I think there’s a story here

Let’s go day by day.

On Wednesday my next door neighbors got a new furnace and air conditioner installed. The air conditioner unit is in between our houses, where it’s still a muddy trench from the garage construction – the landscapers aren’t able to schedule our reconstruction work as yet due to the pandemic. Only jobs necessary for safety and sanitiation can go forward. I offered to go fall down in the mud in the backyard, but that didn’t get a laugh. I saw somebody walking down the driveway first thing Wednesday morning, wearing work clothes and a mask, and was kinda like, “who’s that? Avant said they couldn’t come yet?” and then peered through a few windows and realized it was the neighbors’ furnace people, not our landscapers.

Seemed like they had to get a little muddy to install the furnace & AC, but it got all done in one day. That night it was venting really loud, though, and the next morning when I was getting back from my walk an MG&E vehicle was coming down the street, and now Roto Roooter’s there too. Although that might be for the next over neighbors, who share a driveway.

So, I may never know the whole story – although Mark filled me in on a bunch after he saw our neighbor. Roto Rooter was for them – they had to figure a place for the new furnace to vent, and the floor drain in their basement turned out to be NOT that place. Always something unexpected with old houses.

I started trying to take more pictures of food.

Monday we had hot dogs, sauteed spinach, and potato-poblano gratin, that I’ve made often – this time the poblanos were from the Tipi gleaning day in Oct., roasted and frozen till now. It is better with some cream, but I only had milk.

Tuesday we had breakfast for dinner – spinach & Jarlsberg omelette, and the last of the potato-poblano, and the spinach kugel from Passover. No pics, sorry.

I made a batch of steel cut oats that lasted for three days’ breakfasts. Because of the vagaries of pandemic food procurement, I currently have a larger supply of steel cut oats than rolled. They were cooked in milk, so instead of adding more, I’ve been throwing in a small handful of mixed dried fruit when I re-heat the oats in the micro, and a pat of butter on top.

Wednesday I had an evening online class, so we were each on our own for dinner. I ate the extra hot dog from Monday on an old, slightly freezer-burned roll with a dab of coleslaw. Mark made himself a sandwich on my latest loaf of long-rise bread. And I made gingersnaps and tapioca for us for dessert to eat after class.

Tapioca – the kind that has to soak overnight (or all day, like I did) then cook in a double boiler for an hour – because time is what we have now, right?

The famous vegan gingersnaps. I’ve decided that 2 of them equals one of the big Archway cookies (180 calories) listed in my calorie and exercise app

Thursday we had peanut noodles and leftover fried rice. And I made banana cupcakes. I didn’t frost them till Friday morning, though.

I checked in with the kids Thursday evening, and John & Megan are hanging in their small apartment with the cats, and riding their bikes on the deserted Chicago streets, weather permitting.

John biking on Easter Sunday. You can see the N-S street is LaSalle; I think the cross street is Madison

Al & Emma are putting in a home gym. And all of them are working from home.

Friday I swapped my blog banner from masked me to these little stripey flowers that are in everybody’s front yards along with the fat & happy robins. Or maybe the robins aren’t really any happier than we are, they’re just like us this spring, fat and worried.

Friday we had Matt Smith’s Guinea hen and stuffing and sweet sour cabbage for dinner. Sounds like he won’t have to deliver to our door anymore – we can go pick up at the Alliant Center. I already installed the app on my phone. After dinner, I ordered about $150 of fabric – some printed with my photos, some solid colors – because I want to start a sewing project that’s not masks. I think I’ve made enough to get me & Mark & our kids through plus mass producing masks seems to be therapeutic for a bunch of people – so I’m gonna leave it up to them!

Saturday I woke up feeling like I needed something to make me feel better. The news is all about protests to reopen and the Wisconsin legislature opposing the governor’s extended shut down here in WI. I agree that those protesting have a right to protest, and will refrain from calling protesters stupid (although I did like one facebook comment I saw in response to this from Michigan, “when they show up on the steps of the state house with rifles, I can call them whatever the F* I want”), I’m still horrified by it all. The squishy liberal in me asks why can’t we all be a little nicer to each other?! The Guardian seems to be the most rational source.

I took a walk Saturday morning, and it was sunny and pleasant, but I couldn’t quite get my brain to shut off for yin yoga via zoom, so I bailed after 30 minutes.

I had breakfast in stages. I picked the prunes out of the apricot and prune compote I made for Passover and ate those with coffee before yoga. After yoga, I finished the tapioca, and risking cholesterol overload, ate hardboiled egg with soy sauce (well Liquid Aminos, but same difference) and sambal oelek. Gluten-free until I ate the buckwheat-date muffin, and I’m really the carbs for breakfast type.

I made buckwheat date muffins with the leftover charoset – they look a lot like last year’s, a little smoother because I think the charoset was smoother this year. I took mine up to eat with Mark. He was having one of the banana cupcakes and yogurt. The charoset muffins* are a bit too whole grain for him. I’ll eat a few more and freeze the rest.

And now I’ve been fooling around with all this way too long – I have to pee, I’m still in my yoga clothes, and I need to do a little work. Because I hope to get out for a bike ride, later. Though PS it’s sounding crazy windy out there.

*Funny, I titled that post from last year with the charoset muffins “April is the cruellest month” after T.S. Eliot – and man last year got nothin’ on this year.