Pandemic, Week 6 (The Doldrums)

Worldwide there have now been 2.9 million COVID-19 cases with 203,000 deaths (the U.S. accounted for 961,000 cases and 54,000 deaths). Mitch McConnell suggested states file for bankruptcy rather than receive additional federal aid. The price of oil fell below zero as the country runs out of places to store it. 26.5 million people have filed for unemployment. Georgia eased it's "stay-at-home" order and opened barber shops, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors (among other establishments). There was talk about a resurgence of the virus in the fall and the U.S. having to essentially shutdown again then. Meanwhile, the President suggested scientist test injecting disinfectants into people to fight the virus (which prompted the makers of Lysol to issue a warning).

But for us, the week was mostly more of the same. We went to virtual Meeting and then watched Katherine's virtual garden tour. It rained a lot, so we had limited outings this week: Allen got a solo bike ride in on Sunday; on Wednesday Nora and I managed a short walk to mail a letter and Owen got in a brief bike ride; and then we were pretty much inside the rest of the week until a walk to Eastern Market on Saturday. We finished watching the Mandalorian. Kara sent us some delicious treats which we quickly devoured. We scored sufficiently badly in this week's pub quiz that we are now looking for a new pub. In case that doesn't happen, Allen purchased "a bar in a box."The kids had orchestra via Zoom (and also rehearsed independently in anticipation of recording their virtual concert). John got to drive to Harris Teeter in order to recycle some plastic bags. We made pretzels.

The kids are doing ok. Owen gave away his Stuart-Hobson uniform shirts (technically, he just threw on his floor -- I bagged them up, found a willing recipient and arranged pick-up). He's also upped his practicing as he attempts to learn, by ear, every musical number he has on his phone. Nora continued participating in "Zoom in a Week" and finally recorded, New Death City (rated PG-10) and made some new art (we're calling it, Pandemic). It's great that she has that and her regular classroom meetings, as the reality of the Pandemic is starting to get to her -- she's become very vocal in her objections to masks and washing hands. I'm not sure how much more of this she can handle.

Hopefully, at least 6-10 more weeks.

(To see all of this week's pictures, click here.)

Pandemic, Week 5 (Decidedly Not the Magical World of Harry Potter)

This week the world hit 2.3 million cases and 160,000 deaths from COVID-19 (the U.S. continues to be #1 with 737,000 cases and 39,000 deaths). The President claimed he had total authority over the states to determine when they open up (he doesn't) and then threatened to adjourn Congress in order to push through some stalled nominees (which he does have the authority to do, although no President has ever used it). Despite all efforts to the contrary, Wisconsin elected the democratic challenger to its Supreme Court. 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment. Stimulus checks were supposed to be sent out this week but were delayed in order to print the President's name on them. DC announced that it would continue distance learning for the rest of the school year and that the school year would end three weeks early on May 29th (which did not go over well with Nora though Owen seemed weirdly excited – awe middle school). Several states had protests regarding the stay at home orders which resulted in some zombie like imagery.

We forged on. This week was originally the kids' spring break and was supposed to involve a week-long excursion to Harry Potter World and Star War's Galaxy's Edge. Instead, they stayed home and studied (though they did get to enjoy the Harry Potter luggage tags that Disney sent right before they canceled our trip). Hopefully it works out for next year's spring break.

Thursday was actually Emancipation Day in the District, so the kids had off school. I signed out early so we could at least get in a bike ride together (we missed our family one on Sunday due to Easter). The kids and I toured Capitol Hill and stalked their friends (a few of whom we were able to catch so they could talk from a socially acceptable distance).

Because all the work they're doing this quarter counts as extra credit, Owen has managed to raise his geometry grade to a B. Nora's podcast from last week, The Rumor, is finally up though this week's is delayed because Ms. Shannon wanted to make sure that all the parents were ok with Nora's play, New Death City, which involves "a boy who lives in a city of death and he has a list of 10 things that he wants to do before his time comes" and also a murderer. They were, so look for that posting next week.

In between Allen and I conducted mid-years with our staffs, Nora and I made more ice cream (this time with what was supposed to be a marshmallow swirl and ended up as a mound of frozen marshmallow), we had another Grady Family Zoom, a college roommate call, movie night, game night, and our weekly pub quiz (with Nora coming through in the clutch with the song title, "Cake by the Ocean." We still lost, mind you, but not by as much).

