One of the heartening pieces of the crisis we’ve landed in has been the beauty springing up in big and small ways around the world.
Choosing to look for joy, goodness, beauty, is a positive move we can make even from the confines of our homes, yards, and yes, computers 🙂
I’m hoping to list five lovely things on Sundays for the near future and invite you to add your own lovely things in the comments.
Here’s this week’s list of five:
1. Classical music and opera companies are offering copious free streaming possibilities.
Here are a couple links where you can find continually updated lists of these gorgeous concerts:
Minnesota Public RadioÂ
London Classic fm
2. World Central Kitchen is once again stepping up to the plate.
(And that’s kind of a pun, now that I think of it!)
I learned about this amazing non-profit let by Michelin-star chef José Andrés when my husband went to work on disaster-relief in the Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian.
World Central Kitchen set up on the islands and has served millions of free meals to residents and relief workers while there has been literally no place to buy food.
I love the way this group is now putting their expertise in food relief to work during the global corona crisis.
And speaking of philanthropic chefs, a number of years ago now I reviewed a picture book biography called The Adventurous Chef: Alex Soyer, written and illustrated by Ann Arnold. It is a fascinating account of an earlier chef with a heartbeat like José Andrés, and I highly recommend it.
3. Live cams from the Monterey Bay Aquarium
It is mesmerizing and delightful to sit and watch otters, penguins, and even moon jellies brought to us via live cam from the aquarium. At some point soon I’ll have a bunch of links to other live cams for you and/or your kids to watch, everywhere from Tanzania to Scotland.
4. A delightful essay that has nothing to do with coronavirus except maybe that coffee is always our friend on good days and bad.
The Deep Metaphorical Power of a Good Cup of Coffee
5. A nice shout-out to the good state of Minnesota and some of the heroes of the day — grocery store workers!
My daughter works full time in the bakery at our local Whole Foods and let me tell you — these folks deserve every gold star they are getting.
When pandemonium and panic unexpectedly and suddenly descended on them these past weeks, they worked unbelievably long, hard hours keeping extremely anxious people calm, withstanding blistering verbal attacks from unhappy customers, adding mountainous new cleaning tasks to their daily work loads, endlessly restocking and navigating new ordering and shipment protocols, and doing it all with uncommon grace. Meanwhile, they are exposing themselves to every germ in the city! So I was thrilled that our good governor, Tim Walz, gave them some extra and needed benefits.
That’s my list. What about you? What lovely things are you seeing in your corner of the world?
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Come back tomorrow for a reassuring post for those whose school kids just landed at home.
And share these posts with anyone who will benefit!
orange marmalade 