"Safety Not Guaranteed" at Signature Theater

Content note: discussions of grief

There was a movie version of this first. I have not watched it, though I am now intrigued. I basically read the description of the show, which boiled down to a classified ad seeking a time travelling partner and including the titular line, safety not guaranteed, and I was in. 

The cast is only six, plus the band, and there are a few moments where the cast interacts directly with the band, either using them as extras or demanding musical responses

 All musicals use a little hand waving as far as the other cast members pausing or even participating while one character sings their deep thoughts. 

Here the characters grab microphones, utilize mic stands. They are rocking with the band. 

So, what's it about. Someone forwards an ad seeking a time travelling partner to a magazine in Seattle. One lead reporter and two interns decide to go to the small town mentioned in the ad to interview the guy who placed it. Each of them end of making connections and revisiting the choices that led them all there in this town. 

The songs are powerful at times goofy and earnest at others. There is one song about how the world is full of mostly jagholes. 

The cast was great. The band was great. 

Also, special shout out to the costume designer, in addition to distinct clothes for each character, there is an incredible moment that I don't want to spoil to much, but let's just say the character's jacket lights up. It is delightful. 

It is fun goofy, and emotional show. 

Note: I saw a masked matinee. 

"Inherit the Wind" at Arena Stage

Content note: off stage death. 

We read "Inherit the Wind" in high school and I adored it. I described it to a coworker as a story about a teacher who gets in trouble for teaching Biology, which is both true and taking a side. The program note mentions that the show is talking about bigger issues than who is right and who is wrong. So me taking a side in the court case is sort of beside the point. The case in the play has an obvious real world basis. But of course the play looks at both the case but also the town. How a small town tried to both show up and show off for the reporters and famous people drawn to this case that has garnered national attention.

I had last seen Rebecca Madeira, who plays Rachel, in "A Wrinkle in Time" so I was pleased they incorporated singing into it. The original play has only Rachel as a main canonically female character. The show made use of a non-binary actor, and also some gender bent casting as well as color conscious casting. The ensemble players played children, adults, and folks of multiple genders. "Gilmore Girls" fans will recognize Dakin Matthews, who is playing Harrison. 

The case at the center of the story is about a science teacher who teaches about Darwin's theory of evolution in a state where such teaching is banned. The case garners national attention, and a former presidential candidate, and a well known city defense attorney each come to town to provide prosection and defense.

The play is obviously sadly timely. And of course the themes of outsiders coming to help decide the fate of what happens to one teacher in a small town, and the way the magnified attention makes everyone feel like they can't just work it out is of course a problem that spans generations. 

While I don't agree that there isn't a right and wrong side for this case, I do love and understand a good metaphor. I understand the broader themes and even if my favorite two lines happen to be Mr. Drummond's.

I often talk about conversation plays, though of course all good shows should engender conversation. This one is based on true events. But the play was written in 1950's, a generation or so later. It was in fact written during another time when certain things being said out loud in a classroom were considered a concern. 

The direction allowed for gestures and movement. Some characters walked up into the aisles. If you like watching the actor not speaking, it is fun. And it helps remind the audience, this isn't just about the people yelling. The play starts and ends with two playful kids running around. 

Lucy Darling

I went to see the Lucy Darling show at the Warner Theater on Friday. I'm not going to do a full theater style review, in part because it's a variety show, and it changes a little every night since it's audience driven. I had somewhat jokingly described it to my coworkers as she's a magician and comedian who makes fun of the audience. 

First, Lucy was just coming off 48 hours of vocal rest, so her voice was a little different than normal. Mark was there with her. It was a lot of fun. The audience clearly had a lot of fans who had either been to prior shows, or possibly just watched every possible video on the internet. 

My friend and I sat in the orchestra, but far enough back that we did not hope to become part of the show. It also meant it was fun to people watch who had clearly dressed to be in the show. There were a few interactions I can wait to see how they get edited for the internet. 

I definitely think if you have seen the videos and thought, I want 90 minutes of that, the show will absolutely deliver. I know Lucy/Carisa has been working non-stop for a bit. I hope the vocal thing clears up quickly. 

"Operation Mincemeat" at the Golden Theater

Content note: Contextually appropriate use of Nazi imagery. 