New activities included a virtual Trivial Pursuit game organized by Uncle Pete (who donned a tie and coat, but no pants) circa the 1986 version. This proved extra challenging in that a lot has changed in the 35 years -- world leaders, World Series droughts, prominence of common acronyms... Moreover, Allen and I felt particularly handicapped having not read the 1970s seminal self-help book, the Erroneous Zones, followed professional bowling or been familiar with Hitler's love of numerology. Needless to say, we did not win (though we did have a lot of fun).

John's attempt to go to Costco was foiled again when Allen discovered Insta-cart. Owen and I are practicing a duet. We paid our 2019 federal taxes. And the kids had an animal impression contest (I'm not sure anyone won).



Which is to say, the new normal continues. It's still hard to digest that the kids will be home for school for six more weeks after which they'll graduate from SWS and Stuart without any pomp due to all the circumstance.  To ease the pain, we've promised them a big party once this is all over in order to see all their friends.

Which you are all invited to.

(To see all the pictures from this week, click here.)

Easter 2020

Historically, our Easter celebration has consisted of brunch, church, an Easter egg hunt courtesy of Nancy and Danny, lots of gift baskets, and an elaborate meal by Mom Mom. And while we technically hit most of the main points, this one definitely went a little differently.

Since the kids are older and social distancing meant Katherine, Mom Mom and Nancy couldn't hide eggs for us, Nora proposed that each member of the household hide (seven) eggs for one other member. Once all the eggs were hidden, we would proceed to hunt for only our own eggs (they were labeled), while Face-timing Mom Mom and Katherine so they could watch. This largely went well aside from 1) I had labeled the eggs the night before and kept switching back and forth between "Elaine" & "mom" and "Allen" & "dad" which wasn't a big deal for me, but caused quite a bit of confusion for Allen and Grandpa; and 2) we all had very different ideas of the appropriate level of hiddeness, from plain sight (Allen) to deep camouflage (John). As a result, one of the eggs John hid couldn't be found even after reviewing the Ring video and retracing his steps.

Once the hunt was completed, we logged into Zoom for a quiet, Friends Meeting, with much of the focus being Easter egg hunts and pets for the kids, and holding both the sick and struggling as well as all the workers and volunteers in the light. Afterwards, Nora enjoyed their main Easter gift (Animal Crossing, New Horizons) while Owen watched Minecraft videos, Allen started making mask #2, and I mixed up rolls for dinner. 

It was then that I also checked on the status of our intended main course -- some Amana ham that we'd had for a while. Turns out, that despite the high sodium content, ham does not have an infinite shelf life. So, Allen and I hastily ordered some roast beef and lamb as stand-in main dishes from the Queen Vic.

After a quick call to my parents to wish them a happy Easter, a practice session, and a few more errands (including picking up part of dinner), we settled down to a lovely meal with Sharon & Don and Katherine & Lee joining remotely and an adorable if not long for this world butter bunny for our first Easter dinner in our home since we were married.

Which will hopefully be the last Easter dinner in our home for a while.

(To see all the Easter pictures, click here.)

Pandemic, Week 4 (Speak No Evil)

This week the world hit 1.8 million Coronavirus cases and over 100,000 deaths. The U.S. now has the most cases and deaths of any country (over 500,000 and 20,000 respectively). The Prime Minister of Great Britain was hospitalized for COVID-19. The democratic Governor of Wisconsin attempted to delay their primary election (which included a crucial state Supreme Court judge election) until June, but the current state Supreme Court blocked the delay and the the federal Supreme Court reversed a lower court's ruling that gave voters six extra days to return mail-in ballots which meant that thousands of Badgers had to brave a reduced number of polling places and risk their health in order to vote.  Bernie Sanders dropped out of the democratic primary making Joe Biden the presumptive democratic presidential nominee. 17 million people have filed for unemployment insurance. The President claimed that antibiotics have been ineffective against the virus because it's a genius (and not, as medical professionals agree, because antibiotics are for bacterial infections).

We, however, forged on. We participated in our first virtual Quaker Meeting – John even joined and introduced himself (apparently he just needed the Friends to come to come to him). Nora actually shared during meeting about the "little ones" – the medically fragile, younger students at her school that the fifth graders had been paired with and which Nora has become particularly close with. Two had been hospitalized and Nora has been really concerned about their well-being (happily we learned later this week that they both were doing better and had been discharged).

