Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Five

Here we are in our fifth week of social distancing and we are still in a routine. It has been okay. I saw a quote, not sure who to attribute it to or if I’m remembering it correctly, but it was something along the lines of: “We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat.” This is so accurate. I don’t take it for granted that we have been very lucky during this situation. We still (as far as we are aware) do not know anyone who has gotten sick. To this end, we are doing our part and staying home.

We did venture out to the grocery store. It has been two weeks since our last shop. Our store was well-stocked and we were able to get everything that we wanted, including a huge bag of flour. We are trying to last another two weeks. Although the store was stocked and not very crowded, it was a different experience. This time, about 50-60% of people wore masks and actively practiced social distancing.

Among the people who were not wearing masks, some went out of their way to come close to us, closer than people would have under pre-virus circumstances. I couldn’t help but feel this was antagonistic. On the same day, many people were protesting the “stay at home” orders, including hundreds in Denver. I felt this growing sentiment of not just people wanting to do their own thing, but an aggression towards those who feel differently. It made me want to get home quickly.

I’m proud to say that a side-effect of the virus has been the way we use food in our household. We have been cooking every meal at home and really eating all of the leftovers. Food waste used to be a big problem for us, but we are using everything. I can’t say that we are eating healthier, as this week included homemade pizza, baking a cake, curry night with fried pompadums, and gnocchi with bolognase sauce.

Dan received an order of goodies from The British Food Depot and I got to try a Wagon Wheel. Wagon Wheels are similar to Moon Pies, but smaller and tastier. I love British snack food!

We started in on a new bag of coffee from Boca Java, my favorite roaster. I’m sharing because the bag has a funny and appropriate label. Also, Boca Java recently suffered a terrible loss when a fire destroyed their roasting facility. They are struggling to get back on their feet. It’s enough that we are all dealing with the virus, but a fire on top of that is a huge setback.

Cooking wasn’t our only project: Dan turned our gorgeous Timothy Oulton light pendant, into a floor light. Dan added the base. It is too heavy to hang, but having it on the floor is actually a great addition to our living room. We also took part in the third Timothy Oulton Los Angeles Lock Down event, where we were treated to a preview of new products.

We went on many walks, always sporting our bank robber bandana masks. Yesterday, cows congregated at the fence near our house, so we went to visit them.

We celebrated Earth Day this week and if there is one positive result of Covid-19, it is in many places the environment is healing. It seems to be healing in ways that simply wouldn’t have happened if we had not been forced to change our behavior.

The weather has been beautiful, but since our garden is still just dirt, we have been staying inside. I read a ton and Dan played video games. We Skyped with the kids. We watched more Schitt’s Creek, currently on season 3. We did a double-movie Saturday with Guy Richie’s The Gentlemen (great, worth watching, very funny) and The Impractical Joker’s Movie. We are huge fans of The Impractical Jokers, but the movie is a stinker. They have a few challenges like on their show, which are amusing, but it also has a strange storyline, which was totally unnecessary.

As I mentioned before, we are lucky and grateful for everything that we have, but that doesn’t mean that we are not allowed to feeling disappointment. If Covid-19 hadn’t happened, we would be in Las Vegas right now. This is actually the first time in Dan’s career that he has missed the NAB trade show and I have gone with him every year, since we have been together. When it was cold this winter, I was dreaming of our April trip, especially sunbathing poolside with umbrella drinks. I was looking forward to having the Chinese Chicken Salad at Chin-Chin and hanging out with my friend Cath. I know it’s just a trip to Vegas and we’ve been to Vegas a million times, but it is a disappointment. In light of that, here are some of my favorite pictures from previous Vegas trips, including our Aria Wedding.

And as usual, I will end with a picture of our two fur-babies. Now that we are always home, I’m not sure how they will handle it when we are finally allowed to start traveling again!

Book Review: Eliza Nellums' All That's Bright and Gone

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for providing me with a copy of Eliza Nellums’ novel, All That’s Bright and Gone, in exchange for an honest review.

