Brian and I often remark to each other that our perception of time is changing during the quarantine. Intellectually, I know that several months have gone by since the schools closed down, but it still feels as if it just began.
In the meanwhile, the weeks seem to drag, with a serious case of fatigue that sets in on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
It’s likely that each of our days has such sameness, with little novelty, that our brains simply aren’t recording as many long-term memories anymore.
Having my right hand in a brace isn’t helping anything; I’m unable to create any kind of long-lasting work (such as writing) which makes my days even more free-form and floating than otherwise created by the pandemic.
I finally met with an orthopedist this past Wednesday, and it was dissatisfying. A pulled muscle, nothing more, and it would have resolved faster weeks ago if I’d known to use a brace and isolate my hand right at the beginning. (Parallels to the pandemic are not lost on me.) As it currently stands, I’m looking at using a brace for another 6-8 weeks. I’ll be lucky to play piano by the end of summer.
The one good outcome was a prescription for a tube for an anti-inflammatory gel (kinda like “super Ben-Gay”) and it’s done wonders for easing the pain. I have my first visit with a hand therapist this Tuesday.
In the meanwhile, we’re taking Eleanor out to lunch every day (it’s the only way we can get her to eat) and continuing with the Shakespeare 2020 project. There are so many arts organizations streaming live recordings of plays (Shakespeare or otherwise) that it’s actually kind of a treat. I’ve been able to see productions of plays that rarely get performed, like The Two Noble Kinsmen, which was adorable, or Timon of Athens, which is interesting to discuss and boring to read/watch (Timon is a reverse Scrooge, essentially). Eleanor has watched all of them with me, which is really fun. Yesterday we watched the Globe Theater’s production of The Winter’s Tale, and it was adorable.
I also took time to watch the National Theater’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire, (on my own, since it isn’t exactly kid-friendly) and found it electrifying.
We’ve also continued our musical-watching with Into the Woods, The Phantom of the Opera, Moulin Rouge, and Hairspray. I prefer to watch films of stage productions instead of film adaptations of musicals (with exceptions for musicals that were created as films, like Moulin Rouge.) I have no idea if this is something that Eleanor is excited about, but she shows up for them, and anything I can do to get her out of bed is a-okay with me.
We went on another stairway hike last week, through the Madrona/Leschi neighborhood. The gardens were beautiful and the views of the lake were gorgeous! Here’s what I wrote about it on Instagram:
We embarked on Seattle Stairway hike #2 yesterday, this time with the boys coming along for the adventure. Our itinerary took us through the Madrona and Leschi neighborhoods along the western shore of Lake Washington. Our “secret passage” stairways went through forests and between vine-covered gardens that felt just a teeny bit like something from an Indiana Jones movie. Best of all were the spectacular views of the lake, as well as the general good cheer of William and Jeff, who happily went up and down roughly 670 stairs over 1.7 miles. (Well, with the exception of one stairway that was so steep the boys nicknamed it “The Wall.”)
I was really sad that it rained hard yesterday and we couldn’t do another one. Hopefully next week the weather will be fine.
In other news, William was tasked with building a Rube Goldberg device for his engineering class. He made a contraption that turns off the overhead light in his room, something that I remember fantasizing about building in my own childhood bedroom. It took him about ten hours of building, testing and tinkering to find success. Now when Brian and I are reading in the evening, we’ll hear a thump-bump-clunk from the direction of William’s bedroom, and know that he’s switched off the lights and gone to sleep.
We also enjoyed a much-needed respite from the tyranny of homeschool on Memorial Day. Despite the damp weather, we went out to Hillwood Park for a game of cross-country bocce, then followed it up with a huge meal of barbecue ribs and baked beans, and a game of Codenames via a Shirtsfam zoom.
Only nineteen more days until this torturous school year is finally over!
Casa Camisas 