Friday bullets, November 20, 2020

Once again, I'm not sure how much I really have to share this week. Sitting on the couch does not lend itself to doing many interesting things.
  • As you might tell, I am better, but the fatigue is still very much a part of life at the moment. Yesterday, while I didn't perpetually fall asleep as I did the day before, I still did a lot of sitting. Today was better, but I hope I didn't overdo it and thus be wiped out tomorrow again. I am not a good patient and do not do this whole lack of energy-thing very well. 
  • Everyone else in the house seems to be just fine now, which is very, very good.
  • Obviously, while I've been sitting, we haven't been doing school. People have been keeping busy. L. has read many books, G. has baked and listened to many books, and much cardboard construction has happened. K. has spent the week creating a Clone Warrior (from Star Wars) helmet for himself. Every time we see him, there is more he has added onto it.

  • We've been having some great sunsets recently. Here is a one that TM caught a photo of.
  • We continue to eat, though I did break down and do a grocery delivery order for some staples. Night before last was sausage risotto and salad, last night was orange chicken, jasmine rice, and dumplings, and tonight was a warm bacon Dijon lentil salad served over sauteed greens with a lemon goat cheese on slices of French bread on the side. The lentils was supposed to be served over a salad of fresh arugula. My arugula has not come back from the last time I cut it, but the chard and bok choy did, so we made due with what we had.
  • I finished the book, Cleopatra's Shadows by Emily Holleman. It was very good, telling the story of Cleopatra's sisters long before all the Marc Antony business, but it had moments of being very intense. If you are interested in that era of Egyptian/Roman history, I recommend it.
  • G. seems to share my rather eclectic taste in books. Over the past two days she has listened to innumerable Rick Riordan books, the entire Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (read by Stephen Fry), The Hiding Place, and is now on a Rick Riordan-esque story using Indian (India, Indian) mythology.
  • For teatime, we are reading an adult murder mystery. I realize that this might be a questionable choice for children as young as eleven, but I think it's okay. We started Beginning with a Bash by Phoebe Atwood Taylor, which is the first Leonidas Witherall mystery. These were written in the 1930's and are set in Boston. They are also pure farce, and they have always made me laugh. Leonidas is a look-alike for William Shakespeare who spent his career teaching history to private school boys. Thus, at least once in every book, the battles of Thermopylae and Salamis, figure into the plot. (There's my school connection, since we are deep in the middle of learning about those famous battles.) I am happy to hear everyone laugh as I read them, because they are pretty darn fun. One of the things, I realize, I like best about them is that Leonidas, while having a Boston blue blood past, really does like everyone and treats everyone he comes in contact with in a way that acknowledges their humanity. The characters might be drawn fairly broadly, but they are drawn with a kind brush as well. I highly recommend them.
  • I'm also realizing just how long ago these books were written. Every couple of pages I need to stop and fill in some blanks about some phrase or term or item so that it is comprehensible to children born after 2000. When I was growing up, the 30's were long ago, but not so long ago as to seem terribly different. When I was in grade school, the 30's were just forty years prior. Today, I realized that these books were written nearly 100 years ago. I found that a little bit shocking. My children's forty years ago were the 70's, you know, when I was in grade school. 
  • Apollo continues to be the most mellow kitten ever. He spends a good chunk of his day being carted around by one child or another. His favorite thing is to lie on his back on your lap and have his stomach rubbed. He also has graduated to having the run of the entire house for most of the day. Aster has lost interest and Apollo is now big enough to not look quite like a husky treat. Olive still really wants to spend every waking moment booping Apollo with her nose, but now Apollo just bats at her which makes Olive very sad.
  • I was feeling energetic enough to take at least one layer of mud off Emmy today. She loves nothing more than to roll in the mud and dirt, changing her pretty light grey color for, well, mud.
  • On my list of things to do is create a transcript for D. He's done most of the work already, I just need to tweak it a bit and put it in the correct form.
  • The weather was so warm today I was only in a sweatshirt. That's pretty unusual for the second half of November.
  • And finally, because you might have missed it, the (virtual) premier of the documentary is happening in a week. If you have been wanting to see it, now's your chance. There is also a Q&A with the director (and J. and I) on Sunday, Nov. 29 at 4pm. Click the link to get your tickets. Hayden and her Family
And with that, I'm going to call it a night. You know, because sleeping and sitting is all I seem to do these days.

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