Jane's Peace Mask During COVID-19 Pandemic | Jane Boursaw Photo
Jane's Peace Mask During COVID-19 Pandemic | Jane Boursaw Photo
Feel free to share this post...

Masks, masks, masks … we’re certainly hearing more about masks than we ever thought we would. Especially since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer just extended the Stay Home order until June 12.

However you feel about masks – when to wear them, how to wear them, whether we need to wear them – one thing is clear. There are currently many places where you are not allowed in without one, including our own Peninsula Market. So it’s best to have a mask on hand at all times.

Old Mission Gazette is Reader Supported.
Click Here to Keep the Gazette Going.

Early in this global COVID-19 pandemic that we’re still in the midst of, masks suddenly became very important. The main grocery stores that Time and I freqent include Peninsula Market, Costco and Family Fare, and while we’ve limited our shopping to as little as possible, we’re still in at least one of these stores every couple of weeks. And we have to have a mask. Or, at least, I have to have a mask. With Tim’s health issues, he’s been staying out of the stores and I’ve been doing the shopping.

At the beginning of the pandemic, we assessed our mask situation and realized that we only had a couple of flimsy white dust masks here in the house. And after a few uses – and me trying to rinse them out and dry them – it was clear that our mask stash wouldn’t last long.

Fortunately, my crafty friend Marge Long – who has a lovely space at Red Dresser in Traverse City, by the way (she and others have masks for sale there) – began making masks with various fabrics and made some for my little family of four. I’ve yet to get a picture of all of us wearing the masks at the same time, but here’s me. I claimed the peace mask, and I love wearing it.

Jane's Peace Mask During COVID-19 Pandemic | Jane Boursaw Photo
Jane’s Peace Mask During COVID-19 Pandemic | Jane Boursaw Photo

Tim’s mask has a very cool guitar fabric (he’s a lifelong guitar player), but if you’re not crafty like my friend Marge and need a mask, Tim came across this video that shows how to easily make a mask out of a sock (shared by our friend Beth Machado on Facebook).

Posted by Veronica Díaz Macias on Monday, April 27, 2020

In fact, Tim tried it and look! It works! I had to laugh because it looks like one of those sock monkeys we used to have as kids. Remember those? Sock monkey masks in the time of COVID-19. What a time we are living in.

Tim's Sock Monkey Mask During COVID-19 Pandemic | Jane Boursaw Photo
Tim’s Sock Monkey Mask During COVID-19 Pandemic | Jane Boursaw Photo

A NOTE FROM JANE: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper. Because the Gazette is mainly reader-supported, I hope you'll consider tossing a few bucks my way if I mention your event, your business, your organization or your news item, or if you simply love reading about what's happening on the OMP. Check out the donation page here. Thank you so much for your support. -jb

Bay View Insurance of Traverse City Michigan