While looking through a folder I keep of holiday-themed photos that I can use for blog posts when I need an image in a pinch, look what I found! Jesus, what a perfect ornament to punctuate a year that has — no one would argue — not been anyone’s favorite. As we move towards the light of 2021, let’s all try to find something to be grateful for on this Christmas day. While I am unable to be with my family and friends in California for the holidays, because of the Covid, I am making the most of staying here in NYC, where I tend to miss out on the best parts of the season because I am always out of town at this time of year. So, Merry Christmas, bitches, and my best to all of you!
Is it even necessary to explain why you need to own this shirt? I don’t think so. I bet you’ve got lots of reasons why a shirt that declares Fuck 2020 in bold lettering on a none-more-black shirt (although the shirt is available in your choice of 15 different colors) could be the star of your wardrobe right now! Visit This Link to purchase one for just $19.95!
Holy Mother Of God. As if 2020 is a year that anyone really wants to memorialize for eternity, a company calling itself Dot Com Product has created a Covid-19 themed ornament with that you can personalize and add to your Holiday Tree. Unreal. According to the description (unedited by me): “Each ornament is complemented with 2020 memorabilia including adorable Santa Hat Persons Wearing Masks, Hand Sanitizer, Toilet Paper, and the Year 2020” (with a Covid Germ representing the First Zero). Kill me.
You can order these crazy things with up to seven individual masked-heads (depending on how many people in your family survived the year, I suppose), and you can also add a pet. You have to personalize the ornaments yourself though (a black sharpie is recommended). If this looks like the bad taste / white elephant gift you need to own, you can read more about them, and place an order, at This Link.
The original vacation plan for Summer 2020 called for me to fly from New York City to Barcelona on June 4th. There, I would meet up with my Los Angeles-based sister, and we’d spend two days site-seeing and recovering from jet lag before departing on an adventure-packed, seven-day cruise through the western Mediterranean. Sigh, I fucking love to cruise.
Obviously, those plans changed. In May, our sailing was predictably canceled by the cruise line due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While I was relieved to receive a full-refund on my paid fare — and overjoyed with the bonus of nearly $1,000 in onboard credit for a 2021 rebooking — I was also super bummed to know that I would likely not be getting out of Manhattan this summer. First world problems: they are a thing.
This Glass Holds The Remains of a Very Stiff Gin and Tonic
It cannot be overstated then that my summer was miraculously saved by friends who own a home the Berkshires, where they’d been quarantining since March. They generously offered to host me for a week of doing basically what I do in Manhattan — eating and going for walks — but with way better food and immeasurably more awe-inspiring scenery, not to mention (but you can see I am about to) air that smells like honey, and the absence of blaring sirens. It was the best week I’ve had in three months. Please enjoy a selection of photos from my many nature walks taken during the vacation that restored my sanity.
The Berkshires: Stunning Even When It’s Overcast
My friends live in a private community accessed from a narrow road set about a mile off of a rural thoroughfare. On summer evenings (during any normal year), you can sometimes hear faint music drifting over from Tanglewood, where I saw a fantastic concert by Squeeze with these same friends last August. Sadly, Tanglewood’s 2020 season has been canceled.
Instead, the soundtrack includes choruses of bullfrogs hiding among the marsh reeds, and a rush of wind through the endless trees that can make you look over your shoulder to confirm that no cars are coming.
This marsh and pond are just across the road from a private beach. There, you can take colorful kayaks out onto a lake, which is called the Stockbridge Bowl.
