Art Auction

Last month Mariah set up an art auction for some of our family members across the miles.  All entries were sent to Mariah ahead of time and then we met by ZOOM to bid on the ones we wanted:  the "money" was chocolate chips.  Audrey's painting was up first - it was beautiful and their were several bidders, but her cousin Addy beat everyone out with the highest bid.  It was all kind and calm.  Towards the end, however, anarchy reigned and people were trying to outbid each other with bags of chocolate chips and bins of cheese puffs.   It was so much fun and another way to stay connected through our sheltering-in-place.

p.s. Note picture #5 was custom made - has Grandpa's name on it, by Hannah.  We all decided to honor that and let Grandpa be the only bidder.

bread

When Luke got home in March the job he had lined up fell through (which was a pretty typical scenario as the states were just starting to "close-up" because of the pandemic).  He had about 2 weeks of finishing his classes online, but then what?  We were in full sheltering in place/stay at home orders at that time.  So, he decided to take up a hobby and learn a new skill.  He had a bunch of Target gift cards saved up so invested in a nice iron dutch-oven and other cooking supplies.  He went to a new, upscale bakery in town that is known for making beautiful sourdough bread loaves.  They also sell starter and bags of different kinds of flour.  Their business seemed to be booming in spite of the pandemic - they have a table blocking their open door where you make and receive your order.  So Luke gave them a couple of visits, and then he was ready.

We at the house LOVED his new hobby.  He made some beautiful loves of bread - crusty outsides, soft insides.  There were times he got up pretty early as some of the loaves were an entire-day process.  He measured and "fed" the starter each day, whatever that means, and eventually made his own starter.  From the loaves he also made croutons and beautifully, crisp, seasoned bread crumbs.  He also made sourdough chocolate chip pancakes.

But bread was not his only venture.  Right now giant, sea-salted cookies are all the rage in bakeries, etc.  So he tried a few recipes over and over again (yay!).  One recipe said to refrigerate the dough for 36 hours before baking.

Then, all of a sudden, Luke was done - he cut us off!  He took a road trip with his buddy Andrew and then came back home and was able to get a job.  We know this is a good thing, but boy do we miss his baking!  I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of his masterpieces, but if he ever gets back to it I will.

a sunny day in the city

Reggie and I went to the Embarcadero, Aquatic Park and Fisherman's Wharf area in the city on Saturday.  It still seems different because of the Pandemic shut downs - most businesses closed, not a lot of people.  But it also had signs of life, like maybe the city is getting ready to come out of it's cocoon after a long sleep.  It looks like the city has taken good advantage of this time with lots of improvements like road work, new paint jobs on buildings and well swept and clean sidewalks.  It gave me something to look forward to - the city and our country will get through this and eventually be open again.  

This is one of my favorite parts of the city: Hyde St. Pier
where you go out on the historic boats

Another sign of life was that there were more people out than there has been since the sheltering-in-place started.  People were still social-distancing, and carrying and then wearing masks when they were passing each other.  There was a friendly, polite, relaxing kind of vibe, especially at the aquatic park where people were just hanging out.  At one point I noticed a *special needs young adult come around the corner, with her family, determined to say hello to everyone she met.  Everyone gave a happy hello back.  It was a beautiful day in the city.

One of the few places that was open for pick up was the Boudin bakery.  It was just a simple pleasure to order one of several different kinds of breads that looked good:  a ham and cheese croissant, mini sea turtle loaf, chocolate chocolate chip loaf and a jalapeño cheese roll.  We took them home and cut them up so everyone could try some.  Now the goal is to see what we can replicate.

sea turtle

A couple of hours on a sunny day in the city was just what I needed.

*  I'm not sure what the most respectful terminology is.  I know that mentally retarded has been used so much as a joke that a fairly new term to replace that is "ID" for "Intellectually Deficient".  On the other hand I don't even know if that is what this woman's diagnosis is; in the schools a general term that is often used is "special needs" so that is what I chose to use here.  Although maybe a good term, in this situation anyway, would have been "special spirit" because her saying hello to everyone seemed to bring the best out of everyone, and I was blessed to pass her by that day.

