Isolation: Day 71

I think I need to have a talk with my phone about covid-19. We’ve been self-isolating since early March and my phone keeps relentlessly informing me that I am less active than I was last year. Is there like a setting? Or something? Like a quarantine setting so the phone knows that unless someone buys me a treadmill or whatever I am just not going to get in all those juicy, juicy steps? Or can we maybe kind of just get the phone to read the headlines and stuff?

Mostly yes I am just not walking around as much as I did in the pre-pandemic world but part of it is also that I am home 100% of the time and don’t feel compelled to keep my phone on me at all times. My phone isn’t recording so most of my running up and down the stairs, with laundry and such. Maybe it would be less concerned about me if I just started keeping it in my pocket all the time? Is it me? Am I the problem here? It’s phone neglect isn’t it?

So tomorrow a bunch of businesses are going to open back up apparently. I won’t be going to any of them because OMG it is so not safe to be trying to get back to any kind of normal yet. I’m seeing cases spiking about 3-ish weeks after all these other places start easing restrictions, Texas has something like 1,000 new cases a day now? We’ll probably see that uptick in Georgia any day now too. South Korea and Germany are having issues, China’s having issues, returning to normal seems like FUBAR situation where it’s being implemented.

Traffic’s already picked up around here. I see loads of people out walking, biking, etc. without masks. The people running the transfer station keep their masks off and some people seem to take it as some kind of slight that we refuse to approach them. I know my mom thinks I’m crazy because I won’t visit with her but she has been anything but what I would consider careful during this whole thing. I’m not visiting with anyone except the people I live with. This is disease and you’re not just taking the risk of seeing that one person, it’s that person and anyone they may have come in contact with, and anyone those people had contact with, and so on, and on, and on. This virus is dangerous and weirdly unpredictable. It has so many effects that seem to be a part of it or that are associated with it in some poorly understood way. The clotting this is scary. The multiple organ failures-thing is scary, and these things can happen after folks seem to have recovered. Screw that noise. I’m feeling pretty good about staying home as long as I am able to.

Day 70: Date Night was Great!

It took me most of the day to clean the shed/studio/hippie-fort, set up the loft, get the food ready and all, but it was worth it. He dressed up, tie and everything, and came and knocked on the shed door. I let him in, Billie Holiday setting a mood, we danced, had wine with a simple dinner of pasta, salad and bread. There were homemade cookies for dessert, we played Bananagrams for the first time, not sure we did it right, we climbed up in the loft and read to each other from the book A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet; and had a wonderful evening.

It was warm when we fell asleep but super chilly when we woke up. I made tea and we had breakfast of grapes, bread and cheese I’d hidden in the little fridge. We stayed out there talking and reading to each other for a while, until we heard our son out walking the dog, then we put everything away, cleaned up all the food and dishes and such, and went back to the house to take care of chores and get on with our day. One of the best dates I’ve ever been on. My husband thought it was awesome too. So date night under quarantine accomplished. ^_^

Day 69: Date Night Apocalypse Edition! (etc)

Still in quarantine. Still working and schooling from home. Our state is kinda-sorta starting to open up starting on Monday, I mean, not really, they are being very cautious, thank the gods. But supposedly more businesses get to open, at least if they have no contact with the public? Or something? I do not believe this will affect my job. I think I will still be working from home and so will my husband so it won’t have much impact here. The kids are certainly not headed back to school.

Whether or not the library opens in some strange, restricted fashion, I know all summer programming will be virtual. I’m supposed to have a list of activities, crafts, etc ready by next friday for my boss, I need to sort out prizes/rewards, I need to get a lot done actually, somehow, really quickly. I’m supposed to make all these decisions, I’m supposed to come up with prizes when I can’t go shopping and can’t count on delivery dates and such. Makes me nervous. I hate making promises it turns out I can’t keep through no fault of my own.

