Call It What It Is

 “Somebody’s been murdering our people and it’s gone on far too long. We won’t be silent anymore!” Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II

Finally there’s the word: murder. This wasn’t a killing. This wasn’t a dreadful accident. It has been compared to a modern day lynching. So let’s call it what it is: murder.

I read a lot of mysteries and in one of my favorites by Agatha Christie, Miss Marple says that it is rare to have a witness to a murder. Friends, we as a nation and maybe as a world have witnessed a murder. Hundreds of thousands of witnesses thanks to video and modern media. And so far, the murderer has been fired. Just fired. "Sorry, Buddy. You can’t work here any more."

I sit in my white privileged quarantine and feel totally helpless. All I can hope is that for now it is enough that I not keep silent any longer. A man was murdered, cruelly, obscenely and deliberately murdered and we were all witnesses and there must be an accounting. It must start here and stop here. Let’s honor George Floyd by making his the last. 

Graduates I Love

You have read that my biggest sadness during this pandemic quarantine has been the missing of this week when two of our grandsons were to have graduated from high school. Well, of course they graduated just not with the usual fanfare and an audience including proud grandparents.

So here they are: Akira Supelana-Mix and Tim Rast.

Tim is heading for Santa Clara University on a soccer scholarship. I am not sure what his tassels stand for but he wore them with pride in a car parade for his class.

Akira attended a gathering of theatre seniors at the home of their director who saw to it that they all had caps and gowns and tassels.   His blue stole is for the Thespian Guild members,  and the appropriate cords: orange, blue, and white for tech theatre, and red and black, SOU colors, for the three dual credit classes he took (Anatomy & Physiology, Statistics, and Tech). The varsity letter is for outstanding theatre achievement. (Where but Ashland can you letter in theater?!?)

Akira and Tim, your Mama Susan and Grandpa are very proud of you, all your achievements that brought you here and all you will accomplish in the future. Congratulations!!

We Know Our Place

Tuesday is an easy day at the grocery store so we have started going after breakfast instead of in the early morning hours of senior shopping. We were home and unloaded about 10:30. Dean finished bringing in the bags and said he was headed for the office for a Zoom meeting. I quickly finished putting the last of the groceries away and called to Oso to come with me to the back deck. We both went right to our respective places: I to the rocking chair, Oso to a spot in the shade in front of me where he can look out over the woods and survey his territory. And here we will sit for most of the day. I will read, have a scheduled phone call, rock, send emails, rock, and enjoy. Oso will keep watch for bears, squirrels, chipmunks, birds and the neighborhood kids running through the forest. If necessary, he will jump and run and even bark to let them know this is his territory and they are not welcome. All but the kids will run from him. The humans will call him by name and say nice things to him and he will quit barking and wag his tail. He stays on the deck though. He knows his place. I do too - and it's a very nice place to be.

Simple Pleasures

We are doing some grocery ordering from a small grocery/bar/restaurant that is bridging the SiP gap by delivering or having curb side pick up after ordering on line. The first time I saw their website I noticed they had corn dogs and I wanted one. Finally today, I got my wish. Actually we had forgotten once again to order them and when they called Dean to say our order was ready for pick up, he just asked if they had any. They did and we had some for lunch today.

Dean also fried potatoes. I sliced the potato very thin. 

We were so happy. Corn dogs and fried potatoes. Maybe not the healthiest meal but wow! One straight out of our childhoods. Lunch conversation consisted mainly of memories of The State Fair of Texas and standing in line for corn dogs and then going over to the Borden's booth where we stood in line again to see Elsie, the Borden's cow, and get one of those little tubs of ice cream. Life couldn't be much better than that and we enjoyed reliving those days along with very present tasty food. Why, I'm even having a little ice cream! 

Quarantine Musings

1) This whole situation has started to invade my dreams. The dreams are rather ordinary. They just have an added element: I am upset if people are not wearing masks or social distancing.

