whatever is contained must be released.

last night i made banana bread with my gran's recipe. around march, i asked her for her texas sheet cake recipe. i told her i missed her cooking, especially her chicken pot pie. she told me she'd send me the recipe and a few days later i got a manilla envelope full of recipes she picked out that she thought i'd like including texas sheet cake, chicken pot pie, and! she included her banana bread recipe. that recipe is the only one in the pile that she had handwritten. complete with an "!" after "mix thoroughly". 

i made it last night and have since not been able to get her out of my mind. i miss her so much. i wish she was still only a phone call away. 

i sent one loaf to work with jon. we are headed to LA this weekend to celebrate veteran's day! he found out yesterday he was supposed to be on duty (working from 6am-6pm, and being there at 6am the next day to switch with the next duty person) on friday. one of his friends said that she would be duty for him so that we could leave on time for our trip. so he took her a loaf of banana bread. i found it appropriate. my grandma used to send me to friends houses or over to the neighbors to give them extra banana bread she had made.

we had a guest speaker in one of my art history classes today. she was old, so i knew i was going to like her. my sisters and i get along with old people. i know, everyone gets long with old people. but we get along with old people. i think it is because we were around gran so much growing up. at church functions, when i should be with the young ladies gossiping about our husbands, i'm instead in a circle of old ladies talking about where we all take our coupons and what quilt or craft we are working on. so when i saw helene aylon, i knew i'd enjoy the class.

it was a really nice presentation. i liked hearing art history from an artists point of view. i was the only one to go up to her after class and ask her to sign my book. that meant we had some time to talk. she asked me what my degree was in and when i told her art history, she said "in art history, you have to know about everything and everyone. when you're an artist, you only have to know how to do whatever it is that you do." i thought it was really sweet that she had that perspective even though without artists, art history couldn't be. 

her eyes reminded me of my gran's.
i sure miss that lady.

"A degree in art is a degree in freedom." -Helene Aylon