What, me worry?

Sleeping in today...

Someone to watch over me

"Georgia" and "Millie" keeping a close eye on the hen house.

Speaking of coops, we're flying ours for a bit today-- our first real outdoor outing in almost 3 months. 

More later...

Congratulations

Our daughter Amanda was just accepted by Gonzaga University to their Master of Science in Nursing Program this fall.  Amanda works at a community clinic now, but her long term goal is becoming a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. This requires a Masters degree, a big career step.

Gonzaga is one of the most competitive private colleges in the country, so being accepted into their nursing program is a big honor. Congratulations!

Located in Spokane, Washington, the college is about 175 miles from Twisp, so the majority of her course work is online.  That's a huge undertaking with two young girls, a busy home and a job. 

You've probably heard of Gonzaga basketball, but the college has a strong Jesuit tradition, meaning high educational standards.  Believe it or not, their most famous alumni is Bing Crosby, a Spokane native.

Years ago when I was working at Microsoft, I went to an archives conference in Spokane, and visited the "Crosbyana Room" on the campus. Gonzaga University has a large collection of Crosby materials, but the only thing I remember was his famous pipe in a display case.

Gonzaga has a beautiful campus. I'm already looking forward to the graduation.
Go Amanda!

Hug

A New Jersey grandma dressed up in a unicorn suit, so she could safely hug her grand-kids...

Are you having weird dreams these days?  So many people are. Last night I was hugging old friends, hard and long, people I haven't even seen for years. I knew it was "wrong" but I couldn't stop myself.  I woke up feeling happy and deeply sad.  What a strange, unreal time this is.

Moonlight of India

I fretted about losing this big jasmine all winter-- and here it is, absolutely covered with buds ready to pop open. 

It rained Monday, making for a gloomy holiday, not that was any place to go. This morning, it's still grey and misty as a winter day.  But the sun will soon be out, and we're going to warm up dramatically this week. After the all the moisture, the garden will be glorious. June is the peak, with the peonies and roses.

One little sprig of jasmine from this plant perfumes the entire bedroom. In poetry, jasmine is called "the moonlight of India" because the fragrance permeates the night air.

Leo Delibes wrote an opera in 1883 called Lakme, set in British-occupied India. In the story, the title character and her servant laze away the time, singing under a canopy of jasmine.  The Flower Duet is one of the most beautiful ever written for soprano voices.

Cooped up

We've been cooped up like chickens for the past few months, but unfortunately, without any little girls to spoil us.  Here's Maya and Nova showing off their new hen house yesterday. The chickens spent the first night out in the yard, and I just got a text from Amanda saying everyone is alive this morning! A big milestone in chicken raising. Way to go, girls.

We've never gone so long without seeing our family.  It's very hard.  Pictures help, and I love theses views of the beautiful open country where they hike in the Methow Valley.  Where are all the people?

Magnolias

I walk past this gorgeous magnolia tree on my loop around the neighborhood. All magnolias are beautiful, but this variety is stunning. Some people call them "tulip trees."

The magnolia species is ancient, and evolved before the first bees even appeared on earth, 95 million years ago. Magnolias adapted to encourage pollination by beetles instead, and the leathery flowers protect the plant from crawling and chewing insects.

For a flower we associate with southern lawns and fluttering ladies, magnolias are tough as nails.  Remember the title of that 1989 movie?  "Steel Magnolias," starring Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton.

So Memorial Day weekend is here, and this strange spring winds down. It's the official start of what people are calling the "bummer summer," because all public events (at least in our part of the country) have been cancelled.

Our state shut down early in March, which no doubt saved thousands of lives. Of course this came at an economic price, and considerable social sacrifice. The new cases have slowly plateaued, which is good news, but also frustrating when it comes to reopening. When and how?

King County, the largest in Washington state, will probably be last to move forward. We're stalled at Stage 1 for the foreseeable future, which means "stay home except for essential trips." So it goes. There are worse places to be.

Have a safe weekend. Avoid crowds, don't jump in freezing water.
Be tough; be beautiful to others.

Carbs on parade

Scones

 Sweet barbecue sauce with sausage and pineapple

 Spaghetti with shrimp

Carrot cake
And so on...

We eat pretty well around here, everything made from scratch, but it seems like more carbs than usual. Which I usually avoid. 

Apparently, eating carbs increases serotonin in the brain. Serotonin makes you feel better.  Well, until we finally get those old pants out of the closet. 

People are craving comfort food during the pandemic, and sales of ridiculed products like Hamburger Helper and Spaghetti-O's are way up.  Not to mention, Goldfish crackers, Cheetos, chips, ice cream, processed cereals, packaged cookies, frozen pizza and what we once called "TV dinners."

It's been a wet and gloomy couple of days--more like March. Rain is typical on Memorial Day weekend, but it doesn't really matter, because every major summer event in Seattle has already been cancelled, right down to the 4th of July fireworks. All we can do is look ahead to 2021 and hope for happier times. 

In the meantime, there's always baking.

Wordless Wednesday

Vincent Van Gogh
Iris paintings

Rare visitor

An exquisite creature paid us a visit this week. A large dragonfly, just hanging out on the jasmine. He was obliging to let me get so close and take his picture.  (Our phone cameras are pretty amazing. In the old days, this shot would have required a tripod and a whole lot of patience.)

