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Out the Window

Life these past ten months seems to have been reduced to a series of framed moments - moments viewed on phone screens and out car windows. We live vicariously, together, and I've struggled to balance in home engagement against the allure of endless episodes of Puffin Rock and The Wild Kratts. A recent positive is an uptick in alternative activities, similar to the beginning of the pandemic, doggedly bringing the cheer, even if it looks a little different this year.

 

It's finally begun to get cold here in the South. Last week I sat on the front step in a T-shirt and knitted - this week I had to defrost an impressive frozen display off the windshield before we could do our grocery pick up.


Unable to go outside and with indoor places not currently an option, we've spent a lot of time looking out windows. We got a suet feeder a few years ago as a gift, so this year when we put it out we added a platform feeder for variety. We're trying to attract twenty different species (optimally of birds, but the squirrels are incorrigible) and documenting them in a Letterfolk Passport. The kids are using a nice set of bird flash cards to ID them, and they're pretty good at it, although we have had some creative misidentifications like "a giant blue tufted titmouse!" (It was a blue jay.) I think we've got twelve species so far, not counting the squirrels, and we've been tracking which feeders they prefer and also which food gets the best results.

I was hoping to take my little ballerina to the local production of The Nutcracker this year, but it was cancelled. Instead, we all went to their lovely outdoor drive through version, with fabulous balloon and streamer backdrops and the music coming through the radio like a drive in movie. Clara waved, the Nutcracker saluted, Mother Ginger blew kisses, and we were all delighted. Hopefully we can go to the full version next year!

Before it got cold, I took the Bigs to a couple of drive in movies (resurrected by a local production company). They've never been to a theater, so it was a nice non-threatening way to introduce them to a giant screen, with less potential shushing. Our second movie, The Grinch, ended up having some technical difficulties and they gave us a rain check, but by the time we got home Adam (who had stayed to put the toddler to bed) had it set up with our little projector on the garage door so we all sat in the back of the van and watched it in the driveway, instead.

One yearly tradition that we did get to keep was the Lights Quest. It goes like this: after dinner, we get in the van. I drive through somewhere for a caffeinated beverage, then I pick a promising neighborhood and they watch for lights and tell me when to turn. They love pointing out displays and having a say in where we go, and I love their enjoyment (and quietly sipping my drink while driving around slowly until bedtime). It's been great the way that people have adapted to the current restrictions, but it's also nice to have a small note of normalcy in the midst of tumultuous year.

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