I will get to the show, though the TL:DR is that I loved it and it was worth the journey and the expense.

I came to "Operation Mincemeat" in an unusual way for a theoretical Broadway watcher. I had seen the #Ham4Ham performance, I had seen the Olivier's performance, and I was a little meh. I'd even seen a performance of "Dear Bill" and been like, well, this is nice. And scoffed at the people typing in the comments, "It makes more sense in context." (It does, in fact, have more emotional punch in context. This is however true of just about any good musical song.)  Funnily enough, I watched a Max Kylemenko video where he spent a day with the cast and it was exactly the kind of weird behind the scenes stuff that I love and I was like, I should look into this musical some more. I discovered that the entire cast album was available, and and did my cast album listen while I scanned through the plot summary. And I fell in deep. I scoured the internet for interviews. I watched the writer/creators early videos from when they were developing the songs. I became obsessed. 

When I decided to see "Hadestown" I put myself on a timeout from the cast albums, and "Operation Mincemeat" became the replacement cast album. I debated trying to stuff it into my Hadestown trip and then decided to plan a separate trip. 

Figuring the original cast having now played these roles in multiple theaters, having made it through an award season in the UK and here, might be seeking a rest soon, but wanting to avoid peak winter holiday tourist season I picked end of January. In a year that ends in six. 

Some of you might remember the last time I went to New York the last weekend in January in a year that ended in six. (Blog here. But basically, it snowed so much they shut down Broadway. Fortunately after I had seen my planned show.)

Snow appeared in the forecast for my January trip, but it wasn't supposed to start until late Saturday, so probably wouldn't accumulate until after I was on the train back. I shared this plan with multiple people who gave me varying looks of, oh, well, I look forward to hearing how that works out for you. By Thursday the totals were looking dire, and one friend texted me, you have to stay in New York if you do this, travelling back after the show is ridiculous. By that point I had gone from thinking the journey back in the weather would be a fun adventure, to maybe this is not the kind of adventure I wish for. I was too tired, and still a little bit sad about going to rearrange things Thursday night, so decided to do it first thing Friday. And Friday I woke up to Amtrak having cancelled my trip. Telecharge very kindly let me rebook my show ticket. And I picked a new weekend in February.

Now yes, I know snow happens in February too. But I was trying to see the original cast, and this was their last weekend of performances. I know the American recruits are amazing. But I wanted this. 

So when I checked the weather at the start of the week and saw snow, I had an unusual reaction for me. I thought, really. Fortunately it shifted just enough into Sunday that I was, fingers crossed going to be fully back home before there was a drop. But school kids, call me! I can be bribed. 

Also, I failed to check the Olympics schedule when I made my plans, so I really appreciate the gold medal men's hockey game being scheduled after my return. It was really very kind of the Olympics.

So, the show. It is amazing. It is funnier in person. (The cast album is pretty funny.) Do I think most musicals are best if you go in cold? Sure. But live theater is still amazing. Even when you've listened to it enough that you've figured out all the character switches, watching them do it, is amazing. 

Sorry, here are the basics. The Allied forces need the German troops to move off of Sicily so they can use Sicily to launch their big win the war plan. The plan the British devise, Operation Mincemeat, is to plant a dead body with some secret war plans involving Sardinia. The troops on Sicily will go to Sardinia to check it out and voila!

The show uses five actors to play eighty some characters. There are several songs where they switch character mid song. A friend of mine pointed out that "Come From Away" does this. I feel like Mincemeat does this at a eleven. But yes. The show also explores privilege, the way that war changed opportunities for women, and the sort of goofiness of some of the things that were happening. 

I am a person who is well-versed in World War II stuff, and didn't really feel like I needed more, but once again, if you sing to me, I can be bought. 

As I said this was the last weekend for the original cast, but it's been running in the West End happily without the original cast. I feel sure whatever cast you see will be amazing. I already want to see it again.

Edited to add theater name and to correct typos.

Mi Tierra

Before we start talking about this book, it's worth noting I am incredibly biased. Doesn't make me wrong. But still. 

I first met Adria Quinones on Twitter, we talked writing and plotting. We met in person when she came down to DC for a book event.

