Most of May 2020

The month was filled with Covid-19 sheltering with a weekly trip out for groceries. Katy Kathryn kept us entertained and connected with Family Covid Zoom Trivia Nights, and Annie and Stephen continued to share dinner with us. Construction on their remodel moved forward and the restoration of our floors began. I walked on several mornings, and baked banana bread again. Apparently, the entire country in lockdown is baking banana and sourdough bread. We avoided the huge Taylor gaggle at the cemetery and just met Emily and her family for Memorial Day.

Trivia night

Sunday dinner with AW and SKT

Sous-vide steak

Tres-leches cake for Cinco de Mayo

Enclosed

Lots of streaming in quarantine

Springtime in the Rockies

Mothers' Day flores

Ready to open the basement ceiling to dry from below

Drying mats in the kitchen: incredibly noisy!


Brandon installing windows at the Woodbury/Taylor project


More Zoom gatherings


These smell like The Hill of my youth


On trend with banana bread


Beautiful Timpanogos after rain in the night


Dickie can't resist taking a photo: if there is no picture,
it didn't happen!


Floral offering for the parents/grandparents


A small gathering with a Covid mask

Memorial Day lunch with Em's family

The end of May and beginning of June we made a quick ausflug to Santa Fe for Tucker's graduation. That will follow in the next post. This is all for now.

OXO

D.

April 2020

One more month of sheltering at home. To spice things up, Jamie issued a second family-Covid challenge to create living art. It turned out to be super-fun and massively creative. Easter was a quiet affair, but we did get our lamb and mint sauce! We only get out for groceries and walks (sometimes just as far as the Taylor-Woodbury construction site). Of course we are cooking every day and that, together with streaming every evening, keeps us sane -- more or less. I received a Covid-19 haircut. I figured this was the perfect time to try a buzz cut since my hair is disappearing anyway.

 Opa and Annie's new digs

 Coming along nicely

 Covid-19 live-art challenge

 Lucy and the NC Taylors

 Katy Kathryn and kids

 Erick and Madeline

 Ensigns and Youngs

 And the winner was the Hastings

 Someone likes mint sauce

 Covid-19 grocery shopping

 Emily picked up her package at a safe distance

 Weeds, flowers, and grass on a morning walk

 The garage rebuild became a reality

 Rear view of the Taylor-Woodbury project

 Spring blossoms on a morning walk

 Super-moist chocolate chip banana bread

 Uncle works his magic on my poor balding head

 From the rear I look 30

From the front, not so much

So here goes one more month of isolation; not much will be going on. And this is all for now.

OXO

D.

March 2020

What a month! We sheltered in place from the Covid-19 Virus, so life was pretty simple, venturing out only to go the grocery store and for a walk, which wasn't too hard for old retired people who normally live a bit like hermits. Stephen and Ann have moved into the basement of Millie's house (formerly theirs) while their new home (formerly Millie's) is being remodeled, so they have VERY limited cooking possibilities. Consequently, they have been eating with us. To stave off the boredom of confinement, Katy organized an SKT/DAT families Marco Polo Covid-19 lip sync competition. It turned out to be very entertaining. March 27 was my 74th birthday. We had to cancel Cousin's Breakfast and March 29 we were to have flown to Paris, but had to cancel: major March disappointments.

Last dinner out w/ SKT and AW before confinement

Lola's in Orem

Final HCT production for a while

Solidarity w/ BYU LGBTQ+ students who were screwed over by the 

Honor Code Policy change debacle

Last Group dinner for a while: we hosted

Work goes on at SKT and Annie's "new" house

Bombay House take-out birthday dinner courtesy of 

the Taylor/Woodburys

I made the super-delicious limoncello cake for the occasion

Katy Kathryn made this clever trophy for the winners of the 

Covid 19 lip sync competion: the Young family

The SKT/AW/DAT/KBT entry for the competition: Kris's brilliant

Monty Python monk chant, complete with head banging

Cover photo for one of the books the cousins are making for
Mabel and the other Soelberg binkers

Like the rest of the world, we have been streaming all kinds of fun

movies and shows

We are likely to be in some kind of confinement for months, so life will be pretty tame for the foreseeable future. This is all for now.

OXO

D.

The Rest of February 2020

Returning from Disneyland we could see the progress on Uncle and Annies's "new" house. H.B. was in town and we had a mini Hansen reunion with the Robertsons in SLC and breakfast with the Calders the next day. We also had a fun outing in SLC with Stephen and Ann on Leap Year.

The "new" Taylor house

Work has stopped pending the building permit

The Robertson kids (L to R): Joe, Julie, Jason, Jeri Lin, and Jani

Soup and salad

Jason and Beth, Brenna and Barry

Emily, Kris, SKT, Annie, and H.B.

Cameron and Sheila

Cousins' Breakfast with the Calders in SLC

H.B., Kreg, and Cameron

An old photo Kreg took many years ago when Anna was a baby

I am fond of a croque-madame, and pastries, of course

March is off and rolling, and if the Corona Virus doesn't upend our plans we will be in Paris by the end of the month. This is all for now.

OXO

D.