We ventured on a new trail for this week's bike ride (the Metropolitan Branch trail), but as the city has been closing more and more parks (there were police and National Guard monitoring Lincoln Park today) to discourage people from congregating, the remaining trails and parks have become really crowded. We'll see how much longer we can keep it up.

Nora continued to participate in Zoom in a Week, though they didn't finish recording this week's podcast so you'll have to wait for next week to meet Gamer_xxx58. Both kids had their lessons as well as DCYOP, we did another Wisdom Pub Quiz (though not knowing the Rock's filmography proved to be quite the handicap), had a game night with the Romans, and an international college roommate Zoom call for me. Nora and Allen participated in "crazy hair day" for SWS (Owen and I weren't quite there yet). We celebrated Grandpa Z's 77th birthday with a virtual party (Dave even sent an ice cream cake). We played the marble game and still like each other.

We also got a lot done. Allen broke out the mini sewing machine that Grandma Z gave Nora years ago for Christmas and fashioned new masks (some essential places now require one for entry  – Eastern Market requires masks and only allows five people in at a time – and Grandpa even donned one to try and convince us to let him go to Costco). Allen had ordered a bunch of pictures and proceeded to ignore all safety warnings in order to hang them in our stairwell. We ordered a pasta maker and made fresh pasta and sauce for dinner. We even made homemade ice cream (since purchasing frozen things at the grocery store is a bit dicey given how long the check-out wait can be). Nora made it through several books and we convinced Owen that despite it not being required for school, he actually does need to finish To Kill a Mockingbird (preferably before he starts, 1984).

Which is to say, we are generally managing the current absurdity that is life in the spring of 2020 well. Sure Owen is resigned that he will never return to middle school and Nora is having a hard time accepting that things are sufficiently dire that masks are a necessary, but we are all healthy, fully employed, engaged in learning, and getting along. Which is all one can really ask for these days.

We hope the same can be said for all of you.



(To see all of pictures from this week, click here.)

Pandemic, Week 3 (Dark and Foreboding)

This week the world hit over one million COVID-19 cases -- the U.S. accounting for 300,000 of them (and more than 8,000 deaths). The President suggested people should start wearing masks (even though there are aren't enough for hospital staff so I'm not sure how any of us are going to get them, but details); Allen tried to comply. The number of people filing for unemployment hit 10 million, DC issued a "stay-at-home" order (though we still get to go out for walks and bike rides), DCPS is still deciding if we'll ever return to non-distance learning this year, and Nats opening day didn't involve any openings.

But despite the escalation in the crisis, we seem to be managing. We enjoyed another family bike ride this week, (finally) subscribed to Disney Plus (thereby gaining access to hours of Marvel and Star Wars entertainment), had a Zimmerman family happy hour, participated in the Wisdom Pub Quiz with the Fawcetts (Molly's team beat us -- also we forgot that it was a virtual pub quiz and the other teams could see us which I realized after I balanced a pencil on my nose, resulting in comments from the other teams including one of my staff, which was awesome) and had a photo session to immortalize the Pandemic (which I fully expect will end up in the Ken Burns equivalent documentary in 40 years with a weathered Vanessa Hudgens narrating our vignette). Don dropped off a replacement jelly-fish nightlight for Nora; Sharon made us a pineapple upside down cake and left it at the door.

School is going ok. Owen missed the first eighth grade post-pandemic town hall (though honestly, he skips out of most pep rallies so I'm not sure it's that big of a deal) and we had to have a sit down with him to explain that he still needs to actually turn in his work, particularly when there's a "turn in assignment" upload button. He's also begun arguing for all pajama all the time dress code, but for now we're still insisting he get dressed most days. Nora finally presented her Women's History Project on Helen Keller, began having remote specials (I'm still not clear how gym class is working), advocated (contrary to most of her classmates) that there should still be a science fair, and contributed to another Camp Shenanigans Podcast entitled, Bob Loves Chocolate Pudding (Nora's suggestion of New Death City was viewed as "too soon").

The weather started to warm up this week, which also meant we could start eating outside and enjoying the occasional cocktail al fresco. We made cookies, played Catan and entertained the masses with socially relevant comic fare. Which is to say that despite what Nora claims, life has not actually been,


(To see all of this weeks pictures, click here.)