The Corona Diaries Week 10 - Still Here I Guess

Remember when I started this series on a daily basis? Oh those were sweet naive days of yore. This past week was all about "finishing strong" for Harper for school. Starting last week it was four more weeks of school and I had gotten a bit lax about her school work. Giving up too easily. It was a reminder that it could be so easy to be a shitty parent. Sure, you can play minecraft any time. Sure, you can watch tv all you want. But that's not me. So I worked harder last week (and will for three more weeks) to help Harper get her work done throughout the day with plenty of breaks and fun time.

On Monday it rained. It was heaven. I feel like that will be the last rain I see for another eight months. I don't love LA for this.

Kurt brought home lovely peonies from Trader Joe's this week. My favorite flowers!

The rain soothed my soul and also rinsed off the old sidewalk chalk course. Time for a new one! I need new chalk the next time I do this as I prefer not to scrape my knuckles on the rough sidewalk again. Actually creating the thing is tiring! Also I'm out of shape for sidewalk chalk art.

I love hearing random people do the course, laughing and playing. It makes me happy.

One afternoon Harper was running around with this butterfly cage, using it as a net, chashing butterflies. AND SHE CAUGHT ONE! She kept it inside for a few hours, then took it back outside and let it go. She did "play" with it a few times so I hope it wasn't dead...

My lovely thank you gift from Jenny was a tiny ceramic dish, soil and strawberry seeds. I planted it, dubious about growing strawberry plants in such a tiny spot but lo and behold! Wee little strawberry shoots! I'm going to transplant them later into a planter. Fingers crossed.

On a walk in the neighborhood I found these lovelies growing along someone's hellstrip. I believe they will let them bloom, which is so cool.

Also on that walk I saw this back entry way to a house (in an alley) and am keeping it handy for our garage conversion ideas.

Then one afternoon I was relaxing on the front patio and this...um...person? Alien? Lizard Man? walked by.

Not quite so much baking this week. Had to slow my roll on that action.

Harper had a very fancy lunch one day. She likes her dogs naked.

I baked focaccia and it came out yummy. Then I learned that Kurt doesn't particularly like focaccia and Harper seems meh on it too. FINE.

I tried my hand at soda bread and made 2 errors - not cutting the top deep enough to open up all the way and baking it just a little too long. It was delicious though, with butter and jammmmmmm...mmmmmm. So easy to make, I will make it again.

For absolutely no reason I bought a shortbread pan. No good can come of it.

Mr. Biscuit continues to grow. He's suddenly taken a liking to my desk chair when I stand up. And he's starting to get some outside time in Kurt's arms. We are prepping to have him try and be outside soon. Willoughby goes out and mostly sticks to the backyard, so we are hoping Biscuit does the same. But he still has his teenage boy cat brain so it's kind of a crap shoot.

I got some new sunglasses.

We started a new puzzle. Of the cats. Kurt did 99.9% of this puzzle.

Harper a lot of art this week. She and Kurt logged onto the Mo Willems Lunch Doodles channel. Two of my all time favorites are these:

Harper also helped me do a birthday card for Uncle Peter.

And one morning I asked her to write a letter to someone before playing minecraft. She wrote to Kurt and made this GENIUS picture of them playing their favorite game "throw and catch". They play in Harper's room with a big soft ball but manage to destroy the room. Apparently Kurt's glasses get knocked off some times and Harper laughs and laughs. (click for bigger image.)

She also painted this. And used up aaaaalllllll the glitter paint in the process. Hmmm.

We had an in-real-life visit with our friend Betty, a nice long chat and then she read "Horton Hears A Who" to Harper.

It was a week. I have a lot of shit to work through about myself.

 

 

The Corona Diaries Week 9 - Mother's Day And Another Week

Another week in the books. Another week of uncertainty and confusion. Another week of constantly having to remind myself that this feeling of calm is always just the eye of the hurricane. And the storm is close by on all sides. And the storm isn't going to end for a long long time. Hard to balance. Hard to not feel seasick. Thankfully we have each other and friends and family nearby on the phone/text/video chat. Not the same as "real life" but this is real life.

There was some good news for a couple of friends who - in the middle of a pandemic! - found really great jobs. I am so so so pleased for them. They had both been looking for a while and this week it happened for them. A ray of shining light.

