pandemic, year in review Leave a comment

Year In Review: 2020

We’ve all spent the past year living through a global pandemic that’s destined to be at least a footnote in the history books. It’s upended everyone’s sense of normalcy, changed social interactions, wreaked havoc on some sectors of the economy, and cost many their jobs or their lives.

My family has been lucky: our jobs are stable, we’re all healthy, and COVID-19 mainly just means an upheaval to our routines. I’ve been working from home, Connor finished out second grade from home and started third grade with a hybrid of remote and in-person learning, and Aaron spent most of the year working longer hours and adjusting to having us at home during the week.

Even though 2020 was a Very Different Year Indeed, I still kept track of most of the things I usually do, and I certainly couldn’t leave this bizarre year undocumented.

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creative Leave a comment

Line Art

Connor has been making line art lately, so I showed him how I used to do mine back in the day. Once he saw the one corner, he asked if I could make an entire square like that. When I finished drawing the third corner, he said that it looked like a comet warping the fabric of space-time, and wanted me to draw that.

So, I guess you could say this is a collaborative piece.

family, food Leave a comment

Comfort Food

I’ve had the meatball recipe tucked away in my recipe box for some 20 years, but tonight was the first time I actually made them.

Technically, it’s not Memaw’s recipe; she got it from the Italian girl who worked in the kitchen with her at Bix’s, back in the mid-1970’s. I also didn’t make the recipe exactly as written, since it’s a restaurant recipe calling for 7 lbs of hamburger and three dozen eggs.

I didn’t think of these meatballs as comfort food as I was making them. It was only when I sat down to dinner and tucked into a savory memory that I realized what they were.

I’ve been missing my Memaw more than usual lately, even though she’s been gone for almost 18 years now. Even though it wasn’t my intention, making Memaw’s meatballs helped.