I'm so sorry they got delayed and that they're stuck now. I'll be thinking of them and hoping they (and others in the same situation) can get out soon.

I have many concerns about humanitarian tourism, most of which have been mentioned above, but one thing I want to say is that every country is worth visiting. Every country has interesting history, beautiful sites, delicious food, and capable people. Some aren’t possible to visit as a tourist for different reasons, but they’re still inherently worth visiting. Humanitarian tourism or mission trips are too often marketed as a way to see the difficulties people and nations are having. No one wants someone to come to their neighborhood and gawk at that. Countries that are open to tourism want you to come see the good there. If I want to learn about the challenges a country is having, then I read a book. Find out the causes of those difficulties. Learn which groups are actually working locally, with local ideas and staff, to make a difference. And if I want to spend my money to help alleviate those challenges, I donate to people who know what they’re doing. If you want to experience a new place, both the good and the challenging, because that’s the way every country is, then go, and be a conscientious tourist and pay attention to how your tourism dollars are spent and used. But don’t make other people’s problems what you’re looking at, and don’t think you can solve anyone’s problems. I’ve lived for years in low- and middle-income countries. I’ve reminded people not to take photos of piles of trash (or even to look like they are), to not call neighborhoods “Garbage City” instead of their real names, and to realize that when enough tourists complain about a “dirty” neighborhood near a tourist site, it might get razed and the residents displaced with no compensation. Tourists have a lot of influence and they should pay attention to the impact they have. To be clear, this isn’t directed at anyone in this thread. I’m thinking more of the many years of bad tourist behavior I’ve seen and how tourists and humanitarians can do better.

I just got home from the grocery store and forgot to get the spring vegetables I was planning to use. Good thing this lasts for two weeks.

Thinking of you and your family.

I have a friend who did this. It took them years and a ton of work to do it, but they are all Italian citizens now and happily living and working in the EU with their kids attending local high schools. It really is not a simple process though.

We have not always had available such a massive number of weapons that can kill many people quickly, plus shooters have access to better body armor that keeps them alive longer to continue killing people. And we have had mass shootings and mass murder before this. It was directed toward destroying Native American nations. Guns have been used for incredible violence throughout US history in the hands of white men.

You can buy SmarTrip cards at any metro station. They cost $10 initially, but two dollars is for the card and you can use the other $8 to ride, and then you just reload after that. Trip fees are based on how far you go, except on the weekends when all rides are $2 right now. There’s an extra fee during rush hour. And the app doesn’t always work (ds can never get it to work for him), so a card is easier. You can reload your card online too, but for tourists, just doing it at the station is probably best. There are machines where you can add money if you accidentally don’t have enough on your card when you’re trying to exit, but they usually (or maybe never) have a credit card option so you’d need to be ready to pay with cash if that happens. I think the machines still have a weird feature that you can only buy/recharge a card (any card) three times in one day on the same credit/debit card. In other words, if you need to buy six cards on the first day, you’ll need two different credit cards, and if you needed to add more money later, you’d need more cards. Or just use cash. I always have a small bag on me and never have any problem, but it’s quite small, just big enough for a phone and cards and hand sanitizer and a mask.

I just finished listening to These Precious Days by Ann Patchett. I loved it and am looking forward to tomorrow's book group discussion about it.

In Utah they’re called scones. No one knows why, because they’re obviously not like real scones, but if you go to Sconecutter in Utah (or maybe went since it looks like they all closed recently), you’ll get something quite different from what you’re expecting if you’ve eaten scones anywhere else. My family loves Utah scones.

I want to hear from my kids and dh when they are either going to or from where I am, and I text my parents when we're traveling to see them. It's helpful to know how the trip is going, so I like to know if they made it to their gate. At that point, I can check websites to know about delays. This is especially true for international flights. But if they're not traveling to see me or leaving my house, then I wouldn't expect any texts.

I’m really sorry, maize. But I’m glad you found out now and can work on healing, even though it’ll be hard. I hope your kids are still doing okay and that you recover soon.