Last Sunday was Mother's Day and I was well taken care of. Harper wrote me this darling card. I asked Kurt if he helped her with it at all and he said no, 100% her. The phonetic spellings just slay me. Harper got me a box of chocolate and Kurt got me a box of nice goodies - tea and a candle and some sweet plants to grow. Then there was a big cookbook of things to BAKE! I lounged around in bed, reading the cookbook, drinking coffee, looking out the window. Later I watched Belgravia because who doesn't want a soapy British tv show on Mother's Day? It was a lovely day and to have Harper as a daughter, how could I get any luckier? She's a star.

There was more baking and more cooking this week. I tried a recipe from the big new book: Lemon Poppyseed Raspberry Muffins.

And you know what? They were kinda meh. Not enough lemon. Not enough poppyseed and why didn't I remember that raspberries have no flavor and are just a bit of mush in a muffin? Oh well. I gave half to our elderly neighbors. I hope they liked them.

I baked two more loaves of bread. One for us and one for friends (plus a dozen donut muffins). Our friends had a cat that suddenly died one morning last week. Only five years old, no health problems. Poor thing.

Harper and I dropped off some groceries to a friend in West Hollywood and then picked up an essential lunch.

I discovered love is everywhere if you just look. My coffee and mayonnaise reminded me I'm loved.

I whipped up what I thought might be an alfredo-y sauce for pasta one night - starting with a basic bechemel. I put some garlic and salt in it plus lots of parmesan, but man oh man it was the blandest, whitest pasta ever created. Looks nice on the plate. But looks aren't everything.

Yesterday I harvested more beans from the garden and made a carbonara which was VERY tasty. Everyone cleaned their plates. The beans grow like WEEDS so there will be plenty more where that came from.

The cats are very busy. Willoughby would like more chicken please. NOW.

Biscuit is such a boy kitten.

I love the death glare Willoughby gives in the background up there.

Biscuit loves supermarket day.

Biscuit and his tail.

The outdoors are nice. I discovered this mini field of basil dreams on a walk. Clearly I'd not been down this block before and was startled at the amazing smell and vivid colors.

Then to my favorite gardenia bush which seems to bloom all year long.

Friday night we had a get together in real life with Brian. So nice to visit IRL! We all kept our distance and had a really nice time.

Had to try some wacky hair color fun. Luckily it was just a test for a one time deal.

Harper likes to write letters from time to time.

I like to catch her in every day things. Egg sammich and TinTin for lunch. (God I hate TinTin.)

She really got into trimming the wisteria bush. Like she CLEANED IT OFF. I hope it recovers.

My hair is long enough for braids now. Something else to do with it.

Doing the sidewalk chalk fun run. (It's needs a refresh. There is rain in the forecast for tomorrow (Monday) which would help wash away the old chalk. I'll believe rain when I see it.)

New scrunchies from Grace.

Pool abstract. Perhaps a take on Hockney? Not really.

We keep ourselves entertained. Harper has enjoyed watching Kipo And The Age of Wonderbeasts as well as all five seasons of She-Ra. She's been liking The Hollow as well. Kurt and I watched the last season of Better Call Saul and then started on Killing Eve. Season 3 will end soon then we'll have to find another show to start. There is plenty, no doubt, but we have one tv so it has to be teamwork. Entertainment is oh so important these days.

I'm tired.

And I have it easy.

The Corona Diaries Week 8 - We're Here and I'm Furious

Oooh I got so angry this week. Thursday morning to be exact. I was frustrated at the situation we are in, but more than that I was so angry at our stupid stupid government for being selfish and lame and blind and selfish and did I say selfish? It didn't have to be this bad. This many people didn't have to die. We could have all rallied around a common "enemy" and worked together to make the best of a bad situation. Help people financially. But no. Nope. Not going to happen. I was going to do some exercise, some yoga to try and calm my mind but after about 10 minutes I just said "FUCK IT" and leaned into being angry and talking it out with Kurt.

In between the anger, I cooked. I baked. I made good things to eat. Did it dispel the anger? No. But didn't hurt one bit.

