There will be no Pie Extravaganza at my parents' house this weekend.

For the past 20+ years, every 6 months my mom will bust out her pie tins and go nuts. Apple, tart cherry, cream cheese pie with fresh strawberries, luscious chocolate pudding pie with a graham cracker crust, fresh peach, blueberry, velvety lemon meringue, and pumpkin... There are always so many to choose from, and often multiple of each.

Usually, I plan my whole Saturday that week around helping my mom with the pies, my favorite to make being the lemon meringue--it's always a challenge to see if I can get the meringue to look better than the last time, and to see if I can prevent "weeping" (pie pee). I'll end up slicing up all the fruits or doing dishes more than make pies because my mom's amazing and has all the pie crusts made...but it's not going to work this year.

Things are changing for my family; the reason my mom would make all of these pies was because my dad's side of the family--some 60-odd people--would get together at my grandma's house for a semi-annual church event, and pie is the final note we leave on. My grandma is suffering from the after effects of both repeated strokes and cancer, and having people over is getting to be way too taxing on her. Ah well, I'll miss making pie this weekend, and I suppose it's for the best. I can't have my grandma getting too stressed out...besides, I kinda suck at the small talk that fuels these events. I like anime and make cloth feminine pads for a living, they're both awkward and hilarious to talk about with people but both subjects don't make for great continuity in conversations with "normals".

...anyway, back to pie...if anybody wants to come to my house to make some this weekend, I'm so game.