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Years ago, at an annual rummage sale, I bought this silver tea set for about $40. This is the kind of rummage sale where you can tell people are clearing out the homes of their parents who are aging/relocated to retirement homes/deceased. It's a terrific window onto changing tastes and how younger generations have little patience for the trousseau-style materiality of post-war weddings and associated bourgeois accumulation. My grandmother had a tea set like this (probably both), my mom has a tray like this, and probably lots of middle class women who got married in the 1940s, 50s, maybe even 60s and 70s in the US had this kind of stuff -- which probably now strikes many as unbelievably kitschy. As for me, I love it. I initially saw the set in the huge rummage sale hall and didn't buy it immediately, but then I sat at my desk thinking about it all morning and eventually hopped in the car and went back saying "if it's still there, I'm buying it and that's it." Well it was still there, and now it's mine. When I got it, I used it a few times -- most memorably, for our daughter's 3rd birthday party, where we had "pink" (hibiscus) and peach tea for a couple of little ones who wore pink hats and decorated mugs at the picnic table in our backyard -- but since then it's mostly sat in our basement getting increasingly tarnished and gathering dust. This weekend, with the first glimmers of spring arriving, I decided it was time for a tea party. Spent a good hour and change polishing the whole thing, tried a new lemon cake recipe, and had a friend from the neighborhood and her daughters over to hang out with us for tea at the picnic table. The kids all see each other at school every day, but I hadn't seen my friend in a couple of months -- after lots of summer and fall masked gatherings outdoors to drink wine around fire pits and such. Nothing fancy, but the 4 kids all seemed to enjoy it, and we did too. A great way to spend a beautiful, if still a bit chilly, spring day when options for socializing are still limited.
April 6, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
For the past several weeks, I have been volunteering at the mass vaccination clinic at UNM's The Pit, a basketball stadium. The first week, I was a "greeter". I got a red and silver pompom and directed folks down a hallway to their vaccination stations. The second shift, I was a "runner" and made sure all the stations had supplies. Last time, I was a "scribe", and helped check folks in prior to their shots. Not gonna lie, I volunteered hoping there would be extra vaccinations at the end of the day. But the clinic was too efficient and there were no leftovers. I was really touched to see so many seniors coming to get vaccinated, and how much care their family members took to make sure they got their shots.
April 6, 2021
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Talk about what brings you happiness these days.
I am stitching a tag every week for an Instagram challenge that started January 1. It's 52 tags, each week has a theme. Working on these brings me joy. I especially love the color palette of this one. I also am doing an almost daily cut and paste collage series, another Instagram challenge, the 100 Day Project. Making things that don't involve a computer brings me joy, as does the spring sun and temperatures
April 7, 2021
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Talk about what brings you happiness these days.
It was a beautiful day that turned into a beautiful evening. So, I took my camera for a walk. I didn't even need a jacket. There is a small clump of daffodils blooming near my front steps. I planted them years ago hoping they would spread. They never did. But in today's golden evening sun, this small bunch, soon to be eclipsed by the rhododendrons and magnolia, said "happiness." They come up every year, no matter how harsh the winter. Hello, April. It's nice to see you again.
April 7, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Easter Sunday. I spent a few hours with my brother and nephew and his wife. I'm the holiday nerd in the family. It's important to me to continue holiday traditions and make new ones too!! Then I reconnected with a dear friend and her son. First time since Covid hit last year. We hugged and cried. I'm looking forward to more of these reunions!!!
April 8, 2021
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Talk about what brings you happiness these days.
The upside of the pandemic is that I met someone on March 14, 2020, shortly before the lockdown. And so for the past year+, I have had an unfolding new relationship. It has been a unique time to get to know someone, and to share these months of the pandemic in a new intimate relationship when so many people are feeling isolated, lonely, depressed. I feel for them, as this brings me great happiness. I have deep gratitude for this and it brings me happiness. Being in nature also gives me great happiness as well as finally being able to connect more with friends since now many of us have been fully vaccinated. The onset of spring is also bringing me happiness. A sense of rebirth, renewal, hope..
April 8, 2021
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Talk about what brings you happiness these days.
One thing that brings me happiness is creating abstract artwork in old school Photoshop 5.5 using the Kai's Power Tools plug-in called Texture Explorer. Before the pandemic I was thinking of resurrecting my Titanium G4 Powerbook from 2001 and running some of the KPT visionary software that has since been abandoned. The entire process of getting the computer working in the first place made me pretty happy, and now I create a few of these cellular landscapes each day, listening to music and getting lost in the process. They each take about an hour because the CPU processing is limited to 68K and there's a lot of waiting, but it's worth it. I create them and they remind me of the way we have all changed in the past year, how we have become more aware of living life on a molecular level with differing influences as we change our behavior. I'm trying to make that awareness beautiful.
April 8, 2021
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Talk about what brings you happiness these days.
My relationships with my nuclear family bring me the most happiness these days. My household is made up of my wife who I have been partnered with for 13 years and married to for 7 years, my 5 year old son, and my 1 year old daughter are my main source of happiness. We truly do enjoy a lot of quiet play time together. I love imaginative play with my little people. It's so refreshingly innocent.
