Having a Zoom birthday was, according to Josh, like having a party in which everyone is standing in a circle. I got all dressed up and changed outfits three times to keep it interesting. At one point, we went outside and danced with my neighbors. Patty couldn't get her video to work, so her avatar was an image of a baby being baptized. My mother in law sent me a video:
Here are some photos:
In the 2 seconds that Patty could get her video to work, she showed us her "coronavirus haircut," which included a long rat tail. "Everyone should have a fucked up coronavirus home haircut by the time we're done with this," she said.
What was nice is that I got 30 people from 10 different states to participate in what someone described as feeling like "a weird art project" because I was so dressed up and drank an entire bottle of orange wine from a goblet. I'm not the only one having these birthday parties – they're proliferating and who knows how much longer they're going to go on. (I have one tonight, in fact!) I tried to make the best of it, but I love my friends and I found it depressing.
I also baked an angel food cake, which was pretty easy, but took 12 egg whites. Josh baked an opposite cake with the yolks, so now we have a white pound cake and a yellow pound cake. We froze the yellow one.
About a week ago I deactivated all my social media because reading up to the minute commentary at the same volume was getting me down. I thought I'd miss it, but I honestly don't! Now I read the news once or twice a day instead and keep up on Metafilter. The internet without social media is very different, and I like it.
I've been reading and listening to Emergence Magazine primarily, and I am getting a lot out of it. The magazine publishes online and then provides a podcast – either a discussion or a reading of an article by the author. I particularly loved this piece, about enclosures and humans living with trees. They're doing some online classes on topics like nature writing, and a reading group of Braiding Sweetgrass, one of the best books I've read in a long time.
Happy birthday!! Thank you for sharing that article about humans and trees.
ReplyDeletehappy birthday <3 i've never had orange wine, does it feel different than white? those cakes look incredible. i've never read emergency magazine, but am gonna check out this weekend.
ReplyDeleteApparently it's made with white grapes, keeping the skins on. I got a low alcohol Greek one that was effervescent and so tasty! It's very popular right now!
DeleteHappy birthday! Those blackberries look luscious.
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