Week 6: Discoveries!

This past weekend it seemed like people were starting to get a little stir crazy and even downright antsy. I went for a run on a sunny day and saw more cars out than usual, and out-of-state plates, and more walkers on the sidewalk than usual. It was weird!

But we're still here, staying at home on Week 6 of the coronavirus pandemic. This is spring vacation week, so there's no remote schooling and I'm not doing any "specials" this week. But there have been some discoveries.

Discovery: Blueberry muffins!

 

Did you know that blueberry muffins can be made from scratch? You don't have to buy them ready-baked at the store. You don't even need to buy a box of mix and add eggs and oil. In these strange times, I have discovered that you can make blueberry muffins just from ingredients that you might have in your very own kitchen. (I really hadn't imagined it until a family member suggested it might be possible. Mindblowing.)

I used the recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

We usually have frozen blueberries--they should not be thawed

They look just like blueberry muffins!

There is a smidge of cinnamon in the batter that
makes the muffins quite delightful

Discovery: Walking around the block!

 

I try to get out of the house at least once a day! The nearby love sheep (formerly lawn sheep) are in the midst of some kind of coronavirus containment process. Seriously, here's a picture.

I don't know

Discovery: I have something on my calendar! 

I signed up for ONE race this year, and I got an email this week that is has not (yet) been cancelled. So I may (or may not) have something to look forward to at the end of May! I had assumed the race would not happen... but if it does take place, I'll go just for fun. If it gets cancelled in the next few weeks, I'm OK with that too.

Discovery: Sock wrestling!

There's nothing better to take your mind off the state of the world and get you right into the present moment. Sock wrestling is a simple yet bracing game where you and an opponent get on hands and knees on the floor, then attempt to remove the other person's socks without having your own removed. Rules: don't touch the head or face. Also, no biting (a new rule that had to be added).

It's recommended to make sure each person's
socks are similarly loose, to be fair

Discovery: Harry Potter movies!

 

OK I've seen all of these, but not everyone in the family has, so we are re-watching them after finishing Lord of the Rings a few weeks ago. However I really really dislike He Who Shall Not Be Named, so that means I am kind of skipping most of 4, 5, 6, 7a and 7b. But I really liked movies 1, 2 & 3. Also I'm very proud of our kids who insisted on reading the books before seeing the movies. We had to get The Deathly Hallows from eBay to make that happen, but it happened!

We also have the last 2 movies somewhere

There are now 823 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Vermont.

Week 4? I think? Or 5?

Healing herbs of spring!

Hi hi! How are you? Someone asked recently if I'd be home when they stopped by, and the answer was YES. Yes, I will be home. I am home. I was home. Still home. Grateful to be home, really.

I hope you are doing OK. Thank you for checking in on my blog from wherever you are (and from whatever year it is--hi!). Here's what we've been up to in our tiny corner of Vermont during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

There was a bit of spring-like weather last weekend so I got out and wrestled with some brambles and an old disused compost pile. It was satisfying.

Then, back to another week of working & schooling from home with my lovely children. We are still setting aside an hour each afternoon (except Fridays) to do a family "special" where I teach something or we do some kind of activity.

On Monday we got physical with a school PE workout followed by a yoga video. This session got an average rating of 3 stars, with one participant liking the workout better while the other preferred the yoga.

On Tuesday I did a session on healing wild plants of spring. We learned about nettle, dandelion, and coltsfoot--their healing properties, how to use them, and their Latin binomials.

Then we went on a "Weed walk" and found 2 of the 3 in our yard. (We'll need to go a bit farther afoot to find coltsfoot.)

Sweet little nettle patch

Perky dandelion

On Wednesday we had a sewing session. Both participants learned how to tie a rolling knot at the end of a needle & thread (something my mother taught me and I kept referring to as "a life skill"). They selected a project to make "Juggling Chooks" (which are small weighted stuffed chickens).

The resulting chooks are pretty cute.

Unfortunately sewing was frustrating for Student A, who gave the class 2 out of 5 stars. Student B loves birds though, so said it was 5/5 stars but one of the stars was specifically because we made a chicken, otherwise it would only be 4.

Thursday is baking day! We made chocolate chip cookies again, this time experimenting with melted butter instead of soft, creamed butter. Results: melted butter makes for a thinner, crunchier cookie. Delicious.

In other news, I've taken up knitting again because I decided I wanted a pair of fingerless gloves to wear while I hunch in the cold corner while WFH (working from home).

I've had this pattern for 20+ years, I just subtracted 6 rows from
each finger to modify the pattern to be "fingerless"

Glove 1 is done!

In the world of screens, I've been watching fashion runway videos on Youtube lately (also lots of HauteLeMode, where Luke Meagher critiques designers & looks in "the most fun, sassy, bitchy, analytical way"--I love him). I also watched The September Issue (which I've seen before), which is free-with-ads on Youtube. This is a documentary about creating the 2007 Biggest Vogue Issue Ever (at the time). Anna Wintour is inscrutable and fascinating, and I love Grace Coddington, the creative director who has buckets of personality.

I am obsessed with this room where
Vogue editors arrange and rearrange miniature spreads
to lay out the issue [this is a crummy photo of ipad screen]

The Christmas cactus is blooming again. It's gorgeous!

Sending some beauty your way today.

There are now 779 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Vermont.

