Tuck found a fabric mask pattern that can be worn alone or over an N95 mask. It also has pleats for better fitting and fabric ties for fewer sores/easier sterilization. Claude had her last online Latin class for a while — due to current issues her teacher is unable to continue for the rest of…

Highlight of the day: Claudia has been pen pals for over a year with a girl in Manchester, England. Today they had their first (long!) Zoom meetup. At first they were hesitant, but not for long — trying to get each other to talk in one another’s accents and trading words like “calico” and “crisps”…

My intel was correct: I got violets. And I got an early tip that all episodes of Food Party were free on Prime, and they came with a very strong endorsement. And they did not disappoint. I had to take to Facebook today with my overflowing literary pride… There may not be enough fans out…

I keep seeing posts about how terribly difficult it is for parents to set up their kids’ online learning everyday. The technical difficulties. The short sessions. The privilege. If parents who are farming out graded education to internet sessions now, dare to talk about the time they “homeschooled”, heaven help them if they do it…

All We Have Is Each Other My other fantastic find today were relay-readings, like are done at Bloomsday here, of The Iliad and The Odyssey. Artists and essential workers continue to keep the world whole. Most artists whom I idolize are at least 65 years old; they are being infected and in some cases dying…

No one needed to wake up to the news Bill Withers had passed. Béla drummed for about an hour — he’s drumming more and more. Caught up on analysis of Chapter Four of Riddley Walker together, and otherwise worked independently. Not every day is going to have very juicy updates. I’m currently struggling to find…

Big victory: Claudia completed her Exploratory Latin Exam. Big thanks to Tuck for being her official Latin advisor. I spent the day playing catch-up with Béla, who wanted as much one-on-one attention as Claude had been getting. Béla has, probably from stress, been losing weight; I noticed about a month ago and only mentioned it…