Well - I'll be honest and say I baked whole wheat banana bread and alas, underbaked it by a lot. I have now learned a lesson about a) ceramic bread pans and b) short toothpicks. I'll try this again because a) part of if it tasted good, b) I have lots of whole wheat flour to use and c) there are always bananas turning to the dark side.

In better news! Chocolate chip cookies were baked. But it seems they are not the most popular in the house. I gave a bunch to the neighbors as well as to the friends I sewed masks for.

Last Sunday breakfast.

Kurt got hot dogs on his Trader Joe's run and as it was summer weather, we had hot dogs for lunch two days in a row outside on the deck.

We bartered a little for some YUMMY bread from Debra. That plus perfect avocados, some mayo and salt made for the BEST breakfast/snack/lunch/whatever/whenever it was that I ate it.

As I mentioned in last week's post, I bought new bread pans but Kurt had bought a lot of bread. But this week I launched into bread making with a vengeance. (inspired by Grace.) I ended up baking three loaves of Japanese Milk Bread. It is SUPER easy, just takes a bit of time - all that rising to make it so FLUFFY!

Of course it makes me think of Minions saying "butt" over and over and laughing.

Is that enough bread porn for you?

It was a warm week with lots of pool time for Harper again. There were gorgeous flowers that Kurt bought on his shopping run - one for me and one for Harper.

Gorgeous flowers outside in our garden too. The front garden is something I'm so grateful for. So many pretty flowers right now.

And room to play.

Willoughby likes to climb trees.

"Mama, I found a slug and named him Richard."

We helped friends a few blocks away celebrate their son's 18th birthday with distancing chalk art!

I ended one of my days with a G&T on the veranda and then harvested some beans.

The cats are our constant companions. And thank goodness for their nuttiness. Here Mr. Biscuit listens to John Oliver's segment on cats.

Here Mr. Biscuit explores my desk. Hmmm.

They often help with the puzzle.

Then they got a new toy, thanks to our good friend Tom! You fold it up and put treats in it and the cats have to fish the treats out. Mr. Biscuit is not the brightest cat on the block (He's still technically a kitten - all 12 pounds of him) but Willoughby got it instantly and now pushes the box all over the kitchen getting all the treats out.

MY TREATS!!!!

Harper and I share an office now. (We have this whole time.) She had a project to test what kinds of things melt and they used hot water and candy. She enjoyed this experiment very much, eating the evidence after recording her findings.

It was teacher appreciation week and Harper made cards for both her teachers.

The tape got decorated, which I love.

I made more masks and got a very very sweet thank you gift in return.

I'm not ashamed to tell you I'm reading this fabulous romance novel. I have a stack of books ready to read and couldn't bring myself to read them. Luckily I had thought ahead to a time when I might need pure ridiculous escapism and also have a few of these babies standing by. It's been great, I have to say.

And lo and behold, I gave Kurt a haircut. But with a HUGE assist from our stylist and a good facetime connection! I can't wait until she can do it for real. Too stressful!

Another week down. Many many many more to go. I keep focusing on the little things, the important things. I know we'll be fine. We are lucky that way. The future is a mystery (it always has been) and we can't control a lot of it. My anger will come and go, as will grief and sadness and frustration. Then we'll have beautiful days filled with flowers and sweets and we'll be distracted for a while.

The Corona Diaries Week 7 - Whatever

Well. Week seven. Here we are. Whatever. Please see my previous post about how I'm feeling about it all.

I mean, I'm feeling A LOT but it comes down to "not much I can do about it" and "the only way out is through" and "whatever".

The cats are having a good time I guess. Getting along better a little every day. Mr. Biscuit is a box cat through and through. Willoughby is not. Biscuit is a long cat. Willoughby is not.

There were projects around the house (aside from mask making which continues from time to time.)

We made a "no-sew" blanket which was SO TEDIOUS, but once it was done, it's cute and Harper loves it. But did I take a picture of finished blanket? No. Because once it was done, I was done. (Biscuit helped.) We have more fleece to make a smaller one, but I'll be saving that for later......much much later.

This fleece (and other other fleece in waiting) was part of a larger order of cotton materials that took forever to get here. But now I finally have fabric that is not just green apple and tangerine.

There were food projects. Lovely blueberry muffins.

Deviled eggs - YUM.

