Friday bullets - February 12, 2021

Happy Lunar New Year!! And welcome to the Year of the Ox (in China) and Water Buffalo (in Vietnam).

• I was on my game this year and we celebrated on the actual day. Having it fall on a Friday was certainly helpful. What Y. remembers most about celebrating the Spring Festival and what really make the holiday for her is making great piles of jiaozi (dumplings). So that's what we did.

Eventually these three girls filled four baking sheets full. We ended up with enough for everyone to eat their fill plus some left over. These we will freeze and have with the dumpling stir-fry that Y. wants for her birthday later this month.

• We also had a lotus root stir-fry. All three girls love lotus root, and it is a comfort food for them.

• Have I mentioned how much I adore my new giant wok? I'm not quite sure how I cooked without it.
• I also found these adorable rice bowls. Everyone got the animal for the year they were born. Plus, I found some great Year of the Ox/Water Buffalo li xi envelopes.

• And that candy and candied fruit I bought? Well, I was right that half the fun was everyone trying something that they had no idea what it was and then trying to figure it out. The candy turned out to be strawberry gummy candy. The fruit was a little more difficult. We guessed correctly with the ginger, coconut, lotus root, and carrot, but couldn't figure out the rest. A. eventually found on the bottom where the contents were listed in English. The ones we were missing were lotus seed, kumquat, and winter melon. The lotus root and ginger went first, R. polished off the kumquat, and H. enjoyed the lotus root.
• We began our week long winter break today. It seemed nice to start it on the holiday. On the first day of her break, G. decided to build the Parthenon out of blocks.

That's Athena there in the center, disguised as a plastic soldier. I was also informed that the people around and inside the building are participating in the yearly procession where they brought new clothes to put on the statue of Athena.

• It is still very, very cold and very, very snowy. I heard that we have a chance of getting yet more snow tomorrow. I am very, very done with winter at this point. Earlier in the week the hydrant in the barn froze, so we have been carting buckets of water from the house out to the barn. Then yesterday, the pump suddenly thawed again. It's not any warmer so I don't know why, but boy, it was sure nice to use it.
• I finished The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnet earlier this week. It was so good! If you enjoy historical fiction, then I highly recommend it. It is not light reading, though. It took me ten days to finish it, which is a pretty long time for me even for a 500+ page book. I also had to stop and look up a word I didn't know not once, not twice, but three times as I was reading. I can go years without having to do this, so looking up three words in one book is saying something. All that said, the book is well worth the effort.
• Yesterday, after months of anticipation on L.'s part, I finally agreed that we could figure out how to the play the Jason and the Argonauts game I bought. (I had it planned into our school year to open up after everyone had watched the movie, which they did on Tuesday.) It's a cooperative game so everyone plays together against the game. In this case, your job is to get the Argo back to home without losing all your crew or having the ship destroyed. The game is very true to the story. And by that I mean, it's endless. You finish one battle with a mythical creature and the next turn you are attacked by pirates or get stuck in a storm or some other difficulty. We managed to get the Golden Fleece and make it halfway around the board when L, says, "How about we just say that Zeus looked kindly on us and sent us all home and be done?" We all heartily agreed. 
• I tried listening to the impeachment trial today, I really did. It was so infuriating I had to turn it off.
• Did I mention it is very cold?
• Amazingly, we are still caught up on our school schedule. I believe this is the first time I'm ever been able to say that in February.
• I didn't have to sit on the couch with R. today and was actually able to go out and do some errands. She did sit in the chair in our bedroom while J. worked, but she was quiet and drawing in a coloring book.
• I never did get a chance to figure out what seeds I need for spring. Maybe this weekend.
• I have bought all the needed supplies and W. is going to teach me to run my own fecals on my horses. It is a bizarre thing to be excited about learning.

And with that last bit of fascinating news, I'm going to call it a day. I've done more today than I have for much of the week and I'm pooped.