life during COVID-19

St. Patrick’s Day in the Time of COVID-19

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Can you believe this is the second time we’ve celebrated this holiday in the time of COVID-19?!? Of course, last year, we really didn’t know what we were in for yet, and this year, we’re all hoping that we can see a light at the end of the tunnel, but either way, our family celebration remained largely unchanged, although this year, we did start celebrating pretty early in the month with Shamrock Shakes (almost impossible to find in our area this year, so when we did pinpoint a location that was offering them, we jumped on it!) and a Green River Soda cheesecake from Eli’s:

We started the day with Lucky Charms and the leprechaun trap…spoilers, we didn’t catch him (again!)!

We read all of our favorite St. Patrick’s Day books, watched all of the Ireland episodes of Rick Steves’ Europe we have on disc, and also watched Aerial Ireland. I really enjoyed “Shamrock Day” in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. While it wasn’t a huge event like some, there were some special items, including what look suspiciously like Shamrock Shakes!

I also enjoyed giving a few of my favorite neighbors a Shamrock Suit to match mine:

The highlight of the day (for me at least) was dinner. I love corned beef and cabbage and all the trimmings!

And of course we had Guinness cake for dessert, which is a family favorite!

We had a nice St. Patrick’s Day, as we always do, but I really hope that next time the holiday rolls around, things in the world are a little more normal!

A Year Later

As far as I can tell, today is the one-year anniversary of the last time I spontaneously went anywhere. The mall, in case you were wondering. Just because I wanted to. COVID-19 was already being discussed locally, and we kind of knew that trouble was coming, but I don’t think that on March 8, 2020, I anticipated just how much our lives would change in just one short week, because that’s all the time it took for gatherings to be limited in size and schools to close, and just a little while after that, our stay at home order was put into place.

Since that moment, every trip outside of the house has been planned. I haven’t been to the mall in a year. I haven’t been to a store other than Walmart, Target, Aldi, or the grocery store since then, and even those trips were scheduled, for specific reasons. We are able to attend church in person, in limited numbers with masks and social distancing, although there was an almost four-month period when we worshipped from our living room. And we have done a few outdoor activities in the last year, including visits to Cahokia Mounds and the Missouri Botanical Garden, but again, they were deliberate, planned outings…spontaneous trips anywhere just haven’t happened.

It has been a long year. It is difficult not to focus on all of the things we have missed out on, from dinners out to field trips to holiday traditions to family gatherings to vacations. And it’s hard not to focus on the other things we will still have to miss or postpone as the world tries to find its new normal. And while I’m grateful for the extra family time we’ve had over the last year, and the very unique memories we’ve made during that time, I hope that we find that new normal soon.

Quote of the Day

This quote seems especially appropriate at the one-year anniversary of COVID-19 putting life on hold for so many:

“You know what they say here? ‘Live for now, for there may be no tomorrow.’ Not for me. I’ve got to live for tomorrow, because for me there’s no now.” Mike Farrell as B.J. Hunnicutt on M*A*S*H

It’s the Little Things

You know, if there’s anything that the last year of pandemic living has taught me, it’s to appreciate the little things in life.

One of the greatest thrills I’ve had over the last 12 months is whenever a parcel is dropped off at our house by any delivery service. It doesn’t matter if it’s something fun that I ordered, like a new dress, (I will confess to having ordered more clothes than I probably ought to have, especially when you consider the fact I currently don’t really have anywhere to go), or something mundane like dishwasher detergent (I think part of the reason I order household staples like that instead of buying them at the store is so that the doorbell will ring when the package is delivered!). I get so excited when I hear a truck pull up in front of the house and a box hit the porch.

I am so thankful for all of the people who have worked so faithfully to deliver necessary as well as unneeded but desperately wanted items to people all over the country, even all over the world. There’s no way they can know just how much joy their deliveries have brought me whenever they broke up the monotony of another day of isolation, social distancing, and complete boredom, but I know how much I appreciate the work they have done!

Celebrating the Pride of Mount Vernon

“Ladies and gentlemen!…The moment you’ve been waiting for!…The pride of Mount Vernon!…George Washington!” (From Hamilton)

I decided that, since we’ve enjoyed Christopher Jackson’s portrayal of George Washington in Hamilton so much, and since I knew we’d be watching Hamilton again for Washington’s Birthday today, I should also make the whole day a celebration. Actually, this was just the kind of festivity we needed at the end of February in the time of COVID-19! We started with coffee cake for breakfast…cherry, of course!

I got into the spirit of the Day in Animal Crossing:

The highlight of our celebration (other than watching Hamilton, of course), was dinner. I found four new recipes on the Mount Vernon website, all based on recipes from Martha Washington’s collection…chicken chasseur, popovers, carrot fritters, and stewed parsnips. Everything was delicious, but even I was surprised by how popular the fritters were!

Not too bad for a Monday night!

For dessert, I made pie. Cherry pie (of course!):

I threw in some ice cream for fun:

George Washington was a flawed man, as we all are, but he was a great leader for our young country, and I think these words from his farewell address to the nation sum up his character well:

“Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.”

Mardi Gras in the Time of COVID-19

Of all of the things I would have thought would have been relatively unchanged for us during the pandemic, I would have guessed Mardi Gras would be it. Ironically, it was a much different holiday for us this year!

The church we’ve been attending since we were able to resume in-person worship last summer is located in the part of St. Louis known for its Mardi Gras celebration. While the festivities had to be cancelled this year, we did enjoy seeing all of the houses decorated for the holiday over the last few Sundays:

We always have pączki for breakfast on “Fat Tuesday,” but since I’m still limiting my grocery outings (plus we had a snow storm yesterday), I decided that this would finally be the year I actually made them from scratch. It was a lot of fun, and they were really delicious!

For dinner I made gumbo with chicken, sausage and shrimp, plus roast okra. Okra isn’t something we normally eat, and we were a little concerned about it, but it was delicious and not at all slimy. It turns out we were lucky to have it at all, because last week, the produce man at Schnucks said I was getting the first package from the first shipment they had had in over a month.

So, that was our Mardi Gras celebration in the time of COVID-19. Lent begins tomorrow, and I’m not going to lie…I still kind of feel like last Lent never really ended, so I’m not really planning on doing anything differently this year…I’m just hoping that this Easter might actually feel a bit like Easter should!

Valentine’s Day in the Time of COVID-19

We’ve never been big into Valentine’s Day around here, but we still had a fun day, and we definitely didn’t miss going out to eat, since we never do, anyway!

We’re looking forward to more fun this week with Mardi Gras!

Tasty Tuesday–Cooking Through a Pandemic, the Eleventh Month

This is the penultimate month of a year of pandemic cooking. I certainly didn’t intend to do this for an entire year, but I also had no idea what a pandemic would look like or how long it would last when I began.

I guess after the last wrap-up, which was full of holiday meals, this one is pretty tame. We did celebrate a birthday and Burns Night in the last month-plus, and had a few family favorite dinners along the way, too.

Of course there wasn’t as much baking as last time, but we still made quite a few treats, including our traditional Epiphany baklava, a birthday truffle tower, and an amazing white chocolate lemon cheesecake:

Next month, I’ll finish up this year of pandemic cooking…I’ll probably cheat a bit, and wait until closer to the end of month to wrap things up, to make sure both of our family’s March birthdays get included in the summary!

Quote of the Day

Does anyone else feel like we should hang a sign with this quote on Earth?

“Welcome to our disaster. Glad you could come.” Anthony Daniels as C-3PO translating for King Manchucho in Star Wars: The Clone Wars