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.