Dragonflies are fierce hunters, like hawks, and have eyes that cover most of the head's surface. They can fly 30 miles per hour, and prey on mosquitoes, moths, butterflies and other flying insects.

Fossils of dragonflies from 325 million years had 30-inch wingspans.

Monday, Monday

Tom made good progress this weekend, building the new backyard hen house in Twisp.

And here's the young ladies, checking out their private laying boxes.  Reminds me of chicken Zoom!

Speaking of Zoom, we did it for the first time last night with some old friends. Our first social invitation in months. I'm afraid we're becoming hermits.

Thank you, Julie and Mary, Bill and Estelle! Let's do it again soon. The 45 minutes flew by. The only problem is, we put the computer on the dining table and then sat on the hard chairs for too long and our you-know-whats fell asleep by the time it was done. We're still beginners with this new socializing.

Take out

Our first "restaurant" food since early February. McDonald's. Pitiful. Although Vidalia Onion Relish doctors up a lowly cheeseburger.

A steady rain here in Seattle, making for a quiet and rather gloomy Saturday. Over in the Methow Valley, everyone looks busy with weekend chores.

Look who's growing up fast! Yes, that's Nova mowing the grass.

Family work in the vegetable garden...

Some chicken playtime...

 Thoroughly domesticated hens. Good job, Nova and Maya.

Expectations

One thing I've learned these past three months is how little we need to live, really.  Even happily, in some ways.

It's so ironic that when John retired on March 1st, our lives immediately went on hold. The door slammed shut on the freedom to travel and even the taken-for-granted things we were looking forward to, like spending more time with our family.

As for my old life, and what I miss, that's a very long list indeed. All the technology in the world can't replace social human interaction. Will the Ukes ever play together again? Will we ever go to the Symphony and see our friends? Have dinner parties and enjoy crowded family holidays?

Despite the anxiety, somehow, the days have slowly filled with new routines and habits. I still write the blog each morning, text and email with friends and family, make occasional phone calls. I do a half hour of exercises listening to my nostalgic gym playlist, then I take a two-mile solitary walk around the neighborhood. Most days, I try to practice my ukulele. For some reason, I don't want to draw. We buy things online, spend (too much) time on our computers, and occasionally go to the grocery store. We listen to music. We torment Siri when we get bored. We haven't put gas in the cars since February.

If the weather is nice, I spend long hours working in the garden, which has never looked better. We prepare meals together for the first time, and I try to plan dishes that require fancy knife skills. He chops/slices and I cook. It's companionable, although we trip over each other in the tiny kitchen. I'm still learning to share what was once exclusively my domain.

John is less restless and more easily content, filling his day with listening to music, reading, watching YouTube videos and tinkering with his knife sharpening hobby. Although I'm guessing, because he's usually downstairs and I'm upstairs during the day. We all need some privacy, and we're lucky to have a large enough house to stake out personal space. In the evening after dinner, we watch an hour or so of television. I still go to bed early and wake up early. Some things are hard to change.

In short, once you lower your expectations, it isn't a bad life at all. Do I want it to go on forever? No! But as long as we stay healthy, at least we still have a future to look forward to. 

Some good news: this is the first 24 hour period in over 2 months that no one has died from Covid in King County, which includes the large Seattle metropolitan area.  Our state government clamped down early and hard, and on the whole, people here have really joined together in the sacrifice. Compared to other parts of the country, the reopening in our western states will be painfully slow, but things are trending in the right direction. There's no end in sight yet, but a glimmer of hope on the horizon.

Smile

Nova (10) and Maya (7)

Empty calendars

Whoa. I've never seen anything like that before. A totally empty month.  

The fridge calendar usually looks like this, filled with happy activities and appointments.  Can we ever go back to being that busy?  Will we even have the energy for it?

Anyway, May is already half over.  What happened?  Time has taken on a new weirdness, as the days drag slowly by while the months pass in a blink.  We've been at home now for almost 3 months. Life has certainly boiled down to the bare essentials.

Speaking of essentials (eating) I've always enjoyed grocery shopping. I like looking at food and thinking about cooking. Now a trip to the store is stressful, but since it's the only outing these days I look forward to going anyway. Observant shoppers can see changes, and not just store safety protocols.

As the food chains adapt, different cuts of meat and products are showing up. Like this beautiful Dole pineapple from Hawaii for $2.99.  Cheap pineapples always come from Costa Rica.

In Hawaii, they keep these babies for themselves, but with restaurants closed and the tourist trade down, I suppose they're sharing with the rest of the world.

Remember the old Elvis movie, "Blue Hawaii?"  His rich daddy owns a pineapple plantation, and young Elvis returns from the army to sow some wild oats, falling in love with a "native" girl.

Of course there's a happy ending, featuring Elvis on a barge singing the beautiful "Hawaiian Wedding Song."  He was real eye candy in those days.

Coming attraction from "MN Films"

Our granddaughters have an app they use to create make-believe "movie trailers."

Here's one that Maya (7) made, starring the family pets. Pretty darn cute. 

Food month highlights

(Another) carrot cake

 Enchiladas

 Onion-glazed pot roast

Pancakes

 Roast fennel and asparagus

 Spicy noodles with bok choy

 Grilled salmon

 Strawberry crepes

 Mashed potatoes and gravy

 Scalloped potatoes

 (Another) pie

 Pasta with prosciutto and peas

 Ice cream sandwich

 Grilled chicken and saffron rice

And more pasta...