Lunches can be interesting. Harper likes this new sandwich she invented: bread, avocado, bread, fried egg. I chose to have mine open-faced.

I bought new bread pans to make bread. I haven't started yet as Kurt brought home a LOT of bread from TJ's on his Monday shopping trip.

And we had a mad hankering for sushi as it's something we get every couple weeks. Also we started playing Overcooked 2 on the playstation and there are sushi levels. So we got some sushi and it was so refreshing! It made me think of when we were in Bath in 2018 and it was SO HOT. We got there, unpacked and started walking around and at about dinner time we found an air conditioned, conveyor belt sushi place and OMG it was heaven. (I just looked back at my blog from 2018 and wow, I didn't blog at all about England while I was there. I guess it was mostly instagram, but still. Wow.)

Anyway - sushi yum.

There is the toilet paper hilarity. I was looking for toilet paper online a few weeks ago and could only easily find industrial sized rolls at Staples. Kurt and I laughed about getting it and let it go because how silly would it be? Then when it seemed more challenging to find some in our brief hunting/gathering excursions, I thought, why not? So we did it! OMG. It's not high quality but it will last a long while! I bought it 3/4 for practical reasons and 1/4 for a funny story. God I need funny stories these days.

Our puzzles arrived from the post office gift store and we put the 500 piece one together. That was easy and fun. There is a 1000 piece puzzle standing by and also two more on loan from friends. I'm not in a rush to do another quite yet, but do like the quiet time of brainlessness. We cleaned out some random boxes and found these wooden fish my mom got us for christmas. No reason not to put them up. So to the underwater themed area at our front door they went. (Starfish thanks to Grace!)

As ever, an important thing to do is keep physically active. I've gone back to online yoga classes three times a week. It's hard, but I'm showing up for myself. It was still hot so we had more pool time. Then there was some Beat Saber fun for us all and a round of gymnastics outside one afternoon. Harper had the 8 year old audacity to tell me my leaps were not very good. Thanks dear daughter. Way to make your fat old mom feel good.

Kurt and I watch tv at night after Harper goes to bed. That's the only time, really, that we watch grown up tv. (We only have the one tv.) So we have started watching Killing Eve and that has been really nice distracting entertainment. We haven't watched much in the way of tv news as it's all just too much. Newspaper headlines are plenty for me.

We are all in the same storm, but not all in the same boat. I'm grateful every day for our boat.

This New Normal Is Temporary

We are in week 7 of sheltering at home. We are very privileged to have all we have. I am not working right now and I have the luxury not to panic about it. Kurt is in between gigs so we have time to spend helping Harper with distance learning and to cook and to play.

We have adjusted pretty well. We have a weekly routine that works great for now. School ("school") is a big help in that it provides structure for the week, something to focus on for an hour here or there during each weekday. There is a grocery shopping routine and we've gotten used to not just popping out for one or two things like before. Occasionally we drive somewhere to have take-out food put in the backseat of our car by a masked server.

So far so good. If we had to do this for six more months, we could. I feel really good about how we are doing. Dare I say comfortable. Okay, well, "comfortable" isn't the right word. More like "less panicked."

But when I feel good and relaxed about how we've done so far, then comes the creeping dread of what comes next.

Because all of this is temporary. Things will change. The city will slowly begin to open up in various ways and we'll be able to do more things. It will be a new phase of this Covid life. A new New Normal we'll have to get used to.

But then what? How is that new phase going to be? What will it look and feel like? How different will it be? How will we adjust? And that new phase will also be temporary. Then we'll have to get used to something new again. Nothing is going to be the same.

It's a little bit like when a baby is born and each new phase brings on minor panic. You make it through the infancy stage and settle into months 5,6, 7 and 8. Cute smiley happy baby sitting up and playing, you are feeling pretty good about how you are doing as a new parent. Then boom! They can crawl and it's a whole new ballgame. But you settle in and it gets easier and you relax, feel confident. Then teeth with new moods and fussiness and it's different, but then you settle in and relax. Then walking, etc etc etc. You have a whole new life and nothing is going to be the same.

You see what I mean.

I can be as "less panicked" as I am, feeling strong in our new life. I could do this for a year. It would really really suck on a lot of levels, but I'm ready. I could do it. But it's all going to change.

That's what keeps me off balance and I don't like it.