At some point she invited me to join the create night she held. It has originally been held in person, but schedules and various other things had moved it virtual. This was very helpful when the pandemic hit, because it was one thing that felt normal. 

So when she announced she had written an early reader in verse, it seemed right. The story, also beautifully illustrated by Mrinali Alvarez, is a love letter to cities, to neighborhoods where you see your neighbors, and to the idea that we all have different things that feel like home to us. 

I confess, I don't read a lot of early readers these days, but this one I loved, and not just because it was written by my friend. 

I was able to travel up for her launch party in New York this past weekend, and celebrate with her. 

Bookshop link for the book here.

"Long Way Down" at Olney Theatre

Content notes: On stage death by implied gunshot, grief, frequent use of prop gun, including pointing at the audience.

I listened to a podcast about resilience after natural disasters where they interviewed mental health specialists who had gone to Puerto Rico and talked about meeting folks for whom this was like the third or fourth life disaster they had faced. 

It was an accidental choice on my part, I just picked next episode on my way to the theater, but in many ways it was apt. 

I listened to the audiobook of Jason Reynolds "Long Way Down" years ago. 

It was turned into a one man play that I never managed to get to. But the story of Will who hops in an elevator with a gun after his brother is murdered, intent on evening the score, only to encounter ghosts of his past - well a one man play made sense. 

The book is short, making use of prose and wordplay in creative ways. 

A musical did not seem as obvious a choice. But we all know I love a musical. 

For the musical, we get to spend more time with some of the characters. We get to know Sean, Will's brother, and his mom, quickly in the first song. So that when Sean is killed in the third song, it's heartbreaking, even though you knew it was coming. 

The set design was fantastic, using a whirling, twirling elevator cage that fills up with ghosts. 

There are lovely little details. During one flashback moment, when Will remembers talking about grief with his mom and his brother, his mom sings about not pushing grief away, while Sean dances and teases Will behind her. 

And Will's uncle wears a Washington Bullets hat. 

The songs cover a range of styles. 

This was a really fascinating show, that adapted the source material in an interesting way. 

For those who haven't engaged with the material before, the book, and this musical version fall into what I often call conversation plays. Which is to say, it's about the questions raised, not the answers. It's a great story, but the ending is intentionally open ended. (Two theater-goers at my showing spotted an actor leaving and tried to get him to give them the answer. The actor wisely, but kindly, refused.)

So, you may want to go with a friend so you can all talk about it after. 

Covid note: Olney Theatre does not have a mask requirement, but they do have MERV air filtration that runs prior to and during the show, per their website. 

"Monumental Travesties" at Mosaic Theater

Content note: reference to recent parental death, onstage urination, references to COVID, reference to police brutality, imprisonment, gunshots

I talk a lot about conversation plays, plays where the idea is to stimulate conversation, to ask more questions than it answers. "Monumental Travesties" I think falls firmly into this category. 

Chase is a performance artist and in his most recent act, he has severed Lincoln's head from the statue in Lincoln Park. The action takes place entirely in Chase and his wife Angela's living room. Their neighbor Adam appears having discovered a Lincoln head in his rosebushes. The action takes place over a single evening. There are discussions of grief, allyship, treaties, a moment where Chase uses Adam to recreate the poses found in the statue to discuss if the statue is demoralizing or embarrassing. There is talk about code switching, and so, so, many lies that the three have or choose to tell. 

The performances are wonderful.  I had seen Louis E. Davis and Jonathan Feuer previously at Mosaic in "Charm". (Renee Elizabeth Wilson grew up here, and has been in several local performance, so me not having seen her before is a failure on my part.) The set design was amazing. 

There is no intermission which I think suits the bonkers pace of things. 

Also, worth noting, because I love it in all it's forms, there is amnesia. Yup, they make time for amnesia and it's not even the wildest thing that happens. 

Romance and Inventions

Saturday was Bookstore Romance Day, so I watched a number of the panels, and also made a trip to the local bookstore, and maybe bought some cards and things too.  

And then yesterday was the last day of the Da Vinci exhibit at DC Public Library, so, I went. My friend had been warned that it was popular, and they were limiting people in the room, so we'd be wise to get there before opening. 

And I gotta tell you, DC, the town that lines up before the library opens is kind of on brand. 

