1 During the pandemic I’ve maintained my sanity by completing jigsaw puzzles. However, they also came close to making me lose my sanity a time or two. The first one I completed was “The Day the Angels Cried.” I’ve looked for that puzzle for years and finally got it. It took me three months to put it together and at the end it was missing one piece! I wrote the company, but they didn’t have another copy of that puzzle. I was heartbroken. To make up for it they sent me the “Hometown Heroes” puzzle. It took me a couple of months to complete it. I framed it in an old barn wood frame and donated it to our local volunteer fire department for them to hang it in their firehouse or auction it off at their yearly fundraising event. Their choice. My bathroom is decorated New Orleans style, so my third puzzle was the “Bourbon Street” puzzle. It was amazingly easy! It only took me a month to complete it. I framed it in black and it’s now hanging in my bathroom. My current project is the cat puzzle. I couldn’t figure out what to work on next so I asked a dear friend if she would like a cat puzzle. The kids in her apartment complex call her “the crazy cat lady,” so I thought she might be interested, and she was. It’s been pretty difficult so far and will get much more difficult when I get to working on the black cat. My 19-month-old grandson, Rhyder, loves to watch me work on my puzzle. He can even say “puzzle.” The other day he thought he would help and proceeded to destroy the bottom center part of the puzzle. Luckily it didn’t take a long time to put it back together. I just love him! -Ann Bartts 2 Pre and post pandemic, I have been taking pictures of birds in my backyard. The process is easy . .I take my tripod mounted camera outside, point it strategically at an area in my yard, and wait. This usually is done while having a glass of wine. The waiting often produces nothing. It is an exercise in patience and calm. You just have to sit, watch and listen, sometimes for hours. During the pandemic I managed to get several pictures that I thought were fun. The first is a hawk that swooped down into my backyard and grabbed dinner. Yes, a bit gruesome, but it’s close to Halloween so I wanted to share. The second is a hummingbird perched in a tree. I thought it was an interesting shot as I rarely see a hummingbird just resting. It just sat there with seemingly no place to go. The last shot was just luck . right place at the right time. I was taking a picture of a young cardinal, and sure enough, a male cardinal landed on the same branch and began feeding it right as I started to take the picture. Enjoy! Ben Dearman 3 On June 10, 2020 I welcomed my first child, Shane Thomas Smith. I never would have imagined having a child during a time of social distancing and mask wearing, but he’s been the perfect “pandemic sparkle” to have throughout this journey. From having to take a COVID test prior to going in for delivery, to being required to cover Shane with a blanket when leaving the hospital, it has been one of the strangest, yet most exciting times of my life (filled, of course, with pure exhaustion). Blair Smith Director of Marketing & Communications 4 Turned Farm Girl during COVID-19 This is my story when we were sent home to work during COVID-19. Within a block of my house is a Farm Store. To take a break I would walk down there to see the baby chickens and 6 farm cats they had on the property. (I love cats but cannot have any because our grandson is very allergic to them.) After putting hand sanitizer on, I would catch one of the little chicks from its cage. Poor thing, I could feel its little heart beating out of its chest when I picked it up! There were 6 farm cats at the store, but not always easy to find. They could have been stretched out to sleep inside the store, out in the barns of hay, or walking where the adult chickens were. The cat named Taco was my favorite and the most friendly of the 6! One day I was really bummed out from working at home and went for a walk that evening with my husband. There was Taco outside and I called him and he ran to me! It meant so much!! That has never happened anymore and it was exactly what I needed that day! Working from home made me reach out in a way I normally would not have done. I started walking with a neighbor a few times a week. As we shared our life with each other, we got to be close friends that may not have happened under any other circumstance. Now that I am back at the office, we still meet to walk regularly! To get exercise and a fresh breath of air, I started riding my bike in the neighborhood. It was very enjoyable just to step outside, feel the warm sunshine and see other people as I rode around our subdivision! Cheri Adler 5 Shortly after we got the “stay at home” order, I was feeling a bit restless and headed out for a walk in my neighborhood. As I stepped out of the door, I saw a lizard on my bush. I went back in to get my new camera and began taking pictures of him. I zoomed in as close as I could hoping not to scare him off. He seemed to just look over his shoulder at me, posing and saying, “well lady, just get the picture of me and let’s get on with the day.” I was fascinated with the texture of his scales and his feet. He was very small but the zoom lens let me capture his unique features. As I walked the neighborhood, I saw some geese in our pond and got a pretty good picture of one floating lazily on the water. I took several more walks during this time and found it was very relaxing. It gave me a chance to see the things I didn’t even realize were in my neighborhood. Cheryl McQueen 6 Summer bubbles on the porch with my garden helper. After we water the plants (and our feet) we blow happy little bubbles and send them out into the world to spread joy. We hope some joy found its way to you this year. Chris Peavy 7 After starting to work from home in March 2020, I adjusted my schedule so that I could take a long daily walk in my Denton neighborhood during my lunch break. There is a park nearby, and someone regularly decorated the sidewalks with positive messages written in colorful chalk … I found many of these messages to be comforting, or inspiring, or in some cases funny! I quickly started to look forward to these little "advertisements" that life was, and is, still good. Coby Condrey 8 We caved! After years of begging, the kids got their wish. Oakie is our pandemic puppy! We picked him up on Memorial Day and just recently turned 6 months old. Oakie is a Vizsla and loves to run. The pandemic proved to be the perfect excuse, and perfect timing, to get a dog. He’s been a great Spring, Summer, and Fall companion for the whole family. He’s absolutely wonderful! Francisco Guzmán 9 In 2020, we were told to engage in social distancing. The instructions were to wear face coverings in public, particularly indoors, and especially if close proximity to others could not be avoided. Though really, the best advice was just to stay six feet away from people at all times. I like to follow the best advice I can, so I increased six feet to… six miles or so. I took off into the wilderness of the ineffable majesty of the Pacific Northwest; desperate to sate my wanderlust in a practice I like to call sasquatching. Over the course of a few weeks I peaked three mountains, swam in half a dozen alpine lakes, and regularly encountered more marmots than people on a daily basis. Regularly my companion, Ralph Waldo Emerson, soothed my long disquieted state with his affirmations “In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me.” Jae Webb 10 Mama + 11 Babies: At the start of the pandemic, and shelter at home orders, we took a number of family walks in the evenings that we were home together. Because it was springtime the baby ducks were beginning to hatch, and we got to see all of the new additions to our neighborhood. This mama duck had 11 brand new babies, all about the size of fluffy little golf balls. We found it comforting to know that while everything in the human world was slowing down and being put on hold, nature was still there bringing us small joys. Morning Glories + Bumble Bee Friend: Like many others, we decided to start a pandemic garden. My husband built raised beds, and we planted a variety of flowers and vegetables.