I’m planning a game for some friends. It should be fun. We’ll have to play over Roll20 and chat over Zoom but so far gaming that way is going pretty well for us. I’m hopeful I can manage to run this one and make it special. Roll20 actually has some real advantages over face to face gaming, we may never go back. ^_^ I love the nice, full color, detailed maps I don’t have to draw. So cool. I can’t wait to get started but it might take a bit, I’m still reading the modules and learning the rules, not to mention learning to use Roll20. So much to do.

And…. Date Night! Of course we can’t go see a movie, or go out to dinner or stop by a bookstore and wander the aisles in bliss, but we were thinking of taking a long walk together and, I don’t know, making out in one of our cars with the radio on? We’ve been pretty desperate for a night away for… years actually. We tried to plan a weekend getaway a year and a half ago and instead cancelled the whole thing because our son was having an emotional crisis. With 3 kids who struggle with depression and anxiety an emotional crisis is never comfortably far off. So we haven’t been anywhere alone together in ages. Since the lockdown our son has taken to coming into our room to talk about 9:00 in the evening, he brings the dog, sits and chats for a bit, and then asks if we can watch something. We can’t really say no, so we don’t, he stays until one or both of us are nodding off and then usually gives a little laugh, says good night and goes off to bed. Between the constant threat of kids coming round our room to chat or in need of hugs or something, and the dampening effect the pandemic has had on romance, let’s just say things have becoming a little too G-rated around here for either of us. So, Date Night, walking, smooching in the car, maybe sneaking out to get a drive through ice cream or something. But the walk has been cancelled due to a severe thunderstorm warning that makes even a drive seem like a bit of a stupid idea. *sigh*

Never fear! For Resourceful Girl is here! Having seen the weather forecast yesterday I realized our plans were going to be altered. I also thought “Why should this be on my stressed out, over worked husband to plan? I’m better at this stuff anyway. ~_^ He’s actually really good at it) Anyway, I took it upon myself to carefully sneak mad amounts of stuff down to the shed I so desperately want to be an awesome hideout and I cleaned, pulled things together, hung lots of gauzy curtains up and that, and made a little love nest, if you can believe it. There’s a chance it’ll be a bit spidery but whatever, we need to get away and 30 yards from the house will have to do!

For romance-type-things and ambience and such I have a candle chandelier, my old CD player and some Billie Holiday ready to go, gauzy curtains hiding most of the scroungy boards in the loft, fairy lights, wine, bread, cheese, acres of soft pillows and a few other things. I’ve got a tiny fridge down there so the wine is cold and the cheese and grapes are there along with some salads I put together, bread, water, the fixings for making tea after dinner. I brought down some simple games like D Dominoes and Uno, I even snuck our PJs down there. I’m planning on dinner, dancing, maybe some games, maybe reading aloud to each other like we used to do all the time, and hopefully some romance. ^_^

Gosh, I hope he likes it!

Isolation Day 68: Grateful

There is so much to be grateful for, let me make at least a partial “list.” I am chatting intermittently with the wonderful woman filling our Instacart order. I know she will never see this, so I’m putting a thank you card with an extra tip in it on our door, but THANK YOU, ERIN! Her service is absolutely exceptional. All our drivers have been great, texting for clarification, offering substitutions, etc, but Erin is amazing. She saw hard to get items on the shelves and texted to see if we wanted them even though they were not on our list at all. Wow. She is just Next Level at customer service. She just texted that the store is out of lentils… lentils, huh, thought I was the only one who liked them! ~_^

My job/my amazing boss. Thank you, Katherine, for the ridiculous number of things you do every day to keep the library going during this insane time of pandemic. Thank you for continuing to fight for our jobs and for all you do to help us adjust to this crazy situation, for all that you do to help us continue to put on programming, and for everything you do now that you have always done. I am so grateful to have a job at all, let alone a wonderful job, and to have a boss who is competent, kind, hard working and understanding.

