Pandemic, Week 11 (Pomp and Circumstances)

On Memorial Day, a white woman playing with her unleashed dog in a protected area at Central Park was asked by a bird-watching black man to leash her dog in accordance with the posted signs. She refused, there was a back and forth, he began recording her, and she told him she was going to "call the police and report that an African American man was threatening her and her dog." She did and while doing so (finally) leashed her dog at which point he thanked her and left. The false accusation was leaked and blew up the internet as people noted how she had weaponized a potential interaction between the police and a black man to avoid responsibility for her own misdeeds. The point was further illustrated by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, also on Memorial Day. Mr Floyd was detained due to suspicion of using a counterfeit $20, which somehow resulted in an officer placing his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes as three other officers either assisted or looked on until Mr. Floyd passed out and died. Initially, the officers faced no repercussions though they were subsequently fired and one has been arrested for third-degree murder.

The incident (which mirrors numerous other interactions with police that have culminated in the deaths of African Americans) triggered protests across the country, some of which turned violent (which was probably not helped by the President tweeting, in response to the tensions, "...when the looting starts, the shooting starts"). Minneapolis has brought in the National Guard. Twitter flagged the President's tweet for glorifying violence. The country is trying to figure out what comes next, all while we're still dealing with a Pandemic.

Meanwhile, there's been 6.2 million COVID cases and 371,000 deaths world wide with 1.8 million COVID-cases and 106,000 deaths in the United States. Several states have also seen a a four to five fold increase in the number of pneumonia deaths, suggesting that we may be under-reporting the actual severity. DC began its phase one re-opening, which means you can eat outside at a restaurant (though it's not clear if you can use their restroom). 42 million Americans have filed for unemployment insurance. The school year ended. NASA launched the Dragon Capsule.

But despite everything going on in the world, our week was oddly focused on celebrations. We started out commemorating Katherine's 40th birthday with a Zoom party followed by a small gathering of less than 10 people (but more than 10 shots...) at her house. Tuesday my college roommates and I experimented somewhat successfully with neti-pots over our weekly call. Wednesday we actually won our weekly pub quiz which meant we qualified for Friday's championship (where we came in fourth). All the while, John was making inroads (much to the joy of his grandchildren) into the  Harry Potter series.

Thursday morning was Nora's Zoom moving up ceremony which culminated in her performance (in a pre-recorded "minute") of For Good from the Wicked soundtrack on her viola (despite Mr. Burst's introduction calling it a violin). That evening we enjoyed the Stuart-Hobson Drama Players', 10 Ways to Survive a Quarantine, with Owen playing Andrew, the Odysseus-loving dog-walker.

And then came Friday, the last day of elementary school for Nora (and for us ever) and the last day of middle-school for Owen. Nora recorded this week's podcast, Ants! In Hollywood!, attended her final class meeting, dropped off her library books at school and then met up with her classmates at the RFK parking lot for a final, socially distanced playdate. Owen spent the day turning in his final assignments in order to bring his geometry grade up to a C (he'll be retaking it next year at Duke) and attending an all school assembly, before he ensconced himself in his closet for his final rehearsal and performance of 10 Ways... (his moving up ceremony isn't until June 10th).

So ended the 2019-2020 school year. Hopefully next year involves less home-schooling, and a lot more peace and hope.


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

Pandemic, Week 10 (Yada, Yada, Yada)

The world hit a 5.4 million COVID-19 cases and 344,000 deaths this week of which 1.7 million cases and 99,000 deaths were attributed to the United States. The President informed the public that he is regularly taking hydroxychloroquine (an anti-malaria drug) to ward off the coronavirus. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, expressed concern about the President's decision to take the drug due in part to his morbid obesity.  This became a "thing." Two dams were breached in Michigan, the state with the eighth highest number of COVID-19 cases and fourth largest number of deaths (though apparently some states have been combining viral and antibody tests, so the actual ranking is probably not accurate). Meanwhile their secretary of state announced she was sending absentee ballot request forms to all registered voters which prompted the President to threaten to withhold money which prompted the secretary of state to just send all Michigan registered voters absentee ballot applications. So it too has become a "thing." Also, Eddie Haskell from Leave it to Beaver died.

