Day 15.141: You're a winner!

I'm not sure if I saw Exile #4 on Thursday, but I know for sure I haven't seen them since. They have been staying as far away from me and my accompanying SARS-CoV-2 since we first suspected I might be infected.

Today was the first of a series of events they did not want to miss - the arts department awards night - and look who was named "Most Dedicated Singer":

Day 15.140: Memorial Day "celebrations"

Although the holiday itself is a rather somber one, it's traditional to celebrate Memorial Day as the unofficial start of summer with cook-outs and barbeques. And, as we discovered right back on Day 130 (apologies that the early photos are missing, I'm gradually fixing it but it's rather time-consuming and not very exciting), where there is grilling there are S'mores. Given our current liminal life as documented by Exile #2 yesterday, we did none of that, nor did we attend a parade or do anything much (except not go to work and school) to mark the day.

However, when my dessert was delivered for basement dining at dinner time, it was Memorial Day-appropriate:

and made using the same non-traditional microwave technique as our original ones more than fifteen years ago I would guess.

Day 15.139: Exile #2's Sunday Column #397

Exile #2 writes...

We are living somewhat separately at the moment. Exile #1 is relegated to the basement, which is not quite as grim as it sounds, but far from ideal. Exile #4 is keeping to their room in an attempt to stay healthy for the coming week and all its graduation events. Exile #3 is feeling a little off, so is keeping her distance and testing on a daily basis. I am wearing a mask throughout the house as a precaution, and providing room service to them all. E5N1 has also been spending the majority of the time in his room but that has mostly to do with a whole bunch of end of term deadlines he is trying to meet. We’re hoping that Exile #1 spotted his symptoms early enough to largely contain it but who can say? Right now, the fullest week of the year looks a little precarious.

Day 15.138: Birds at Timber Point

After we got back from Timber Point yesterday, I was feeling a bit off, so I did a COVID rapid test and it had the faintest of "T" lines. I hoped it was a false positive, but acted as if it was real by wearing N95 in the main part of the house, and moving into the basement. After a rather feverish night, I retested this morning and had a nice strong T line, so COVID-19 it is. Hopefully our quick actions give everyone else a chance of avoiding it.

Anyway, here are the birds we saw yesterday at Timber Point:

Barn swallow on a transmission line

Red-tailed hawk in flight

Tree-swallow in flight

Gray catbird perching

Two male common eider swimming in an inlet

A pair of cedar waxwings in a tree - possibly courtship behavior

Yellow warbler at the top of a tree with new leaf growth

Cedar waxwing perching in profile

Day 15.137: Timber Point

I’m getting a bit of a backlog of pictures to review including some of birds and spring flowers from our walk at Timber Point this afternoon. Here is one for today (with neither). I’ll try to catch up soon.

Day 15.136: Birds at Scarborough Marsh

Today has been a harder day for no specifically discernable reason.

Exile #2 persuaded me to go for a walk at the marsh which was definitely a good thing. Here are some of the birds we saw there.

Eastern bluebird perched on a bare twig

Snowy egret in flight

Black-capped chickadee perched in a small tree

White-breasted nuthatch head-down on a tree trunk

Great egret in the reeds

Glossy ibis in the reeds

Glossy ibis coming into land

Red-winged blackbird perched on a bare twig

Song sparrow singing on a bare branch

Day 15.135: In the meadow

Our no-mow-May back lawn is becoming quite meadow-like. I’ve even seen a couple of butterflies flitting among the meadow flowers. 

American (painted) lady and cabbage (white) butterflies respectively. 

Day 15.134: Royal Blood

This evening I took E5N1 to see Royal Blood at the House of Blues in Boston. It was his Christmas gift and I think it ended up being a good one (even if he had to wait nearly half a year for it). 

Day 15.133: Delayed-mow May

There is a movement - here at least - to encourage people not to mow their lawns in May to allow wildflowers (weeds some might say) etc. a chance to flower and provide food for bees etc. at this early part of the season. Most of our area of grass is still in that state, but I did cut the front where it has the biggest impact on our neighbors.

Having left it even this long, there was quite a satisfying difference between uncut and cut at the midway point even with a pretty long cut:

Day 15.132: Sudden

We lost my mum today. It was very sudden and we’re all still in shock I think. I’ll find some words about her another day. Today, I’m just very pleased that I saw her not too long ago. 

Day 15.131: All State Choir

This was how we saw Exile #4 this afternoon, for the first time since dropping them at school early on Thursday morning. The concert at the wonderful Hutchins Concert Hall in the Collins Center for the Arts at the University of Maine at Orono.

The concert had performance by two choirs (the band and orchestra had performed earlier in the day). The first choir was SSAA (equivalent to the Treble Choir - one of the choirs that Exile #4 sings in at school), but this time they were in the SATB choir who made a sound every bit as impressive as they looked.

Day 15.130: Bird feeder update

Whatever the story with the downing of the bird feeder, we have so far had no repeat, but the birds have been using it as intended. Downy and hairy woodpeckers on the suet and goldfinches at the seeds have been the most common sightings. For instance this meal for two:

But there have been other visitors, like this Carolina wren:

Day 15.129: The morning after...

With the concerts barely over, what better time to head to the All State Choir festival? That meant being at school by 6:30 am to get on a bus to Orono.

It felt quite early - but we made it.

Day 15.128: Choral Concert night 2

A red carnation for the seniors, another great concert and even a rare siblings photo opportunity.

Day 15.127: Choral Concert night 1

As Exile #4's senior year of high school nears its end, there are lots of landmark moments. In Exile #3's senior year most of these were effectively canceled by the onset of the pandemic. This year they are all going ahead but every one feels like, "This will be happening as long as one of us doesn't catch Covid in the days running up to it." Several of Exile #4's classmates have missed key events already including this evening's concert. We hope that there won't be too many more, but in any case, the deep disappointment of 2020 has been replaced by continuous stress.

The choral concert happens two nights in a row, so tomorrow is the final concert and will be marked as such. All being well, the following morning, Exile #4 will be heading to the All State Choir festival.

But for now, we're pleased that at least this night's event was able to go ahead for our senior at least who sang in virtually the whole thing - with the Treble Choir, The Chamber Singers and the full Concert Choir.

The full Concert Choir.

Day 15.126: When Tori came to Maine

It was less than a year into the Exile and nearly 15 years ago that we last saw Tori Amos live when she visited Albany NY on the American Doll Posse tour. We'd seen her a few years earlier in London too. 

I've told the story before, but my first conversation with Exile #2 arose from an offer to record a CD single that she owned but had nothing to play it on onto tape. I think I added a couple of tracks from different CD single I owned to make a kind of uncurated mix tape. In any case, it got us talking albeit rather shyly and - over the next couple of years - one thing led to another.

Anyway, since Tori made the effort to come to Maine yesterday on the Ocean to Ocean tour, we made the effort to get tickets, specifically on the front row of the circle at the Merrill Auditorium:

Tori was on great form -  she played for two hours or so (setlist here) and seemed to be really loving it:

Her two piece band - bass and drums were excellent:

We also enjoyed the support act Gracie and Rachel and their - as they described it - "songs about anxiety - it's kind of our thing" set.

The concert brought our weekend of entertainment to a fitting (if slightly late-at-night) end.