My wonderful husband. He is working so hard to kick ass at his job through this craziness. He spends all day in the dining room, at the computer & on the phone, attending meetings, fixing issues, talking people through tech stuff, researching solutions, etc etc etc. He’s there from 7:45 in the morning until dinner and often has to go back to work after dinner. I do what I can to help, bringing him tea, breakfast, lunch etc. On top of all that, he’s running online RPGs for the kids at the library and our friends as well as a family game. This morning he texted me and said “You, Me, Date Night Tomorrow!” We’ll come up with something fun and creative to do without breaking quarantine. I’m not sure what we can do… hmmm, maybe I will arrange it all and surprise him. I am getting ideas. ^_^

My sweet kids. Gods, I love them. The younger 2 are working hard to complete their school year online. Unexpected, upsetting to them, they continue to adjust, to move forward, to keep calm and stay on an even keel. My eldest is struggling but trying so hard to be helpful, they all do chores but she is very consistent about keeping up with vacuuming and dishes, with checking in and just being her sweet self. They all look after their mom, not letting me lift heavy things, climb ladders, etc. I’m a notorious klutz. They are so kind. I’m so proud of their kindness and compassion, whatever else they are, whatever problems they may have, my children are kind, and kindness is magic.

Food, Shelter, clean water, books, games, and today, beautiful weather. The necessities and little luxuries of life. Oh, and tea! and music! and our lovable band of misfit pets! We have our home, our cupboards my not be as full as I’d like but we’re eating just fine, we have water for drinking, cooking, bathing etc, our shelves are bursting with books and games and today is sunny and cool and perfect. I still have a little stock of my favorite tea, and a few left from the Australian Afternoon tea my niece sent me. I have the soundtrack of our current apocalypse made for me by my dear friend, Angel, hilarious and perfect, and we have our beautiful Kisa, Jazz, and Puddin’ cuddling us, entertaining us, cheering us, and guarding our home from marauders and invaders.

The gods who watch over us. Not everyone is religious or believes in such intangible things, that is 100% cool, 100% ok with me, be YOU. I know people have all kinds of beliefs and that’s one of the things that makes interacting with other humans interesting and educational. I myself follow the gods of my ancestors and I find great comfort in them. I look to the tales and stories of their epic feats and foibles and I follow the way they have set. It’s a framework, it’s a flexible structure that gives me a lens to examine life through. I rely on the virtues to weigh my decisions and set my course. I ask for help when I need it. When there are things I can’t handle I let them go by handing them over and trusting that the gods know better than I do, that their perspective is long and that things will work out for the best. I could not be more grateful to be on this path.

Life is good, even now, even with fear and illness and strife, life is good.

Day 65…read, work, eat repeat!

I’m doing ok. My attempts to keep my work more separate seem to be working. My stress level is going down. I can tell because my heart isn’t racing all the time anymore, sometimes sure, but not all the time. Plus I can focus and READ again, much more than I was able to even a week ago. I finished The Serpent of Venice; by Christopher Moore, an awesome, quirky, book. Now I’m waiting for the next one to come out, Shakespeare for Squirrels. I preordered it with the gift card my sweet husband and kids gave me for Mother’s Day. Thanks you guys!!!! Currently reading Heroine Complex; by Sarah Kuhn

I worked most of today, well 4 hours, but I’m a beast about what I will count so it covered about 6 hours of the day because I take breaks to keep a little sanity, plus I get interrupted and have other things I’m supposed to do as well. I’m trying to learn about how to find and acquire grants for the library and learn more about best practices and that for Teen Services. My library wide Pet Month art gallery is being promoted on Facebook and such and hopefully we’ll get some submissions. The Pathfinder game is going well, we had 3 kids this past session and I think we can expect 4-5 at the next, which would be AWESOME. I have loads of ideas for online/virtual programs but I’m not sure which ones to pursue. I’m trying to populate May with a few activities and pull together a lot more for June & July. Summer Reading is going to be so weird this year.

