Intentions

Funny how plans change! 

I planned to make a simple New Year's dinner, but then I remembered that I had thawed some chicken, and there was about a cup of leftover red wine, so I went looking for a recipe and ended up making Julia Child's Coq au Vin. Of course, mine was probably nothing like hers! But it was pretty darn tasty. I made a side of yams and of course the traditional cabbage, and we had a feast. And I completely forgot to take photos!

Earlier in the day I thought a bit about how I wanted to spend this day. To me, New Year's Day seems like a bellwether for the coming year, so I try to be intentional about what I do. I spent an hour reading,  something I don't allow enough time for these days. Nothing heavy, just a few short stories. Then I went back to work on my data for taxes, getting a lot accomplished there.

Next was a walk with the dogs. Pip has not been on a walk since we got him. It's not an issue, as he has full run of our land, and rarely goes more than 100 yards from the house. But I did not want him to forget how to behave on a leash. The poor guy seems to associate the leash with having to get in the van, and he was a job to catch and get leashed up! I finally cornered him in the bedroom, and off we went to catch up with Larry and Buddy. 

Buddy was so excited! Larry walked him regularly last winter, when we had to keep Buddy inside unless he was on the lead, or he would run off. It was no fun, I can tell you. Being country dwellers, neither of us was accustomed to having to take a dog out to do its business! And since I had just had knee surgery, I was afraid to take him myself as he is a pretty strong boy. Buddy has been a lot of work, time, and expense, but he's now a very good boy since we got the "stubborn dog " electronic fence, and can roam about 3/4 of an acre freely. As long as his collar battery doesn't go dead, that is!

So, reading,  cooking, keeping up paperwork, and taking a walk: those seem like good omens for the coming year. Not resolutions,  I have given up on that idea, but predictors, I hope, of things to come.

Do you make resolutions, or have goals for this year?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

New Year's Day

25°f/-4°C, light snow cover, partly sunny.

Once again, we have made it through to this start of a new calendar year. We stayed up last night til midnight, enjoying cheese, crackers, and fruit. 

Most years we watch the ball drop in Times Square 

but this year it just didn’t seem relevant to our lives. Thousands of people, celebrities, loud music, noise? That is not how we wanted to start this year.

After the morass our country plunged into last year, we preferred the quiet of a country night!

So, some good Cabernet, made very close to here and quite good, was our toast instead of champagne! Keeping it local, I guess. Then we were off to bed. 

I did my usual prep for the new year---bills paid, floors swept, dishes done, house decluttered, a good fire in the fireplace. We used to have a big bonfire with lots of people here, and that was fun, but  those days are passed. Now, to keep Larry from sweeping or taking out the trash. Don't want to throw away our luck!

I think two of my sons and their families got together and went to Mannington, WV, which is near Aaron's home, for the annual "pepperoni roll drop". The pepperoni roll is a West Virginia thing, basically bread dough wrapped around pepperoni and baked. It was a staple of the Italian immigrant coal miners that settled in the Fairmont area and has become an iconic West Virginia food. I have to admit. I don't care for them, but my guys all love them.

It will be a quiet day here. Yesterday I entered ALL my receipts from last year, the first time I have done that since we started this little side business. 

That felt like quite an accomplishment! I still have to enter some of the online receipts, which won't take long. So I am far ahead of the game when it comes to getting my taxes ready. Some years I start planning my garden seed order on New Year's,  but I plan to go up to Berlin Seed Company in Ohio to get them again this year, as I have had good luck with their seeds. It's a nice road trip anyway, up into Amish country.

On a happy note, I saw a cardinal this morning! As well as several other birds, so perhaps this is a hopeful sign that the birds are returning? We can hope. An old saying is that a cardinal is the soul of a loved one returning to visit. I would like to believe this one was my son Jon, coming to wish us well in the coming year.

Dinner today? Keeping it simple: ham, cabbage, and baked potatoes. There will be wrapped coins in the cabbage, of course, so that we will have all kinds of money in the coming year. You can see how well that has worked in the past, right? This is my family's tradition for New Year's.  Do you have any special things you do on this day? I have written several posts about this topic; click here to read one of them that combines several.

Enjoy the day, whatever you choose to do (or not do!)

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Ending 2025 with a Lot of Chat

27°f/-2.7C, light snow that ended around 9am. More expected later today, but no real accumulation. 

Pip peeping in the door window. He'd already been in and out three times. We need a revolving door!

Not a lot of news from here. It has been a running week: we got home Sunday evening from our weekend trip to see our oldest son, then Monday we drove over to Logan, Ohio to pick up 4 very nice vintage dinette chairs. I didn’t really want to get back on the road, but those chairs were in such good shape, and the price was great. It is hard to find these old chairs with the vinyl in good condition. We already have a table but needed to find chairs to go with it. 