Six-year old Aoife has recently witnessed her mother have a mental break-down at a shopping mall and is currently being cared for by her Uncle Donny, while her mother is recovering in a hospital. While living with her uncle, she tries to search for clues regarding the mystery surrounding her older brother, Theo. Her mother talks about Theo as though he is still alive, but Aoife is sure that he has been murdered. To add to Aoife’s confusion, her mother’s boyfriend has started coming around and he claims to be Aoife’s real father. Aoife attempts to navigate her muddled world with the help of her imaginary friend, Teddy, and her eight-year-old neighbor who is an amateur sleuth.

Nellums has created a vibrant and winning protagonist in Aoife. I think it is hard to craft a believable young child protagonist, but Nellum has nailed it, balancing Aoife’s precociousness with her innocence. Also balanced is the amount of truth that we know from the adults in Aoife’s world, allowing the reader insight to her reality vs. her assumptions. It is a compelling look at a child caught in the middle of adult issues.

Teddy makes the reader wonder if Aoife is headed down the same path toward mental illness as her mother or if an imaginary friend is simply a childhood rite of passage. Teddy resembles a teddy bear and he urges Aoife to act in ways that direct her toward danger. The inclusion of Teddy worked well to make me think that Aoife could be an unreliable narrator, but the uncertainty of it kept me on fence, adding to the mystery of the story.

I throughly enjoyed All That’s Bright and Gone. I truly had no idea where the story was headed, but was gripped from the start. I was hooked by the feeling of uncertainty and that Aoife might always be in danger. There is a great scene with a elderly neighbor that had me really worried for Aoife. Nellums never allows the tension to drop, which keeps the pacing tight and makes All That’s Bright and Gone a quick read.

Nellums is a gift writer with regard to both prose and plot. All That’s Bright and Gone is her debut novel and I’m looking forward to reading her future works.

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Four

It’s week four of social distancing and things have become routine. It’s nice to have a sense of routine. Dan and I are both still busy with a full work schedule and our weekends have become a good mix of projects, down-time, and catching up with loved ones, especially my step-kids in Sweden.

As the number of infections and deaths increases, we feel relatively safe here in Littleton. A news report last night said that our local hospitals still had 70% capacity available and plenty of ventilators. This made me feel less stressed. Our healthcare professionals are definitely working hard, but it is not as dire here as it could be. I hope that doesn’t change. As far as we are aware, we still don’t know anyone who has become infected. I did have one student cancel a class due to a high fever and I had not heard back from her, so that is worrisome. She is Taiwan.

Generally, I’ve felt less stressed this week. I did have one stressed induced nightmare, where I had to
”scrub the virus” off of my body and I woke up with scratch marks all over my arms. Otherwise, I’ve been sleeping well. We have a week-night routine of the 10pm local news, followed by Stephen Colbert’s monologue, and then bed. We wake up around 6:30am and get our morning news at 7am with CBS This Morning. I am mesmerized by Gale King’s colorful wardrobe.

My biggest concern at the moment is actually Sweden. My step-kids live in Sweden and Sweden isn’t enacting strict social distancing measures. As far as I understand, they are recommending it, especially for older people, but they are not closing most businesses or schools. I’m not sure if their strategy will work and I see their infections/deaths climbing. I worry about my step-kids and their family in Sweden. On a less important note, I’m also worried that our upcoming summer vacation with them will have to be canceled. It’s not only about having a fun vacation ( and we have an amazing one booked, that we are holding-off on canceling), but it is mostly about missing the time with them. We don’t have very much time with them, so losing it, will be very hard. I do feel grateful that we live in a time when technology makes it so easy to connect virtually, but it isn’t the same.