With work done for the day I am now working on laundry and came up with a plan for dinner. Yay. Almost forgot to do that! We will be having grilled cheese sandwiches, some squash soup, a salad, and assorted leftovers as well. Tomorrow will be more coherent. I am currently ahead on grocery ordering and we’re set to get an order on Thursday. I view my instacart picks as suggestions or wishes at this point. I think I’m getting about 50% of the things I pick out, another 25% substitutions and about 20-25% is just not available in any form. Last week I did not get: Raspberry tea, flour, chocolate chips, baking powder, chicken thighs, or frozen chicken patties. They replaced whatever chips I’d tried to order with jalapeno chips, hilarious, and other substitutions were all brand substitutions … I think. I have been able to get toilet paper, no problem, I got maybe a 12 pack a couple of weeks ago. Oh, I also wasn’t able to get sanitizing wipes. Not a one to be had, apparently. Meat prices are climbing pretty hard now too. We’re just lucky to still be working at this point, as stressful as it is to be navigating working from home, I know I am damned lucky to be able to.

How are you all holding up? What are you doing to keep busy and distracted?

Isolation: Day 62: bitching about gaming

Second day off, feeling a little more relaxed.

I’m listening to Andy Serkis read The Hobbit on gofundme now. It’s lovely. We’re in Mirkwood now listening about wood elves and their attitude and customs. I can’t believe he’s doing this. I love it.

My main complaint today: Last night we joined in for the 3rd time to a 5E D&D game and I think it’s out last attempt. I don’t like the system at all and that makes me a little sad. I grew up with D&D and loved it. It went off the rails with 4th Ed. and, while 5E is an improvement, it’s still not fun. Top that with one extremely problematic player and an inexperienced GM who can’t manage him and I’d rather play Candy Land. (Side note: I hate Candy Land. To be fair I am not their target audience so I’m not knocking it.) Yeah, so we wasted our entire evening not having fun dealing with a player who hogs the spotlight, tries to bully everyone into going along with him, and talks over people. I sent a message to my husband in the game chat at 10:30 reminding him he had an early meeting (the voice chat cuts out a LOT) and he said, quite clearly, in the voice chat that we had to go after the current fight. So the fight ends and the GM says; “ok, so this is a good spot to wrap it up if some people need to go…” and problem player cuts her off saying: “No one has to go!” both forcefully and angrily. Of course both my husband and I let everyone know, in no uncertain terms, that we DO have to go and we ARE going to go.

You might think that would be the end of it but of course it isn’t. This problem player wants to keep playing. We’d been going for 3 1/2 hours which isn’t epic but is a perfectly acceptable stretch as we’ve been playing more than once a week and the games are going about 3-4 hours. Everyone besides my husband and I are insisting that we can’t start till at least 7pm, we have to get up early, so we want to end about 10pm. We are happy to leave and let them continue on if they like, we are not the center of the world, we respect that they may have all night and want to use it to game. Problem player, however, has a big problem with us leaving early, he wants long gaming sessions. So he asks if there is a better night for us? We say no not really. We have a lot going on with work and 3 kids who all have anxiety and depression, we have to get up early, etc. “How about Friday nights?” he badgers forcefully. “No, sorry, Fridays don’t work for us, and sadly our weekends are quite full.” He kept going, asking about what days DO work for us???? We say basically none. That is unacceptable and we say goodnight and leave anyway because who the heck does he think he is? Trying to corner us into something like that? It’s his attitude and tone. Normal people asking what works better don’t make me feel like I’m being run over with a steamroller. The guy has issues. He used to be the central figure, really, of a large extended group of friends, this was a couple of decades ago and he isn’t dealing well with 90% of these people growing up, getting on with their lives, and leaving. At this point we’re thinking of doing the same. We are grownups with lives and don’t want to spend our leisure time playing to his ego. Ugh.

