CHANGE THE NARRATIVE ....

I think the destruction of statues and symbols and art from history should be stopped.  Remove them, maybe, and put them in a museum with the "real" story from that time in history, 

History cannot be changed.  It is HISTORY.

I think EVERY ethnic group who immigrated to the USA were looked down upon when they first arrived.  Some worse than others.  Jewish, Irish, Italian, Polish, etc.  And "jokes" have been made about women, blonds, Mexicans, old people and more.  We have (mostly) stopped all of this because we are WISER .... because history.

Aunt Jemima is leaving with Uncle Ben and the Cream of Wheat black person. The animal crackers are no longer in cages.  Eskimo pies will have a new name.  Alaskan Airlines will have to repaint all their aircraft.  We have Asian rugs now instead of Oriental rugs.  Land o Lakes products will no longer have a Native American as part of their logo.  High school and college mascots and now onto professional sports teams are busy getting new names and mascots.

As we humans evolve, we must put racist and ethnic terms behind us.  But I see a historical value to keep these items in museums where my great grandkids will know the how and why.

I've trying to get used to non-sexual pronouns and long curls on boys.  It's taking me longer than I'd like.

QUARANTINED with KIDS

This is the foot of Mr. 9's bed.  I don't know how he fits in!

Some mornings when I go to brush my teeth

Mr. 9's collection.  Some are now maimed and crippled but no soldier ever gets left behind.

Always researching something

One day Mr. 9 wanted to bake a cake.  On a Tuesday.  For no special reason.

Lamby as a paraplegic

Mr. 9 made a "coffee" for Mr. 6

Yes.  In the bathroom

Mr. 9 helping me test the GrandPad

Lamby is now a Knight

Might be hard to see on the Oriental rug (should I be saying Asian?) 

but here's what 100 Lego figures look like

Love when there is a nightmare at night ....and I wake up to this

Have you ever played Poker Dice?  Invented by Mr. 6 and the rules change whenever it is his turn.  Then he wanted to start playing for real money.  I disagreed.  

"Well, if you want to keep playing the baby way, that's OK Gramma"

QUARANTINE WINE TIME

It's finally happened.  My condo complex has it's first positive Covid19 case.  HIPPA prevents saying who but I've heard it's a resident with multiple health conditions who goes to the hospital at least monthly.  But still.  First case in my little world.

How can staying home keep me busy all day?  My blog buddy at Misadventures of Widowhood explained today.  The computer!  I start off with reading/skimming NYT and local paper.  Email, Facebook, WLLO volunteering.  I prefer email or text but somedays I have to TALK to people.  Which usually ends up being a game of message tag.

I play four word games on my phone, mostly with siblings.  All of whom live out of state.  Usually every morning if one boy is awake but not the other, he will climb in bed with me and we look at old photos on my iPhone.  Then we/he pick a topic to learn about ... Braeden chose the Great Wall of China (since he saw a pic of me and Poppa there).  Which evolved into the burial grounds of the first emperor ... with the 8,000 terra cotta statues to protect him.

Deacon chose baseball.  There is a lot of history there for sure, and then he put on a baseball outfit and went out to play.  This is the kid who changes his clothes a million times a day.  Not sure how his Dad keeps up with him.

Usually a Zoom meeting every other day.  I postponed my cataract surgery again.  I'm just not willing to go out into the germy world.  I have my annual exam and my annual gyno exam in July but I may cancel them as well.  My wonderful nurse practitioner left the clinic and I just hate the whole thing anyway.  And .... germs and the weight gain!

By the time I've done all my learning and loitering online, it is 6:30 wine time!

PANDEMIC ACTS OF KINDNESS

WLLO is trying to let our members know we are thinking about them with random acts of kindness.  

It started with bouquets of flowers from someone’s yard.  Our member cut, arranged and wrapped up her flowers then drove around town dropping them off. 

The office heard from many of the recipients that it was a gesture kindly received.  Sharing is caring.

Some members received a gift of soap … personal, laundry, disinfectant, and so on.  These were funded by a local charity (members of our Village) to Villages NW and divided among all the Portland Villages.

Several of our members are gifted with the talent of sewing.  Beautiful face masks have been designed, made and distributed to members who were without.  

Recently WLLO Village was invited to participate in distributing excess food donated by local food suppliers.  One member picks up the boxes which usually include milk, cheese, lunch meat, produce, etc.  Then she begins calling members to see what they can use, first come, first served.  