DIY Everything Bagel Spice

If you like bagels, you probably like everything bagels. And if you like everything bagels, you might like everything bagel SPICE. When we received a bottle of "Everything but the Bagel" (Trader Joe's brand) as a gift, it was a revelation.




















You can get the salty, garlicky, crunchitiness that you love in an everything bagel, on ANY bagel just by sprinkling this delightful blend on top. And of course, do-it-yourself Everything Bagel Spice is super easy. I just referenced the ingredients list on my bottle to get started.

Gather up regular sesame seeds, kosher salt, dried minced garlic, dried minced onion, black sesame seeds, and poppy seeds.

Then start layering. First put in sesame seeds and salt, trying to get these in the largest amounts.

Then add the minced garlic and minced onion in slightly smaller amounts.





















Finally add the poppy seeds and black sesame seeds in the smallest amounts (but still plenty).

Combine.

I suggest rigging up a paper cone to funnel the mixture into your container of choice. I'm putting it in the original Trader Joe's bottle.

BAGEL READY

Behind the mask

So across the country it's been face mask week. The CDC changed their messaging about masks and are now saying that it's recommended for average members of the public to wear fabric masks in order to avoid spreading the coronavirus. People are sharing sewing patterns and tutorials for making washable, reusable face masks. I picked this pattern to make. It's 3 layers that are sewn together with elastic at the sides, then turned right-side out and ironed into pleats, then re-sewn to finish. Pretty simple. Of course my mask has a skunk on it because that is my power animal.

Two masks cut out and ready to sew

Sewed together and turned right-side out:
there is a flannel layer inside 2 pieces of cotton

Sewing the pleats

Finished! You KNOW I'm going to get that
skunk as front and center as possible

On the homeschooling front, we've been trying to get outside more now that the weather is warming up. On Monday we made mini greenhouses and planted some lettuce seeds inside plastic storage bins turned upside down. The idea is to create something like a small cold-frame that can be opened to let sun in, or closed for protection.

On Tuesday we went for a nature walk to look for signs of spring. I jotted down a list.

• robin 
• flower 
• sun 
• greener grass 
• crocuses 
• maple tree buds/flowers
• no more snow
• man wearing T shirt 
• stream is running 
• trail in woods is dry 
• beetle on tree trunk in the sun 
• snake 
• insects flying around 
• hopscotch chalk 

Today  (Wednesday) we assembled a 1-person 3.5-pound backpacking tent that I got for Christmas and hadn't set up yet.

I like it! The idea is I can go to all-day trail races and camp there the night before, though who knows when my next trail race will be.

In the evenings we've been working our way through the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. Somehow an epic storyline of allies fighting for goodness and light feels perfect right now. 

There are so many good speeches. Like in the first movie when Frodo says he wishes the ring had never come to him and he wishes none of this had happened. Gandalf replies, "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides that of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.” 

There's also Sam's famous speech at the end of The Two Towers.

Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.

Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

Blood root blooming. I love how the leaves are furled
around the buds like little capes

Today there are 605 cases of COVID-19 in Vermont.

I'm sending you another virtual hug.

Pandemic Week 3 (April Fool's week)

What is UP?

This week, on a purely individual level, I managed to stabilize a little bit. I'm starting to settle in after the shock of a completely new way of life and global situation. Now comes the getting-through-it part. I did a little better with juggling work and childcare/homeschool at the same time. I have been doing a lot of compartmentalizing and just pure coping. In essence, I'm not trying to accomplish much beyond what is absolutely necessary.

For our homeschool "special" on Monday we talked about the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio. My older child was already aware of this mathematical wonder. We watched a TED talk by Arthur Benjamin and a Sound Field clip about the Golden Ratio (phi) in music. Then we went around the house looking for objects that either have a 1:1.6 ratio (such as the human arm, hand, and finger joints), or that fit into the Golden Ratio spiral.

I have a necklace that represents the Golden Ratio, so I cheated a little.

Example A: Frame from Season 1, Ep 1 of Hamish MacBeth

Example B: Jumbo carton of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish

Behold! When viewed through the Golden Ratio spiral, the curve of Whisky Bob in the foreground frames and tightens on Hamish MacBeth starting to walk away in the background.




And here the spiral lines up with the swoop around the product name, then curls in to pinpoint on the goldfish's eye. COINCIDENCE? I think not.

On Tuesday we did some math gaming with dice (following a school worksheet). Wednesday we did a not-very-successful version of home pictionary.

On Thursday we baked! This is the most popular part of the week so far. This time we made banana chocolate bundt cake with cream cheese filling from my Half-Baked Harvest cookbook (it's her second one, called Super Simple).

About to add the mashed banana.

Here's the result with a line of cream cheese baked into the middle. A fun part is if you post a HBH photo on Instagram and tag her account, she will repost it or even write back (which she did!). The cake is delicious and very chocolatey.

When I'm feeling twitchy during the day, it turns out that short Gaelic lessons are the one thing that can consistently calm me down. The duolingo app on my phone is soothingly repetitive and has satisfying noises. I've also made myself flash-cards that I can shuffle through and practice pronunciation and spelling and such. Duolingo is teaching me some weird words like guga (salted gannet) and sgadan (herring). I don't know what kind of Scottish conversation they're prepping me for, but I like it.

Salted gannet and herring

I do not like salted gannet at all.

Today there are 389 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Vermont and 21 cases in my county.