April 9, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
For the second Pandemic year we just celebrated Passover-for-two on Zoom, separated from other seder participants by distance and screen. Our dining room table was still overflowing with beautiful china and symbolic foods, but we couldn’t share our bounty because we were alone in our home, far from our family and friends. And yet, I still made charoses for a crowd. Charoses (or, the Sephardic pronunciation, “charoset”) is the apple-walnut-wine concoction which resembles the mortar of the bricks our forefathers had to use to build the pyramids in Egypt. The story is that the Jews were slaves in Egypt. Because we worked so hard to be free, we should live and work for the liberation of all people. My charoses is made with apples, walnuts, sweet kosher wine, cinnamon sugar, and nutmeg (my secret ingredient). I forgot to add honey this year. It was still terrifically delicious. It is always a patchke (pahtch-key) to make this Passover treat. The food processor and the counter around it end up covered in sticky apple juice drippings, requiring hot soapy water to fully clean the prep space. First I chop the walnuts and add them to the mixing bowl. Then I add apple to the spinning processor, about 2-3 apples at a time. Then, all of the cinnamon sugar in the house, plus a bit more, plus plenty of sweet kosher wine. Cover the bowl and shake it up, and let it sit in the fridge for a day before the seder meal. I’ll make some more today. Enough to last through the final days of this 8-day festival. This is a sweet treat through the 8 days of bleak, flat foods like matzo and other yeast-less products. Our private celebration of deliciousness in the dark days of pandemic plagues.
April 9, 2021
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How has the pandemic affected your work, or your schoolwork? Give an example or two.
This photograph is of my school schedule, which will start in approximately a week. Here's what I wrote about in in my last blog post: "Also, schools are opening up in my area. There's been very little communication from them about what in-person/hybrid learning is going to look like, even though they've already asked us to commit to one option (hybrid) or another (completely virtual). I got interviewed by the local paper about it, and that interview should show up tomorrow or the day after. The way that the school district has decided to reopen is classes in the morning online, followed by class either online or in person, depending which option you opted in to. There are two in-person cohorts (one goes into school on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the other on Thursdays and Fridays) and one virtual cohort. There is no school on Wednesdays, which has been the case throughout virtual school and will continue to be the case in hybrid mode. Though hybrid school starts in a week, no one knows what cohort they belong to. Evidentially, communication is not Seattle Public Schools' strong suit. Oh well, right?" Schoolwork is definitely going to be very different than it is now. I won't be able to google questions on the homework that I don't understand, ha ha. And I won't be able to multitask and do other work during class. I'll have to actually get dressed in the morning. Also, I've never been in the building before and have no idea where my classes are, which should be interesting. I'm sure there'll be a lot of other change, too, but I can't think of any at this moment.
April 10, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
I had my vaccine last week. I am only 22 so most people my age (minus those that have healthcare jobs) are not being vaccinated yet but I am an unpaid carer for my grandparents who are shielding due to having health conditions including weak lungs so I was eligible to get mine early to protect them when I go in to clean and look after them. The vaccines were being done in the town hall on a nearby town. I had mine at 6.30pm on a Friday night. You did not need to show any email confirmation or paperwork and obviously no bill as we have the NHS in the UK. I just went in and said my name and took a seat. It was quite quiet. A woman that was waiting at the same time I was said to her nurse that her husband had been in for his vaccine a couple of hours earlier but they could not come together as her appointment was later. The nurse said that in future for her second dose she could probably just turn up with her husband and ask if she could have hers at the same time as her husband as there are usually spare appointments. I had the Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine. This week there has been lots in the news about whether it is safe to give to young people due to blood clots - they are saying they might give young people my age a different one when it comes to mass vaccination of 18-25 year olds. But oh well, I have had it now and a week on I feel okay. I felt very tired and droopy the evening after I had it and then had a bad night where I woke up multiple times vaguely conscious of being sore and aching. It felt like a cross between flu and a bad period. My fingers felt like they were thrumming. I took ibuprofen and paracetamol and kept hydrated. I did not realise I had a temperature until my mum came in and asked why my windows were open and why the room was so cold. Turned out I had a temperature of 100 F. I felt dizzy and weird all that morning but actually found I felt worse lying down in bed than walking about. I had a shower and felt better. That afternoon I managed a nice walk in the sun and saw some frogs. I was tired after again but it was fine in the long run.
April 10, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
I'm at a loss to understand why some people don't take the pandemic seriously and persist in believing false information and conspiracy theories.
April 11, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
During a pandemic, I found bed bugs in my senior housing apartment in ... MI. Stress and anxiety trippled as if pandemic weren’t enough. Got treatment two days later . Am allergic to bug bites so have have hives for the last month and didn’t know why. Scared to go to doctor due to pandemic. With bed bugs killed, my hives are going away Almost a dozen apartments where I live have had bed bugs since January They seem to be going through the walls and electrical outlets. Management is tackling the problem on an apartment by apartment basis instead of treating the whole building. Plus they are trying to keep it quiet which makes the problem worse. Having a crisis like this on top of a pandemic is almost beyond coping with .
