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I don't really think I did anything creative in the pandemic, but I will upload the closest things I have to try to meet the call for contributions.
1) Photo of the Mario Cuomo (formerly called Tappan Zee) bridge- I guess the photo itself is the creative thing. I moved to Tarrytown NY during the pandemic to work as a Physician Assistant at the Bronx VA. From the kitchen window in my apt I had a view of the bridge, and I took walks in my immediate neighborhood as often as I could given long work hours and the short days of winter where the view of the bridge was even better than from the kitchen window. At first I took a picture to show friends who were ALL far away (I did not have any friends in Tarrytown nor did I make any) the view from my window and where I was living. But then I kept taking pictures of it for some reason, at different times of day, with different stunning sunsets, etc. I'm not sure they came out all that differently, and I was just using my phone camera and I have the cheapest old iphone. I didn;t actually really share these, how many bridges could anyone want to see? And I don't know why I did this, but it was like a compulsion. I guess a lot of times I am motivated to take pictures because I see something beautiful (often) or meaningful (sometimes) and I want to be able to share what I see with others, I want them to experience it. Inevitably though the pictures disappoint. They can;t capture what I see or feel. I usually just delete them. Ultimately, I deleted almost all of my bridge photos because my phone has so little space, but I kept this one as a souvenir of that time. I will always think of my time during the pandemic in Tarrytown... it is the only period that I lived there, in contrast to the previous apartment in which I lived for a full year prior to the beginning of the pandemic and where I stayed for a few months. One cool thing about the bridge that is not apparent in this photo is that they often changed the light colors. Anyway, I used to kind of chuckle to myself as it was as if I fancied myself a Monet with his paintings of the church in Rouen at different times of day. Ridiculous, since certianly I was not trying to produce any art, but I did engage in this compulsive behavior. I guess it gave me a distraction.
I will also say that perhaps not the bridge itself, but the landscape of the Hudson River and importantly the lights and civilization across the river on the other side of that bridge did have an important symbolism for me. Seeing those lights across the river made me feel like there is someone out there- there are people doing their things, there is life, maybe those people are alone like me or maybe they are not, but somehow all of this made me feel less alone.
2) Photo of a mediocre sourdough more than fifty percent whole wheat bread. I had already been baking before the pandemic and enjoy tinkering to make things healthier and sharing baked goods with other people. I like the chemistry and creative aspect and I guess a little but of the intrigue in how will it turn out. That said, I do not enjoy when things turn out less well than anticipated or hoped for, which is frequently the case. I made my first bread before I realized that it was a pandemic trend because I had just visited a friend who made a no knead bread that was so easy that I thought even I would attempt it. I needed to see if I could do what she did, and indeed, it was so easy and the result was pretty decent. Then there was no flour or yeast etc. I had been living in Connecticut where anyway I was unable to get any bread that I thought was worth eating, and this was better than what I could buy. So when I could get ingredients, I made more. A friend had for a solid year already been making sourdough, and finally I caved and got some of her starter and tried my hand at it. Again mostly to see if I could do it. Then of course I had to keep doing it to see if I could get better at it. I continue to bake sourdough to this day and continue to try new things. As I write this I have dough proofing. One problem with this project esp during the pandemic is I truly get no joy out of baking if I do not have people to share my baked goods with. Most of the time, I have had no one to share with, so that really reduced my baking to a large extent, esp of things like chocolate cake which I would otherwise make much more frequently. I am not a good baker, I can;t follow directions, and I really am a hack, but something about the creative process and doing it my way, never following the recipe and seeing if I can optimize or innovate to improve the health and or taste of the output is enjoyable. Although it really is not fully enjoyable and compelte if I can;t share it... sharing can mean talking about it even if I can;t physically share it, but there is no substitute for physicially giving someone the baked goods and also getting her critique.