The seller had a lot of other stuff too. Her parents had passed away, and she has been selling their stuff, which is mostly stuffed into totes in her outbuildings. It was a cold, snowy day over there in Ohio, with strong winds, so we like to froze looking through all that, but we came away with the van loaded with good things for our booth---well, they will be, once we clean them up. So I have that to look forward to! 

Yesterday was milk pickup day, and we also went to our booths just to tidy up. It was a good thing we did, because as we walked into our Ripley booth the staff were unloading one of our cabinets that had just sold. I hadn't really wanted to sell that one, as I used it for quilt display and for keeping my supplies in a drawer. But I was asked about it a while back, so I hung a price tag on it, thinking no one would pay thst much for it. Oops. So I had to find places for everything I had in there, in addition to just putting the booth back in order. Sales have been great, which means people have moved things, left other vendors' items in our booth, unfolded linens, etc. 

It didn’t take long to get things back to rights, then we went to Shari's for lunch, where we met up with our friend Bill and several other folks. Our son Derek stopped in to show us the hickory syrup he made---from hickory bark! I had never heard of such a thing, but the syrup is delicious. He made more last evening. This first batch was quite dark, but his second batch was much lighter in both color and flavor. He later mixed the two together, and then the last batch he made he was able to get the color he was looking for. Personally, I liked the dark syrup's flavor best, but the lighter had the consistency and color of honey. Where did he learn to do this? YouTube, of course.

We stopped at Walmart to pick up potting soil, and I had a look around at the marked down Christmas stuff. Boy oh boy! Pre-lit trees were marked down to 75% off, so I bought one--- my first ever brand new tree. I usually buy used ones at auctions or thrift, but for $25 I got a 7.5 foot thin profile tree. Next year I should have room for all of my ornaments. I bought other things too, to resell in our booths next Christmas: glass trees for $2.50, a couple blow molds for $6.25, and some lights to replace whatever won't work next year. It was well worth the stop.

Today we are staying home. And tomorrow and probably Friday too. We will go up to our son Aaron's on the weekend, as we haven't had gift exchange with them yet, and his daughter Beth who is in the Navy is in for a visit. But I am looking forward to a few days here, just catching up with ourselves.

Yesterday's mail brought my Christmas gift to myself:

Face cream from The Burren Perfumery in Ireland. I bought some when we visited this place in 2017, and loved it. My daughter-in-law Sandy gave me some for Christmas a few years ago and I used it so sparingly to make it last! But I have been out of it for a couple years now, so I decided to gift it to myself. Two jars, with free shipping, was still $70, but i will get every bit that much pleasure just from its aroma. Mmm.....lavender and lemon.

A few randoms from around the house this morning:

The old brass bugles that I keep meaning to sell,but then can't bring myself to do so. One on the right came from my parents' things. The stockings were made by my friend Suzy, the top woodcut picture was made by a local artist, the bottom one was in a box from an auction. I treasure them both.

The Facebook group Early American Pattern Glass Society has an annual "Secret Santa" giveaway,  and I received the pitcher on the left from a wonderful lady in Washington state. Talk about good packing!

The painting on it is in excellent condition, considering that this pitcher was made around

1909.

 

This was another gift from the group last year, and look! My name on it! 

It actually says "To Susanna Craft, from your sister, Miriam Moetzger. Wapakoneta, Ohio Fair 1911." I am going to see if I can find out more about these ladies.

A vignette in the kitchen. My old butter churn and coffee grinder, both well- used in our non-electric farming days.

I just picked up this little syrup pitcher last Friday, from a lady in town. Research shows it to be a fairly valuable little thing, which i will be selling on ebay.

Staying in the kitchen, a wire half-basket given to me by a dear lady from Georgia. She runs a shop called Dust & Rust, and is a frequent shopper in our booths when she comes to WV to visit her son.

On the fridge,  I use the lid from an old cookie tin as decor, attaching it with a magnet each Christmas.

That big wagon we went to fetch on Sunday. Larry is currently cleaning it up.

Miss Daisy having a lie-in. She's 17 this year, and doing very well for a yellow lab. We aren't sure of her exact age, but she was about 6-9 months old when we got her in February 2009 as a rescue.

On the deck this big...thing...is waiting for me to attach the missing prisms. We have had this for probably 10 years, hanging out in the cellartop waiting for us to get "arountuit". I brought it down last month but still haven't worked on it. I think this would be cool in a gazebo or something, with vines or garland wrapped around it. It doesn't have lights; it's just a big round hanging frame with prisms. 

Last but definitely not least, Clyde the Cat, Esq., just hangin' out. Clyde will also be 17 this year, we think in March.

Enough for today! I didn't think I had anything to talk about, but I guess I was wrong, again. Enjoy this last day of 2025, friends, and here's to a better year upcoming!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.