In addition to phone calls and cheerful emails, we are now calling upon our inner artists.  Remember the pet rock phase years ago?  We are gathering and decorating rocks, wrapping in a bag, then zipping by member homes and ringing their doorbell.  Indoors or out, put them where you like them!  

 

My daughter painted these for me

Then she mod podged our logo on the back

Another member's artistry

What will we think of next!  Stay tuned.  

PANDEMIC PROTESTS

Portland Oregon and many, many suburbs across the USA are still protesting the police murdering George Floyd.  For more than a week.  I think it may continue.  Mostly these events have been peaceful in the suburbs.  And it feels like change is in the air.

In the past there have been several protests/demonstrations that DID change things., including the words we use to refer to the incidents and people involved—like “patriots” versus “thugs,” or “rebellions” versus “riots.” 

Boston Tea Party  1773

Most everyone remembers this ... approximately 116 men—some dressed as Native Americans—boarded three British ships and dumped around 45 tons of tea into Boston Harbor to protest the British tax on tea and monopoly of the East India Company. This act of rebellion is considered to be the first to set in motion America’s idea of protest for independence. 

Haymarket Affair

I did not remember this.  In 1886 several days of strikes began in Chicago and became an international movement for labor rights … shorter working days and higher pay.  It began peacefully until an unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police, killing seven.  Over 100 arrests and 8 protesters were convicted of conspiracy. 

1913 Suffrage Parade

Women had been fighting hard for suffrage for almost 60 years.  Thousands of women marching on Pennsylvania Ave for the right to vote … turned violent when male spectators began attacking the women.  But it took 7 more years for women to have the right to vote (and black women even longer.).  Yes, I did learn about this in school.

Detroit Uprising 1967

What started as a police raid on an unlicensed bar turned into five days of violence and the largest incident of civil disobedience of 20th century America. With a total of 43 deaths, hundreds of injuries, nearly 1,700 fires and more than 7,000 arrests, the Detroit Uprising is seen as a turning point in the American civil rights movement. In 1974 a black mayor was elected.

The problem with protesting is our interpretation.  I tended to focus on the vandalism and looting and intimidating of peaceful protesters.  Now I am not.  I still abhor it but that is not the message.  The message is that the police must stop the brutality.  No more undue or excessive force against ANY subject, no matter the race.

Their fellow officers must step up to report offenses and not defend the corrupt members of the police force. I realize they sometimes need to make split second decisions but nine minutes of kneeling on someone’s neck is intentional murder.  And I don’t care it the victim is a repeat offender or even a murderer.

It must stop now.

QUARANTINE BREAD

I finally bought a bread maker!  I've always wanted one but could never justify with just two people in the household.  Now that there are FIVE and the little guys are eating adult portions PLUS several snacks every day ... I talked myself into it.

It was so exciting when it arrived.  I patiently waited for the quarantine 48 hours til I could open it.  It fit perfectly in a corner on the kitchen counter, all sleek and new age!  I read the manual, cleaned everything and followed one of their recipes.  Put in the liquid ingredients, then the dry and make a little indent to pour in the yeast.

I put in my choice of 2# loaf with medium crust.  So fun to know we would have hot bread for dinner ... just 3 hours and 11 minutes!  I pushed start.  Nothing.  Went back to the manual, turned off the machine and tried again.  Nothing!  I finally caved in and asked the younger generation.  Nope.  They couldn't get it to go either.  Unplugged it.  Everything.

So I poured the whole container into the KitchenAid with bread hook and gave it a go.  It turned out terrific!  Amazon had the reboxed failure picked up at our front door.  No questions asked.

Don't worry, I limit myself to one slice a day (it is hard!).  Two days later I made a crusty Italian style loaf.  Jesse made pasta with marinara sauce and my oh my!  With a glass of red ... paradise.

Next try was focaccia bread.  This is by far the easiest bread to make.  I topped it with garlic olive oil and coarse salt, put rosemary from our patio on half (little people don't like to see green things) then ripe olives on one end and ripe olives on the other end as Braeden and I like that.  Everyone got just what they wanted.

Kate made turkey, ham, provolone and pesto sandwiches for dinner.  Oh yeh!  Terrific.

So far, knock on wood, success.  This is Thursday and I'm making the sandwich bread like the first time.  I'll let you know!