This week we had parent-teacher conferences, where we were informed that both of our children are a joy to have in class though at least one of our children could use help in their organizational skills. Conferences occurred one week before the final day of school (which is three weeks earlier than the scheduled last day of school), so much of the discussion was focussed on next year. Mayor Muriel Bowser released a proposed opening schedule which would have schools re-opening August 31st (as scheduled) but would have 6th and 9th grade students (ie our children) returning as early as August 11th, which means Nora would actually get three extra weeks of middle school. Huzzah!

Nora participated in her class' formal thank-you to the Belgian Embassy for teaming up with them this year in their french studies. It involved lots of comics and talk about french fries. She finished her science fair project and gets to present next week. She also recorded this weeks podcast, entitled, The Curse of Summerdale Mansion.

Owen spent most of this week catching up on his work (his grades went from zero in everything to a 96 in English, a 104 in Science, a 300 in Social Studies, and a 60 in Geometry — Mr. Surprenant is still grading past work). He started rehearsals with the drama club for their performance, 10 Ways to Survive Life in Quarantine, and used his spare mattress as an unofficial green screen. He also recorded his DCYOP concert piece in style (though unfortunately in landscape mode so he then had to record it again).

As for the rest of us, we have little to report. There was game night (Elaine wins!), a personal puzzle care of Dave and Kara, a bike ride, cocktails and an incredible paella (including a pan) from Jose Andre's Jaleo (which we failed to capture on film).

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

Pandemic, Week 9 (Crappy Birthday)

This week the world hit 4.7 million COVID-19 cases and 311,000 deaths. Growth in U.S. cases seemed to slow this week with a total of 1.5 million cases and 90,000 deaths. That might change, though, since a number of states re-opened this week, including Wisconsin, who's supreme court over-ruled their governor's stay-at-home order. Senator Rand Paul told Dr. Anthony Fauci during a hearing that [Fauci] wasn't the "end-all" of coronavirus decisions. The President asked Lindsay Graham to force President Obama to testify about the Russian investigation – Graham demurred. Instead, President Obama gave a virtual commencement speech for all the classes of 2020.

It was a big week for us. Sunday was Mother's Day which was celebrated with green french toast for brunch (pandemic substitutes keep life interesting...) followed by an amazing crab stuffed flounder for dinner. We moved our pub quiz to Monday to accommodate birthday celebrations – and were killing it until a Mission Impossible question proved impossible for us. On Tuesday I had an early birthday/fancy dress zoom call with my college roommates. Wednesday we celebrated my actual birthday with flowers, a family zoom call with ice cream cake and wine followed by dinner from Rose's Luxury and cocktails (arguable one too many). Thursday we recovered (and finished Nora's class graduation slideshow), Friday we had a zoom call to celebrate our friend Megan's birthday, and Saturday we made strawberry-rhubarb pie and then snuck up to Maryland (which had lifted most of its restrictions) for a belated dual birthday celebration/family reunion at Katherine and Lee's.

It was also a big week for the kids. Owen's teachers started uploading grades for the final term, which prompted our discovery Owen hadn't turned in (or in many case even started) most of his assignments since April. He's now relegated to the dining room table during school hours so we can better monitor how he spends his time. It made for a rough few days, which were brightened by two deliveries from his teachers. First, Mr. Simmons dropped off Owen's second cello which Owen had left at school, thinking that the quarantine would only be for a few days (we were so naive..) and that we've been trying to reclaim for months. Second, Ms. Perguson stopped by all the eighth grade drama student's houses to present them with a gift commemorating their time at Stuart and reminding them that they are always welcome there.

Nora (mostly) finished her science project, recorded her "minute" for fifth grade graduation, and starred as a cow (and Romeo's mother) in this week's podcast, The Tale of Juliet and Romeo and Romeo-o. She also helped decorate her hand-me-down new bike and rediscovered her love of crafts.

