Blog / 2022 / 32 Chews

Last summer, my partner David and I drove across America because we wanted to visit my parents in Oregon without getting on a plane, because we wanted to see the world again after taking the pre-vaccination stay-at-home orders so seriously, and because it felt like a good way to celebrate the beginning of my 40s! From the trip, I made a blog post and some paintings like this one, and my sweetie made an epic video journal that includes beautiful camera work and editting as well as his own music.

These are two of my favorite episodes from the first half of 32 Chews. The first sixteen installments are posted here.

The title of this series comes from a fascination that began for us during Year 1 of the pandemic. My stomach was a mess from all the worrying—my food felt like it never went down properly. Since there was no way to excise pandemic anxiety from my life, David did some research about properly chewing food, and the idea of really slowing down to taste every morsel became something we applied to our lives as well as to our meals.

These are two of my favorite episodes because they remind me of how much the Southwest surprised me. I expected to be overheated and miserable for our entire trek through that part of the country, and I kind of was, but I was also overcome with the beauty of the place!