Anyway, that was last night, today is a new day and it will be lovely. We got groceries delivered this morning and I always feel happy after that. I look at my full fridge and half-full cupboards and I feel secure again for a bit knowing for a a few days I can make pretty much anything we want. I get nervous when things empty out, I get fretful and discouraged, don’t know what to make for dinner. But tonight we shall have mexican food and tomorrow we’ll have lasagna. Past that I haven’t made a plan yet but there are enough options that I won’t be feeling nervous until sometime next week… when we will hopefully get another order. I have Smartfood! I’m so excited because I haven’t had it in months. I used to eat a lot of it. It was my favorite. Anyway, I’m looking forward to it. Maybe we’ll watch a movie while we munch.

Ok, enough writing for now, I’m procrastinating on my relaxation! I hear a hammock calling my name.

Relaxing a Bit

Look at me, I’m taking the next 2 days off from working. Ok, I just spent a little time creating a BUJO (bullet journal) page of ideas in my new journal that I transferred from my old one… and they were mostly ideas relating to my job… but the intent was just to not lose track of good ideas not to actually do work so I think it’s ok.

My plan for today involves spending time on the deck in my hammock reading, a second attempt to make a first skull motif for a project for my son, laundry, decluttering, probably some video gaming, possibly some painting, maybe some writing, (in addition to blogging) and too much cooking which is the new normal.

So far I’m sticking with the BUJO write along. I’m doing it about once a day, catching up on the posted videos. There aren’t many, it’s a weekly exercise, I think, so I’ll be caught up soon and can follow along like a normal person. I have trouble sticking to things, to habits, routines and that, it’s good I’ve made it like 4 or 5 days so far.

Tomorrow I have no plan for yet. That feels kind of nice.

Doing Too Much

Overwhelm is a sneaky beast. Since we started quarantining I’ve posted about stress, shortcomings, feeling like certain things were overwhelming me and starting to get to me but just last night and this morning I hit a real, solid wall. A heart-racing, head-pounding, impatient about everything, just not coping, stressed out, just Done feeling. I just had/have nothing left. So, I’m taking a step back, I’m taking a breath, and I’m taking time for me to actually try to relax and not just sort of fuck off and kill time. I need a schedule that will let me breathe, let me be off the hook for work a LOT. I only work part time, how is that creeping into every waking moment of my life? I need to destress. So I’m going to make some changes:

I’m going to work 4 hours a day, 3 days a week instead of averaging 2 or so hours a day on week days and odds and ends all weekend.
Part of that will mean I work 4 hours every other Saturday and pick 2-3 week days to work and let it go the rest of the time.
I am going to schedule my meals, breakfast and lunch and I’m going to drink more water.
I am going to schedule time to be outside, get some sun and fresh air, daily if possible.
I am giving myself a reading hour with a book, some herbal tea, and quiet.
I’m upping my fruit and veg intake.
I’ve already cut my caffeine intake in half. (from 2 cups to 1 cup/day)
Once I feel less stressed I’m going to work on scheduling family activities again. Having those on the regular would be great for all of us.
I’ve just started following the BUJO Journal along on Instagram and I’m going to continue that because I think it’s helping.
I may take naps, like we did in kindergarten, even if I don’t sleep during them.
I’m going to take the time to appreciate and acknowledge all that I am so lucky to have. I may journal about that here in segments that make sense to me, probably only to me. LOL

We’ll see how this goes. I need to find a way to stick with it, or stick with whatever I can find that works, I’m bad at sticking with schedules. I’m a free-spirit and I like my flexible, chaotic whimsy but that non-system approach to life has broken down under the strain of the pandemic. Time to try something new.

RANT

I seriously just can’t talk to my mother anymore. For every decent conversation we have, we have 5 or more than she sabotages so she can tell her friends what a horrible person I am.

