Dear family, friends, fellow travelers,
Today I sent out the Tweet advertising my tenth romance e-book giveaway title, which means Boston has been under a state of emergency due to covid-19 for going on ten weeks. I've been working remotely just over two months. Testing in several city neighborhoods this week suggests that around 90% of Bostonians remain antibody-negative (no exposure to the virus), meaning that social distancing is working to keep the infection rates down so hospitals can manage critical cases ... and also indicating that this pandemic is far from over. We are all starting to orient ourselves to at least a medium-range future in which our days will be shaped indelibly by the ongoing public health crisis locally, nationally, and globally.
Image: Announcement of 10th #romance e-book giveaway title (Briarley by Aster Glenn Gray)
Our weekly routine now has a familiar shape. Monday through Friday we get up and take a socially-distanced walk through the Arnold Arboretum, then around eight settle down with coffee and breakfast for a morning of work at the dining room table. It's a dance of Zoom calls that most of the time alternate but occasionally overlap meaning one of us has to retreat to the living room or bedroom to hear or be heard. As the weather warms, we now have the back porch as an option as well! Without an afternoon commute our workdays generally end between 3-5pm and we have a nice late-afternoon meal and a period of downtime before retreating to the bedroom to read. On Saturday we have a lie-in followed by a leisurely breakfast in bed before going out for the weekly farmer's market run. On Sunday the morning walk is punctuated at the end by a stop at the neighborhood grocery store and the Blue Star diner for takeaway pancakes. Milk delivery comes on Monday (as it always has). Compost pick-up has resumed. Friday is pizza night, followed by my Little Wizards gaming session with Minneapolis friends. Sunday is now punctuated by an hour of Minecraft with a smol one struggling with social distancing. Cloth face coverings are everywhere. I'm still really tired after every trip outside that involved navigating other people. It continues to be a lot, even as our homelife is relatively serene and in some ways as suited to our individual selves as it has ever been.
Image: Orange ceramic french press, small creamer, and diner coffee mug reading "This Coffee Kills Fascists" on our dining room table.
Hanna and I are both likely not looking at staff returning to our workplaces until June/July and the public not until the fall at the earliest (though nothing official beyond May have been announced). Every meeting we attend these ends with uncertain timelines and a series of questions and decision trees that only grow and more complex longer. If this, then that, but possibly this and therefore that other thing too...
Image: Teazle caught sleeping upon my closed work laptop recently (it's old and the motor runs hot...)
In the month since its launch on April 15th the Archival Workers Emergency Fund has supported 88 workers with donations from over 500 individuals and organizations. Library Journal's Lisa Peet spoke with a few of the AWE Fund Organizers, including myself, about the effort and you can read her article here. The AWE Fund Organizers group is busy with a lot of concurrent projects, and my own task of the moment (in addition to serving on the Review Committee) is to coordinate the Persistent Stitches' #Auction4AWEfund, a four-day silent auction fundraiser. Mark your calenders! And if you're a crafty archivist or a crafter who supports archival workers, please consider donating an item or items for auction. The deadline for item donation is June 15th and details are in the call for crafters linked above.
Image: Composite image of me knitting and a portion of the artwork accompanying the call for crafters for #Auction4AWEfund.
My Stardew Valley farmers, Lydia Lyrica (and cat Purl) and Teaspoon (and terrier Teacup), have been thriving! Lydica Lyrica of Knitty Knoll is now in the winter of her second year and tending three cows named Warp, Weft, and Tweed; three chickens named Raglan, Twill, and Poplin, and a baby duck named Flax. Her immediate goals include building a cheese press in order to turn cow milk into cheese, enlarging the small animal coop to a size suitable for homing rabbits, and learning how to produce cloth from rabbit wool. Teaspoon of Lichen Ledge has been the more ambitious of the two, already managing a farm that houses four cows (Oregano, Thyme, Basil, and Dill), two goats (Pepper and Citron), four chickens (Clove, Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Nutmeg), three ducks (Cumin, Tamarind, and Ginger), and two rabbits (Teff and Neem). She's also really into beekeeping. She is currently in the autumn of her third year farming and plans to increase her orchard yield in the year ahead as well as building a horse and stable. She has also facilitated the repair of a bridge to the town quarry, the regional bus, and the minecart system beneath Pelican Town.
Image: Teaspoon waits for wool from one of her rabbits to spin into "cloth" at Lichen Ledge farm.
In addition to choosing two different farms for my two different farmers, I've also been trying as much as possible (and as much as personal inclination is there ... some aspects of the game, like mining, I'm not that invested in) to make disparate choices when the game presents me with X or Y at stages of play. It will be interesting to see where these two end up over time.
Image: Christopher tries laps! Close to three full years after he first came to live with us ...
And I think that's mostly the shape of our life right now. I strongly encourage you to go read a queer romance as an act of radical self care. Maybe particularly this romance (as I write this I'm two thirds of the way through and I swear Cat Sebastian has designed this series specifically to kill me with the sheer number of messy, trying characters who fucking use their words and figure out how to live with queer joy. If you don't get a June edition of this news letter you'll have to blame Cat (but please don't because I will have died with a deep sense of joie de vivre).
Image: Close up of pink blossoms at the Arnold Arboretum.
You might also like this tea cake that we made a few days ago. I substituted sliced almonds for half of the shredded coconut, and it was particularly tasty warm from the oven with maple syrup drizzled over the top. (Then again, our household is partial to maple syrup in most contexts. It's probably being a Mainer and a Michigander. We never stood a chance.)
