Corona Weekly Whatever Update!

Another week done. We cleaned our bedroom carpets Saturday! Oven is cleaned! I have plans to tackle windows soon... G is doing well in school. We are enjoying the shorter school days and he's getting the hang of focusing online and getting his work done quickly and efficiently. He only missed a few tests for math at the beginning of the school closure.

G and I enjoyed some fun in the sun!

We also said goodbye to my friend and her family Saturday afternoon. They hosted a car parade so people could drive by and stay in their cars and give them cards and cookies and say goodbye. They are leaving for Virginia Friday. We met them while we were living in Japan a few years ago while working for the same company and being ex-pats together. They lived within walking distance and we forged a never-ending bond for life. I was so excited when they moved back to the U.S. and got a job here. But now it's back home for them. I'm so sad but excited they get to be back where all their family is. And it's even more tragic since we can't really properly say goodbye. You mad-dash for all the fun things and night-outs and hikes and parties and help clean and pack and load trucks. All those rituals that help you when loved ones move away... None of that here. We have social media and future plans to travel and see each other but it's so hard to think of the future right now.

My ex-pat buddies, Aly is the one the right and she's moving :(

One grateful thing this weekend was singing to my mother for her birthday on Sunday! I made cookies, bought some flowers, and G and I made cute but lackluster cards. We dropped them off on the porch and stood back 6 feet and sang away and then chit-chatted for a few minutes. No hugs or kisses but just chatting and seeing them in-real-life makes a big difference. It's the little things right now.

There's my mom and dad!

G and I are also doing a little science unit on the Black Plague during the Middle Ages and are making some plague masks. We still need to paint them tonight. So pics will be forthcoming next week!

One thing that has been disheartening is not a lot of people in my area are taking this seriously. Hardly anyone is wearing masks at the grocery stores. I feel safer at Smith's (Kroger) and Costco right now than anywhere else. It's depressing.

But on a lighter note, I'm seeing a lot of fun signs of encouragement in windows and even kids are chalking out their own obstacle courses on sidewalks and trails around town.

Some great links right now: Brain Pickings by Maria Popova is a great site that links up a lot science, art, and philosophy. She brings a lot of big ideas together for our reading pleasure. She also helps host The Universe in Verse. The latest season was shown virtually Saturday but the full show from 2019 is available here (towards the bottom of the page).

I can't remember if I've mentioned this before but Greater Good Science Center has been absolutely critical for me during this time. They have some amazing articles and classes on coping with all the emotions, ideas for mindfulness and kids, etc.

Also the Library of Congress Collections has an app for Apple phones and ipads with Android coming soon to search their collections! I read letters Abraham Lincoln wrote on my phone this weekend. How cool is that?

And Bookshop.org is a way to help out Indie stores right now. They're helping out Indie bookstores that don't have a great online presence or online support.

Books: I finished off Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity by Rebecca Goldstein. Insightful and dense. But she goes into Sephardic Jew history and what was going on during that time in Amsterdam and elsewhere. I enjoyed the historical context and what made him think. The discussion of his philosophy was were it was a little harder to follow. But overall, a great read on Spinoza.

I'm still reading through Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by Daniel Quammen, Emma by Jane Austen, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, Spark and the League of Ursus by Robert Repino with G before bed. And I am still listening to Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland; I will finish either today or tomorrow. I also started The Sagas of the Icelanders that I'm reading for the 1000 Book Challenge with Michelle. I started My Best Friend's Exorcism: A Novel by Grady Hendrix, which is kind of the first book before The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, which I'll get to after!

Watching: Still working on my Language Families of the World in Great Course Plus; I only have three episodes left! I finished watching Star Trek: Picard on CBS All Access. I loved it! Now onto Star Trek: Discovery before my free trial ends in a couple of weeks! I finished Altered Carbon with DH. Really great cliffhanger. Can't wait for another season but who knows when that will happen...

SNL at home is probably the best thing right now. Not all are fantastic and there were a few duds Saturday but there were more than three that were fantastic. Kate McKinnon and her cat for the win this week and Aidy Bryant and her turtel journal a very close second.

G and I finished off Lego Masters! Very fun stuff.

Movies? Gretel and Hansel was a surprising win for me. Creepy and haunting and disturbing. I loved it. The Apple Dumpling Gang happened as well this weekend on Disney+, Troop Zero on Amazon Prime was amazing (everyone cried properly), and I got my crime thriller movie fix in with The Invisible Guardian on Netflix, a very atmospheric Spanish thriller. Lots of rain and forests.

This week: Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and Rice Krispie treats as well were made with love and eaten quickly by all.

Looking forward to planting flowers. It's probably not going to happen till next week or the week after but I can still look forward to it! Also contemplating whether or not to plant tomatoes... Tuesday I'm Skyping with friends and drinking a cocktail while we chit chat and catch up.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!

*Linking up with Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz.