I completely understand–and agree with!–the principle of social distancing.

But I also keep forgetting that I’m doing it.

My regular workweek includes a lot of time spent alone in my home office, reading and typing and generally being alone.

So, maybe I can be forgiven for thinking about a dozen times a day, “Hey! I don’t have anything else on the calendar! This would be a great weekend to see the Degas exhibit at the National Gallery of Art!” (Or any number of other exhibits I’ve been looking forward to.)

At least I can fill some of that time by browsing through the (US) National Gallery of Art’s “Lessons and Activities” page. They’ve got great projects for people of all ages, including art projects for pre-K kids and entire lesson plans for graduate students. Some of the units (especially for younger kids) are basically craft projects. Some of the units explore philosophical questions—such as what is the nature of art? Some focus on learning English as a second language or applying math, or, or, or…

I could easily spend days here. Which is great for social distancing, but not so great for getting work done!