The exhibit included several of his sketches of various machines, all kept in a darkened and climate controlled room so that these ancient drawings can be preserved as well as possible. There was an actual clock too, which was fun to look at.  

It's kind of amazing to look at these sketches and doodles from a few hundred years ago.  Humans are often such wonderful dreamers, and seeing evidence of that was really an interesting opportunity.  

And yay to local libraries!  

Also, last reminder - the Romance for Maui auction closes today.  My item is still somewhat affordable. If things have exceeded your budgets, there are also stickers you can pick up to participate.  

Hot

I don't know if you've heard, but it's been hot in the northern hemisphere of late. I met up with a friend to eat ice cream and sorbet and she joked that since we do this in winter quite frequently, it was sort of funny to be doing it when it was actually hot.

The nice thing about eating ice cream in cooler weather is that the logistics of bring extra home are easier. 

I confess, I had paid little attention to the temperature for the day, had only focused on confirming it was not expected to rain. And so I planned an errand before meeting up, and also after, and walked home and was surprised that I was feeling so toasty. 

I had just gotten a haircut and so expected to feel magically cooler. I tend to hydrate early and often, but of course when consuming sugar, you need more. When running errands in high heat, you need more. 

I was also wearing a new hat, and had perhaps not chosen my most breathable fabrics to wear. I slathered myself in sunscreen but forgot bug spray. I console myself that I probably would have sweated it all off. 

Of course I told myself I survived tennis days hotter than this, and here I could standing in the shade much of the time. But of course it was still hot. Hot in the shade is still hot. 

Heat tolerance helps, but it is still hot.

And as there are no prizes for withstanding heat, maybe one should space out one's errands. 

I have hydrated more. I am okay. But I think sometimes we forget that endurance earns you very little. And really accomplishing slightly less might be okay on a heat advisory kind of day. Unless napping in the shade after eating ice cream is what you are trying to accomplish. 

Stay cool, folks. 

Tennis Thoughts

I decided to take advantage of the fact that the DC Open (which has a longer name) is well, in DC. Where I am. And so tickets were procured and the weather was on Saturday predictably steamy. I briefly wondered if the display in the corner of the court was the current temperature, but no, that was the serve speed. (They were close though.)

There are many things that are wild about sports events these days, the clear bags, versus the tiny bags. Water bottles if sealed, or if reusable empty. Metal detectors. 

And then you are released into the wilds and there are courts here, there and there. The sounds of people and tennis balls bouncing and rackets. 

There were apparently puppies in the players area, which was probably because puppies need AC but also why were the puppies hidden? Yes, yes, AC. 

It was kids day on day 1, which meant many parents were in the stands narrating tennis facts for their kids like paid commentators. 

My tickets, through sheer luck, get some shade in the morning, which has been a delightful discovery. Shade is not often easy to come by in a tennis stadium. 

I have been slathering myself in sunscreen and hope to remember the bug spray. 

It's also a little amusing going to a local event, because all us locals are like, oh, we have to go that way for the entrance, we can't just go here? I also saw signs for where to await your rideshare, which quite honestly is likely more common these days. 

As local peeps know, we had a wicked thunder storm Saturday night, and yet, Sunday morning everything was ready to go. So kudos to the folks who must have worked hard to make that happen. Tennis stadiums are not always on the edge of a giant park (though it does make wandering about on a hot day a little nicer). So I'm sure there's a lot to be done after storms.

I am going to be a tennis fan for a few more days. 

And then return to my life as an occasional watcher on TV of the tennis. But there is something really amazing about seeing and hearing it all in person. And realizing that if I am hot sitting here, whew. 

Cake Expectations

Nerdette announced a cake contest and I like making cake and so I was excited. And then I realized I like making and eating cakes, I don't really get excited about decorating them. 

Now partly this could be that my mother went through a phase of amazing cake decoration. Off the top of my head, I recall a boom box cake, a pizza cake, and a hamburger cake. There were many more. The pizza cake had tiny icing pepperoni. The hamburger cake had icing lettuce peeking out from the bun. So, in my head, decorating a cake is a lot of work. And honestly, I tend to be just as happy with naked cake. 

Naked cake is gorgeous but hard to be on theme for much more than naked cake. 

