Fleur-de-FollowUp2020

Ah, the 2020 Pandemic.

Crown Imperial Fritillaria

Social Distancing. Hand Sanitizing.  Online zooming and streaming. Masks. Masks. Masks. Flowers and more flowers.

My friend Valerie writes that she made 32 masks from a friend’s curtain leftovers.  She shared them with family, friends, and a pharmacist who gives them to customers going through chemo.

Another reader, Terry, tells me about her Fleetwood neighbor, Kelly, who donated 500 handmade masks to family, friends, and first responders in the Lehigh Valley, as well as folks at the Topton Lutheran Home.

One of the most challenging things for me during the Stay-At-Home order has been staying at home with my mother who can’t comprehend what is going on.  She cherishes her daily drives downtown to “see what’s going on”, blueberry pancakes at The Waffle Shop with plenty of “hellos” and “hi there’s” from staff and regulars, as well as occasional musical performances and other events.  Always a social butterfly and hostess, she doesn’t understand why her daughters’ weekend visits have come to a screeching halt.

Valerie’s Sister-in-Law and Brother

But, like all of you, we are adapting to the new normal.

At least once a week we attend a Master Gardener Zoom meeting where my mom can see familiar faces and hear familiar voices.  I’ve nicknamed her Marie Zoom Zoom Fedon.  She has taken to the new technology like a champ, waving and smiling, who needs audio? She has a Zoom Senior Dessert with her Alpha Omicron Pi sorority sisters Monday (BYODessert) and tomorrow we’ll have a Fedon Family Festival via Zoom, coordinated by Marina from Ghent, Belgium.

Last Saturday night we enjoyed Facebook live streaming from Nightingale’s Acoustic Café in Old Lyme, CT. Richard Sleigh put on a great show from his home along Spring Creek, playing the harmonica, guitar and singing, just as we’ve heard him perform at Lemont’s Village Green and Webster’s Café.

We take occasional drives downtown, coupled with trips to the township recycling bins (and frequent hand dousing with sanitizer.) Or we do the College-Beaver Avenue loop with a quick masked stop at the post office (Marie stays in the car).

Leopard’s Bane

This morning we tried something new and hit the Dunkin’ drive-through, black mask and all, for a two-pack of donuts, strawberry frosting with sprinkles. She had one for brunch and one for lunch.

On Tuesday evenings, because we can’t share a meal with our friends Jan and John, Jan orders pizzas for both of us, Richard picks up and delivers to their house and ours, and two families enjoy a meal apart, but together.  Laurie Lynch

Distance Learning:  For the month of April, Penn State Extension is offering a number of free online courses (learn.extension.psu.edu). I just completed 9.5 hours of Teach for Forests. I’ll share the highlights in an upcoming blog. There’s still time for you to check out a course or two.

Long-Long-Distance Learning:  Next week, I’ve signed up for the online earth talk series: The Joy of Six through Schumacher College in the UK. These courses are given as part of the “gift economy”—free or free to donate. You can also sign up, at Dartington.org.  Each presenter talks about his or her specialty in relation to COVID 19 and the global crisis. The classes will be Wednesday evenings at 8 in England, which means they start at 3 p.m. in PA. The emphasis will be on personal resilience, eco-spirituality and conscious evolution.

Fleur-de-PandemicPasta

Throughout the pandemic, one of my ordinary goals—buying local—has intensified.

That’s not to say I don’t send Richard on Sam’s Club runs for frozen berries and paper products, but I’m committed to supporting our community businesses.

Our neighborhood cheerleader texted everyone suggesting we all do BBQ takeout one night by ordering dinner from Hogfather’s, paying over the phone, and he would pick up the orders and deliver them.  We were in.

Weekly I place a vegetable order on Tait Farm’s website.  When we get the email notice, my mom and I drive out to the farm and the package of greens, celeriac, daikon radishes, and scallions is hustled out to our car.  On the way home, we stop at Meyer Dairy to return our glass bottles and buy fresh quarts of milk from cows we often see in the nearby pastures.

My local-local-local mantra has even rubbed off on Richard, King of Online Shoppers.  He drove to Pleasant Gap to our favorite pasta shop, Fasta & Ravioli Co.

That’s where, back in 2012, I spent the early morning hours sleeping in the parking lot to be in line for their grand opening … 24 other early bird customers and I won a pound of fresh pasta a week for the entire year.

In April 2020 Fasta is  offering elaborate Pandemic Pasta Survival Kits.  Instead, Richard bought lobster ravioli and a few other favorites.  Then, he picked up a free DIY Pandemic Pasta kit for moi in a Fasta & Ravioli Co. bright orange-and-yellow zippered bag.

Each DIY bag contains ¾ cup of flour (a mixture of durum and semolina).  The label instructs you to check out the Fasta video for further instructions.  All you need to add are 2 eggs and a half-cup of water.  What could be easier?

https://youtu.be/fF8L70L1U1w

And easy it is. Fasta Bob tells me they stopped counting how many bags they prepared after a couple hundred. It was a way to help the community while putting a little fun in everyone’s life.

I’ve made pasta before, my grandmother’s tortellini and ravioli, but I liked the tip for making plain linguine (which means ‘little tongues’) by gently wrapping the rolled out pasta over a dowel, slipping out the rod, and slicing into noodle widths.

Now, do I seem like the kind of woman who has a spare dowel rod hanging around? Of course not.  But I do have a long-handled wooden spoon that was a good substitute. Laurie Lynch

Idea Exchange:  Is someone in your community sharing a skill or product in the midst of this pandemic? Email me at fleur.de.lys_farm@me.com and I’ll include it in a future blog post.

Crazy April Weather:  We had more “snow events” this month than December 2019 through March 2020 combined.  I’ve taken photos of snow on the PJM rhododendron blossoms, snow on the pansies, snow on the daffodils and on tax day, after the snow melted, I got a shot of a local creature that popped out of the ground with the dandelions.

Family Tree:  The pandemic has also blossomed into an updating of the Famiglia Marcon ancestry record.  I got an email from a fourth cousin in St. Louis, MO, who is working on the project, updating information collected in 2002.  At last count, Chris has 1,181 people spanning 9 generations and 3 centuries.  What an undertaking!