We probably won't be posting too many photos or telling interesting tales for a while since we are confined to our apartment and only leaving for the one block walk to and from the grocery store. We've now been in quarantine in our apartment in Ioannina for 9.5 days. Sam misses her sewing machine dearly and her gardening space. Those two things could occupy her for weeks, but those are tricky things for nomads to tote around, unfortunately. We've been doing what probably a huge portion of our friends and family are doing... looking for pleasant diversion. We've streamed some movies, read some books, and listened to some new podcasts. We've listed below some of the things we've enjoyed that offer some escapism. After a recent video chat with our pals Tina and Tom, during which they told us about Bananagrams, I found an old cardboard box and cut it into 144 tiles so we could play the game. The photos below are of our inaugural game, which was fun. It's like Scrabble, minus the stringent rules and competitive slant. If you have any recommendations to pass along, send them our way, since as we all now realize, this could go on a while. Or if you want to chat, we're up for that, too! Google has had some trouble with the email feature of this blogging site. Please feel free to send Sam or me a note with suggestions or just to chat(!) at samgsmith[AT]yahoo[DOT]com or gkrousseau[AT]gmail[DOT]com (trying to protect from spamming)!
Podcasts beyond our usual favorites (which are Marc Maron, Hidden Brain, 99 Percent Invisible, Food Chain, Fresh Air, etc.)
Here are some things we've enjoyed recently. Wishing you health and comfort for the days ahead!
Podcasts beyond our usual favorites (which are Marc Maron, Hidden Brain, 99 Percent Invisible, Food Chain, Fresh Air, etc.)
- Heavyweight is a big favorite for us and we've sadly almost made our way through the backlog of episodes.
- Mo Rocca's podcast about people and things that he's interested in. It's usually engaging, funny, and revealing. And importantly, light! Episodes on Laurence Welk and Vaughn Meader, who impersonated JFK, fit those attributes.
- Tunnel 29 is a BBC podcast about an amazing escape from East Berlin. It's not too long and is a cliffhanger.
- Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend is usually frivolously fun (e.g., chat with Paul Reubens or Jim Gaffigan) but he does have some good, substantive interviews with people like Michelle Obama.
- You're Dead to Me is an interesting history show from the BBC. It pairs a historian with a comedian. The episode on Sparta was engaging.
Book recommendations. Sadly, before things went to hell, I was mostly reading books about the world going to hell. Some of these were really good, like Dog Stars, but maybe not so comforting right now. So most of these are recommendations from Sam.
- Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (The movie is great too, but the book has so many passages that I wanted to share aloud with Sam).
- You Think It, I'll Say by Curtis Sittenfeld
- Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman
- Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Eric Idle
- Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
- My Ex-Life by Stephen McCauley
- West with the Night by Beryl Markham
- The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis
- Sea People by Christina Thompson
- Darwin's Ghosts by Rebecca Stott
- Varina by Charles Frazier
- Enlightenment Now by Stephen Pinker
- Can You Ever Forgive Me by Lee Israel
- Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anne Helen Petersen: Sam's in the midst of it but liked the beginning.
