Nola's Flower Funk Online Store

Nola Bea has launched a brand new online store - flowerfunk.bigcartel.com
Because of that, Nola Bea is taking over as author for today's post. Parentheticals are mine.

WHY I STARTED A STORE: 
One day, I was making a store for my family but my dad said we could make a store for other people. I thought it was just a store for the family but we got into this big thing about making a store.

When I grow up, I might want to be a mail girl. Sometimes I like to mail letters to people. Like my neighbor, I gave his dogs a note with a dog on it. I want to show people that art is a lot of things - not just drawings. It can be dancing, singing, lots of other stuff. If you like to sing, dance, and do ballet then you love art. Drawing is a popular art that you might know but recipes are art, too. ("Lemonade was a popular drink and it still is...")
We thought it would be fun to connect with people in this way. Yesterday I made a kite - a Kitty Kite that is a kite that looks like a cat - well, a flying cat or jumping cat. That is the kind of thing we might make for you if you want.

We will give the money to an actual bank so they can send money to other people so they can use it themselves. Or just put it in Tzedakah so people can get food or clothing. I just want to help people and make them feel happier during the virus, especially people who are sick.
(Editor's note: she's rather unclear on our banking system but the gist is she wants to help people.)

HOW
1. You go to flowerfunk.bigcartel.com
2. You can get whatever you like (Dad forced T.I. reference here) and I'll make more and more.
3. If you have questions about a product, you can email my dad or text him. (We have a limited website that doesn't allow for more than 1 picture per category - so if you want to see what you're getting, just be in touch. If you don't want to actually pay money for stuff, go to the "Non-Profit Store" page on the website and fill out the Google Form.)
4. We'll create the product and either email the picture/video/recipe OR send you the actual piece of art, depending.

We hope you enjoy! Thank you.

THE BRAND IS STRONG
We chose to call it Flower Funk because we have a whole entire brand - a band, a lemonade stand, a store, recipe making - that are all Flower Funk. This was a name I came up with on my way home from the second line in honor of Ms. Tee Eva (her memory is a blessing) when my dad asked me what my brass band would be called.

Thank you for looking at this message. I hope you enjoy the store.
Thank you,
Nola Bea

Days 12, 13, 14, 15 - Somewhere over the rainbow

What a week.

First - update on Leslie. While I reported here that she was experiencing mild symptoms, her fatigue increased and breathing became more labored. She couldn't lie on her back to sleep because gravity - gravity, people - was too much pressure on her chest.
After consulting with a few physicians (and maybe a few episodes of Grey's Anatomy), she called ahead to the ER. I walked her over on Wednesday while Ruby napped and Nola indulged in screen time. It was weird - a bit scary or nervewracking - not really knowing what to think or when to expect to see her again.
We're so thankful that after a rather quick run through multiple tests, the doctors sent her home as her oxygen levels were fine and nothing they could do would change their diagnosis. They did indicate she had "swelling of the rib cartilage" which was contributing to the shortness of breath. Wild. I was REALLY glad to see her just a few hours later.

She's still sleeping/resting a lot and gets fatigued walking up the stairs.

Her biggest takeaways this week:
"Having a color of the day was special for the kids and something to look forward to. But I couldn't do at least half of every day's stuff. And people have been really kind. Working, parenting, teaching is just really hard without COVID-19. And I'm effing over it." 

Rest in Peace and Melody, Bill Withers and Ellis Marsalis

Losing Mr. Marsalis this week feels tough on our community here. We can't celebrate his life like we've been able to with other musical giants we lost recently.

Losing Bill Withers was also really sad to me. I came to his music about fifteen years ago. Feeling and humanity course throughout his compositions. And I posted this on Instagram but at 2:42 of Withers' "Use Me" are 3 hand claps that are the very best handclaps in ALL of recorded music. Convince me I'm wrong.

Colors of the Day

Leslie structured the Schoolbitz part in a "Color Week" where each day had a color theme. Listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers on Red Day, Green Day on Green Day, Kind of Blue on Blue Day - you get the idea. Our essential question for the week was: "What is the most popular favorite color?" and I'm so grateful that over ONE HUNDRED of you decided to respond. Except for my buddy who suggested "Carolina Blue" was his favorite color. Don't bring that trash in our survey. Another respondent asked "Who is Roy G. Biv?" and I am not sure if you're playing with us or not but Roy G. Biv is the mnemonic I was taught by Mr. Murray back in 7th grade science. (Shout out to HAM call sign Whiskey Delta 9, India Tango Mike for my Memorial Park krewe.)

On Friday, we learned about and created a BAR GRAPH from the data. We got barrrrrsssss.
Congratulations, BLUE
Here it is:

For Blue Day, we recreated Picasso's "Old Guitarist." @TussenKunStenQuarantaine

Obstacle Course

Purple Day - included crab dancing, adding purple sprinkles to the Fun Friday cinnamon rolls, and Nola Bea wrote a book. She is excited to host an author's event where she'll read a section of the book for guests "when the virus is done."

And perhaps the funniest thing I saw this week: 

Ruby spin dancing to Old Town Road and then learning about the results when you spin around many times...wait for it. 

Thanks

Lots of you all getting in touch, sending love, texts, memes, and dinner. Someone sent us Lola's paella on Wednesday and it is likely to last us until we develop a vaccine for 'Rona.

Sigma Oasis

Phish, the greatest band in the world that most of the world doesn't know or is indifferent to or actively hates, dropped a brand new album in an online "Listening Party" format on Wednesday night. They announced this the night before but being that Wednesday was April 1st, we didn't know if it was one of their band pranks or for realz. It was for real and it was really good (at least compared to Phish studio albums.)  More than anything, just nice to rise up and come together as a community despite the likelihood we won't see this band play again, in person, in 2020.
But led to my question:
QUESTION: How are other sub cultures, like us insufferable Phish phans, responding in these times? Would love to hear of other cool stuff. Drop it in the comments.

Speaking of Music...

The weather has been beautiful and so I've been dragging my Block Beater to the front porch to DJ a bit. Going to try to do this more often. It's fun trying to catch and reflect the vibe of the moment and nice game to see how many songs it takes until: 

1) The girls start arguing with each other

2) Leslie says "turn it down" 

I don't think I'd be doing this if not for pandemic and I definitely don't think I'd be taking advantage of our porch priviledge if we were in what used to be our regular flow of the week. 

Someday, I'd love to do this regularly, put an ice chest of beer and water out front and see what folks in the neighborhood might come through.

What I'm Going to Do When This Ends

Everything I read - and I'm actively trying to NOT read too much about the pandemic - it's going to be a loooong time until we get to leave our houses in the fashion we were once used to. Even with that reality, I think it's not too early to start dreaming about what I'm going to do once we get to be back out in the world again. This week I'm going to start creating my list. I've read (sorry, can't find the source) that people get more joy and happiness from planning and anticipating a vacation or big event than they do on the actual vacation so I'm hoping this list can serve in a similar fashion.
Drop some of your "First thing I'm doing when I get out..." stuff below.

Predictions

I also started thinking it could be fun to make some predictions for the future. Things like:

• When you going to be able to leave your house? 
• When will the Hollywood dramatic telling first movie about COVID come out?
• How long until we'll look back on this as a distant memory?
• What systemic changes will we see as it relates to healthcare, capitalism, community engagement, education, religious observation, etc.? 

Random: 

Did you know you can regrow lettuce from the butt of the salad by just putting it in water? Look at that new growth. 

Also recommend listening to the band Lettuce while setting up your lettuce grow. (Delicious interpolation of "So Fresh, So Clean" near the end of this video...)