Life in the woods

Though we are not "out of the woods" yet, we are grateful every day for the beauty around us, the time, opportunity, strength and  motivation to enjoy a variety of things.

Flowers 
We have sin cuenta (numerous, unnumbered, without count) varieties of daffodil/narcissus/jonquils, but no tulips. Cousin Karin sent me a picture of her colorful and varied Palm Sunday bouquet. 

I invited friends to glean from our abundance. So far three have come to pick, share, even transplant.

Michael chatting with our friends from a distance

One friend sent a photo of her bouquet.

Sunshine

The glorious weather invites us to enjoy the outdoors. Michael goes for long bike rides and I walk. 

Sights along the way: 

--the irises transplanted last summer are coming up!

--tree felling on our road is ongoing.

 Is that how Michael got the urge to take down one of our trees? Here's the story with an unexpected ending. Oops! It didn't fall as he planned it.

After the excitement:
--the tricky process of dragging the tree off the house
--a lot of work to cut up and clean the tree mess
--some gutter damage to repair in the future.

FIRST
Michael finds ways to stay involved in the FIRST robotics program. He watches online presentations and spends a lot of time researching for one of his own. He is learning about Zoom and hopes to teach others. Meanwhile we practice that means of communicating--a weekly chat with Moriah, my regular Writers' Bloc meeting, and in an interview of one of the robotics students with Indiana FIRST.

Food

The need to stay-at-home leads to more meal preparation. The surprise organic Misfits arrive every Wednesday and lead to cooking creativity.

The extra time at home inspired our chef-son to come up with weekly cooking shows. His talented videographer Karen helped produce Bread the first week. If you clicked on the link and enjoyed watching The Casual Chef, you may want to see the next one about Rice. I found them to be very helpful and enjoyable.
We do miss the fellowship of the Monday Night dinners as well as seeing the rest of our family.

Friends
However, we are grateful for the increased internet interaction. I have so enjoyed hearing from many in response to the news of Mother's passing. We've connected with many we hadn't heard from in a long time and even made new acquaintances.

One daily pleasure has been listening to music by Argentine friend Pablo Coria. Every evening he goes live from his home in Warsaw, IN, playing the piano and singing a variety of songs from different eras and cultures.

 Those are only a few of the ways we try to make the most of this unusual season. What about you?