But most importantly, Allen survived all the Mother's Day and birthday celebrations, and even managed to make them anything but crappy.



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

Pandemic, Week 8 (And so it goes...)

This week the world reached 4.1 million COVID-19 cases and 280,000 deaths, of which 1.3 million cases and 80,000 deaths were in the U.S. New cases included the President's valet and the Vice President's press secretary (who's also Stephen Miller's wife). The CDC chair is self-quarantining. Over 33 million people have filed for unemployment insurance. The President held a virtual town hall at the Lincoln Memorial where he claimed that he has been treated worse than Lincoln. Little Richard and Roy (from Siegfried and Roy) have both died. Hair salons are now open in Colorado.

Life continued for us. We officially cancelled our Grand Canyon vacation and started planning a new one for 2021. We finally obtained masks that Nora deemed acceptable (yay Harry Potter!) so we can now venture outside with her without fear of castigation. We found a pub quiz better suited to our attention span and knowledge base (2nd place! Less than an hour!) Katherine stopped by to borrow John's car and inspect our green space. We brought game night back with a vengeance. Our peonies are coming in.

We also desperately tried multiple times to order from Jose Andre's Oyamel only to eventually find out that they're closed for renovations this week. So, we opted for Toki and We the Pizza instead (with some wine from Pursuit and beer from Atlas Brew Works). Social distancing has a surprising number of dining options.

But mostly, we just kept it moving. Owen had a geometry quiz. Nora directed and starred, as General Bratwurst, in this week's podcast, The United Kingdom of HotDogTopia. I worked on the slideshow for Nora's graduation. And Allen tried to keep it together as he planned two separate Mother's Day and birthday celebrations for Sharon and I.

We'll see if he makes it through next week.


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

Pandemic, Week 7 (Ennui)

This week the world hit 3.5 million COVID-19 cases and 245,000 deaths, of which the U.S. accounted for 1.2 million and 67,000 respectively. Armed protestors gathered at Michigan's Capitol building, protesting its stay at home measures and blocking the entrance to the legislative chamber. North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, supposedly died but then supposedly appeared laughing and smiling at an opening of a fertilizer plant, so maybe not. The President invoked the Defense Production Act to order meat packing plants to open (many had closed after nearly 5,000 workers across 19 states had contracted COVID-19). He also stopped giving daily briefings.

Things were quieter here. The final term of the school year started and we registered the kids for next year (assuming next year happens). The latter was more challenging this year as compiling residency documents in the time of Coronavirus can be difficult. Meanwhile, Elaine worked on the graduation slideshow for Nora's fifth grade class, Owen worked out, Nora recorded her parts for DCYOP's online spring concert, and we finally participated in the Cluster's Auction, where we won the NPR Tour and Tiny Desk Concert, but missed out on Salt Lick BBQ delivery.

It rained most of the week and so we were largely stuck inside, which meant Allen had to take extreme measures to ensure that access to video games was maintained. We did manage to get in a socially distanced bike ride (Owen got in two) with the Telfair-Chas (which culminated in some ice cream and rosé) and enjoyed a flyover by the Blue Devils, but that was kind of the extent of our outdoor activity.

Nora was supposed to have her Crêpes in the FoodPrints Kitchen spirit party this week, but due to the Pandemic we had to make due with a video from Madame Greif and and our own interpretation of strawberry-rhubarb compote crêpes at home. It was a very good interpretation. We also made rice pudding, cookies, and Kamikaze Spritzes for a Fawcett Family Zoom Happy Hour held in lieu of our regular Pub Quiz as we look for a quiz better suited to our knowledge and skill sets.

Other than that, we just tried to stave off boredom. Nora appeared as Larry the Wolf Pup Oracle in Zoom in a Week's production of The Wolf Valley Prophecy. Owen procured the sheet music for Star War's Battle of the Heroes and has begun work on it, Allen started playing guitar again, and I finally finished The Golden Compass.

But we're still pretty bored.


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