So I thought about getting some decorator tips and attempting something, but in the end I decided to just attempt something with powdered sugar.

(It probably didn't hurt that someone had already suited an amazing cake decorated to look like a book cover, and so a standard had already been set high.)

But I like cake. I went with the swirled jam cake from Snacking Cakes, which I love, even though the jam tends to get a bit lost. And I made my own stencil using paper. 

I baked the cake. I put together a cinnamon sugar topping. And then I unveiled my stencil and shook on some powdered sugar.

It kinda worked. Like you can tell it was intended to be an N, but the sugar tipped on one edge and it was not as crisp as I had hoped. 

And yes the lighting is not great, but I also was not going to wait until the next day when I could just eat some of the cake.

So my dreams of some cute decorations for this cake were not up to par. But there was cake. And cake is good. 

Manapua

Remember that time I got yeast? Well, I decided I needed to make manapua. Manapua, like a lot of foods is traditionally one thing, but has expanded to be more. So, not being much of a pork eater I made some with a paprika mushroom and pea filling.

I make a lot of more traditional dumplings (though still veggie based, so I guess it depends what tradition you mean). My folding technique is still middling, but the good news is even inexpertly folded dumplings taste amazing. And I confess, while there are many many things, I will happily buy pre or partially made, I have come to thing of making dumpling dough part of the process. (There are many great recipes out there, though for the most part it's flour and water, I'm a fan of this one from Hetty McKinnon.)

Manapua is slightly more ingredients, since you want to give the yeast a bit to work with, but well, you can relax a bit on crisp folds because, the yeast is going to puff up and disappear your folding anyway. 

And, I froze about half, so future me has got more manapua in store. 

Substitution

In my last grocery order, I got active  dry yeast instead of nutritional yeast, which is very much not the same thing. 

But I decided the universe very clearly intended me to bake, and went with it. So I made manapua - using mushrooms sauted in a smoked paprika sauce and peas, hardly traditional filling, but yummy nonetheless. 

I made orange bread. 

And I still have one packet left. 

I usually suppress a lot of the substitutions, even though it sometimes means I get buns but no veggie dogs, mostly because I am particular, and would rather work around items, than have one that is so clearly not what I wanted. But this one turned out nicely. 

Although I do still need to get some nutritional yeast. 

Bookstore Romance Day

I watched quite a few of the Bookstore Romance Day panels this past weekend (after an early morning stop at the bookstore) and then somewhat coincidentally gathered with some other romance peeps for brunch, which is to say, I listened and chatted about romance books a lot this weekend. Also my TBR got even bigger even though several of the panels I attended I had read a book by everyone on the panel. Wild.

For all of the things we need to fix in the world and therefore also in publishing, there are some great books, some books that made people happy, made them hungry, made them curious, and/or made them feel cozy. Books are so great. Stories are so great.

A Tangled Fan

I need to get a new fan. 

Growing up our house had AC, but my mother was very much an open the windows for a cross breeze person, where my dad was a modern technology means never being uncomfortable person which meant the thermostat was set to 78, and got turned off altogether if it was deemed a cool night. 

The building I live in has central air, but I find my individual apartment unit too cold if it runs all the time, so I rely on the main building cooling and a fan for much of the time. 

The current fan I have sits on the floor and tilts up, keeping the air in the apartment circulating. 

I was sitting near the fan knitting. Yes, it is predictable in retrospect that sitting near a fan with yarn would lead to yarn in the fan. Also, yes, I could, in theory, disassemble the fan. In practice the fan does not come apart easily, which is a shame because it is very gorgeous yarn. 

I also spent a good amount of time poking a plastic crochet hook into the unplugged fan, but not being able to get a good angle at the back meant I couldn't tell when I had crossed from unwrapping to rewrapping, so in the end scissors had to be employed. 

And also, now I need a new fan. This time I'm prioritizing ones that come apart easily. For cleaning of course. 

How I Became a Surprise President

I like phone games.  I play them only on my phone, even when they offer laptop versions because my phone is in theory where the fun things happen, although that's also where I do all my social media, so that's not always what's happening on my phone.  I am aware that since I constantly use the internet on my laptop, I am always about a click and a half away from a game, but this is knowledge I try to ignore.  