It sucks having been raised by a narcissist. A mother might be worse than a father but I only had a NM so I wouldn’t know. (NM = Narcissist Mother) She basically spent my childhood installing all these buttons she can now push to make me look like the crazy one. It’s horrifying. She loves it when she can get me angry so she can smile her saccharine smile and ask; why are you so full of hate?

She is the opposite of me politically. It is just a fact that we cannot and should not talk politics because there is nothing to agree on. The nicest, mildest thing I could possibly reply to her with would be the dreaded ok boomer. Which I don’t do no matter how tempting it is. I think it, a LOT. Not that all boomers are like her, I know very well they are not, but if the generation gap fits… it amuses me, and I need to laugh. Ok, so naturally when I called her today she starts asking me if I got my stimulus check (is that really what we’re calling it?) and I said I had no idea. Just trying to side-step whatever bullshit she was trying to shovel my way, just trying to avoid having another shitty conversation that goes careening wildly off the rails, but no. She wants to shovel whatever it is my way so she’s going to keep at it. “It would be in your bank account.” I told her I never look at my bank account. She acts shocked, like how could someone never look at their bank account, I just don’t, my husband looks at it, I know like the total so I can pay bills and stuff and he watches the incoming and outgoing amounts to make sure no one’s stealing from us or to make sure checks are getting cashed by people we’ve paid or whatever.

Anyway, she can’t get by me that way so she starts on term limits or something. I honestly haven’t given that issue a whole lot of thought, and I said so, I said I feel like some senators that have been there for ages are corrupt and need to be booted and some are good, hard working people who are clearly doing the best job they possibly can representing the people of their state. Like Bernie Sanders, who she had previously said she would vote for. (shocking me completely because: Opposite virtually 100%) So I thought it was safe to invoke his name, the only safe name there is… was. She pounced on it. Instantly. “I don’t even know where I saw it but I saw a picture of ONE of Bernie Sanders’ houses and it is like a Palace!” I quietly hung up the phone. I didn’t say a single word because I didn’t have a fit word to say. She tried to call twice and I hit decline. No way in hell was I getting either; 1) drawn into some kind of discussion about this unverified story, or, 2) listening to her “apologize” and ask me why am I so angry “all the time” or so full of hate. No, I am literally following the instructions of mothers uncounted by not saying anything since I cannot be trusted, in my frustration with her manipulation, to say anything nice.

After a bit I sent her a couple of texts, explaining why I hung up, because I didn’t have anything nice to say, and suggesting that if she has information on something controversial from an unverified source she might not want to talk about it because what good is that? I then sent a text after looking, took 2 minutes, and discovering that there is a picture being posted on the internet of a a huge mansion in Vermont that is yes, palatial, but has nothing whatsoever to do with Senator Bernie Sanders. The story she’s spreading is a 100% baseless rumor. Is the Senator more well off than me? Yep. Of course he’s a lot older than I am and he’s worked his ass off his whole life so I am honestly glad that he has managed to pull together a net worth of some weight. He has 3 houses, the one he lives in most of the time in VT which is a 4 bedroom colonial, a 1 bedroom in DC for obvious reasons, and a lake house purchased only a handful of years ago in VT. Yeah, I don’t think I will ever get to that point, but it isn’t some insane lifestyle or anything. My grandparents at one time owned houses in 2 states. No one would ever accuse them of being corrupt or living some opulent lifestyle.

Yeah, so, she did rile me up, obviously. She has a LOT of practice at it, a lot, a lot, a lot. I should have known we couldn’t have 2 “nice” conversations in a row. I should have known she’s do this and I should just not have called. If she calls me she’s content just to guilt me about not calling her, if I call she gets to pull out something special from her toolbox of manipulation. I know this and yet I slip back into denial time after time. *HEADDESK* So, this will probably have some ripples going out from it. So close to Mother’s Day, and now we won’t talk for at least a few days because that would be unwise. She’ll get to complain to my sisters about how mean I am, what could she possibly have done to deserve being hung up on? I will be painted the bad, ungrateful, mean and horrid daughter no mother deserves. Yep, that’s me. It is so convenient too, so nice for me, that her Mother’s Day present is delayed and won’t arrive until the day after. Perfect.

