At Home

from Coronado Magazine - May 2020

Lessons Learned Along the Camino de Santiago

AT HOME True Colors 2020 ~~ Coronado

by Denise Lyon

We have been fortunate in Coronado during this health crisis. People are behaving respectfully and taking the necessary precautions to stay healthy. In spite of all of our lives being disrupted, our town seems to be adapting beautifully to the many changes we have had to make.

People are going on more walks, working on their yards, stopping to admire the sidewalk art work, observing our local birds and flowers, and enjoying the quiet streets. Families have more time together. There is a kind of peace here, a time for reflection and time to discover the beauty around us.

On the other hand, during this quarantine, parents must run a household, work online and home school. In addition, some families have elderly parents and/or neighbors to look after. Parents today have many more responsibilities and are looking for ways to soothe nerves and beat boredom.

Consider the rainbow, a magical bridge across the sky. Finding and seeing a rainbow is exciting. Around the globe they symbolize a promise of hope, fortune and success.

Bring some of that beauty, magic and color into your home. Here are a few interesting and entertaining ideas.

We can pull through this pandemic together and celebrate the remarkable privilege of being alive.

Herb Pots Fresh & Healthly

Planting seeds, herbs and flowers is quick, easy and rewarding. I repainted my terra cotta pots with a rainbow of pastel colors and planted them with my favorite herbs. It’s so nice to not have to go to the store for a few sprigs of parsley when it’s so easy to grow.

This simple exercise gives us a close up view of the intrinsic magic of nature. Nature is a great inspiration in defying the odds. Think of a plant that pushes through a crack in the cement, animals that migrate across miles and face hardships and yet find their way back home, a tiny acorn that grows into a huge oak tree or a rainbow that appears at the end of the storm.

Masks Colored Dyes

If you want to create your own dye, you can boil red cabbage. It creates a purple color that, with a squeeze of lime (acid), becomes red. Add baking soda (alkaline), and it becomes blue.

Wear gloves and use clear glass bowls to see the color magically change.

I used this dye to color flour sack dishcloths (can be found at Target) to make face masks and used extra dye to color white wash cloths. The color washes away with use but the project is an engaging science lesson involving color and simple chemical reactions..

Vegetables Fruits &

Bring a rainbow indoors with colorful fruit and vegetables. Each color contains different vitamins and minerals, a perfect set up for a delicious nutrition lesson.

Waffles Rainbow-Bright

Add a rainbow of colors to waffles and pancakes with fruit powders, like dragon fruit (bright pink) and blue spirulina (vibrant blue), that turn pancakes and waffles into brilliant colors. If you don’t have the fruit or vegetable powders, just add a drop of food coloring to the batter to turn ordinary into extraordinary.

Books Love For

Books are another way of going on adventures without leaving home. Mason Cooley was spot-on when he said, “Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” Share the journey and read aloud.

NOW FOR SALE Solliner 21 Electric Catamaran

100% Green! Available to see at Loews Resort, Coronado Cays. Offered by Infinity Solar Boats LLC

619-997-1288 www.solarboatsUSA.com

Confessions of a Perfect (ish) Mom

by Hattie Foote

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Hello from quarantine! I am writing this in April, and my hope is that by the time you read this we will be slowly and safely emerging from this nightmare.

Today marks one month since we have been at home, aside from the few grocery stores runs I have had to do. A lot has changed from the last time I talked to you! I am now a homeschool teacher, my cute red manicure is not so cute, and I have cried several times at Vons with anxiety, Its fine, we are fine, I’m fine...”

It has just been so surreal hasn’t it? It feels like things went from 0-100 quickly. One minute we were at Open House night at our daughter’s kindergarten class, and the next minute, school was cancelled indefinitely. I have tried to keep it pretty positive but accepting that the school year was about to look very different was hard for us. I have been so impressed with how our schools and teachers have handled this situation and watching the kinder Zoom calls is pretty adorable. I am grateful for all the hard work they have put into the distance learning, and I am sure Lux is grateful she won’t just be learning about Real Housewives from her mother.

I asked the kids what the first thing was they wanted to do when this was over and they said Disneyland! (Yikes, I am definitely going to pump the breaks on that request!) I want to go to dinner with my friends, the beach, and yes, I want to go to Target! I want to hug everyone, and I mean everyone; strangers, acquaintances, but most of all my mom.

I’m extremely lucky that she lives a few blocks away, so even though we can’t hang out, I can stand under her balcony like Romeo and yell up to her. I drop her groceries off and Facetime 73 times a day, but I want nothing more than to sit close with her at Claytons Bistro & Bakery and resume our lovely breakfast dates.

If anything, this experience has made us appreciate the tiny things and to not take our lives for granted.

That, and it has also made me into a complete raging germaphobe! As Mother’s Day is upon us, I thought it was fitting to introduce you all to my favorite person in the world. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that she’s way more fun than me. She’s bossy, she’s sassy, and she is a crossword prodigy. I always say she could easily win Who Wants to be a Millionaire and she is easily the most generous person I know, so she would probably give her prize earnings to her grandkids or a total stranger. To know her is to love her, so everyone meet Mom. I mean Margo Roberts.

Tell us a little about yourself and your family:

I am a mother and an artist. I am the mother a lot of time in Mexico and France and I of two creative daughters, Hattie and have been to Antarctica. I have also studied Cecilia, a joyful son-in-law Christopher, and at Oxford and was supposed to go back grandmother to two super grandchildren, this summer, but well guess what...that old Lux and Hunty! I am happiest when I am Coronavirus put the kibosh on that! with my family and my sister’s family. We all Mentioning Oxford sounds like I’m dream of winning the lottery and buying a bragging. Truly anyone can go. But while compound!! you are there, you pinch yourself thinking of I’ve lived in New York City, Massachusetts, all of the great minds that came before you New Mexico and California. I have spent and your pea brain!

What is a big mom fail that sticks out to you?

I have two biggies that sta nd out. We were living in a rural town in New Mexico and I forgot to pick Hattie up from her bus stop at an arroyo, (which is an irrigation ditch from the Rio Grande). Poor little thing was crying and all her little friends were standing there patting her back. It broke my heart.

But it also looked like a Norman Rockwell painting. Weird, huh? The other was when we failed to realize Ceci was very nearsighted. She was almost 7 years old! When we stepped out of the building after getting her first glasses, she said, “Momma... I can see that building across the street!” I was dumbfounded and broke down crying at how I had truly failed to notice this!

There are other fails that are funny, like telling Hattie that the crystal emblazoned flip flops she wanted for her wedding were too expensive. I could make them a lot cheaper. Famous last words. Even I wouldn’t wear the ones I made. She really did look very cute in the expensive ones I eventually bought her!

Can’t leave her sister out. One night while getting Ceci ready for bed, I asked, “Why do you have two pairs of underwear on?” She said, “I don’t know, Mommy. You put them on me this morning.

Oh boy big fails little fails ... they are all part of the package!