2021 letter

hello you.

welcome.

This is where I write about my trip to Pittsburgh. I didn’t blog about it, so I feel duty bound to write about it in my letter. But not yet.

I can’t believe I was teaching school at the beginning of this year. It seems like it's been a few years since that all went down. I’ve come so far from where I was, what I was.

I lived in Homeworth, Ohio for seven months out of this year. I enjoyed working there, living there. I worked at a sandwich shop in Salem. I lived in Elmer Sommer’s basement. Thanks, Elmer’s. You were an answer to prayer. Kent and Della and Leroy and Sherri were my family and the cats were my besties. I’ll always remember Sundays with Kents and coffee/tea on the blue couch. Evenings outside and hearing rain on the pines. I’ll always remember days with Kanj and PCC and Walkie Talkie. It was such a special time, full of healing. There’s so much to remember and a little to forget. Sunsets in the chapel yard, fires in Leroy’s woods. I love Ohio.

*I went to Pittsburgh with Kent and Della and Kanj in October. . We rented an airbnb in the city for Friday night and explored the city on Saturday.

I moved home in the beginning of October. I went on a week's vacation to Ontario, Oregon at the end of Oct. I spent time with my friends, went to *Boise with Linz(it was amazing), stayed in a camper for nights, and fell in love with the night sky all over again. It was good to go and good to come back home.

In November I found my dream job. Well, one of my dream jobs. I’m working full time at a bakery just east of Middlebury. Look us up! Country Lane Bakery, of Middlebury IN. It’s a high class Amish bakery with high class Amish workers. I am the only girl there that isn’t Amish. It feels odd somedays, but we all speak the same language. Pennsylvania Dutch—native tongue. There are so many crazy things happening every day. I have the best boss, too. He’s the only guy there(besides his dad)and he’s a real tease. I’m not sure many guys could stay cool in the middle of so much girl drama. ‘Cause let me tell you, there is Drama. I made a lavender latte for my manager because she had never had one. She liked it:) And they found out I write poems so I had to read off some of them. I have to laugh. The sunrises are one of the best parts of my day. 7:30 and the sky is fabulous. I get up at 2-230 and get to work at 400. Then, I clock out at 1230. My life is amazing.

December brings birthdays and caroling and trips. I’m 21, queens. And my youngest sibling turned one. He’s starting to walk! It’s the greatest thing. As for trips...today I was going to fly out to Cali for my coteacher’s wedding, but my flights got canceled. I’m sad. On the 17th, my cousin and I are driving to PA for our yearly extended Peachey deal. It’s going to be awesome. And I’ll get to see my cousins who got married and moved away. Yay:)

I gotta say, I would not be here in this mentality if it weren’t for God and all the amazing people who prayed for me and supported me and helped me find my way back to God. Thank you. Thank you.

This grateful thing blows my mind. I’m happier than I was at the beginning of this year. Life hurts and God heals.

*Pittsburgh.

Friday evening we picked up Kanj and Kent drove us all to Pittsburgh. Kent is a good driver. Drove and drove and drove. I’m sure the conversation was stimulating. Everything is kind of jumbled up in my head because it was dark with bright lights everywhere. We got to this mountain and we took the tram up to the top. Of course, Kent informed us all that if the cables broke we would plunge towards very certain death. I just couldn't look outside then. I am very afraid of heights. But the times I did venture a look out the window…the view was gorgeous. All those liiiiights. We got to the top and walked out and around to the viewpoint. It was full. Of people. D(Della) said there was another viewpoint about a mile over so we walked. Up and down the sidewalk. The part up there is very hilly. I would like to live in some of those houses up there. They are very classy. We got to the point and looked. And looked. I can’t really describe it to you, how amazing it was. We did count all the bridges. Pittsburgh is the city with the most bridges in the world, with a count of 446 bridges, 3 more than the city of Venice, Italy. We walked back, huffing, to the tram station and rode back to the bottom floor.

We got the house and went inside and explored. The bathroom was tiny, with no fan. This didn’t bother me, but Kanj turned the water on. We sang some songs around the wee kitchen table by the light of the bathroom. K(Kent)+D had the bedroom and Kanj and I took the living room. She slept on the air mattress and I slept on the futon. Very comfy. Got up in the morning and made sure we had everything and exited into the chill morning air.

The fog. The fogggggggg. What’s that quote? The fog crept about the city like a cat. I can’t remember. Anyway, D wanted to go to this donut place in the outskirts. Supposedly they sell out soon after ten. Open until everything’s gone.

Here’s some stuff I jotted down while we drove.

“Kent drives very fast under the Pittsburgh fog.(Seriously. The fog covered the skyscrapers and hung about the bridges and sparkled in the sun.) The first place we stopped at was Better Maid Donuts. It was a tiny place, covered in fresh doughnuts. There was a woman who smiled when she scolded and a man who sassed her in return and looked as if he’d reaped the joys of donut. K bought us all what we wanted. I got my old fashioned handed to me in wax/parchment paper. I took a bite. (You know how people say they moaned because it was so good? I always thought that was a little weird but I think I did moan a little:)) Crunchy, soft glazed sweetness, combined with cool autumnal air and the sun burning the fog.

