Happy New Year! Someone on Twitter commented that living through 2020 had given them a new appreciation for the relentless partying that broke out during the Roaring Twenties after WWI and the 1918-19 influenza pandemic. Living through 2020 also made me think about the Roaring 20s differently. I finally understand why so many women in vintage flapper photos are giving such achingly sad side-eye.
It’s the quiet time between Christmas and New Year’s, when we are supposed to reflect on the year past and make plans for the year to come. I’ll do my best.
Happy Holidays! Thank you for spending another year with us here at Caterpickles. May this holiday season bring some measure of peace and joy to you and yours.
About 20 years ago, my grandparents gave me a set of old family journals from 1871-1952. Mixed in with all sheep, pig, apple, and pork accounts are surprisingly interesting narratives of daily life in upstate New York in the late 1800s. This week, my great-great-grandfather goes to Rochester for a second mortgage, and comes away feeling a bit… swindled.
One of the side effects of having wildfires reach within a dozen miles of your home is that it tends to focus your mind on completing…
My birthday looked pretty different this year due to shelter-in-place, but I still loved every minute of it.
There are a ton of handmade mask patterns out there. Luckily my habit of starting and abandoning various crafting projects has left me with a generous supply of quilting fabric, bias tape, elastic, thread, bandanas, old t-shirts, and flannel lying around the house. So I decided to put those raw materials to work by making and reviewing 6 so-called “easy” cloth face mask patterns.
It’s been 33 days since we began sheltering in place. I suppose I should be using this time to write the next great American novel or taking my daughter’s education to the next level. Instead, I’m leaning into the idea that now is a great time to teach The 13-Year-Old some life skills, like how to manager her own schoolwork, clean her own bathroom, wash her own clothes, and regularly vacuum the chair(s) she likes to snack in.
In which I talk about some of the things I’ve been doing instead of posting on Caterpickles.
In this week’s extract from my now-deleted Facebook archives, a bat convinces me not to decorate for Christmas. Merry Christmas, y’all.
