Welcome, New Year!

48 this morning, raining and dark overcast, with thick fog.

Happy New Year, friends!

How did you celebrate the coming of another year? Did you go out, stay home, stay up, or go to bed? We stayed home, mostly. I have this movie I love to watch every New Year’s Eve—I think it’s actually called New Year’s Eve—and we had some snacks and champagne, a bit of whiskey and a nice fire in the fireplace so we settled in. Earlier I’d texted some younger neighbors to stop over for drinks if they were going to be home, and around 9:30 two of them came over. These ladies were hilarious and we had a great time talking with them. They left, and not long after a whole passel arrived—all the same family, brothers and their wives and children. It was so warm we sat out on the porch and visited. Then close to midnight Larry and I hopped in the van and ran over to share the dropping of the ball on TV with them, since we have no TV service here. It was a really fun evening, and I’m still smiling thinking about it.

We’re off to an interesting start on the year today, with this overly-warm weather and now, at 2 in the afternoon, a power outage. Apparently the outage is due to an “emergency equipment repair”. I am sorry for the workers called out to do the repair as it is raining heavily off and on as I write. My laptop has an hour or so of battery time so I can at least write my blog to post later. We are also blessed to have free gas for heat and an older cookstove that works fine when the power is off.

I was just about to order my garden seeds when the lights went out, so that will be on hold for a bit. It’s so nice to be able to go back into the website and see what I ordered last year, and decide if I want the same varieties again. I will probably order most of them, as we had an excellent garden for the most part in 2021.

Usually on New Year’s I pay more attention to how I am spending my time. Do you do the same? I try to be mindful about the things I choose to do—or not to do. So today, we got up a bit later than usual, allowing our bodies to tell us when it was time to wake. Then a big, leisurely breakfast. Larry napped a little after breakfast and I did kitchen cleanup and called my sister Theresa. I went outside to the gardens and gathered asparagus seeds to start in our little greenhouses, as I had good luck with them last year. I also pulled some beets for today’s dinner after Theresa mentioned harvesting kale and greens from her garden today. What a nice thing to do on January 1! I poked around the gardens a bit, picking up some loose trash, etc. There are flowers blooming here and there—pansies, calendula, and some young green onions are sprouting. There are a few leeks still in the gardens, and some fresh dill is growing. Other herbs look very green; indeed, even the grass is pretty green for this time of year. Apparently things will change tomorrow when a cold front come through.

Now I am writing, and when the power is on I will go back to ordering my seeds. Perhaps the lesson from today is flexibility, being ready to change plans at a moment’s notice without getting stressed about it? 

Dinner will have some of the traditional New Year’s elements: blackeye peas and cabbage. I’m also fixing a nice trout, the beets, a salad, and stuffed peppers I put in the freezer last fall. So it will be a small feast for the two of us. Followed, I hope, by a walk if the rain lets up enough to make it doable. 

All in all, it’s been, and will be, a really nice way to start the year. I hope your day has been as good, and that the coming year brings you health, comfort, joy and many blessings.

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

Out with the Old, In with the New

The last week was a blur for me---how about you?

Christmas came, and was gone in a flash. We had a good one, no gifts for each other as we really have more than we will ever need. But lots of good food, family, and friends. Does it get any better than that?

Things started to get interesting a few days before Christmas, actually. On the 18th I was storytelling in two different towns, both Christmas presentations. The first was for the Salem (WV) garden club, a group I have told stories for at Christmas for the past 3 years. Lovely people, a fine meal, totally  pleasure.

Brought some fruitcake along :) and a pretty plate and server

We left there for my next gig in the small, beautiful town of Philippi, WV, which boasts a two-lane covered bridge. So cool. This time I was joined by musician David O'Dell, who has done this performance with me for the past 3 years. It was a wonderful time, especially seeing friends I've made in the area over years of performing there.

But on the way to Philippi, we stopped at a Goodwill since we had some extra time and lo and behold, I came out of there with a new couch! I mean, brand new, and a sofa-bed one at that! For $15.00! It was a tight fit getting it in the van but we managed. I am so happy with it. Our old brown couch was about 20 years old and just worn out. Getting the new couch in meant rearranging things a bit, and also finding neighbors to help move it because it is h-ea-v-y. It took half a day to get everything situated, but was time well spent.

