It wasn’t all bad
■■ After Michelle Brenner got furloughed from her job, she decided to take some time to make lasagna, posting an offer in her Washington town’s Facebook group to make a pan for anyone who wanted it. As the requests poured in, Brenner set aside her $1,200 stimulus check for ingredients, then fundraised for more, becoming Gig Harbor’s resident “Lasagna Lady.” Three months and 1,200 pans later, Brenner spends eight hours every day feeding first responders and others in need. “It’s a pan of love,” said Brenner. “I’ll bet I could continue this for the rest of my life.”
■■ When Argentina canceled inbound flights in mid-March, Juan Manuel Ballestero resolved to get himself home from Portugal to his family some other way. Ballestero, 47, who has been sailing since he was 3 years old, loaded up his 29-foot sailboat with provisions and set out from the Portuguese island of Porto Santo. He spent 85 days at sea battling waves and was denied entry to a port where he planned to restock. On June 17 he finally arrived in Mar del Plata, in time to celebrate Father’s Day with his 90-year-old father. Completing the journey “gave me the taste of a mission accomplished,” Ballestero said. “But I have a strong desire to keep on sailing.”