ever have to a kid of my own, so I take that to heart.

Anyway. I digress. We both needed to get away. So we started taking periodical day trips to hiking spots. Mono Mills about an hour out of the city, the Forks of the Credit River, also about an hour away. I brought my camera and took photos of the walk. Just little things I found interesting or pretty. Some things for texture reference, like different kinds of tree bark, or lily pads in the sun. Every kind of season and weather brings a different something something to the hikes.

One of our hikes brought us past this tree with these great arching roots, which made the tree look hollowed inside. I took a photo and made a couple pieces inspired by it. One small one with glowing mushrooms for eyes, which I'll share another time, and this one, a cottage. Warm witchcore with a touch of modern.

The canvas I did this on is highly textured, so this isn't perhaps the best photo of it. It's much more saturated in real life. It's also custom framed in a black walnut stained oak with moss accents. I'll get a photo of that later.

Back to gallery posts tomorrow! And I'm going to start going back to last year soon too.

~Rachel
rachelsvparry.ca