We got home and got seriously to work on cleaning and finishing up decorations, etc. for Christmas. I baked cookies for the neighbors and also made a batch of homemade Kahlua as gifts. (It was mighty popular!). We knew we would be driving back across the state on Monday for our grandson Clayton's wedding--a wedding planned in two weeks as they had to figure out his schedule in the Navy and his bride-to-be's work and class schedule. We thought we'd be alone on Christmas but a granddaughter texted and asked, "Granny, are you making Christmas dinner again this year? Why yes! Yes, I sure could!

We left early Monday morning (Dec 23) for the wedding, getting there in plenty of time. It was lovely, small and just perfect.

We hated to leave but we needed to stop on the way home for Christmas dinner supplies so that I could start putting the dinner together the next day. So a ten-hour driving day, followed by a cooking day on Christmas Eve. Surprisingly neither of us felt worn out--it was nice to see a little snow here and there.

Christmas Day we started out slow, with a small breakfast and time by the fire. We had a few gifts from our sons to open, and that was nice. Then it was on to cooking. And since it was such a pretty day, I decided we'd eat on the deck. Something totally different for us, but with temperatures in the upper 60's and the sun was shining, why not?

The rest of the week was spent on painting furniture, cleaning off the back porch, and I had a nice long visit with a good friend in a new coffee shop in town. One resolution this year: make more time to visit friends.

Helen's is such a pretty place! Complete with a fireplace, and the best homemade pies.

This week we've worked at both antique malls, restocking booths.Sales have been very slow for several months at our Marietta location, so we're downsizing there by one booth. It's hard to know why sales have dried up, and it's not just here--everywhere antique malls are struggling with the same thing. Will they soon be a thing of the past? It's hard to say, but I hope not because I love visiting and shopping in them.Perhaps it's the swelling online sales, or the Facebook marketplace that causing the decline?

We spent New Year's Eve with neighbors a few miles away, and had a great time. Nice people, lots of laughs, great food. We came home in time to see the new year in here, just the two of us. There is something special about being at your own fireside as the old year drags its tattered skirt into the darkness and the new year dawns. I stayed up a while, writing a poem. Another resolution: commit more time to writing.

Yesterday, New Year's Day, we dropped off this little spinet desk to its new home,

Before--I had just put the first coat on the top before remembering to take a photo.

and drove out into the country to pick up another desk and an antique shelf. The lady had goats and it was just nice to be there, petting her goats, fending off the billy, petting her dogs and just chatting. I hope we see this young woman again.

And today, we worked at our Ravenswood booths again, and I got back to the paints. It's such a pleasure to have time to work on furniture again.

Finished this one yesterday

and this one is currently in progress.

Now that the excitement and busyness of the holidays is past, I need to catch up with all of your blogs, and get back to writing my own more often. January--it's made for re-grouping, isn't it?

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

The Brasstown Possum Drop and Clay's Corner

Driving into Brasstown, NC last weekend, this was what we saw:

Possum Network? Wait, something was beginning too surface in my memory. Something about possums...

and something about Clay's Corner...

While we were looking at the Model T, Mack told us his father was the Clay of Clay's Corner, and to be sure to stop in and say hello.  So we did just that. Clay Logan came out to meet us, and invited us into his store.

Possums were everywhere! On the walls, in photos, on t-shirts...and in this back room where there is a weekly music jam on Friday nights. We missed that, sadly. But notice that sign board on the left: "Possum Drop Sponsors." 

Yes, this is the home of the annual New Year's Eve Possum Drop! According to the website, "If New York can drop a "Ball", Georgia can drop a "Peach", then we can lower the Opossum."

I will haste to say that the possum is caught and kept in a cage and fed well until the event. He is lowered in the cage, and let back into wild afterward. You can read more about the event here.

We spent a little time talking with Clay and enjoying his eclectic store. You can find pretty much anything at Clay's Corner, from milk and bread to gasoline, candy, t-shirts (this one glows in the dark), bottled Possum Water and canned possum.

My Brasstown souvenirs

 And a warning to all:

I don't know if I will ever be there to witness the Possum Drop but I can now say I have visited the place where it happens. It's about as small as a place can get, I have to admit, but once a year Brasstown polishes itself up for for this event, and thousands come to watch and enjoy the bands, singing, and contests. 

After it's over, the possum will waddle off into the night, his hour of glory over and his mind full of wonder at the silly antics these humans will get themselves up to, all in the name of fun.

And Brasstown will return to a sleepy junction of two roads and to its usual place of fame as the home of the John C. Campbell Folk School.

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