Same as it ever was
I’m writing this from the sunny corner of my backyard, a couple feet from my dead dead dead oleander and in view of the Virginia creeper that’s making its way across the fence. The creeper is more structurally sound than the fence by the looks of it. I spent this morning drilling holes into ceramic containers that I refused to throw away because my housemate (who owns the drill) told me that is a thing that one can do. It was very satisfying and I am going to sleep better at night knowing some of my plants have drainage.
The place we lived before our house didn’t have a backyard but did have a roof, which we would go out on occasionally and I’m very grateful now to have both. Some things are reopening in Pennsylvania which I think is dangerous and scary given that there hasn’t been a change in how dangerous COVID-19 is to the population and the re-opening means people feel safe going out for non-essential reasons.
On the way to pick up a food box from a butcher Tuesday, an older gentlemen on a bench was telling his friends (who were 4 feet away from him) “if I get it, I get it” which just thinking about makes me angry in a deeply sad way. I know I can’t expect everyone to as terrified or as cautious as me (I can acknowledge that I’m privilege enough to be cautious and terrified) but I didn’t really realize that not everyone was as community minded as I am.
Right before the lockdown I was with a friend and said “if I’m gonna get it I just want it to be over already!!” but it’s such a shape-shifting illness that I no longer have that sort of blind faith in my own health and the ability to get the help I need. Thinking back on saying that now seems naive. Even more than getting sick I’m afraid of unwillingly getting other people sick—at risk populations are (as always) already marginalized groups.
Sure quarantining is hard, I miss socializing, I miss going places, I really miss long meandering grocery trips, but it’s also nice to know that I am working to protect other people directly. I worry saying shit like that makes me a holier-than-thou liberal but I had a friend compare the feeling to being Cassandra in Ancient Greece—are other people paying attention? How do we make them understand?? If everything goes well it’ll be “oh it wasn’t such a big deal after all you shrew” and if it goes to shit it will have gone to shit!
Is there a longform article yet about Lana Del Rey and her performance of white womanhood? Do I need to write it while I listen to Queen of disaster over and over again? A group of my friends in college listened to her exclusively for a month and called her “music to murder by.”
I’ve been eyeing this water bottle since February and there’s never been a worse time to buy one but I love them.
Protecting your emotional health during lockdown.
Christine and the Queens wrote a lil song.
I signed up for CBS All Access solely to watch The Good Fight (the Good Wife spin off) and it’s everything I hoped for and more. It’s like liberal fan fiction in the age of Trump. Like a better, lawyer, female driven West Wing.
This tweet is made 100% for me and other Francis the Badger fans.
My housemate and I are almost through the Campari we bought a few short weeks ago because we love boulevardiers and americanos.
Leslie Jordan’s videos are a joy.
One of the only not-hopeless things I’ve read about Coronavirus.
Articles:
Black women have always been more at risk in the American healthcare system. An NYC chef trying to stay in business during COVID-19. A perfect story about a teenage crush. The birth of chick-lit. America’s cities have an uncertain post-pandemic future. One teacher’s struggle with distance learning. Lisa Hanawalt watches Pride and Prejudice over and over in quarantine. Is this the worst possible time to break up with someone? Being the child from the first (abandoned!) family. Rebecca Solnit on the state of the world. What blue raspberry and Abercrombie & Fitch have in common.
Food:
This simple dal was good but it was 10x better the next day.
Buckwheat pancakes! I had them with leftover rhubarb jam from Rhubarb Brown Butter bars.
I made these blueberry muffins but I forgot to put salt in them! So then I buttered every bite with salted kerrygold and they were extra good.
Before it sold out I was able to order from Cultures for Health bulgarian yogurt starter. Yesterday I realized that a half gallon is twice as much as a quart (I forgot somehow???) and activated the culture using my instapot to make use of the yogurt button. The yogurt never set so I kept a few tablespoons to try again and turned the milky-yogurty-thing into ricotta which I might use for dinner tonight.
Last night my friend and I cooked this harira recipe and it is so good! I got some saffron specifically for it but I think it would still be good without.
I’m eyeing this Cinnamon Raisin Bread recipe as my next bread.
Stay particular (and away from other people!),
Margaret
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