Stay safe, be kind,
Anna
Today I sent out the Tweet advertising my tenth romance e-book giveaway title, which means Boston has been under a state of emergency due to covid-19 for going on ten weeks. I've been working remotely just over two months. Testing in several city neighborhoods this week suggests that around 90% of Bostonians remain antibody-negative (no exposure to the virus), meaning that social distancing is working to keep the infection rates down so hospitals can manage critical cases ... and also indicating that this pandemic is far from over. We are all starting to orient ourselves to at least a medium-range future in which our days will be shaped indelibly by the ongoing public health crisis locally, nationally, and globally.
Image: Announcement of 10th #romance e-book giveaway title (Briarley by Aster Glenn Gray)
Our weekly routine now has a familiar shape. Monday through Friday we get up and take a socially-distanced walk through the Arnold Arboretum, then around eight settle down with coffee and breakfast for a morning of work at the dining room table. It's a dance of Zoom calls that most of the time alternate but occasionally overlap meaning one of us has to retreat to the living room or bedroom to hear or be heard. As the weather warms, we now have the back porch as an option as well! Without an afternoon commute our workdays generally end between 3-5pm and we have a nice late-afternoon meal and a period of downtime before retreating to the bedroom to read. On Saturday we have a lie-in followed by a leisurely breakfast in bed before going out for the weekly farmer's market run. On Sunday the morning walk is punctuated at the end by a stop at the neighborhood grocery store and the Blue Star diner for takeaway pancakes. Milk delivery comes on Monday (as it always has). Compost pick-up has resumed. Friday is pizza night, followed by my Little Wizards gaming session with Minneapolis friends. Sunday is now punctuated by an hour of Minecraft with a smol one struggling with social distancing. Cloth face coverings are everywhere. I'm still really tired after every trip outside that involved navigating other people. It continues to be a lot, even as our homelife is relatively serene and in some ways as suited to our individual selves as it has ever been.
Image: Orange ceramic french press, small creamer, and diner coffee mug reading "This Coffee Kills Fascists" on our dining room table.
Hanna and I are both likely not looking at staff returning to our workplaces until June/July and the public not until the fall at the earliest (though nothing official beyond May have been announced). Every meeting we attend these ends with uncertain timelines and a series of questions and decision trees that only grow and more complex longer. If this, then that, but possibly this and therefore that other thing too...
Image: Teazle caught sleeping upon my closed work laptop recently (it's old and the motor runs hot...)
In the month since its launch on April 15th the Archival Workers Emergency Fund has supported 88 workers with donations from over 500 individuals and organizations. Library Journal's Lisa Peet spoke with a few of the AWE Fund Organizers, including myself, about the effort and you can read her article here. The AWE Fund Organizers group is busy with a lot of concurrent projects, and my own task of the moment (in addition to serving on the Review Committee) is to coordinate the Persistent Stitches' #Auction4AWEfund, a four-day silent auction fundraiser. Mark your calenders! And if you're a crafty archivist or a crafter who supports archival workers, please consider donating an item or items for auction. The deadline for item donation is June 15th and details are in the call for crafters linked above.
Image: Composite image of me knitting and a portion of the artwork accompanying the call for crafters for #Auction4AWEfund.
My Stardew Valley farmers, Lydia Lyrica (and cat Purl) and Teaspoon (and terrier Teacup), have been thriving! Lydica Lyrica of Knitty Knoll is now in the winter of her second year and tending three cows named Warp, Weft, and Tweed; three chickens named Raglan, Twill, and Poplin, and a baby duck named Flax. Her immediate goals include building a cheese press in order to turn cow milk into cheese, enlarging the small animal coop to a size suitable for homing rabbits, and learning how to produce cloth from rabbit wool. Teaspoon of Lichen Ledge has been the more ambitious of the two, already managing a farm that houses four cows (Oregano, Thyme, Basil, and Dill), two goats (Pepper and Citron), four chickens (Clove, Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Nutmeg), three ducks (Cumin, Tamarind, and Ginger), and two rabbits (Teff and Neem). She's also really into beekeeping. She is currently in the autumn of her third year farming and plans to increase her orchard yield in the year ahead as well as building a horse and stable. She has also facilitated the repair of a bridge to the town quarry, the regional bus, and the minecart system beneath Pelican Town.
Image: Teaspoon waits for wool from one of her rabbits to spin into "cloth" at Lichen Ledge farm.
In addition to choosing two different farms for my two different farmers, I've also been trying as much as possible (and as much as personal inclination is there ... some aspects of the game, like mining, I'm not that invested in) to make disparate choices when the game presents me with X or Y at stages of play. It will be interesting to see where these two end up over time.
Image: Christopher tries laps! Close to three full years after he first came to live with us ...
And I think that's mostly the shape of our life right now. I strongly encourage you to go read a queer romance as an act of radical self care. Maybe particularly this romance (as I write this I'm two thirds of the way through and I swear Cat Sebastian has designed this series specifically to kill me with the sheer number of messy, trying characters who fucking use their words and figure out how to live with queer joy. If you don't get a June edition of this news letter you'll have to blame Cat (but please don't because I will have died with a deep sense of joie de vivre).
Image: Close up of pink blossoms at the Arnold Arboretum.
You might also like this tea cake that we made a few days ago. I substituted sliced almonds for half of the shredded coconut, and it was particularly tasty warm from the oven with maple syrup drizzled over the top. (Then again, our household is partial to maple syrup in most contexts. It's probably being a Mainer and a Michigander. We never stood a chance.)
Stay safe, be kind,
Anna