These Monochromatic Days

These Monochromatic Days

The monochromatic year ended in a radiant burst of colour. The soulful burgundy of beets; purple eggplants roasted into gold and black, yellow yolks alchemized into aioli, and the woven black, green and red patterns of a tablecloth inherited from my mother, purchased in Soviet Czechoslovakia. Appropriately, the meal itself was Soviet: the Slavic…

Pandemic Solstice

Pandemic Solstice

There were icy droplets of rain falling. It was a mild yet bone-chilling December night. I’d tried and failed to purchase a fire pit, this season’s hip accessory. A couple of folks canceled at the last minute, and my makeshift outdoor xmas tree, fashioned from a tomato cage and some dollar store lights, around…