Meet the family - I wish we knew who you were/are

Rotational wise this month is supposed to be about Reggie's Dad's side.  Unfortunately we don't know much more about his ancestors.  But, in February Reggie did one of those genetics test kits to see if he could learn more about his background.  It was basically what Reggie thought - a pretty even amount of Polynesia, the Philippines and Portugal; 15% Spain, and then a whole lot of 2 % and one percenters.  Those consisted of Europe, China, Puerto Rico, Basque and Africa.  Those small numbers intrigue me the most:  I wonder how far back you have to go to find the ancestor that contributed to 1% or 2% of who you are.  But just the truth of it means there is an interesting story there.  For example, what if, let's say my Pineda grandchildren go on to marry into the pilipino or polynesian cultures generation after generation.  Maybe my great great, great . . . . . . . descendants will then do a test and find out they are 2% caucasian/european, meaning me!  I want them to know me, to know where that came from.  Another #rememberme moment in my mind.  I guess that's why I have chosen to concentrate on the story telling of our genealogy - so that hopefully we will never be a mystery to our family.

Secondly, for twenty something years now we have been wondering where that red hair comes from! Mariah with her bright red hair and Samantha with her darker red hair - maybe it comes from my side or maybe from Reggie's - who knows!  It just makes me feel like there is a long lost ancestor there who greatly contributed to the make-up of our family.  It reminded me of the lyrics of one of "The Lion King" songs that says "in your reflection they live in you".

  We love you, our ancestors, whoever you are and thank you for contributing to who we are.

a drive by

Not quite done with school yet!  Yesterday was graduation.  Much of the staff in these kid's lives, and many of their family members, participated in a graduation-congratulations-drive-by.  Luke and Samantha came with me so that Luke could drive while Samantha waved pom poms out of the sun roof and I waved signs out the side window. The smiles on these kid's faces as we drove/paraded past their houses, honking and being loud, was priceless. I think the teacher tipped them off that we were coming cause one kid and his family was already outside ready to watch.  The other kid was not so we paused outside honking, etc. until he did come out - again, with the biggest smile on his face; and, I especially noticed he was wearing the candy lei we made him.

So, one day left.  The campus has been open to staff-only for a couple of weeks now - masks required, so I am going to go help get it ready for it's long summer-sleep.  Who knows what the next school year will look like.

I cannot adequately express how happy I am about this!

From NBC News:
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, joined demonstrators Sunday marching to the White House in protest of George Floyd's death in the custody of Minneapolis police.

About 1,000 protesters marched through Washington.

Asked why it was important for him to be present at the protest, Romney, who was wearing a face covering, said: "We need a voice against racism. We need many voices against racism and against brutality."

"We need to stand up and say black lives matter," added Romney, who was marching with a Christian group.

Romney had repeatedly tweeted about Floyd's death in recent days, and he shared a photo of his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, marching in a civil rights demonstration in the late 1960s.

"No Americans should fear enmity and harm from those sworn to protect us," Romney tweeted last week. "The death of George Floyd must not be in vain: Our shock and outrage must grow into collective determination to extinguish forever such racist abuse."

new and improved to-do listing!

I've come to realize that I am a much more successful person if I have a to do list to work off of.  BUT recently I have added one great feature.  On the side of the to-do-list, at an angle, I write down my reward for the day - like maybe a movie to watch or cookies to make or scrapbooking.  Lately it's been that I will work on doll clothes.  In that instance, however, the reward has sometimes become a punishment and resulted in me yelling at my sewing machine - Ha! Ha!  But, I have persevered and even though I can see the mistakes in the clothes I don't think the grandchildren will, and it has been worth it so far.

