all that's past is prologue...

I just read a friend's post about resolutions vs. goals. She had some really compelling ideas, and came out on the side of goals as achievable things rather than resolutions. Me, I like resolutions, with a side of goals tossed in. My resolution for 2022 was pretty simple: What if your resolution was simply to be you, and to let more people see that shiny wonderful person that is you, and if you change anything, it's to remove a barrier that is keeping that from happening? And then 2022 turned out to be pretty much a flaming dumpster fire, full of illness and injury and lost hopes and pain.  If 2020 was basically shock-and-awe over covid, and 2021 was trying to claw out of it, 2022 was the year that showed how badly things had hit. It was pretty horrible.  (see, here's my wrist to prove it...) So yeah, I made it through 2022 and that's about all I can boast. I'm currently sitting on the couch recovering from surgery. I have better hopes for 2023, but I don't want...

So here I am, sitting on the couch recovering and considering my year in countable items. My Goodreads goal was 100 books this year, and I am not sure I'll make it (I'm at 95 so far). But I have read more pages than last year (32,255 so far compared to 31,871 last year with 104 books), so I'm ok with that. And I *might* still finish the amazing An Immense World before year-end as well.  Top books?     Horse by Geraldine Brooks     Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin     Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Grams     The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd     Life's Too Short by Abby Jimenez     T he Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles     Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube by Blair Braverman           ( Small Game and Dogs on the Trail were great too) On the other hand, I'll likely never read anything by Colleen Hoover again (just not my style), and se...

  I wanted nighttime illumination for Christmas Eve, but our neighborhood has dropped the luminaria tradition. We have an ice lantern kit around here somewhere, but my friend Constance had said she had had her most luck with freezing lanterns in buckets, so I decided to try that. That was during the cold spell, and my first one, left out overnight, froze through and became an ice plinth. Rounds 2 and 3 did not freeze enough. It was quickly becoming the Goldilocks of ice lanterns. However, the one I made while I was bring lefse turned out perfectly, is still glowing on our porch when lit, and is the cover photo above. Yay! May your lights be illuminated!

 I was thinking today about holiday traditions — what we do and others do... It Wouldn't Be Christmas Without: - Hosting Christmas Eve. My grandmother hosted, then my mom, then we took it over. My aunt and uncle might prefer that we all spent Christmas Eve in Hawaii someday (hey, that's not a bad idea...), yet here we are. The whole meal, starting with a specialty cocktail, then we open Christmas crackers, then the meal including lefse (Patrick is, after all, America's Best Black Lefse Maker), then presents, and everyone takes home a bottle of wine (that was my dad's tradition we carry on). - Giving the pets cream so they talk on Christmas Eve. And of course stockings for the animals. - "Little Christmas Eve" —  aScandinavian smorgasbord with my aunt and uncle and cousins and their kids. - An Advent calendar. - Decorating the house (some years more than others). Today I did the back window boxes and I like them. And ALWAYS a real tree. - Seeing a live Christma...

Today, I got some amazing Christmas cards in the mail from new friends! I participated in the #uglydogs card exchange (a group of dog mushing enthusiasts I "met" on Twitter when it was a better place). These 2 people sent their cards to the amazing Blair Braverman and Quince Mountain (BraverMountain Mushing), who then ran them by dogsled to the post office, so they really were "Trail Mail." It truly ignited the holiday spirit for me. I have also participated in  a stocking exchange with a group of online women. This exchange, started by someone who had had one too many years of gas station fruit in her stocking (thank god that's not Patrick!), is a very fun exchange and way to get to know members of the group more. There were two "orphan stockings," so today I dropped off some extra things to the organizer to fill them. Last week, I held a usable gifts exchange at my places here everyone could bring giftable items they had sitting around, and others co...

 I would bet some of these are pretty obvious to you. But some may not be. In no particular order: 1. Books. Actually most of you know this. Despite being a firm "E" on the MBTI, there's nothing I love more that curling up with a good book. 2. My cats and dogs. I mean, look at how cute these guys are. I love all animals, but dogs and cats are the best. 3. (Related?) Sled dogs. I am low-key obsessed with sled dog racing, especially the Iditarod. Going up to Wintermoon Summersun changed my life in this regard, and it doesn't have to be a race for me to adore the experience. The north woods with a team of dogs? Heaven.  4. Cocktails. I think you all knew this, too. They have the special feeling of a fancy dessert and an experience. I mean, I'm pretty fond of good wine and craft beer too, but if I had to pick one it would be a cocktail. 5. Theatre. Still my first love. 6. Fine art. I realized, partway through the pandemic, that what I missed maybe the most was spendin...

