Day 13.111: Home hairstyling

Today we finally put our new hair clippers into action. I went first:

and the results were good enough to tempt first Exile #4 and then E5N1 to also lose some of their hair:

Day 13.110: Half-baked

Exile #2's shopping and cooking game has been almost flawless during the last six weeks, but yesterday there was a minor misstep in the form of a loaf of bread that was missing a couple of key ingredients and came out like a solid lump of baked flour paste - because that's what it was:

You can't win them all, but you can get a laugh when you lose.

Day 13.109: Excavation investigation

This morning, Exile #2 spotted that something had dug a hole under our shed. We were concerned that it had moved in, but when I went down to investigate, it did not appear to be the entrance to a home - just a football-sized hole.

We don't really have any idea which of the local creatures would do this or why, but I've filled it in for now and we shall see what happens next.

Day 13.108: Lawn birds

We've now seen chickadees and chipping sparrows on the bird feeders in addition to the many goldfinches, but here are some birds that paid the backyard a visit but shunned the feeder:

A robin, a flicker and a large corvid of one kind or the other*

* based on my reaction to its size I'd be tempted to go out on a too-precarious limb and say it's a common raven, but based on my internet research it could be an American crow.

Day 13.107: Exile #2's Sunday Column #295

Exile #2 writes...

So, after a quiet, relaxing week, tomorrow is “back to school”. It won’t be for long. The high school has declared June 5th to be the end of term, a couple of weeks earlier than it would otherwise have been and then who knows? The summer is up in the air. Will there be summer camp? Summer jobs? Visitors coming to Maine for vacations? it seems unlikely. We did the best thing we could this evening and went for a walk together around the neighborhood. Taking things one step at a time - sometimes literally! - seems plenty right now.

A couple more pictures from our walk on Friday

Day 13.106: Live stream studio

The day was dominated by setting up for, doing and recovering from our little live streamed concert this afternoon. I often think that if we did <insert-anything-here> more often it would get easier. This is especially true of our live music activities.

Here is the little home live stream studio we set up yesterday:

I just returned everything to its normal place.

The kids helped during the broadcast by watching the live comments and E5N1 did camera-angle switching for us. It was a fun process - but a lot of work for 45 minutes of internet nonsense!

Day 13.105: Fuller Farm (yes - an outing!)

Having confirmed that Maine CDC considers going out for a hike an acceptable activity, we made the most of my day off from work today to go to Fuller Farm for a stomp around the meadow (not across because of the potential for nesting bobolinks) and through the woods.

Day 13.104: Look what she scavenged

Exile #3's dance classes have had fun variations this week for "spirit week" - obviously it was different from normal with no-one actually going to the studio for class and it's not always been completely clear what is happening.

Yesterday, as I was sitting down for dinner, she was dancing with a Lego dragon -  it was the "something beginning with D" of a scavenger hunt. A few minutes later she came looking for "something that makes me happy" I jokingly offered myself, but by then had a plate of food. E5N1 had not sat down yet - so she nabbed him and showed him to the class - and then she had to dance with him for a minute or two:

Day 13.103: Snow; more

There was a dusting of snow on the deck this morning. Snow. Really.

And then, in the middle of the day - you guessed it - more snow!

Day 13.102: Virtual whatever this is

So, over the last few weeks we've had virtual school, virtual church, virtual dance studio, virtual dojo and now, in preparation for a little live stream concert on Saturday, we've got virtual whatever this is:

I've discovered lots of things about live streaming over the last few days - how to do multiple camera angles and titles and - most importantly (and most difficult) how to get decent audio quality (I hope). See you there?

Day 13.101: The goldfinch feeder?

Our bird feeder hasn't attracted a wide variety of birds yet, but the goldfinches seem to really like it.

Day 13.100: Exile #2's Sunday Column #294

Exile #2 writes...

It being mid April (or the 46th of March, as Exile #1 heard it referred to this week), what could be more appropriate for dessert than mince pies?

Although it might look like an attempt to turn back time it was of course, part of an effort to use up all the odd bits and pieces of food around the house. They were delicious though.