2) This morning is senior shopping and as I was getting dressed, I noticed I looked a little pale and I reached for lipstick and realized No - won't do that. It will mess up the inside of my mask.

3) Cooking seems to be more prevalent these days. Not sure baking oatmeal cookies is all that good for us and it got me out of my chair and moving around. Maybe they were balanced by the pork stir fry I pulled together for dinner.

4) I need sunshine, a condition I have known for years, and it is heightened by the fact that I was so delighted with our early spring and now we are back to almost winter including an all day snow yesterday. Or the day before ~ I'm not too sure any more.

5) And finally - in spite of all of this, I am So Grateful for all my blessings. I have listed these before and I will again with no apology: we live where we can walk in the woods with no masks; town is not that big nor crowded that social distance is relatively easy; our ordinary, "normal" lives make SiP easier than for most people; and for now we are safe and secure and healthy and well fed. Also it's kind of fun to have the bears come right up to the back door to check on us. Keep counting your blessings, my friends!

Friday Morning

We have sun! ☼ And a perfectly clear blue sky. There is a whiff of the moon, very tiny and trying to stay around in spite of the intensity of the sun. I've been sitting on the front deck in my rocking chair watching a hawk "making lazy circles in the sky". The hawk was followed by three larger birds - from my view down here possibly geese, and also possibly eagles. They too were riding the thermals, circling around and around. No wings flapped and no effort was needed to stay aloft and move with the air.

Airlines must be adding flights because suddenly there were two contrails as planes flew across the blue, those thermal winds quickly dispersing the contrails. And then once again the sky was clear and uninterrupted by creatures of any kind. Warmth of sun and peace invade my soul and I am content.

Whatever your situation this morning, may you at some time find a moment of peace to call your own. With blessings and grace ~

Farmers' Market

Our Farmers' Market opened this morning. These folks have been open down south all along because they were exempt from closing when the governor's decree came. They have it down! The pink signs say, "Please, do not touch. We will help you." Most things are bagged and those that aren't like cucumbers, they will find the one you want and hand it to you. They had chalked arrows on the parking lot showing where to stand in line. Because most of us were locals, we all had our masks and we were fine with their telling us to wear them if didn't have them on. 

Another young man had taken all his produce and put one package of each thing on a little display table so we could tell him what we wanted and he would reach behind him and hand us a package. All the sellers had on gloves as well as masks. 

Of course today was rather slow being their first day in Tahoe for the season. When it gets busier and the tourists arrive for the summer, it may take a while to get through the lines. All we can hope for is patience and adherence to the rules. 

We went from there to the grocery store for senior shopping where about half of the customers had on masks. Everyone kept a good distance though so that at least was helpful. It is hard to know what is right and good. I tend to act on the side of caution. I'm glad to be home for a week. 

Isolation Baking

From everything I read, there is lots of baking going on while folks are staying at home and doing their own cooking. Baking is evidently a big part of that. Our daughter-in-law asked for bread recipes and received some and found others for herself and is going to town: cinnamon rolls and several kinds of bread.

We, on the other hand, have stayed with what we know. Dean has baked biscuits. I have baked banana bread and cornbread. Traditional standards around our house. Here's the interesting part. Our grocery store has been out of baking powder for weeks. Some recipes do without it or use baking soda. And No, you cannot substitute one of those for the other!! Other recipes need baking powder.

Dean finally decided to order some from Amazon. Why not? He bought flour and buttermilk in anticipation of biscuits and they have lived up to their reputation. I think we will have enough baking powder for a long time and a lot of biscuits.

The usual little can of baking powder holds 8.1 ounces.

Our new bag is 2.5 pounds!!! Heheheh - that's a Lot of baking powder. 

Susan's banana bread.

Susan's cornbread.

Daughter-in-law's cinnamon bread.

Dean's biscuits after we finally found baking powder.

Even baking has its adventurous side during isolation.