April 13, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Last week I finally had the opportunity to remember, rejoice in what life was like BC. I had both shots and now I'm protected from COVID. At least that's what is said. My first outing was a ferry ride to the City to meet a friend for lunch - outdoors of course, and we still wore masks. I hadn't seen her in more than a year. A few days later, we met with our group of friends called family by choice, nine of us all under the same roof again, also vaccinated, but we didn't wear masks. We laughed and hugged, and cooked together, sat at the table to eat looking out at the mountain. I played with the dogs who I adore. These were the first hugs I have from someone other than my husband and the nurse who watched over me after I had a CT Scan. We, too, had both been vaccinated. There may be life on the other side of this. I await anxiously for it to be a daily occurrence. I am grateful.
April 13, 2021
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Talk about what brings you happiness these days.
Beans!! I know it's a weird way to start this entry, but during quarantine and staying in my dorm, I try and find happiness in the little things. As I feel I have little control over the world around me, I do things that I have complete control over to try and remain sane. The newest escapade of mine involves growing black eyed peas on my dorm window ledge. Being able to turn the sprouts away or towards the sun and water them regularly is about as much control I have over anything at the moment. They are also representative of my home and family. On my way out after visiting my mom for Passover, I quickly grabbed a small ziplock bag and tossed in a dozen or so beans. Throw in a little water and boom! A few weeks later I have plants coming in at around 5 inches tall. I've grown beans in the past. My fourth grade science teacher did a demonstration in class when we were learning about photosynthesis. Reflecting back on it now, it's one of the earliest memories I have where my fascination with biology started to bloom. I remember so vividly rushing back home after school that day and starting my very own bean-growing setup. And not to toot my own horn, but I remember them growing tall enough to the point where my parents were gladly surprised. As I'm writing this entry and staring at the two sprouts planted in a recycled coffee jar, I think these beans provide the perfect metaphor for a world post-covid. Rebirth.
April 15, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Michigan should be known for its freshwater inland seas, the Great Lakes. For the miles of soft sanded beaches. For Petoskey stones. For virgin stands of pines and the Mackinac Bridge. For pasties, tulips, and Art Prize. But not this week. This week we are known for the largest number of new Covid cases in the country. My guess is that new cases will continue to grow in the next few weeks because people have returned from spring break trips and will be depositing covid germs wherever they gather in unprotected clumps. I can't believe how careless we have become. A restaurant owner in Holland, MI refused to close her establishment when our governor ordered that restaurants close for in-house dining. And she had customers, people who believe the pandemic is a fraud cooked up by liberal villains or over-reactive ninnies. Our governor who has previously been willing to take the heat for shutting down the state seems to be bending to conservative nitwits in the Michigan legislature and so far as not ordered another shut down. She has twice asked for additional vaccine doses and twice has been denied. Today, she will address the state and may, perhaps, order schools to close for in-class learning and restaurants to limit indoor patrons. But, really, all people have to do is socially distance and wear masks. But the latest covid victims are teenagers and younger adults. It's frustrating and exhausting. But, the magnolia is in bloom.
April 15, 2021
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Talk about what is most upsetting or scaring you right now about the coronavirus pandemic.
Day #363 Haiku in Corona Time A recent uptick Herd immunity at risk Vaccine refusals
April 18, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Southern California trip to see my parents was a huge success! This photo is of my daughter and my father sitting at the piano playing music together. It was one of so many special moments we shared with my parents, and I am looking forward to making another road trip to see them again in a few months. It seems like the aged so much since we saw them in 2020, and I want to make up for the time we missed.
April 18, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Iphone and ipad contact Zoom on my laptop Shared image from 1969 Art school drawing Sent ink drawing To my classmate Four years in art school Now his memoir Arrived in our mail I sent him this drawing We are old old friends 2023 will mark 50 years since graduation We survived pandemic Many memories Held in my head We survived the pandemic!
April 18, 2021
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Talk about what is most upsetting or scaring you right now about the coronavirus pandemic.
I'm an older Asian-American female so you'd think I would feel trepidation about walking around lately, given all the publicity about violence against older Asian-American females. But though I live in New Mexico, a state which has the worst property and violent crime rate in the country according to some measures, I don't feel any more threatened than usual. When we started to hear that wearing face masks could prevent transmitting Covid-19, I resisted at first. I felt like I stood out because I was used to thinking of face masks as an urban Japanese thing. Now that wearing face masks is de rigueur, I feel like wearing a face mask makes me slightly anonymous. Which is laughable, because several times now I've run into friends in stores who have no problem recognizing me with a mask on! Early on in the pandemic, my mom, aunt, and cousin all sent me face masks they sewed themselves. Each piece of fabric has a story attached, and when I wear them I feel protected and loved. Being an older Asian-American woman is splendid! More positives than negatives. 10/10 would do it again.
April 18, 2021