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Beginning in April 2020, I began sending weekly texts to friends and family during the initial Covid lockdown. I was glad to have a purpose on Fridays of sending the painting and its story. This was originally sent July 31st.

I hope you have had a great week and are staying healthy. This painting is a 4x6 gouache. The barn is from my grandma’s farm where she is born and raised. The house still stands, though I don’t know if the barn does.

All I have is an austere photo of the farm where my grandma was born and raised, and I wonder what lies behind those doors. All I know is from stories I heard over the years. Lunch was a sandwich from bread baked once a week. No one was allowed to eat any the day it was baked, probably out of fear of it being gobbled up. The sandwich lay on a single sheet of wax paper, not  thoroughly wrapped as I would do - too poor, extremely conservative. Make sure nothing but skin is peeled from potatoes and apples…I try my best. On cold winter days, legs are wrapped like ace bandages in wool for the long walk to school, a distance no parent today would allow. Still she graduated in 1927 from a small farm town. No silver or jewels to pass down, though a love of flowers, baking and a good work ethic were. Hard work was a necessity for them. For me, it is what you do. When future generations see a picture of our house, will they wonder about those who lived there? Will they  know they loved feeding and entertaining their friends and family – except in 2020. Will they know they worked hard to care for others and always tried to do the right thing? These traits will carry on just as they were passed on to me.