Sequestered in Seattle, Day 254

Friday was the last day of school for the younger kids before Thanksgiving week. Lydia, at least, had a sort of party in her class. She had gotten some supplies when she picked up her books on Wednesday. Rachel has school next week. Her presentation to her last class about her book recommendation project went well, in her telling. Other students were impressed how far along she is.

Mid-morning, Nicole and I went to give blood again at the church by the library. It went smoothly. We scheduled another donation in January. Here's hoping we still feel comfortable doing so then.

After that, we stopped by Paola's to pick up a bicycle that Flavia has outgrown. It may fit Eric, soon.

In the afternoon, we had Colin's parent-teacher conference. Ms. DeLanda thinks Colin is doing well, is impressed with his reading and spelling, and gave us some ideas for encouraging him to enjoy writing more. She finds him a little shy, but has been helping him share more with the class.

Rachel raced to finish The Hero and the Crown this afternoon, because she wanted to cash in a rebooking. Nicole graciously drove her to the bookstore, where she picked up two titles of interest that she knew they had on their shelves. Unfortunately, her acquaintances there weren't on duty. She also picked up another part of my order that had come in, which they put in a bag for her so she wouldn't peek.

Nicole and Rachel then picked up Thai food for dinner. Pumpkin curry and avocado curry, among other things. I made popcorn for dessert. Rachel and the adults started watching the His Dark Materials series. Then Lydia and the boys came down to show us a presentation and play some Kahoots. That was followed by a family movie on Netflix called Over the Moon, and then by the rest of the His Dark Materials episode.

It was thus a bit on the late side when I set out to mix some bread dough, but it needed to be done. I came upstairs and read with Rachel between the mixing and the kneading. It will be waiting for more attention in the morning.

I looked at the Washington new case averages this afternoon and they seemed to have actually declined over the last couple days. I'm not optimistic they'll continue downward, though, especially with the holiday.