Cuddle Party

Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.

We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity.  Now there is a hammock too.  Come snuggle up!

Ethnic Cookbooks of Chicago

I'm shopping for wedding gifts, and I found this list of ethnic cookbooks inspired by Chicago diversity.

I also found:

Ethnic Chicago Cookbook : Ethnic-Inspired Recipes from the Pages of The Chicago Tribune Paperback – November 1, 1998 by Carol Mighton Haddix

Iconic Chicago Dishes, Drinks and Desserts (American Palate) Paperback – December 5, 2016 by Amy Bizzarri

I thought other folks might enjoy browsing Chicago-inspired cookbooks. :D We're still discussing which one to get as a gift (to go with a cookware set from the couple's registry) and I'm eyeing several of the single-ethnic cookbooks from the first list for possible personal use. Seven Neighbhoods in Detroit, which we got for my partner's personal interest, is full of bookmarks.

If you're not from the Midwest, try searching the name of your hometown, nearest large city, or state + cookbook for local-to-you or nostalgic recipe options. This is especially helpful with seasonal, farmer's market, or hunting-and-gathering approaches because the timing and ingredients vary so much from one place to another.

Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy, cool, and wet. It rained last night so the ground is still soaked.

I fed the birds. I've seen a flock of sparrows, two mourning doves, and a pair of house finches. :D I am so happy that the house finch I saw yesterday seems to have a mate.

While outside, I also flushed a medium-sized long-billed bird. While I didn't get a close look at it, I suspect it to be a woodcock. Upon looking them up, I discovered that they are common migrants through Illinois, though uncommon in winter or summer, and they like wet habitat such as swamps or wet woodlands. We live on reclaimed (and regularly disputed by nature) prairie marsh and several miles away is a wildlife refuge adjacent to a lake with rivers and creeks running through it. Lovely stopover if you are a wetland bird.

One of the quirks of my brain is that I have hunter-sight, which is attracted by motion and excels at breaking camouflage. Sometimes I will catch the merest glimpse of a critter, often a bird, and my brain will instantly spit out an ID like that. It also happened with a dark-blue streak in a pine forest out west: Stellar's jay. This is what happens when you consume whole wildlife guides and have a hyperactive extrapolative engine in your head. It keeps going, "Look! A bird!"

Exciting indoor news: weeks ago I planted a packet of random succulent seeds. I spotted the first sprout yesterday -- a tiny spiky thing with a couple of millimeter-sized leaves. It is only visible because it is green against a dark brown background. <3