Families around the North Okanagan are getting creative in their ways to entertain their children, while lifting spirits in their communities.
In Vernon, Christmas lights are being strung around Bella Vista Road communities a bit early to spark some light amid the shadows of the rapidly evolving pandemic.
Elsewhere in Vernon, a piper, Tom Skinner, posted a photo of himself playing the bag pipes on his balcony in “Day 4 of self isolation.”
“I am not bored,” he wrote. “I refuse to be.”
He said he’ll be playing every day and hopes his piping friends in the Okanagan Valley and beyond will join in.
“I’ve heard the situation with coronavirus referred to as war,” he wrote on the Hell Yeah Vernon! Facebook page. “Historically bagpipes have been an instrument of war. Let’s stay smart, keep our social distance and when this pandemic is over, let’s let ‘er rip.”
Meanwhile, in Armstrong, Ashley Fryer’s family has created a heart-warming banner with the phrase “We are all in this together!”
Photos of the banner strung across the family’s front porch was shared on the Armstrong Community Forum on Facebook and spectators loved it.
“We’ve been hunkered down since (March) 12,” Fryer, owner of LoveBird BabyNests, wrote on her personal page. “These boys might be going a little stir crazy, but we are trying to make the best of our ‘right now.’”
“None of us really know the impact of what’s happening around the world and what the coming weeks will bring, but I want to be able to look back at this time of our lives and feel proud of doing what we feel is best,” she wrote. “Staying home.”
Other Armstrong residents have begun to write cheery chalk messages on the sidewalks and hang construction paper hearts in their window to give neighbours something to spot on their walks about town.
READ MORE: WATCH: Interior Health sets up drive-thru testing in Kelowna
READ MORE: UPDATE: Schools to connect with families by April 3
@caitleerach
Caitlin.clow@vernonmorningstar.com
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