Cooking in Quarantine and Virtual Southern Exposure

I have been plugging along on my family history saga during these lockdown days and once I hear from a few of the cousins, I think I can at least wrap up a first version I can send them all as a pdf. It's 240 pages right now (a lot of those are photos) and every time I proof it, I find something else to change.

That's been the big project of late, since for much of April and May the weather was so cold and unwelcoming that it felt like a good time to clamp down and do it. Besides, you can get a lot done while things are baking!

My favorite lemon bread is always a must. I like having several loaves of this in the freezer to share with someone who does something nice for me. Or just to hand out "because." It's fun to have something on hand to help say "thank you."

One of Rick's tenants volunteered to do a grocery run so I made some chocolate chip cookies to share with him. I also shared some with friends Kate and Mike who brought me some of Mike's birthday cake. We did a hands-free hand-off in the driveway.

I think that might have been the night I made beef stew. I had stewing meat for more months than should probably be allowed in my freezer and it was time to use it or lose it. It was really good. I wish we'd had more leftovers!

The lettuce and radishes I planted in pots have been very slow to come. It this rate, I'll have a salad by the fourth of July. I hope.

But I did do one fun thing -- a Virtual Southern Exposure. One of my "happy places" is an herb farm called Southern Exposure where several friends and I enjoy wonderful dinners and creative workshops. Of course, this year the first two of our workshops have been canceled.

But they decided they could do some virtual workshops. They would deliver the supplies to our front door and follow up with an instructional video.

Our project was a small moss basket with five plants -- thyme, kale, spinach, lettuce and a pretty pansy. My friends Kate and Jan and I got together and zoomed as we finished our baskets.

It wasn't quite the same but the basket is pretty and we had a good time.

Do you know what a "buckle" is? I didn't, but I had blueberries in the fridge that needed to be used and so when I found a recipe for blueberry buckle in my King Arthur cookbook and realized I had all the ingredients, it seemed like the thing to make!

It was delicious -- much like a tasty coffee cake, one I'll make again.

This is a wonderful time for cooking and creating. I'm glad it's a good time for something.

Quarantine Life: Watercoloring My Roots

Louise Penny is one of my favorite authors, thanks to her wonderful Adam Gamache series. I receive her periodic newsletter and her words here resonated with me.

Am really hoping this finds you safe and healthy.  I am both, and relatively sane.  Have decided I am not actually stuck at home - I am now a "writer in residence".  And this quarantine is beginning to feel normal.  
How comforting, how disconcerting is that?  Comforting that we can indeed adapt, and quickly, to this radical new reality.  But disconcerting that it can feel anywhere close to normal.
I find I am both more relaxed and more anxious.  The rapid, scary, dismantling of all that we'd known and taken for granted, has slowed.  The restrictions on our freedom are now in place.  So there is less shock.  The ground beneath our feet has stopped shifting.  
And so have we.  
I find I am now less frightened.  But more worried.  About what the world, our lives, will look like when this is over.  About what 'over' even means.  
But then, I eat another chocolate bar, go for a walk, phone a friend, and feel better.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Louise Penny~~~~~~~~~

Or, you watercolor your roots.

We've been "in" for a long time, haven't we? I know I will continue that life for a long while to come. While I want those who are in businesses that have closed during the quarantine to again be able to work again, I have no desire to venture out of my zone, to step inside any store or restaurant or even order take-out. If they are counting on people like me to save the economy, they are in for a big disappointment. About the only economy I'm saving is Instacart.

The first grill out of the year felt all the more exciting! We've had a wretched cold, rainy spring and when you get a good day, you savor it!

I just don't trust people in restaurants or take out to be healthy or careful. I trust Rick.

I have lived my life in optimism and trust. Never blind trust, but still, trusting, willing to see the best in people. In recent weeks I have seen that -- and I've seen the worst. And everything in-between. 

I am shocked and disappointed that so few wear masks in public or mind social distance. It seems such a selfish thing to do. The more one is "out," the more they have the chance to catch covid-19 and pass it along, whether they have symptoms or not. That is a fact. These people put everyone's lives in danger. I'm sure that's not intentional but it still feels both ignorant and selfish, "all about me" in cases like this.

I am angry at protestors who storm my capitol city, many from out of state, and many who advocate assassination of our governor with threatening tweets, posts and signage. Their motive is more political than related to the virus. (I must confess, as they protest this morning at our capitol, we are in the midst of a thunder and lightning storm. I will happily mop every drop of water that rains into my basement if it will keep up all day.) I am aghast that a customer shot a security guard simply because he asked him to put on a mask before entering a store. At a different store, when asked by the clerk to please wear a mask, the customer grabbed her arm and wiped his nose and face on her sleeve. What has our world become?

As Louise Penny says, I am less frightened but more worried about what the world and our lives will be like when this is over. If it is over. And I don't think it will be. Not for a very long time.

I have seeds in starting trays and some in the ground. The trees in my neighborhood were in full bloom.

I loved passing them by and admiring their array of pink and white blossoms. Now only a few remain in flower.

I've read four or five books; felted gnomes and Santas, ducklings, lambs and French-attired bears. I've made scones and cookies, casseroles and soup, coffee cakes and muffins. I've painted birds and houses and the Toddler Twosome.