I've begun playing these two hidden object games that are both from the same creators.  As with other things, once I find a game I like, I often search for others like it.  My attention span for games is sort of variable.  I often love them a lot for a few days, drop down to a more reasonable amount of time, and then either complete them or fade out.  Not all games offer end points.  

At one point in these two hidden object games, I was offered the opportunity to join a club for more rewards.  I don't do everything the games always suggest to garner rewards.  I basically never go liek their social media, I will occasionally watch ads, I am a little variable.  But joining a club in the game seemed harmless.  So I searched for ones with easy breezy sounding names and joined one.  And then I reached a similar point in the other game and did the same.  

So, these two games are from the same creators, but there are some differences in operation.  One has much more regular little sidequests, and club membership lets you share energy and other rewards, as well as getting you access to a weekly challenge.  Basically, since I've joined the club I have so many coins I don't even know what to spend them on, and our team wins the weekly challenge really regularly.  I was welcomed on entry, and told that they liked to chat, liked to friend each other on Facebook, and liked to have each team member maintain a certain level of points each week, but if I had a week where something took me away and I let people know, that was fine.  

I confess at the start that seemed like a lot of data, but it was clear, and so far they have been fine with my regular but comparatively minimal contributions.  (Many of them appear to be insomniacs who play through the night.  I am a person who likes to have play breaks during the day, but does not play too late because I ended up dreaming the game.)  

The other group no one said anything.  Or at least not at first.  Now the other game the weekly challenges for teams have varied, and do not always require team participation.  You can share gifts that convert to energy or clues, and so we were doing that.  

And then we got a new person who was very chatty.  Not excessively so, but when there had been almost no chat before, there was now daily chat, so it was a shift.  And it was almost entirely this one person trying to encourage us to move up the leaderboard, play the challenge, rah, rah, rah! They started remarking that we had more players who hadn't played that week at all, than we did who were actively playing.  We made it past one leaderboard challenge, and the rest, we did okay but often got beat out by teams with more active players, or more willingness to spend money on extra energy.  

And so finally that person announced they were off to form their own team with celar requirements and leadership roles, and they left.  Several other players left with them.  We had a few new people join, ask a question and when it didn't immediately get answered they left too.  (In fairness, people are in all different time zones, but hey.)  

I kept playing.  I was playing a lot and noticed one week I was the only one who participated in the special challenge. I started checking the stats of other players to see if I was the only one still playing.  One player who had been active seemed to have stopped.  One other player was still making progress.  And that seemed to be it, out of eight theoretical people.

I was trying to decide if I cared.  There were a couple of bonus things that you can't really ever do without others, but beyond that, it wasn't holding me back from playing the game.  And then one day I got a game alert.  Usually they tell me my energy has renewed.  This one said I was President.  

I immediately logged back in to the game because how could that be right?  But as I poked around I was not listed as president, and it appeared that I could not eject people from our club and I also could just reassign the presidency.  

I have not yet done anything with this new power. But I might.     

Defend Yourself's Bystander Intervention Training

I took another bystander Intervention course.  I know, I get a little excited.  This one was through the Defend Yourself.  It was two hours and was designed to be very interactive with story sharing, breakout rooms, and such.  

As such, I feel like comparing it to the Hollaback ones (both the one with AAJC and others) is somewhat unfair.  While the Hollaback ones have some polls and chats, this was more interactive.  As such, the group dynamics are going to play in to your experience of the course a little bit more, ie it won't ever really be the same course twice.  

Because Hollaback focuses on street and bar harassment in their core mission, they are approaching a lot of this as what happens if you are out and see two strangers interacting.  

Defend Yourself works a lot on empowered self-defense, so there was an emphasis on using body language and stance, to think about the physicality of the situation.  

Overall the basics of bystander interventions remain the same, but in all cases, the opportunity to think through strategies, share past strategies, and to even practice saying things like, "Oh no, that's not acceptable" can help.  

The class was free, although donations were accepted.  

The Celebrations and the Sadness

I've been holding off writing this post.  It is seemingly ridiculous for a thing I have had to convey by phone and text and email to feel any more or less real because it shows up on the blog, but somehow it does.  

