Category Archives: Home & Family

June 29, 2020 · 11:24 am

Wear the Mask – We Are Strong Together

I try to offer congratulations to friends and family for the life events they so generously share on social media. I am glad to be even a small part of their busy and interesting lives. However, I am having increasing difficulty saying something positive when I see wedding and party pictures where no one is wearing a mask. It is so fundamentally disrespectful in these pandemic times. Forgive me if I cannot celebrate your endangering others. There is so little we can do to stop Covid-19 but masks work. Lead by example: wear the mask. We are strong together.

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home).

1 Comment

Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews, Politics

Tagged as teaching

June 22, 2020 · 2:36 pm

Micro Farm Update

My Willow Glen micro farm is thriving. I usually grow cactus, and herbs like fennel, rosemary, and sage. Since we are mostly staying home because of the Covid-19 pandemic, I am taking the opportunity to grow vegetables. I started this project in April by converting a section of our little orchard. The first fruits of my farming efforts are cherry tomatoes and delicata squash. Both indicate their readiness by a color change. The tomatoes shift from green to yellow to red. The delicata squash start white and develop green lines as they mature. The tallest plants are sunflowers, which are currently competing with the apple tree for head room. I am expecting beans, peas, corn, and watermelon over time.

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home).

3 Comments

Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as garden, House Work, San Jose, Willow Glen

June 16, 2020 · 11:53 am

Reading _The Plague_

In 2012, we had a mouse infestation in our home, one of the potential downsides of pet birds. I was thinking of this when our book club read The Plague by Albert Camus (in which the bubonic plague starts with rats). Plague and pestilence books have been popular during the Coronavirus pandemic, with book recommendations lists being widely published. We read sections of Camus’ 1947 book in last semester’s “God and Suffering” class at GTU‘s Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology (DSPT). Ironically, The Plague was part of the reading list for the class before Covid-19 came upon us. It seems to me that in the months since the pandemic started, we have slowly become like the people of Camus’ town of Oran in Algeria who, “in the very heart of the epidemic… maintained a saving indifference, which one was tempted to take for composure.”

The Plague‘s narrator ends with qualified optimism,

He “…resolved to compile this chronicle, so that he should not be one of those who hold their peace but should bear witness in favor of those plague-stricken people; so that some memorial of the injustice and outrage done them might endure; and to state quite simply what we learn in a time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise.

None the less, he knew that the tale he had to tell could not be one of a final victory. It could be only the record of what had had to be done, and what assuredly would have to be done again in the never ending fight against terror and its relentless onslaughts, despite their personal afflictions, by all who, while unable to be saints but refusing to bow down to pestilences, strive their utmost to be healers.”

While our community has become less focused on the pandemic and has turned to other matters, I pray that we continue to honor and support the heroic doctors and health workers who are still fighting Covid-19.

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home).

1 Comment

Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Algeria, birds, Graduate Theological Union, House Work, teaching

June 8, 2020 · 1:31 pm

New Sewing Machine

Since it seems that Covid-19 will be with us for the foreseeable future, I bought a new sewing machine. Every time I wanted to make a face mask, or hem some pants, my old one would jam – even after having it repaired. So, John and I did some research and bought a Singer CG590 Commercial Grade Sewing Machine.

I used it yesterday to make four more face masks and hem two pairs of pants. It works very well – even sewing through several layers of denim. I decided I did not need any fancy stitches because in twenty years I never used those features on my old machine. (How many times do you really need to embroider ducks?) Straight, zigzag, and button hole are enough for me. Other than wanting the person who created the threading instructions to go to remedial art school, I am happy with my purchase! It is very similar to the machines I used in my high school sewing class – sturdy, simple, and heavy.

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home).

1 Comment

Filed under Home & Family

Tagged as House Work, John

May 27, 2020 · 3:05 pm

New Music for Quarantine Times

My husband John Plocher is not musical but during the COVID-19 quarantine, he has been helping others to sing. John has been recording and broadcasting our regular church services from the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church choir loft for years (with backup from the talented teens of the Youth Group whom he has been mentoring). During the quarantine, John used the skills and equipment he had put together to help St. Andrew’s clergy shift into a weekly service online. Music has always been a huge part of our parish community life, so John has created online music with choir directors Leroy Kromm, and David Howard-Pitney, and the inspiring parish symphony and folk choirs, singers, and instrumentalists.