This evening, it was Exile #3's turn to pick a movie, and she opted for Little Women (well, most of us wanted to see it but it was top of her list). It was terrific. Exile #4 thoroughly approved of Jo March. Even E5N1 was engrossed, having been a little skeptical at the outset. Maybe it helped that Hermione was in it, plus Florence Pugh, who we watched last week playing a wrestler in Fighting with my Family. This was somewhat different, as you might imagine, although perhaps not as much as you’d expect!

Day 13.099: Eevee and friends

E5N1's cutest birthday party was a set of Eeveelutions models - like us they're just watching the world go by at the moment!

Day 13.098: Altogether now: feed the birds...

Our bird feeder has been languishing in the garage since we moved to Maine six years ago. I'm not sure what triggered it, but Exile #2 suggested putting it up last weekend - so we did. It took until yesterday to put some seed in it and today we had our first feathered visitors (including this goldfinch):

Day 13.097: A pear and a pair

Observations:

1. Some Dad jokes - including this classic - work better spoken than written down.
2. Sometimes there are eggs on the fruit plate.

Day 13.096: Phoebe visited our house

...well our deck anyway.

No breach of social distancing rules however - just an eastern phoebe on our deck railing. No time to get my camera, but close enough for a phone snap!

Day 13.095: Perpetual motion

One of E5N1's birthday presents was an excellent marble-run construction toy called Gravitrax. It features a part that is called the magnetic cannon. I struggled to understand the physics of its operation eventually taking to YouTube where I found a video that claimed to explain but actually completely missed the point - as I found out when I watched a second video.

One day over the weekend we decided to make a closed loop course with the magnetic cannon acting as the motivating force. I joking called it a "perpetual motion machine" to which E5N1 responded without missing a beat - I'm certainly in perpetual motion!

And so he is:

Day 13.094: How our Easter measured-up

...modest, but a chocolate cake is still a chocolate cake!

Day 13.093: Exile #2's Sunday Column #293

Exile #2 writes...

Like all days at the moment, today felt like a strange balancing act. Our Easter “baskets” for the young Exiles were a modest handful of Mini Eggs and a Creme Egg but that felt like a triumph. We had church on Zoom, painfully aware of all those who are in the struggle, whilst relishing the sight of our friends faces in their various homes. This afternoon, we had a family gathering on Zoom, which was comforting, even as we tried to wrap our heads around all of the strangeness.

We’ve had strange Easters before - E5N1 was born on Easter Day - but that was only a localized world shaking event.

Wherever you are, we hope that you are well and we wholeheartedly wish you a Happy Easter.

Day 13.092: Hallelujah anyway

It's a strange time to be in this world. Easter will be here in an hour or so and - significantly later in the day - we'll be celebrating with our church worship via Zoom. The theme is "Hallelujah Anyway" and here is one of our little contributions:

It's a good time to be counting blessings and remembering all the things that we have in this crazy upside-down time.

Day 13.091: Hot cross buns

I think it was barely the beginning of Lent when - on one of our weekend morning walks - we saw a bakery with a sign saying "Hot cross buns are back!" Most of the hot cross buns of this country are nothing much like our idea of a hot cross bun so we are never tempted to buy them.

Today, as part of our Good Friday observance, Exile #2 made some gluten-free hot cross buns and they came out extremely well:

Later, we had a Tenebrae service with our church via Zoom and E5N1 did one of the readings and Exile #2 and I contributed to the music via collaborations during the week using the Acapella app played back during the service. 

Day 13.090: Another spring day in Maine

Hey remember two days ago, when we were talking about sunny spring days and drying laundry on the line?

Well, that was then, this was today:

Just another day in spring in Maine.

Day 13.089: The quaranteen

Happy Birthday E5N1 - 13 today!

...and yes I did go back to check that he opened presents in the same pajamas on his 6th birthday as on his 4th birthday!

Opening some gifts today:

And waving the candles out (for some reason we're all a bit germ-conscious this time around!):

Day 13.088: Another sign of spring

Another spring sighting in the backyard yesterday - laundry drying on the line!

Day 13.087: Spring birds

It was a lovely sunny day today and during one of my visits above ground (my home office is in the basement), I spotted an eastern bluebird. It was kind enough to stay around while I fetched my camera and a tufted titmouse and a downy woodpecker made a timely appearance too: