Last night at bedtime, I introduced R. to Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung, courtesy of a boxed set of 1939 books from the Metropolitan Opera. They were my father's before, and the covers area bit tattered as a result of over 70 years of use. When I was a little girl, he used to read them as bedtime stories, and we would watch the PBS televised version of the opera, with its belting sopranos, roaring dragon, and Valkyres. I was enthralled.
This morning, R. came downstairs holding The Rhinegold, the first of the four operas in the Ring, and one I'd read the first scene from last night. She said "I finished the first book! Is there a video version?"
Of course, we scoured the internet. The version I wanted her to see was from 2012, a tremendous feat of mechanics, lighting, and sound that I had been lucky enough to enjoy in person. My husband's uncle Jimmy had been gifted two tickets by a friend of his, and he took me as my first real day out after E. was born. I remember sitting in the audience, thrilled by the spectacle. Alas, that version required a subscription to The Met (something I wasn't going to pay for right now, since we're still trying to get the unemployment benefits sorted), so instead, we started to explore Youtube, and finally settled on a version that seemed to hold her interest. Considering the entire opera (all four parts) can run roughly half a day, the fact that she sat through a solid hour was encouraging, though at one point, she did turn to me and ask, "Why do they have to sing everything?! The story would go a lot faster without the songs." Maybe she's not quire ready for the next eleven hours of Wagner. I'll stick to the books for the time being.
The girls spent a lot of time today playing foosball and videochatting with friends. I'm starting to wonder if they are spending too much time doing this. I love that they are staying connecting, but I never used to let them have screen time beyond television (and that wasn't exorbitant) and now, they are on their chromebooks all the time for schoolwork, and on the phone/chromebook to talk to people a lot. I don't know that I would mind as much if they were just talking, but there are games and animation and loud noises, and that doesn't strike me as being the best for them, when they are already overstimulated from the schoolwork on screens.
I was going stir crazy, so I spent much of the day cooking. There was bubbling tomato sauce on the stove, homemade bread in the breadmaker (despite setting the cord on fire, it seems to still be working fine), and I made pizza dough from scratch so that I could make my own pizza. Sometimes, that's the comfort food that is necessary.
Jeff had to go out to get paint, but ended up stopping off at the grocery store instead because the hardware store was closing. It was wonderful to have fresh strawberries and raspberries for the kids, but we had a bit of a fight over the actual going out portion. We differ in our opinions about the safety of it, and while he's taking every precaution, it makes me extremely anxious. I'd rather order everything in and wipe it down with Lysol or submerge it in water, and he feels that if we are taking precautions like masks and washing clothes when we get home, it's okay. I think I may just be on edge because the entire world is on edge at this point. And I'm grateful that whatever disagreements we may have (and really, this is one of the first ones in 45 days of quarantine, so I take that as a positive), I've got him here with me. There's no one else in the world I'd rather be stuck with.
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