I'm close to finishing my book on our family history. I've enjoyed many walks to revel in nature at the Ditch and quiet moments with Lizzie at home. I've spend wonderful evenings with Rick and if it was possible, this has brought us even closer.

I read blogs and loads of articles I find in various sources. I watch British mysteries on Acorn, video on Netflix. I think I've seen every Perry Mason episode and way too much news. I disinfect my groceries and make lists of all the things I can cook.

And yes, the rains have come. And yes, I've been bailing my basement. This was the what I walked down to. And then it got worse. Fortunately, it is storage only and everything is elevated so no damage, but it's just super annoying.

I've lost eight pounds and my hair has grown out a good inch or so. I've whacked at it, unable to see the back of my head as I cut blindly. I don't worry about this too much because the only person I see with any regularity is Rick. Everyone else is too socially distant away to notice.

The roots have gone silver -- there's a good inch or so that I see at my hairline or when my hair is heavy enough to droop from the top of my head.

And so, I watercolored my roots.

Have you tried finding hair color online? Good luck with that. Good luck with finding powdered root color, too. It exists. They're just out. Just about everywhere. There is a world of women who are beginning to look like their mothers and it scares them. It scares me.

Now, lest you should think I've gone totally around the bend, I only do this on occasion (it washes out nicely, which isn't necessarily a good thing) and since I can only see the front, it is of marginal purpose.

Use a stiff brush and the cheapest water colors you can find. This is not the time for your Windsor-Newton or Daniel Smith palette. You'll only be able to get what you can see unless you're better with a mirror than I am. I suppose I could ask Rick to do the back (no -- not on a bet!) but the rest of my hair covers it up! It worked quite well. (No watercolor? Eye shadow and applied with a stiff brush works, too.)

Oh, and don't go walking in the rain or else you'll be dripping watercolor down your face. Other than that, it works just fine!

It's not like there's anything else pressing. Just think of it as a break in the action.

Or, learn to live like Lizzie. Eat. Nap. Nap. Eat.

Checking In on the Ditch Goslings

Time for a little bit of fluff! And a walk down to the Ditch!

I took these a week or so ago. I suspect by now, my goslings are more dark than light, fluffy yellow!

Things are greening up well -- even more so than in this photo by now.

There were some beautiful birds. I never seem to get a good photo of the Red-winged blackbird but this one actually seemed to pose and the lighting was perfect!

The grackle was quite handsome, too, with the sun reflecting off his wings.

Well, here are Jim and Suzanne with their brood. (How do I know? Four babies, instead of seven!)

I first saw them on one side of the pond, chowing down.

I love how Mom sticks close!

I continued my walk, spotting a beautiful robin...

...and this little fellow, who seemed like he was just stopping for a chat!

When I got around to the other side of the pond, the geese had moved over there and were swimming near the rocks.

It seemed like a good time to get out of the water, so up we go, rock climbing!

Who knows what you'll find?

I look forward to my next visit but I'll miss seeing them as fluff balls as they grow into young adults.

Like Toddlers.

A Mother's Day Walk

I haven't been out much. Well, if you count "out of the neighborhood," I haven't been out at all. So when Rick came in on Mother's Day with the car and said "Let's go for a walk," that meant the walk could be anywhere! We chose the campus of Michigan State University.

Normally it would be packed with students and their parents this weekend, as kids would be preparing to graduate. During our rather long walk we saw all of a dozen people.

It was bliss. Divine, safe bliss.

We started our walk going down beside the Red Cedar River where we saw our first goose family. It wouldn't be the last.

We ended up at Beal Botainical gardens. MSU has wonderful gardens. In the Horticultural Gardens you'll find some gorgeous blooms but at Beal, you'll see interesting and unusual plants and even weeds!

Many things had yet to bud and bloom but I learned that these sweet flowers are cowslips.

And I loved these!

The trillium were in full bloom!

And there were both interesting and informative plaques...

...and unique features, such as these decorative plaques on the stairs leading out of the sunken garden.

We had some company during our walk in the garden. These two followed us around for a bit!

The tulips were out and looking good.

These matched my coat!

We left the gardens and continued our campus walk, noting some beautiful lilacs, the first I've seen to begin blooming.

Beaumont Tower, with its bells that chime every fifteen minutes, is a campus landmark. We did see one student here, having her photo taken by the door. In retrospect, I should have said if she stood back much farther from the tower so she was in the foreground, her photo would have both her and the tower featured, rather than the rather boring door.

Most of the flowering trees were on the way out, but a few were still looking pretty glorious!

We ventured into East Lansing. This area is one of the busiest intersections in this college town. Not today!

Moving on, we went back to campus, passing by a couple of lovely red bud trees.

And then, crossing through, we were back at the river. There were five families of geese on the riverbank -- and at least 25 goslings!

The parent geese were remarkably undisturbed by our passing so close. They neither shooed their babies away or honked at us.

These birds are used to people! And darned cute.

Our day out was really one of the nicest I've had in months. True, the weather wasn't great, but it didn't start to sprinkle until we reached the car.

A day to remember.