Canton Ave. It was a very steep, cobbled hill. Imagine the steepest hill you have ever seen, or dreamed of. Now imagine it cobbled, with brick houses beside and a sidewalk with stairs. Imagine sitting on the bricks, feeling the stone beneath your bare legs, seeing tiny flowers and weeds between the cracks. I did all that. It was beautiful. And when we left I watched a guy walk down the sidewalk. He waved at me and I waved back. I should’ve liked to paint him.

We drove along many streets. On one I saw an ivy covered brick house with large blooms of the pinkest roses I have ever seen. Imagine the colors.

Margaux. A cafè. Ceiling to floor windows, a bar in the middle, baristas that could’ve been models behind the counter, plants all over the place, and the best chairs.

Finally, Earl Grey. Even the steam rising was perfect, a dance of pirouette, of spin, of dip and curlicue. Kanj had a honey latte with a swan on top. The long neck was bowed, the feathers gloriously created. K+D shared drip coffee. I turned my face to the sunshine and tapped into my inner sunflower. For sustenance I had mushroom toast. Duxelle, creme fraiche, crispy leeks, smoked salt. And, I must make note of this. The music was én pointe.

Thankyou, Margaux, for everything you are.

Next, The Strip.

First, coffee at COOP. You could go inside to order or you could order at the windows. I had a cinnamon latte. They had books there. They were mostly classics. Kanj found a yellow sheet of paper, with half composed music written in pencil, hidden in a book.

The Trip through The Strip.

People, noise, things. It was crowded. We looked at fancy chocolate but left because we weren’t wearing masks so they escorted us to the door. I walked through Asian markets. Any kind of sport merch was being sold. There’s a guy at one of the Asian markets who makes sushi. His name is Andy. He is very funny and a huge flirt. D, Kanj, and I bought sushi from him. You can watch him make it. He never quit talking to us and his hands never stopped. He gave us some samples of spring rolls with shrimp. I died when I tasted it. The main thing I remember was cilantro, but I think there was mint in there too. We ate lunch on Insta worthy lip shaped chairs and eggs. I found the neatest cards and stickers, handmade by the lady behind the stand. FINCH AND FLOURISH.

Another coffee shop.

Atelier de Fer.

The baristas were extremely jolly. They slapped flies with a dishcloth and joked around. I ordered a fall spice latte. In one of the rooms they had an old telephone booth. I remember the color red standing out to me the most. The chairs looked like red blooming flowers.

Randyland.

Color. So. Much. Color. And so much junk. One man’s junk is another’s treasure. There were many crazy designs and chairs where chairs don’t belong. Randy himself wasn’t there, and Kanj said the best part of Randyland is Randy, so I guess I missed the best part. I actually had a headache after awhile, so I took a little walk down the street with Kanj.

Imitation Hogwarts. A university building that looked like Hogwarts. We wanted to tour the building but we were denied entrance due to “yucky”, as D put it. So we just walked around on the green. It was a very pretty building.

St. Paul’s Cathedral.

We ran up the steps and into the cool of the building. By then it was hot outside. To my delighted surprise, an actual wedding was occuring. The man at the back said we could watch, as long as we wore our masks, kept quiet and to the back. It was very interesting. They sang a song and read Prov. 31. We left after a bit.

TSAÔCAA

Bubble tea. Also black hair everywhere. Anddd, some neat fashions. I forget the flavor I ordered but I remember the textures. The tapioca bubbles were silky, smaller, and black. The milk tea was smooth, like a good pick up line:D.

gaby et jules

Macaroons. A six pack. Not of beer or abs, but of cookies. White chocolate basil, rose, earl grey, pear and rosemary. To all my people, if you haven’t had herby flavors in sweets and coffee, you’ve been missing out on one of the finer things in life.

And, that’s it.

*Boise with Linz.

Flying M coffee. And not only good coffee but also everything else. So many temptations. I have too many collections. Journals, stickers, bar soaps, tiny hands(I bought some), shirts, hats, plants, etc etc.

Downtown Boise. Ahhhh, hello my city.

Freak Alley Gallery. Insane graffiti.

Stella’s Ice Cream. Lavender vegan. It tasted mostly of coconut but on the rare bites I tasted lavender. It was good.

We walked around, went to a couple stores.

Banana Ink. This store is insane. It has Idaho things. Clothing with the word Idaho on them. Everything does. It’s not just clothing. It was cool.

And Restored Book Shop. Or whatever it’s called. I didn’t spend a fortune this time, but I did buy some books.

It was a lovely time.

I went to Okolona(Okalona?) to surprise my sister over Thanksgiving weekend. She’s teaching there. While I was there we went to this pretty awesome place called Crave. Coffee and sweets. Skillet cookies, créme brûlée. And French press coffee for me. The vibes were immaculate.

Okay wow this is longer than I expected, and longer than last year’s. Annz, isn’t it better? More information, I think.

What I’m passionate about right now-

Writing poems(duh)

Watercolor painting:) I wasn’t painting for a long time and now I’m doing it again and boy, I think I’ve lost muscle memory cz everything looks so bad.

Drawing. And shading with pencil crayons.

My job(lol)

Winter

Hanging out with my friends

Singing with my youth group and finding new songs to sing

Loving people and being kind, no matter their belief or lifestyle. I may not always agree with them but this shouldn’t hold back my love and kindness from them.

Writing out thankful lists.

Andddddddd traveling.

Alright this is enough, I think.

Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays.

peace out, homies and dawgs and normal people.