My mother died last week.  It was also Mother's Day last week.  And also my great aunt's 100th birthday, which thanks to some access to vaccinations, meant her kids were able to travel to be with her safely.  

My mother did not want to be treated like a person who was sick, and so she carried on, happy to talk about books and other highly entertaining things that were not the boring details of being sick.  It did mean that convincing her there was a deadly pandemic was a bit of a challenge.  I was incredibly grateful that the state of Connecticut happened to be trying to engage in a decent number of sensible precautions, because it turns out being an adult child does not mean your parents have to listen to you the way they listen to other adults. (I know, this is a shocking turn of events.)  

But yes, I have been telling folks for about a year that grieving in a pandemic is a challenge, and that continues to be true.  I am lucky enough that I am considered fully vaccinated now, so travel is and will be possible for me, but not yet all the folks who loved her.  It is also fortunate that live streaming and other virtual methodologies have become more common, so that I get to video chat with friends and relatives near and far, centenarians, and other lovely people.  

I have been thinking a lot about this story of our trip to the wall.  Mostly because I think it encapsulates some of the work my mother put into creating great experiences for those around her, even when the experiences did not quite live up to her dreams, she still worked to make the best of it.  

Ponderings on a Day

I got my second dose of the vaccine on a beautiful spring day with blue skies. 

The buses were a tiny smidgen fuller than they had been when I went for the first dose. My appointment was near Union Station so I got to see that some of the fencing around the Capitol was down now, although the National Guard staging area is still visible. 

All the flags were at half mast. 

There was a mobile Covid testing site across the street from where I got my shot. 

This is the time of year many flower trees flower. 

Union Station looks odd with all the seating in the food court gone. 

I made tentative plans with a friend to picnic after they get their next dose.  (We are both high risk, so while we have seen each other, it's all been masked.)

For me, a person who has a mild 24 hour reaction to the flu shot, and a longer three days reaction to the pneumonia vaccine, dose 2 took about 24 hours to make itself known.  It was a stronger reaction than the pneumonia vaccine, but resolved faster. Obviously in all cases, better than getting the thing itself.  

Still masking and taking precautions, but glad to be able to be a little less worried about the risk both to myself and others on the virus front.  

I Did Not Set My Toaster Oven on Fire

I do sometimes like a dramatic headline.  As I mentioned over on the substack newletter, one of my go to recipes this year has been baked oatmeal. I read a thing eons ago that suggested automating lunch.  That if you could simplify part of your meal decisions, or make choices that provide easy leftovers or repeats, you will be happier.  I find this works well for me.  Baking or cooking up a batch of something that provides four meals takes care of well, four meals.  I was using berries in the baked oatmeal in summer. And as we moved into fall I've used apples, apples and peanut butter, and lately, apples and cranberries.  

My oven is kind of a pain in the butt, so I often use my toaster oven.  The one I have right now has a timer, and for things I've made over and over and don't need to check on this timer is great.  I can pop the baked oatmeal in, set the timer for thirty minutes and go to sit on the couch (whole feet away) and ignore it.  

I used a slightly different measuring cup this time, and noticed things looked a little different.  Not crazy different, but a little. I set the timer and went to go watch Sunday service, and while I was sitting there I thought, hmm, what is that smell. My toaster oven has gotten a lot of use, so sometimes - even though I scrub the crumb tray regularly, a little crust or two of something chars up.  But this smelled different. So, while I was sure it was fine, I decided to get up and check.  Just in time to see a tiny flame.  

I turned off the toaster oven.  The flame had already flickered out, but in an abundance of caution, I left the door shut and grabbed some hot pads.  I probably also should have unplugged it.  When no new flames appeared I carefully opened the door, and saw that the baked oatmeal had puffed up enough that one piece of it had been pressed against the upper element of the toaster oven. The element has a metal guard, so nothing can easily touch the element directly.   

The baked oatmeal was mostly baked and it was only a small piece that had puffed up against the guard.  I managed to avoid even setting the smoke alarm off.  (Yes I am sure the smoke alarm works. I was fast - this time.)    

It was a good reminder though. That small changes can affect things that seem automatic.  That the things you are used to doing still carry risk.  And that one way to test your sense of smell in a respiratory pandemic is to cook things.