April was the first full month of quarantine and it was hard at times. Jill only worked two days, so she was primary teacher for the first half of the month. April 1st I had my first virtual meeting with my massage therapist as she taught me some Egoscue techniques so I could get a better posture. On the 3rd I said “Oh, come on!” to Bill Withers’s passing. That day Jill said “Leveled up on the stealth teaching today. I roped Nina in with Cat Heaven Island on Amazon Prime, first film she’s ever watched with subtitles. As we were watching (and reading) they kept referring to the before and after of the tsunami in 2011. So we did a little sideline into learning about tsunamis. It was a neat documentary and now we both need to go.” Saturday Nina continued her musical class online; Monday evening we took the boat out.
Tuesday the 7th Nina’s Tae Kwon Do classes went virtual through Zoom. Wednesday we got takeout from Taco Zocalo (trying to support local restaurants once a week) then that night started the howl – initially just an 8PM howl at the moon, but people kept doing it every night. Thursday Nina built a box fort in the basement with all the boxes we’d moved the book in. Friday I said farewell to John Prine with a cover by Stuart and Susan. Jill said “Knitting a thing for a friend and wearing my Nightmare before Christmas leggings bring me joy today. Enjoying my newly enforced hour of Alone Time is also bringing me joy!” The 12th was Easter and we had a virtual tea with the grandmothers over Zoom, then I made Eggs Benedict and artichokes for dinner and now Nina loved artichokes. Jill said “The Easter Bunny also hid Hershey kisses around the room because she’s cheeky like that.” I love it when I wake up earwormed with a song, look to see what the artist has been up to and find out they released a lovely Stones cover for charity the day before on Monday.
Monday Jill said “We’ve started working on the packet for distance learning and…well. I had to explain that at school she doesn’t sit in her teacher’s lap and get constant validation about each individual problem she’s working on. She does her work and then the teacher checks her work. So, needless to say it’s going well.” Tuesday the 14th was supposed to be the start of virtual learning, I was tech support getting Nina ready. I’d gotten her laptop ready and put it in sleep, but I could not get it to connect to Wi-Fi even with a reboot. I remembered where the ethernet -> socket -> ethernet system was, so pulled it out and got her working, then came downstairs, turned on my laptop, and then the feedback came from the speakers. I thought that had gone away with the new PC I bought in January to get Windows 10, but turns out I needed to find my well shielded speakers instead. In other support news, I had to jump start Jill’s car, but that’s another story. Nina was very happy to see her class for the 1st time in 4 weeks. Unfortunately despite having a month to prepare, Fairfax County Public Schools didn’t prepare for scaling or security of online classes, and the next day (after a 2 hour delay) cancelled the rest of the week. At least Nina’s teacher gave out several assignments each day. Wednesday Jill said “Springtime nature walks… I wish I had seen more people maintaining social distance on the trails though…”
Friday the 17th we got takeout from Ariake. Saturday Nina’s musical theater classes at Lopez Studios resumed over Zoom. That afternoon we proved there’s still entertainment in the middle of quarantine, especially when we get a beer delivery from Old Ox Brewery with one of the delivery people dressed up as Left Shark. That night we used Zoom to play Cards Against Humanity with the Cannons after Nina was asleep. Sunday I made sourdough bread with starter Teresa sent me. Monday Nina was taking classes over school channel 21. Wednesday we got takeout from Neighborhood Restaurant Group (aka Neighborhood Provisions), which got us beer resupply as well. I have not laughed so hard in a long time as I did at one scene in that night’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine season finale Thursday. Friday I was pleased someone’s been fired for this nonsense in school. Jill said “Just really digging these tiny ripples on the water tonight. Trying to find peace where I can; hoping you all can as well.”
Saturday the 25th Jill and Nina created a games book case in the dining room. Jill said “More adventures in quaran-cleaning…. I had no idea we had so many games. It’s one in, one out from now on!” Sunday I made brunch with sourdough cinnamon buns and homemade turkey sausage. Monday school finally got started online for real, with 30 minute sessions at 9:30, 1, and 3:15 with assigned work in between to do online. Jill said “Look at this STUNNING watercolor that chantaleliseart created for me! This is one of my favorite photos of me and my daughter, and she turned it into a piece of art I will cherish always! Thank you so much!” Tuesday we got donuts from Duck Donuts in Herndon. Wednesday we got takeout from Nando’s.
