Currently reading: Learning Science for Instructional Designers by Clark N. Quinn 📚
Another case of history rhyming: the wonderful book Chants Democratic is teaching me about 1829 New York and the movement that won a NYC election with a commitment to redistribute all property. They were soon co-opted and made to disappear. Much talk of inequality in those times.
Yankee breakfast: apple pie and cheddar cheese
Ritual! What a funny word to come up the day after Thanksgiving which was a day of such ritual. Everything I cooked, everything we ate, was spiced with nostalgia.
Making mashed potatoes with celeriac and garlic. The trick is figuring out how to retain the right amount of cooking water for good texture.
An update: I am leaving work at 1 PM in order to do a bit of last minute shopping and then begin cooking. Excited!
Finished reading: Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig 📚Such an interesting novel. I suspect it works on many levels. Thank you to my friends in the Readers Republic for recommending it.
Currently reading: The Balliols by Alec Waugh 📚
Yesterday, I put 200 miles on my car driving all over Vermont, putting up posters to publicize a program from a non-profit I care about. I also made sure to graze at several interesting restaurants. The unexpected pleasure was Banh Mi in White River Junction, VT.
Who do I know who is a scientist ready to study Long COVID, ME/CFS, etc? Apply to work at ARPA-H. This work is so important.
11 degrees F overnight here in NH. Reports of black ice on the roads. I will be careful driving to work.
I can’t figure out how to join the Mastodon at social.omg.lol. I have an omg.lol account already. What’s the trick?
I’m inspired again to work on genealogy. I find that I have many repeat visits to the information about various family members, as I determine that I’ve forgotten to add basic information such as birth and death dates.
One of the result of COVID times is that I head for bed around 7 PM and read for 1-2 hours. I have read novel after novel in this past 20 months.I enjoy looking at my MB Epilogue history, remembering bits and pieces that struck me about each book.
I’ve been teaching an online class for the past 3 days and now that it’s over and was, I believe, successful, I am so TIRE-D, tired that is. At the same time, I am truly grateful that this teaching online allows me to be only 3 miles from home.
Oops, I messed up the date prompts for #mbnov. I’ll just say that I love the Micro.blog franchise and I don’t feel bad about my little mistake. It’s what happens when one posts late in the day east coast time and the Australia challenge has already been posted.
Finished reading: Waterlog: A Swimmers Journey Through Britain by Roger Deakin 📚A lovely book written by a happy swimmer and naturalist.
My good friend is a piano player in a style he calls “barrel house.” Wikipedia says “A ‘juke joint’, a bar or saloon. Originates from the storage of barrels of alcohol.” His playing is lively and makes us contra dancers want to move.
My German grandfather pronounced aluminum as “a-lu-min-i-um,” giraffe as “gi-raff-ee” and garage as “ga-ra-gee.” We all loved this about him even as we teased him about it. Here pictured with my also beloved grandmother.
I’m ready to leave my office at 3:45 PM because the daylight is beginning to fade so it must be time to go home, right? I think I’ll go do an Apple Fitness+ workout and use up some more time that way before I head out.
We are doing our first live indoor concert since COVID. I’m listening to the sound check as our tech adjusts the faders in the board, except that he does it by sliding a finger on the iPad and the faders move like there’s a ghost in the room.
I have my suspicions that Saturday November 12 will be the last day with the temperature in the 60s (17 C) in New Hampshire until at least May. I could be wrong because the climate is not what it used to be.
I slept so well last night that I must display it.
To whom do I minister? My beloved husband and my cherished cat. And perhaps to the dancers at the local contra dance, now that we are restarting. Woodcut by Fran Tolman.
Finished reading: The First World War by John Keegan 📚so excellent. I was too ignorant about this war. So many millions of young men killed. France, Germany, Russia, Britain, Austria, America, all paid such a price.