Our Year in Cambridge

Starting Week 7 of our quarantine here in Cambridge. I had to ask Richard what week it was, as everything is blurring together. Things continue much the same here for us. Richard's work has not really been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. He and I continue to work with Emma on math and English, so that she gets at least 2 hours of schoolwork per day. Emma continues to enjoy playing Minecraft with family and friends. In short, we are trying to stave off boredom and anxiety as best we can. Spring is in full force in England and the bluebells are now in bloom. Bluebells are England's most famous woodland flower and they bloom for just a few weeks each spring. If you look at them closely, they are more purple than blue. Going for a walk in a bluebell wood has long been a popular pastime in the UK. To wit: take a look at this London Underground poster from the 1930s. As the weather has been so lovely here, we went in search of bluebells this past weekend. The...

Photos from my walk around Cambridge last night. As we head into late April, the weather is beautiful, the trees have leaves, and it's staying light until 8 pm.  Cambridge is the most beautiful place right now. 

Guest post from Emma: We walked around town to find eight Dinky Doors. The Dinky Doors are little structures that are hidden around Cambridge. We have found all of them, which is really fun. We have quite a few near us. This one is the closest. It is a bird's nest with a little elevator, which you can move up and down. The second one we found was the Teleport-O-Matic from Dr. Who, which was between two phone booths. Next we found the  Emailerator and the DFO -- Dinky Door Flying Object -- on the same street. The funniest one of them all was a door with a present left outside for Mr D Mon, from an angel named Angela. You could see the demon's hands and tail sticking out of the door. Next up was the Wonder Emporium, which had shelves with little things on them, like marbles, a Lego character, and dice. We're not really sure what was inside 10 and a quarter Downing Street, but it was still funny. Finally, at the bottom of a lamp post...

We are now midway through Week 5 of our quarantine. I've had a harder time motivating myself this week, in part because we are on our second week of Easter break and Emma's school -- such as it is -- is closed. I think it will be easier next week when we get daily emails from the teachers with some assignments. As it is, Emma continues to do math each day, and some form of English. She has been really enjoying her Legos as well and has put together some kind of elaborate Minecraft adventure scene. (She could explain it to you, if you asked). We managed to celebrate Passover last Thursday (a day late, due to my birthday on Wednesday). Emma and I made a seder plate together using my water colors. We had a roast chicken and a potato kugel, and while it certainly didn't feel like a normal Passover, it did feel like a special meal and evening. This past Sunday we also celebrated Easter. The Easter Bunny broke quarantine to enter our home, hide some eggs, and leave som...

Thanks to everyone for the birthday messages on Wednesday. It was a milestone birthday for me this year that we were supposed to celebrate in the New Forest, where Richard and I got engaged. While the coronavirus foiled our plans, April 8 was still a really nice day, thanks to the thoughtfulness of Richard and Emma (and also to the weather, which was absolutely beautiful). When I woke up, I was handed me a "birthday menu" for the day: The "visit to Amsterdam" was a virtual tour of some of the Rijksmuseum's finest artworks, called "Masterpieces Up Close". The "North African feast" was take-out from a Moroccan restaurant Richard and I have been planning to go to. "Pudding" was my requested birthday cake -- Nigella Lawson's sticky toffee pudding recipe (which I highly recommend). My presents included a sweet little book made by Emma... ...as well as a couple of books and my favorite Islay Scotch (if you're in...

A few days ago we, along with every other resident in Britain, received a letter from the Prime Minister detailing the UK's response to the coronavirus pandemic and the measures people should take to protect themselves. This letter was sent to 30 million households in the UK. It doesn't really offer any new information (unless you have been living under a rock, in which case it will be news to you that leaving your home is basically forbidden). But I thought this letter was interesting. It is at once a warning, a thank you, and a rallying cry to defeat a common enemy. It is almost poignant to think of the Prime Minister typing up this missive himself, alone in his room under quarantine. Closer to home, today marks the start of week 4 of self-isolation and "home schooling" (I use the term loosely since we've been light on schoolwork here; on the plus side I have never done so many crafts in my life). This weekend was absolutely gorgeous weather-wise, ...