So much virtual connecting this week. I’m a bit exhausted by it, but also grateful. I had a virtual happy hour with my friend Melissa in Oregon. We also participated in the second Timothy Oulton “Friday Night Los Angeles Lock Down.” This week, in addition to giving away prizes, they hosted a Q&A with Timothy Oulton, which was very interesting. It’s great to hear what inspired our favorite designer. I also listened to a virtual concert by Josh Ritter, called The Silo Sessions. He played his entire The Animal Years album, which is one of my all-time favorite albums. A Josh Ritter concert is exactly what I needed right now and there is something special about being invited into an artist’s actual home. I could hear Ritter’s wife and children in the background and he sat on the floor with his guitar. It was low key and very intimate.

We attended an important virtual meeting hosted by our community association that taught us how to prep our sprinkler system for spring/summer. We followed the steps and watered our little patch of lawn…but then we had to shut it down again, because snow came. Oh, Colorado, you weather tease!

We continued with the kitchen experiments. I caved and tried the viral sensation: whipped coffee. It was easy to make and very sweet. It reminded me of Thai iced coffee, more of a dessert drink.

Dan made an English Trifle to go with our Sunday roast dinner. We are lacking a proper trifle bowl, but made-do with a pyrex baking dish.

Dan baked amazing cinnamon raisin bread. Our house smelled so good!!!

Another big accomplishment was physically moving our Timothy Oulton Rex Mirror to a new spot in the house. This was a big deal because it is incredibly heavy and took five men to lift it when we moved to Colorado, but somehow, we managed to do it ourselves on Saturday. In a super hero moment, Dan took the weight of the entire mirror and stood it up. It was like I was trapped under a car and he had to lift it to save me- that kind of strength. Here is a cute picture of Tom in front of the mirror.

During a clean-out of unpacked moving boxes in our garage, we hit the jackpot.

This week we watched a few long-anticipated movies. First, we finally watched Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. I’m not a huge fan of the Star Wars franchise, but it seemed like a must-see, especially as we have a trip to Walt Disney World planned. It was better than I had anticipated. Last night, we finally watched Cats.

Cats…I kind of loved it. I know it isn’t very good and it’s truly bizarre, but I liked that Victoria was made a protagonist ( she is a minor character in the stage musical) and Francesca Hayward who plays her, gives a moving performance. It’s all-around weird and the music sounds dated, yet I found myself in tears at the end. I was moved. I think it might be a bit of nostalgia. Cats was my first Broadway show that I saw as a child and I thought it was magical. I’m not sure why the movie made me so emotional, but maybe it was a feeling of sadness for theatres being closed or nostalgia for a different, easier time. I also got torn up by the abandonment story line and thinking of how we rescued our kitties. I also had been drinking gin. Who knows what triggered me, but I was definitely triggered.

I do know that this episode of This American Life, also sums up my fascination with the whole damn thing. Clearly, E.J Dixon is my long-lost sister.

Speaking of cats…here are some cat pictures from this week. Highlights include the cats watching the snow, including Tom trying to catch snowflakes by jumping at the glass. Tom also helped Dan build his new driving simulator chair. I love the picture of Tom and Slinky taking turns at their food bowl. They need to work on their social distancing skills.

Sunday was Easter. We don’t normally do anything special to celebrate Easter, but we did have a relaxing day at home. I read for hours, sitting in a chaise by the window, enjoying the falling snow and multiple cups of coffee. The cats cuddled with me. It was great.

I’m ending with a childhood Easter memory from the early 80’s. My mom always had Good Friday off and we would go to Disneyland. This lasted throughout my entire childhood, until my teen years. I always associate this time of year with Disneyland.

In the 80’s Disneyland had a promotion called “Thumpers Easter egg hunt,” where each child could pick a plastic egg that contained a prize. Most of the prizes were small, like a free soda or popcorn. I always wanted to win the stuffed animal- never did. The top prize was a return ticket to Disneyland and although that was the most rare prize, I managed to pick an egg with it for several years in a row. My mom was thrilled. I still wanted the stuffed animal.

Here I am with Thumper and my Dorothy Hamill hair style. I realize that it seems weird that I was wearing a sailor dress and Mary Janes to Disneyland, but this my style. I almost exclusively wore dresses until I was in Junior High. This wasn’t an Easter thing. I’ve always leaned towards being fancy for any occasion.