I'm nearly finished with the second of two books I've listened to this week by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States and Loaded. There's a lot of overlap between the two of them, but they're also both distinctly important books, I thought. I have her Not A Nation of Immigrants and "All the Real Indians Died Off" on hold. But next I'll listen to These Precious Days for my book group.

I live in the DC suburbs and don't bother with a car, so I obviously think it's better to skip the car. Most hotels charge a daily fee for parking, plus you'd have parking fees in DC, so renting can get pricey, but some people certainly prefer it. There are plenty of hotels near Metro, and both National and Dulles airports have Metro stops now, or you could find a hotel with a shuttle. It's easy to explore DC without a car. If you're relying on Metro and flying, it's probably best to look at hotels in Virginia or DC. Crystal City is really close to DC, especially if the the Yellow line is open again by summer (it's supposed to be, but Metro is not always on time with repairs), and it's really close to National Airport. But there really are plenty of places you can stay.

Yes, Beat Saber is great for that, although I find I get more exercise with FitXR. There's another one (I can't remember the name) where you have to physically move to virtually move around on streets in a city or something like that. They have a lot of different maps you can follow in many countries. But I get a little queasy doing that one so I rarely use it. I know there are lots of apps out there that make you move, but I've been happy with FitXR so I haven't looked around as much as I could have. There are a lot of options if you just want movement.

FitXR.

VR exercise works well for me and since we already had an oculus, it was simple for me to get started. I haven't had trouble with headaches. There are some games we've tried that bother me because I'm prone to motion sickness, but the exercise app I use isn't a problem. I do just under an hour a day, five days a week. I tried the free stuff on one app and liked it, so I subscribed to it. I'm definitely a fan.

I also read Our Missing Hearts this month. I think it would be a good read for a book group, and I liked it. The impact of telling stories was the most interesting part to me, especially since I’ve done a lot of work with oral histories and I believe that letting people tell their stories is healing and world-changing. And I listened to Vicious by VE Schwab. Interesting premise, good characters, but it was too violent for my taste. I’ve listened to a lot of books by VE Schwab over the last year and I like her ideas for stories. Next I’ll listen to An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States.

Are you talking about Mexican or Spanish chorizo? Mexican chorizo is fresh and soft, versus Spanish chorizo that’s hard and cured. They’re pretty different from each other.

Whether it's something for Maslenitsa, Carnival, Mardi Gras, Pancake Tuesday, Paczki Thursday, or whatever you call it, do you have traditional regional/family/religious foods that you eat in the next week or two? I don't come from a tradition that observes Lent myself, but after living in several places where it's a big deal, there are a few things I make only at this time of year. I'd love to hear what you make. We do crempog, stuffed grape leaves (Middle Eastern, not Greek, since we hashed that out here a few weeks ago), and blini before Lent, and usually crepes at some point too. I think I'll finally try laskiaispulla or fastelavnsboller this year.

That’s how jam is done there. I make fruit jams that way after living in Kyrgyzstan. She added a lot of sugar and cooked it for a long time, so that’s how it jells. I don’t like that much sugar or that long of a cooking time, so my jam is really runny. People would give us raspberry jam made like this when we had colds because that was supposed to help us get better. I don’t know if it did, but I didn’t care because the jam made it worth being sick.

It looks delicious! And it's nice when experiments taste good.

That looks like it’ll be amazing. I have a recipe for an apple pie with a potato crust that I love. It’s so tender. The potato crust/tahdig I’ve done for plov/pulao are also really good, with the potato slices fried in butter and then the pulao cooked and steamed over the potatoes like a regular pulao. Yogurt and egg makes another really good tahdig.

Yes, I've also made a crust with potatoes (which is delicious) in addition to flatbread. Anything for a crust, even it's from flour tortillas.

It's gorgeous and looks delicious too. I can't quite bring myself to call it plov (ethnically ambiguous is too true), but I'd still love to eat this.

A Slave in the White House was very interesting, and then I stumbled on The Dawn of Detroit which was completely fascinating. I didn't know much about the city and I thought this book about its early history with a focus on enslaved and unfree people was very well done.