And every time the words "Avenger Scarves" comes into my head I just smile and smile.  So I think it's going to be great!

end of the year party

We had our last official day of school yesterday which was a virtual, online, google-classroom party.  The teacher did SO MUCH to make it fun.  Her location was the classroom which she decorated in a beach theme, while the rest of us were in our homes.  She made a slideshow of our school year - first pictures of all of us together from our classroom and around campus, and then screen shots of us continuing online/virtually.  She also did a jib-jab video, a couple of quote walls, and awards for most this and most that - I got "most likely to be on a baking show and to write a book about family".  She also gathered and shared videos from various famous people speaking to graduates about their futures.  She asked each of us to name a favorite memory of the school year.  I knew I had a lot but couldn't recall them all.  I am so glad I have recorded some on the blog!  But my answer was about our last day of being together at the school, which we didn't know would be our last day.  I remember trivia, art projects and being outside with the kids on a sunny, happy, peaceful day.  I am so glad that last day was high note for us all.

 I am going to especially miss our kids that are graduating.  In looking back to when we met 2 years ago I can't believe how much we came to enjoy each other, know each other, understand each other and like each other.  Spending 6 hours a day, 5 days a week together became a very pleasant experience.  Again, I am so glad I blogged about some of it so that I can look back and smile.  I certainly wish those kids luck as they move on to high school in the fall.  I also look forward to being with the ones that are staying, even if we don't know yet what school will be like with the Corona Virus still hanging around our world. In the meantime I look forward to the summer rejuvenating us all.

This land is my land, this land is your land

Alright, 6 months left to do a new theme, along with our "Meet the Family".  This one:
*FINDING YOUR ROOTS.

Queen Latifah is one of my favorite actresses.  My girls and I enjoy watching her in "Living Single", "Mad Money" and "Hairspray" to name a few. When she was on "Finding Your Roots" they traced her mother's side of her family back to slavery in The United States.  On her father's side they were able to trace her family in this country all the way back to the mid 1700s, before the Revolutionary War, before we were a country, to her 6th great grandmother.  I love Queen Latifah's reaction.  She commented that her family was here long before most Americans.  She said she has heard of people saying they were going to move to Canada if this or that happens or if things don't get better.  But, she said,

"I'm not going anywhere.  This is my country.  My family helped build this nation.  We are going to stay here and fight and do what we need to make it right."

This is so profound to me because right now our country is embroiled in demonstrations, protests and unfortunately riots because there have been so many killings of black people by the hands of the police and of just regular citizens who think they can do whatever they want to whomever they want. The inequality and oppression is so prevalent that I've been feeling like it is never going to end and that maybe our nation is doomed because of the fact that some of the founding fathers expressed that they knew slavery was wrong, but let it remain even when they wrote "all men are created equal".  And now, in 2020, much of America is literally on fire, broken and trashed and I've wondered  if it is a death sentence our founding father's gave us in the first place.  BUT, stories like Queen Latifah's makes me feel like maybe we can save it; maybe we can make it right somehow.

Well, her ancestors' story was not over and gets more and more amazing:

Queen Latifah's 5th great grandmother, Joanna Owens, who went by the nickname "Juggy", was born into slavery in 1766.  She worked on a tobacco plantation.  At one point she was given or sold to a neighbor named Mary Old.  On this show the interviewer presented Queen Latifah (whose given name is Dana Owens) the actual paper, penned by Mary Old, that granted Juggy her freedom.  Mary Old declared that she knew slavery was disgusting, sinful, etc. and she could no longer participate in it.  From that day forward, in 1792, Juggy Owens remained free as did all of her descendants!  Queen Latifah and the interviewer discussed how the actions of one person who, as they paraphrased, said "this stinks and I'm going to do something about it" saved an entire family for generations.

So . . .  I'm not sure what I can do in 2020 in the fight for equality for all.  So far all I can think of is to share these true stories and not lose hope.