Foofaraw

I learned a new word yesterday: foofaraw, which means "frills and flashy finery" or "a disturbance or to-do over a trifle."

It's fun! And came about after I didn't succeed in finding it in the spelling bee game.

Out the window

What a neat pandemic creation.

http://window-swap.com/window

Look and see what people are looking at from their little parts of the world.

In the oven

A blackberry pound cake, from blackberries I picked and using a recipe I printed out years ago, aspirationally, and am finally making use of.

(It smells great.)

Book exchange

I've been in the same book club for nearly a decade, and one of the highlights is the twice-annual white elephant book exchange where people steal and steal and steal books and it takes forever to know what you're going home with.

That's hard in a pandemic.

While we've been able to keep having meetings on Zoom, the exchange was a different story. But tonight, we figured it out! And so if all goes to plan, I should be getting a book in the mail in the not-too-distant future.

That's pretty wonderful, as are the successes in normalcy, such as it is now.

Bounty

I swear I have never had this much food in my refrigerator ever, at any point. It's absurd. And there are so many choices! How grand.

Obits

I always hate having to write an obituary, because it means there are people who are mourning. But there's something so powerful about writing them, too. You are often the last word on someone's life.

I'm glad, today, that I was able to write one to memorialize someone who touched so many people. And I was glad to help people process grief, remember a loved one and smile while they recalled certain memories. It's lousy, but it's good.

Company

After an appropriate amount of quarantining and social distancing, I have company this week. And I'm so very grateful for it.

Fruit picking, and the results

Dairy princess

Everything about this story, regarding the butter-carved busts of decades of Dairy Princesses at the Minnesota State Fair, delights me more than I can begin to tell you.

So let me call out just one part.

“I think any time you can see a butter princess sculpted out of butter is a good day,” said Karal Ann Marling, the author of “Blue Ribbon: A Social and Pictorial History of the Minnesota State Fair.”

Ms. Marling said she had always been mesmerized by the skill required to turn a block of butter into a realistic bust in front of a crowd of curious onlookers.

“The hard part of it for me is you won’t be able to eat any of the tailings that come off when you’re sculpting,” Ms. Marling said. “That was always my favorite part.”

How can you not want to read more?

Better yet -- this year, you can watch from home! I plan to.

Sharing is caring

Glad to be able to help a few friends who have needed a lift these past few days, each in some small way.

Tomatoes

They're getting there!

Ring ring

How nice to get phone calls today from two friends I've known since I was in the single digits. Fourth grade was a good grade, even all these years later.

Mail

I haven't checked the mail (or, uh, been outside) since the weekend, so I thought it would be nice to take a quick jaunt to the mailbox. (It turns out it's hot as blazes out there -- even after 10 p.m.) It was heartening that my one piece of mail -- just one! -- was a handwritten letter. I'm glad I went to look.

But now I can probably give it a few days again.

Virtual bookshelves

I just watched an author talk on Zoom with Curtis Sittenfeld and Roxane Gay (both of whom I adore). And like Curtis, I am in love with Roxane Gay's full-wall, wraparound, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

So I was so excited when they started to talk about them! And then wonderfully amused when Roxane admitted that they were a virtual background... of another room in her house. With a window photoshopped in.

How amazing is that?

Also, she's building a Little Free Library in her front yard to put the galleys of all the books she's sent, and if I didn't want to be neighbors before, I definitely do, now.

Why yes, he is

I got an email today from someone whose email address included the phrase "he's retired now" (minus the apostrophe, of course) and I thought it was delightful.

I also got a TON of emails from people who had questions or opinions or weren't happy with work-related things. When I replied to them, many of them said thank you. One told me he appreciated my professional response. One became a daylong exchange. And only one replied telling me "bullshit." It could have been so many more!

Plus, one led to an email exchange with a higher-up that made me smile, too.

Berries

I went to pick blueberries today, on purpose, and found some wild blackberries later in the day on a walk in the woods.

I always love finding them -- they feel like a secret discovery! -- and while most weren't ripe, I managed to snag a couple that were edible.

It made it feel like summer. That plus melting outdoors.

Email

Our email was down at work today. And you know what? It was kind of fabulous.

Since I didn't have to spend so much time reading and deleting and being distracted by pop-up notifications, I wrote a story more quickly than I normally would. And I had time to call and check in on a couple coworkers, too.

I'm sure I'll be less thrilled Monday, when I can see the flood of things I should have known about today. But until then, it was a very nice break.

Plums

My CSA came with plums today! More than two dozen!

They are sweet and delicious. I've only eaten three today, which felt like a fabulous exertion of willpower.

A warm drink

Hot chocolate at night, spiked with the last of the cream bourbon.