Anyone who’s read this far? Bless you. Thank you for bearing witness to my angst and frustration. Thank you for listening.

Ancient Wonder

My husband reads the news a lot more than I do. I find it disheartening to read much of it, it’s pretty much all slanted toward scaring us, upsetting us, a lot of it makes me angry so I avoid it. This morning he told me something that, while it could be construed as concerning, actually makes me feel oddly happy. People are baking so much that there is what amounts to a worldwide run on flour. Supposedly you can’t get it anywhere at the moment. I have no idea, I haven’t entered a store in weeks and weeks and I haven’t tried to order any, because I always keep a fair bit on hand. I buy it on sale and keep in the freezer until I have room in my airtight containers. I think I may be getting low by now but I haven’t been checking. Hmm, I probably should… not that I can remedy the situation apparently.

Anyway, there is plenty, PLENTY of wheat, there is NO SHORTAGE. According to the article my husband read it just needs to be milled and processed and that, so, somewhere in the U.K. they are reopening a One Thousand year old mill to help meet demand. This is where I need a large pool of silence where I sit absorbing this information and my imagination goes zipping down rabbit holes picturing what a 1,000 year old mill could look like, how it’s still standing and existing, just the sheer amazing awesomeness of it being reopened in the modern world. Honestly, it brings tears to my eyes, I LOVE this. I want to order flour specifically from this mill. I looked it up and the one in the U.K. probably looked(s) something like this:

Ok, maybe it looked like this, I don’t know I haven’t been there, but this is an old form of mill. It could be turned by river power, there are versions that were driven by animals or people power as well.

I love it because it’s so simple and pure. I’m sure this early tech had problems but if it can be pressed into service 1,000 years after it was built I am humbled by the genius of its enduring design. I watch a woman on Youtube who lives on a farm in rural China who grows, processes and cooks food using very old methods. One of the things that intrigues me most is the mill she uses to grind things like corn & soybeans and so on. It’s built something like this one but more rustic:

Hers has a base to it so it’s at about waist height or so. She slips a wooden bar into a hole in the top and walks around and around adding water and beans as she goes.

So, what I love, what makes me happy about all this is that we’re all baking. Lots of people who never had time to bake before are baking. Houses are full of the smells of banana bread, cookies, muffins and sourdough bread. There are kids crowding their parent’s elbows to watch the mysterious process that only became so mysterious pretty recently. I love the activity, I love the wholesomeness, I love the continuity of doing this thing that our ancestors did for so many generations. I am so happy people are gaining this skill. That some are finding the satisfaction of making bread with their own hands, delighting in the alchemy of yeast and sugar, glowing with pride as their family eats and loves the delicious taste of fresh, homemade bread. I love the old mill, or hopefully mills that will or might be pressed into service after a long and quiet time in stillness. There is much to love about the modern world, some of it very good indeed, we have the means to travel far, far, far and return home again, we have the miracle of vaccines that have all but eradicated certain dangerous diseases, we have the means to see storms coming days in advance in many cases, global communication, the list goes on. But we left behind some valuable things in our rush to adopt new ways of doing things, and I love to see us returning to some of the things that are simpler, more wholesome, that give people satisfaction, that require skill, labor, & time.

I haven’t been baking bread but I’ve been making cookies and scones more than usual. Have you been baking? Is it a new skill, a renewed skill, or a long habit for you? Have you picked up any other types of skills during lockdown? I’ve heard buzz that knitting, sewing, and crafting of all kinds are having a moment. Let me know what you’re up to in the comments! It’s nice to know if I’m not talking to myself. ~_^ I like biscuits, maybe I’ll make some tonight.