Covid19 Life: Week Six of Lockdown

When this photo showed up on my Facebook Memories I thought it was the perfect illustration for lockdown: it's a dangerous world out there. I don't even want to leave the house. Our two-square mile city of 11, 980 people has 54 known COVID-19 cases and 8 deaths.

So we have stayed at home. For six weeks. And we are to remain in social isolation into May.

Well, the battery lawn mower was broke and my husband had to arm himself with a mask and, in fear and trembling, enter the local ACE Hardware to bring home a new one.

We do take daily walks early in the day, 30-40 minutes.

I have been working on my Emily Dickinson quilt. I need to find more fabrics to add to the collages. Just before lockdown the quilters had planned a three stop quilt shop hop and I thought I would find what I wanted then. It didn't happen.

The idea behind the quilt is that Emily Dickinson has many faces.

The woman who avoided visitors and stayed at home and dressed in white.

 The poet who wrote about passionate and dark subjects.

The author of poems filled with images of flowers and bees and birds, the woman who loved to garden.

And the writer of valentine poems, love poetry and letters, a closet romantic. This is the block I most need to develop.

I also am working on embroidering a set of blocks I printed off some time ago featuring Brutus, the cat.

Book mail included Estelle by Linda Steward Henley. The story involves a woman who discovers forgotten history about the artist Edgar Degas.

I purchased Perfume River Nights by Michael P. Mauer set during the Vietnam War.

I am currently reading The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai, a multigenerational story that takes us into 20th c Vietnamese history.

On the shelf to be read:

• In Search for Safety: Voices of Refugees by Susan Kuklin, a LibraryThing win 
• Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic by Eric Eyre, a Goodreads win
• The Party Upstairs by Lee Conell is set in a NYC apartment house
• A Heart Lost in Wonder by Catharine Randil, a biography of Gerard Manley Hopkins
• Superman is Not Coming to Save You by Erin Brockovitch on water safety
• The Last American Aristocrat by David S. Brown, about Henry Adams
• Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman, another Owens family prequel
• Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan by Deborah Reed, fiction about a painter
• The Brother Years by Shannon Burke, family drama set in 1970s Chicago
• How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue, set in Africa, by the author of Behold the Dreamers
• Vesper Flights by Helen MacDonald, essays on nature
• The Lost Pianos of Siberia by Sophy Roberts traces pianos from Siberia
• Bronte's Mistress by Fiona Austin imagines Bronson Bronte's love affair
• Chasing Chopin: A Musical Journey Across Three Centuries, Four Countries, and a Half-Dozen Revolutions by Annik LaFarge
• The Truth About Baked Beans: An Edible New England History by Meg Muckenhoupt

My brother continues to seek out the quiet places. These photos are from his early morning kayaking on the canal behind his home.

We had a social distancing visit with our son, his girl, and the grandpups and Hazel the cat.

Little Sunny wanted so bad to give us kisses! She is about full grown now.

And, I finally found a mask pattern to adapt my way that I can feel good about. I left some with our son and will take some to my brother. In a few weeks my brother will be recalled from working at home to working in Dearborn. 

We also drove to my brother's house and left him some masks and some homemade bread. We stood in the yard, ten feet apart, and caught up.

We watched Star Trek Picard on CBS All Access on a free month trial. And every day I was Sir Patrick Stewart read a Shakespeare sonnet. I enjoy the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's free streaming of past concerts. This month I have enjoyed poetry shared across social media. 

I keep awfully busy!

And of course, we are cooking up a storm.

We don't have many meals with whole chicken, but this version with a honey curry glaze is wonderful.

This French Bean Vegetable Stew from Moosewood is a favorite.

 A simple dinner is gnocchi with white beans, tomatoes and spinach. topped with parmesan cheese.

Chicken and noodles with dumplings is the perfect comfort food.

I hope you are staying home and staying safe.

Apple Butter Time

I made my first batch of apple butter!

I used an apple corer to prepare the apples.

 I kept the apple chunks in water with a touch of lemon juice as I worked.

When I had enough apples prepared I put the apple pieces in a pot with a little water, one or two inches. Then I cooked them on low heat until they were soft.

Because I did not peel the apples first I used a food mill to separate out the skins. I ended up with a quart of applesauce.

I combined apple cider, cinnamon, a cup of sugar, and cloves and the applesauce in a crockpot.

 And cooked it on low all afternoon until thick.

I spooned the apple butter into clean mason jars scalded with hot water. When cool, I put them into the refrigerator.

The next morning I spread it on my husband's homemade whole wheat bread! Heaven!

Now...what to do with the other apples from our tree...