John recently published a new website: Saint Andrew’s Sings – where the classical and folk music videos are posted each week. Go there to hear “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” the “Navy Hymn,” a folk Taizé “Jesus Remember Me,” “Rest in the Lord,” “Hail the Day that Sees Him Rise,” “We’ll Meet Again,” and other favorites. (I am very proud of John – can you tell?)

“St Andrew’s Episcopal Church, in Saratoga, CA has a strong musical tradition that continues even as we isolate ourselves during these Inside Times. This is a collection of instrumental and choral works, folk music, meditations and solo performances – all recorded “solo” during the corona virus quarantine and produced virtually, for your enjoyment and the glory of God.”

Other choirs and singers around the world have also been creating new music for quarantine times. Some of those I have enjoyed:

“Singing Through the Storm” by Steven Franklin Harris
“Let Your Light Shine with Keb’ Mo'” Virtual Choir – Boston Children’s Choir Online
“The United Kingdom Blessing” Churches sing ‘The Blessing” over the UK
“Longest Time” – Quarantine Edition, Phoenix Chamber Choir
Genuine Fake Russian Choir “How Australia’s ‘fake genuine Russian choir’ Dustyesky went viral during the coronavirus pandemic”
“Parting Glass” – The Choir of Man
“The Bay Area Blessing” — Churches sing ‘The Blessing” over the San Francisco Bay Area

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home).

Updated with new link 30 May 2020

1 Comment

Filed under Church, Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Episcopal church, Geeks, John, Mentoring, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

May 5, 2020 · 12:42 pm

Shakespeare Sonnets – Virtual

Since 2012, Shakespeare reading group has been meeting every two months to read a play and enjoy a potluck meal. At Christmas, we usually have a special reading of the entire Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. There are 61 in the group; our youngest regular reader is 10 years old and our oldest is 96. We take turns hosting the event in various cities in the Silicon Valley.

Last month, because of the corona virus lockdown, we had our first virtual meeting, to read Shakespeare’s Sonnets. We spent a lovely two hours on 18 April reading sonnets 2, 5, 8, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34, 43, 47, 51, 59, 65, 67, 73, 116, 121, 124, 130, 135, 138, 143, and 144. Fourteen of us each picked and read two poems. It was delightful to see everyone, even if only online!

My husband John sweetly dedicated his reading of Sonnet #25 to me, and then made this video of his reading – followed by my reading of Shakespeare’s Chicken Sonnet (#143).

I am the group mentor and assign parts, Melita Thorpe manages this as a ministry of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, and the Rev. Stephenie Cooper analyzes the roles in advance – to be sure we don’t speak over each other. John Plocher hosted our first online meeting to be sure the technology worked.

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home).

Making a New Vegetable Garden

Inspired by my daughter Jessica’s gardening efforts, I am branching out. I have always been a serious gardener but mostly focused on flowering plants and cactus. Jessica’s enthusiasm for gardening edible and native California plants is infectious. We have lived in the San Jose neighborhood of Willow Glen for over twenty years – on the bank of the Guadalupe River. Chuck and Kathleen Purdy who owned our house before were great gardeners. They passed on to us many fruit and nut trees, including a small orchard. Some of the fruit trees have died over the years, leaving space for my son Paul to store his curing logs for woodworking, and for me to create a market garden next to the prickly pear and yucca hedge. Paul and John used some old steel beams we had for the six foot by eight foot raised border. Jessica brought over some of her seedlings and 12 bags of garden soil with fertilizer which I have dug in to create a good planting bed. Paul also took the wheels and handles off of two old wheelbarrows for small beds. (Other than the new soil, plants, and mulch, this new planting area was created with materials I already had.)

So far, I have planted:

Three Sisters (a gift from Jessica): corn, beans, and squash (with a sunflower) – 6 sets
Cherry tomatoes (“Husky Cherry Red” and “Cherry-Red”) – 3 plants
Marigolds for edging

I am getting ready to plant carrots, potatoes, snow peas and snap peas as well. I bought seeds from Plants of the Southwest – and added a 3-sided trellis to support the pea and bean vines. A Meyer Lemon I planted many years ago is thriving next to the apricot, apple, and white peach trees. I added a brick border for the lemon trunk and tossed in all of the stones I dug out of the planting bed for decoration. Three garden cats (only one of whom is actually ours) – Princess, Ketchup, and Charlie – help us manage the property. I am concerned that the raccoon marauders will dig everything up – I may have to add a wire cover to the planting bed like that of our neighbors.