I planned a wine party on the deck for 3 pm, having determined that 3 - 6 pm is the best shade. Susan, Judith and Bonnie came, BYOB. I had the half loaf of focaccia left to offer with olive oil for dipping and a box of Sauvignon Blanc to share. Judith brought some grapes and Bonnie brought chips and ingredients for strawberry shortcake. We had a great party, properly social distanced. The strawberry shortcake was a great treat to finish the afternoon.
Monday, May 18
We learned late yesterday that the local mushroom plant, Monterrey Mushrooms, tested all their employees after one tested positive for Covid-19. Fifty-nine positive tests, counting the original, have been reported, of which 57 are asymptomatic. After the news, Laura's company, Tate and Lyle, today made it mandatory rather than highly recommended that masks will be worn on site. Laura is still working from home, but went in briefly today to fix something.
Most of the morning was taken up with business. I scheduled a much needed hair cut nor next week. After getting some answers regarding the transfer of Mother's assets, I went to the bank to have forms notarized and put in the mail. I hope this will be settled soon.
I swept and organized my workroom, but didn't produce anything today except supper. Chicken thighs seasoned and braised, fried eggplant, garden asparagus and purple hull peas. YUM!
Tuesday, May 19
I though I would work on masks today, but I went down a rabbit hole on Ancestry and got hooked. Before getting lost in history, I "activated" the sourdough starter to be ready about 3 pm to begin making a loaf of bread.
Claire and Amanda came over for lunch, which finally got me out of the Ancestry hole. They picked out some fabrics for masks. I made two of them between bread steps. For supper, I made chicken gravy to go with leftover chicken, rice, peas and leftover asparagus. The bread was finally done after 9 pm. Looks good! BUT 12 Hours.
Numbers:
NY Times 2:30 pm
US: 1,527,500 cases; 91,100 deaths
TN: 18,033 cases; 299 deaths
LoCo: 94 cases
TN Dept of Health:
TN 18,378 cases; 305 deaths
LoCo: 97 cases, 43 recovered
As of today, we have at least 54 cases on home quarantine. How many more out there are asymptomatic?
Wednesday, May 20
I made two more masks for Claire and Amanda so they would each have two, and delivered them mid-afternoon. I'm sure I did something else on this cool wet day but I'm not sure what. At five, I headed to church for a recording session. This was for several special music selections. The men's quarter of Walter, Phil, Daniel and Warren sang 3, Phil did a solo and a handbell trio of Cindy, Sandra and Warren, accompanied by Walter played one number. It was a fun and productive session. I enjoyed all the in person connections, safely distanced, of course.
Thursday, May 21
I spent a couple of hours in the morning looking through pictures and video on my desktop to see if I could find anything suitable to use with the church video project. I upload a few to a Dropbox folder which I shared with Ed and Sandra. Then back to masks. I cut and stitched six but didn't finish them.
Kathy, Connie and I had a ZOOM visit at noon in lieu of our monthly neighbor lunch. Marilyn didn't tune in. I enjoyed chatting and catching up on news. There is not much news since we're all staying home except for essential business. Everyone and their families have remained healthy and working.
A little after 4, Bill and I went for a walk - the first in several days. Now that Melton Hill is open, we were able to make our usual route - up to the overlook, down and around the campground and back home for 1 2/3 miles.
Garden salad and spaghetti for supper. I had another ZOOM meeting after supper. This one was a Loudon County Democrat Town Hall with Renee Hoyas. She is a very impressive woman and would be an excellent congresswoman.
Friday, May 22
Another video Friday has rolled around. At least this activity gives structure to the week. Today we recorded Kathy and Elizabeth singing "His Eye is on the Sparrow." After the worship recording, we recorded Walter on several organ pieces. Most of the people stayed to listen. I realized how much I've missed hearing him play. His preludes always put me in a meditative frame of mind, ready to worship and receive. My iphone cam failed to record for some reason.
Stopped by for a visit and fresh cookies at the Matzek house. Claire needed a smaller mask and she gave one of Amanda's to her friend, so when I go home I made 2 more.
Taco night at the Whitaker's.
Numbers: NY Times, 3:40 pm
US: 1,598,635 cases; 95,544 deaths
TN: 19,089 cases; 313 deaths
LoCo: 110 cases
TN Dept of Health: 19,394 cases; 315 deaths
LoCo: 130 cases.
This is a big jump since the initial Monterrey surge. Last Friday the case count was 48.
Saturday, May 23
Yesterday I started the process for making waffles from sourdough discard and I refreshed my starter. This morning I made the waffles. Superb! And it was pretty easy since the main prep was last night. I made a simple syrup with blueberries for my stack and Bill had maple syrup on his.
After breakfast, we walked through the park. We were very hot by the time we got home. We need to get an earlier start! After cooling down, I started the process for break making tomorrow. I am following a new recipe that preps a sponge the day before, then add more flour, knead, rise and bake on the second day.
While waiting on the bread, I got curious about the old yellow mixing bowl that I'm using. I believe it came from Mozelle. Research suggests that it is yellow-ware and the glaze probably contains led, which I suspected because of the age and bright color. I couldn't identify the fain mark on the bottom. I learned that yellow-ware refers to the type of clay used, not the glaze color. That type of pottery/crockery has been made since the 1600's and was used as primary mixing bowls and kitchen containers until the 1950s when advanced materials became more widespread.
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