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...