Tales of COVID-19, Episode 5

We are through weeks 8 and 9 of the shutdown and case numbers are dropping. After 34K new cases in MA for weeks 6-7, weeks 8-9 had 16K for a total of 91K. We finally lost our #3 status in US cases to Illinois and then California passed us. Our county dropped from 7,300 new cases to 2,700, totaling 20K. Our town had 45 new cases summing to 302. The remaining school year is only 4 more weeks and summer camps have been cancelled left and right, leaving us wondering how to manage the summer months.

Erin attended her first virtual birthday party. The family arranged for each kid to receive a make-your-own-pizza kit. Cool idea!

Grandma Lu received her first haircut in the Taft Ave salon

Orioles were to be found everywhere and we consumed 2 boxes of Oreos

Not all iPad time is a brain drain. There is drawing 

and photo altering

and very strange symmetry operations

Grandma Joan's stylish caps and masks arrived

For the dry stretch of Memorial Day weekend, we set up the backyard tent

and creekstomped for the first time of the year because 

finally the temp hit 80 degrees

Our local ice cream place was open for takeout

and our favorite fancy dinner restaurant announced permanent closure. We took their offer to patrons to empty their larder of charcuterie and wine

We finally relented on the girls pleas for backyard entertainment. Apparently the hosta aren't company enough. Trampolines and treehouses wouldn't fit, but this hanging "tree pod" did the trick. 

Tales of COVID-19, Episode 4

For weeks 7 and 8 of the shutdown, I took the girls down to Maryland to stay with Katy. This gave Heather a break to focus on her Mom and work and then the cousins could remote learn and play together. Numbers-wise, MD was not as hot as MA. While we were gone, MA cases went up to 75,000 (+34,000), Middlesex county cases rose to 17,300 (+7,300) and Lexington went to 257 (+49).

Tessie finally knocked off the last of her lagging states to visit: New Jersey 

and Delaware and now she is up to 47 with everyone else. Note the completely empty Delaware House rest stop.

At Boxwood Farm there were plenty of chores to do 

 Brad appropriated some 12 ft tongue-and-groove fir planks to make a picnic table

 All the kids helped apply the polyurethane

 Erin learned how to clean the dinner dishes Aunt Katy style

 Caroline re-remembered too

Lyla helped Tessie with her piano lessons 

 Caroline's note

 and response

 You know more pies, rite?

 We took a long day trip to knock off the last NPS site in the Mid-Atlantic, Assateague Island National Seashore. The famous ponies of Chincoteague live on Assateague.

While the NPS site was closed, the adjacent National Wildlife Refuge was open for picnicking

There are 2 horse herds on Assateague. A small but natural group roams anywhere on Assateague and is difficult to find, while a larger group managed by the Chincoteague Fire Dept is hemmed into a small marshy corner of the island. These are the ones that famously swim across in what I now view skeptically as a tourist trap to benefit businesses on Chincoteague.

Look at that wet boggy habitat 

We found one of Maryland's 19 species of dung beetles on the path. He is on the left pushing his round poo ball with his back legs.

 Erin and Charlie couldn't resist the surf

Another non-essential stop was drive-thru ice cream in Delaware 

Erin and Charlie were Katy's best farm hands and here they are filling the nectar feeders for Katy's 5 bee hives 

Tessie's fulfilled her horse fantasies by visiting the Balmer's estate, Roedown 

At Chesapeake Beach we searched for shark teeth and the older girls swam

and Tessie and Dave hiked along the coast 

 Tessie wore rain boots and sloshed through the puddles, staying free of ticks. I stepped into the grass to avoid the puddles and picked up dozens of tick nymphs. Eek!

I got the whole-head treatment from Katy, first the hair and then the teeth 

Early in the day the kids balanced schoolwork and outside play, but by afternoons the screens took over, especially Minecraft 

 After 2 weeks in MD, we drove home to MA, stopping once at the Great Egg NSRR in NJ