Dear Readers,
First of all, a big thank you to those of you who responded to my last newsletter with pointers on how to deal with anxiety. I really, really appreciated that! I am happy to report that, over the past two weeks since I lost wrote to you, I have been doing better. I have paid attention to what makes me feel less dread, and I have tried to do more of that and stay away
from whatever seems to upset me. First and foremost, that is TV news! So I have simply not watched any news program. All that speculation makes me nervous. What I need to know does seep through to me but that only amounts to staying home and wearing a mask and gloves when I go shopping.
My world is pretty small right now, or maybe not, because it does comprise a bunch of acres of Indiana countryside and my family of five. And that's what I'm focusing on: my little world! Being productive within that little world, making a contribution, even if it's just chocolate pudding (see below), and keeping the peace. Anyone hunkered down with family knows that that is a tall order in and of
itself!
Speaking of my world, these days I have been enamored with the serviceberry
trees (which I only recently learned to identify) and the delightful
spray of white they've plastered across the otherwise still bare woods.
Here's what has helped lower my anxiety:
- doing things I like to do (thankfully, so many nasty projects, such as the tax return, can be happily postponed in this appointment-free life!)
- focusing on positive, productive, and creative projects
- deadlines
- cooking and baking
- no news
- watching comedies
I have also gotten some professional advice and based on that I am now practicing formal mindfulness every morning to help tone down some of that physical agitation. This amounts to doing Susannah Conway's Lake Visualization. This does relax me and doing it in the morning before breakfast ensures that I actually do it, plus it sets a good tone for the rest of the day.
In the spirit of trying to do only things I like to do (that doesn't always work, obviously!)--I didn't manage to get out a newsletter last week because I focused on assembling a photo album of our sibling trip to London last November as a birthday present for my sister. And while I was on the deadline to get the
link of the album's online version to her by her birthday, I discovered that being under the gun for a positive project is a good thing for me. It helps prioritize and focus the day when every day seems the same.
This picture of my brother bending his way through a tunnel along the
Towpath of Regent's Canal in London is my favorite of that whole trip.
Putting together a photo album is a great way to celebrate past trips at a time when travel seems so elusive! Plus it is a productive and positive project, the kind of thing I am trying to focus on. And something I usually never have time for!
It doesn't always have to be an entire album, however. Those are a lot of work, after all. I also enjoyed finally sifting through some of the photos from my trip to Peru last summer to create this photo essay (not that that isn't work but it only takes a day):
This is my favorite picture from that excursion to the Ballestas Islands,
and perhaps of the entire trip to Peru. I feel some Gothic story could be written
about this setting!
This week I have to crank out an article on writing about family history for Family Tree Magazine, a publication I have not written for before. It's a bit of a challenge, but a good one, and I am getting paid for it. And again, deadlines are good for me.
This week my day job editing a school's newsletter starts up again as well, so a bit of the old structure and contact with colleagues will return, if only remotely, which is still welcome.
It's a good thing that cooking and baking are among my "approved" list of activities, since that is a necessity these days. My only problem is that all my beloved cookbooks are at home in Chicago! So I have to cook and bake from memory or what favorite recipes I can locate online. I usually pride myself in making do, but as we are now in the sixth week of our "exile,"
this is getting a bit old. Thanks to all the meal prep, my kitchen here is now pretty stocked up in terms of utensils, bowls, pots and pans, and all kinds of staples, more than I ever thought a weekend home kitchen would be.
I recently made my grandmother's chocolate pudding, a recipe I do know by heart. However, I still had to improvise as I didn't have quite enough milk. The resulting pudding was the best I have ever made!
I am sharing it with you below, exactly how I made it. I am not sure whether it was the particular milk I used, or the fact that I added some almond milk, but it was just delicious, and it is so easy to make:
Chocolate Pudding
700 ml Horizon Organic Whole Milk
50 ml almond milk
4 1/2 tbsp. corn starch
3 tbsp. cocoa
a handful of chocolate chips
Measure corn starch and cocoa into a medium size sauce pan and mix with a wire whisk. Turn the heat on to medium and slowly pour the milk into the mixture, stirring all the while with the whisk. Stir to mix well and then keep stirring until the mixture heats up and you feel it thickening. This will take a while, i.e. 5-10 minutes (I am usually listening to a podcast while
stirring.).
The constant stirring is important because it keeps the mixture from clumping, which ruins the pudding. It needs to be smooth at all times! As soon as you feel it thickening (it will also be steaming by then), add the chocolate chips. Keep stirring until they are melted and well blended. The mixture will keep thickening, but be vigilant to take it off the heat as soon as you feel it has the
consistency of pancake batter. It should not turn doughy!
Pour the pudding into four dessert bowls. Top with some sliced almonds, or mint leaves, or nothing. Let it cool in the fridge for about two hours before serving.
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That's me on the Tower Bridge in London, another pic from the carefree times of our London trip in November.
Now it's all about virtual travel, virtual meetings, and virtual classes! I held my Advanced Memoir Workshop via Zoom for the second time last week, and I have to say it was such a pleasure to get that group together and see all my students and hear their voices. Zoom meetings are a blessing!
My upcoming one-session classes on Shaping Family History into Compelling Stories will all be online, and it would be fun to welcome you there:
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This will be it for this week. I wish you much strength to make the best of these pandemic times as well as lots of fortitude to deal with whatever challenges it brings your way. And do please write back with whatever comments, insights or ideas you have. I love hearing from you!
Best wishes,
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