Diversions

You'd think this working at home thing would be a breeze around here, but my number one priority these past several days has been finding a way to focus and do any work at all, given the distractions, the generalized sense of anxiety in the air, the limitations real and imagined caused by near-quarantine, and the fact that there are now four humans attempting to do this in the same house at the same time.

Still, my second goal is...not to accomplish anything in particular, but to focus on some things. I am hoping to read many books, catch up on my pile of New Yorkers, binge some good TV, cook and bake many delicious foods, buy a ukulele and learn how to play it, go for the longest walks. I have a couple of suggestions for you!

• On SkillShare, you can take classes from experts on a nearly infinite number of subjects, from singing lessons to vegan baking to chair massage to how to do calligraphy. If you sign up for Erin Boyle's class, you can get two free months of SkillShare Premium (you can find this offer all over the place right now, this is just the one I actually clicked on). Even if you're not interested in minimalism, you can be like me and take a personal essay writing class with Roxane Gay or memoir writing with Mary Karr!
• Joe Pera Talks With You is so odd, so quiet and strangely charming, so deeply calming. I find it just as good at reducing stress as The Great British Baking Show et al.
• The YMCA has exercise classes and yoga classes online, as do lots of other places!
• I made a Pinterest board for COVID-19 cooking/baking, and I'm keeping track of what we've cooked and adding notes. So far, I have done the lion's share of the cooking around here, which I am (thus far) extremely happy to do, since I find it really soothing. We'll see how long I can keep it up (last night Edna exclaimed over my soup and no-knead bread: "This is like a really expensive farm-to-table restaurant!!")

What else? I have a pile of books, but if I make it through them I'll probably check out the New York Public Library, which has 300,000 free books you can download (as well as the ebook offerings at my local library). We have been too sleepy to watch movies the last few nights, but we've got plans to view all kinds of good ones this weekend. The sun is due to come out any day now (I mean this literally). 

Thanks, neighbor.

yowie

i got a shock in each ear this morning from my ear buds. or maybe it came from the treadmill itself, or from my own personal buildup of static electricity. i've researched this question thoroughly on the internets, and i'm still not sure if i should be afraid to ever go back to the gym again! i think from now on i'll stay at home where it's safe and lie on the couch eating whoopie pies.

the latest

bean and boo are off to cambridge this weekend for a visit with their mana and pop. this will be boo's first parent-free bus trip. i hope the movie on the bus is an improvement over the last one i watched, which was back to school starring the (okay, speaking ill of the dead now) hideously bug-eyed horrorfest which is rodney dangerfield. and yes, i watched the whole horrible thing.

meanwhile, back on the chickenless ranch, m and i will be insulating and drywalling the garage! anyone who's in the neighborhood and craving interaction with that scratchy pink insulation is welcome to come by. actually, i don't know if we're using that scratchy pink insulation or some more modern kind. either way, it's bound to be a lot of fun!


extracurriculars:

boo is currently taking scottish dance and acting classes. he is a simpsons fanatic. bean is still playing the piano (currently, chopin and yann tiersen)and taking a modern dance class. she will start guitar-lessons-with-chad any week now, and in october she'll also start a film making class and reporting for the local youth-run documentary radio program. m has a new bike, and he rides it sometimes! he and bean drove up to camden last weekend and climbed a mountain (not mt batty, one adjacent to it). i walk a nervous dog round the block (as soon as he poops, he's ready to go home. there are scary noises in the world), go to the gym every day, perfect my soy latte art, read when i should be sewing, sew when i should be moving the laundry along, and shop online for land in remote areas of maine when i should be doing anything else. i also baked the best pumpkin muffins in the history of the universe last week.