Thank you USPS!

The United States Postal Service, like most other businesses, is experiencing challenging times right now.  The people who make up the USPS are still working, providing us with a sense of stability and our daily mail.

I read a great article on NPR about how to help the USPS in their time of need, and show them our thanks.  It's simple, practical, and not too expensive.  Buy stamps.

Money is tight for everyone right now, but I was able to purchase a book of stamps that honor my all time favorite journalist, Gwen Ifill.  I miss her calm demeanor so much.  Every Friday night for over a decade I watched her on Washington Week and felt informed, calm, and optimistic when it was done.  Oh, Gwen, we need you right now!

Knitting My Bit

I've been looking for a way to help during this time.  Sewing face masks is on my list but since I haven't used my sewing machine in years that will be a project that has to wait until after graduation (16 days...).  My incredibly kind and talented friend Erin mentioned knitting earsavers, and when I looked the free pattern up on Ravelry, I knew this was something I can do right now in little pockets of time (while I finish writing the last 45 pages of my final project).  They really are easy, comforting to knit, comfortable to wear and helpful to the folks on the front lines who have to wear masks for long periods of time. I can knit one up in about 15 minutes, and they help calm my nerves a bit.  This batch is heading to Kroger where I know half of the kids and many of the adults who work there.  Small town.  If they like them, I'll knit more & bring them in.  

A New Garden

Our beautiful old garden was overtaken by my evil nemesis Johnson Grass the year I returned to work full time.  My busiest season at the library was the Summer Reading Program which did not leave much time for keeping up with the garden.  Of course now that we are living in a pandemic, my thoughts return to the basics, including food security.  Heather wrote about this just the other day.

I found the old pitchfork and a patch of lawn that hadn't been taken over by JG, and began to turn over the earth, one forkful at a time.  This tiny garden in the making has potential but it's going to take work.  Starting all over is never easy, but there are always opportunities for growth and learning, and for that I am grateful.

Grad School in the Time of Corona

I'm in my final weeks of grad school, finishing my MAT in Special Education.  I was happily cruising along my student teaching semester, as my dreams that had been put on hold for decades were finally coming true, when schools abruptly closed for the remainder of the year.

I know how blessed and lucky we are.  We are all, in this house so far at least, healthy and have plenty of food (and even toilet paper!) and we have acres of land to explore and spread out when we need space.  Still, trying to finish school without the one thing that keeps me motivated -- my students -- has proven to be a big challenge.  I worry about them constantly, try to find new ways to engage them, but the rural area we live in doesn't lend itself to sudden distance learning.  I still have that big 75 page final project due in 13 days, but I am creating this curriculum for imaginary students now and am having such a hard time focusing.  Plus there's the whole - if time is running out, I want to spend my time with people I love not research writing - thing.  Every day I contemplate just quitting.  And every day I make myself sit in this chair and get back to work during the precious times that the house is quiet enough for me to think.

And every day I think about how blessed & lucky we have been so far during this and keep a grateful heart.

Baked French Toast with Ella & Louis

It's Sunday (I think!) and that means jazz brunch.  Well, that's what it meant for many, many years before life got too busy and I got too busy and slowly this one consistent anchor in our lives just stopped.  Why did I let that happen?  This is one of the myriad of things I'm asking myself during this quarantine time.  I'm sure I'm far from alone in re-examining the importance of comforting rituals.

Last night I found myself in the kitchen past midnight, following a marathon schoolwork session.  I saw the chunks of almost stale  bread I had been collecting in a bag in the freezer and remembered the recipe that my boys always called "deliciousness." We had all the ingredients so I went ahead and made it.  The beauty of this recipe (besides the flavor and satiating quality) is that it can be assembled the night before. 

Well, I baked it this morning, and put on the old favorite cd, and we ate.  It wasn't a picture perfect time of family togetherness; we couldn't even all sit at the table which is covered with so many projects, but we listened to the favorite old music and we ate the favorite old food and we laughed.  It was delicious and filling and the boys are temporarily quiet so I can get some work done.

Thank you Ella & Louis, you always bring a smile to our faces...

Procrastination

What does one do when one is home, trying to keep her family safe, fed, and sane while also trying to finish her last 3 weeks of grad school?  Why start a blog, of course!  One of the things that this stay-at-home order has gotten me thinking about is my old blog, that I loved and abandoned years ago.  Back then I had sweet baby boys who didn't care if their photos were shared on mom's blog; in fact they though it was pretty great.  But now, at 17, 15, and 11, I respect their right to privacy and they will only appear here if I have their permission.  I guess I'll have to learn to write about other things (although my boys will always be my favorite topic). I've never liked facebook or any other social media, but this is a time for us luddites to embrace the technology of connection.  And so, instead of working on my final thesis, I am here, trying to establish a connection or leave my mark.  Something.

Enchanted Flowerpots is the title of a chapter from my favorite childhood book, Little Witch, by Anna Elizabeth Bennett.  It is a book I return to in times like this when I need comfort.  And I think we all feel like the enchanted flowerpots right now: children who were cast under a spell and turned into flowerpots, forced to sit in the windowsill and look out as the world went on without them.

This particular enchanted flowerpot is truly grateful for all the nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, custodians, grocery clerks, mail workers, and everyone else out there keeping us healthy and fed.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you.