 So my story of the Peabody ducks actually starts when I was a preschooler. My dad (long divorced from my mom at the time) was in Memphis and sent me a postcard of the famous ducks in the lobby fountain. He said he’d take me sometime. I knew not to hold my breath. The first time Patrick and I drove to New Orleans together for Mardi Gras, Beatrix was 4. As we approached the outskirts of Memphis I realized where we were and yelled “DUCKS!” Always up for an adventure, Patrick agreed to stop. Beatrix was fascinated by the ducks in the fountain, and the Duckmaster fell in love with her (and maybe my story). He took us up to the duck penthouse and gave us a private tour. I still have my duck pin from that day. Since then, we’ve stopped every time (if we’re around at lunchtime, we eat at Huey’s across the street). We’ve met my cousin Janie here. We pass Sun Records on the way out of town. Today, we actually arrived in time for the March of the Ducks. Every day at 11, the Duckmaster rolls ...

The last two nights, we've been at Beatrix's performances of The Trojan Women . It was a truly powerful show, with stunning performances, poignant set/costumes/lights, and a timely, cathartic theme. It's been a great show for her to do. Seves is not only a talented director, he works hard to build a cohesive and supportive cast. The seniors in particular have been important mentors to the freshman. I'm so proud of them all. Then we got up early, hugged the pets goodbye, and hit the road south. We had a delicious lunch at the Hamburg Inn 2 in Iowa City ( a new tradition, my FB memories tell me we were there 1 year ago today!). We're now in Cape Girardeau, in the Drury Inn, where there is a free dinner and bar, a pug in a stroller in the lobby, a huge hotel room, and the Hallmark channel with Christmas movies. It's perfect. We're on vacation.

This is where I vote — where I voted for Hillary, and Obama before that, and for so many candidates over the years. When I first moved to the neighborhood, it was at the school, which I liked better. As churches go, a Unitarian church isn't a bad compromise, but I would feel better if there was more of a separation between church and state. It's where I've voted almost my whole life; prior to that it was the synagogue on Summit. I've voted absentee exactly twice, in 1988 for Dukakis because I was in college and in 2002 for Wellstone because I was going to be on tour on Election Day. Then Paul's plane went down and retrieving my ballot was incredibly difficult. At first they said I could not because there was not a candidate determined, and I said I would just write in Mondale because I knew that's who it would be. Then they said there was no way to do it at all. Then a TV crew walked in and all of a sudden it became easy to get my ballot.  But I still wait until...

Still feeling good about our window-washing success from yesterday (and our yoga teacher Viv's instruction today to "Do what makes you feel complete"), we decided to tackle the downstairs windows today. Here's the before-and-after of our dining room ("before" to the right, "after" to the left). Not pictured, the "after-after" where Patrick went out and removed the dead screen and cleaned the outside of the windows. It looks really amazing now. You can kind of get the sense now at night: A similar before-and-after from the library ("before" left aide, "after" right). Now we even have the fairy lights glowing and it's soooooo cozy. Patrick also ran out and got new LED bulbs for the kitchen so it's much less dim, while I cleaned out the corners and areas around all the windows, sorted old magazines, and oiled the wood of the table. Meanwhile, Beatrix repotted some plants and started in on her laundry.  Now, after ...

(subtitled, The Power of Norwex) For the past many years, I've had to be in at Circus Juventas on the day of the Gala at least part of the day to help get ready. This year I clearly didn't have to be, and we were sticking close to home to keep an eye on Beatrix, who was not feeling great. Patrick and I were standing in the guest room, looking at the kid's pile of laundry, when we decided we should take the window air conditioner out and put up the curtains the kittens had pulled down. "I should really reach out to one of those windows cleaning services," I said. "It would probably be ridiculously expensive, but it would be nice to have clean windows for once." We both reached our arms up between the windows to try to clean them, which just looked worse, a line of grime halfway up the pane. But that's also when we realized they could tilt out. Don't judge. Yes, the windows were put in about 14 years ago. But in my defense, I'v always lived in ...

This guy was the one in our house most excited about Halloween this year. He did demand a treat for posing. In years past, Beatrix has been incredibly excited about "spooky season." We'e watched Hocus Pocus , carved pumpkins, baked skull cakes, and done yoga to a Halloween playlist. We've gone out in our neighborhood with just Beatrix: We've decorated the house and made a Halloween village: We've stopped to see the governor: For years we went out with a crowd of her school friends: And the adults have had fun with that too: This year, though, Beatrix wasn't feeling it. So I went to our friends the Clarks (where Patrick joined me after rigging), and I bought Beatrix a bag of candy at Walgreen's and she stayed home alone and watched a movie. It's all a little bit "end of an era" and I'm actually fairly sad about it. This kid-growing-up thing is tough. I hope your Halloween was full of at least some spookiness, and your favorite candy.