happy 2024!

new year's day dinner . . 

black eyed peas, kale, rice and cornbread . . a tradition from greg's childhood.

a gift for chanda from morgan: subway socks with a pattern from the queen elizabeth line (a special twelve days of christmas countdown - something different for each day that morgan had put together before leaving and left under the tree).

new year's day celebration

i baked an apple pie today and made black eyed peas with collards, corn bread and sweet potatoes.

korrina made a salad . .

chanda's friends came by also . .

we wrote out wishes for each other, folded them and put them in a basket from which everyone picked one or two. some of us read them aloud and it was fun to hear what others had written such as a wish for a kitten, or good travels, or a day of rest . . 

morgan did a few tarot readings with her new deck which focuses on positive energy and simple explanations.

cleaning up with the cats looking on . . they seem a bit tired, don't they?

such a life!

a new year

i wish you

 

love cannot bind us more truly

in golden or silken chain;

like friends, we'll journey together,

love must in our bosoms remain,

i wish you a happy new year,

ev'ry joy, no sorrow, no pain.

 

by eloise a. skimings (1837-1921)

and it's saturday 2022

 

 

this morning i had the russian caravan tea that morgan and greg brought back from fortnum and mason's, along with kringler from my sister (that she had bought from trader joe's, though i'm not sure which trader joe's, for as far as i know there is not a trader joe's near her in connecticut).
 

i also visited with my neighbor and had a delicious slice of lemon cake and lemon curd that she had made.

 

i also managaed to make black eyed peas and collard greens for a new year's good luck dinner (greg's mom used to make this). 

brown rice and corn bread were also part of the meal (i think it was last year my cornbread did not turn out well, so i was relieved that it was good this year).

dessert . .

figaro antics . . 

and chanda zoomed with aunt kathy and uncle warren so she could open her christmas present from them.

earrings and a book by edith widder titled below the edge of darkness, which she had seen on the woods hole oceanographic institution's website. it's about the creatures that live in the darkness of the deep sea.

and two hands of may i, both of which i won.

more figaro antics .

new year's day

 greg and i took a walk to buy black eyed peas for dinner tonight. it's a southern tradition that is supposed to bring good luck. on the way back we decided to have a late brunch at a restaurant on fourteenth street.

it specializes in cuban food and my scrambled eggs came with pinto beans, bacon and fresh tomato. greg had an omelette with cafe con leche.

 i've been walking past this house for a few weeks now, and finally had my camera with me to take a pic.

 where do they store these during the rest of the year?! i guess they have room in their basement . . or attic.

 kale, rice, roasted butternut squash and black eyed peas. i simmered the kale with onion and chicken broth, and sautéed a shallot with the black eyed peas. i also carmelized an onion with the rice.

 playing ratatat cat . .

this is in preparation for our brunch date and card game with our friend marlene tomorrow. morgan's girlfriend jenny has been visiting, and along with chanda, we'll drive out to new jersey tomorrow morning for our holiday get together.

ringing in the new year

 we drove up to connecticut saturday morning to celebrate new year's with my mom. the colors along the way are all browns and greys and steel blues now, with patches of white.

 at around 9 pm we had sparkling cider with herring on crackers and shrimp cocktail along with little potato puffs . . all hors d'oeuvres we would have with my mom and dad out on montauk in past years.

 and we watched the ball drop at times square on the tv.

 new year's day . . 

 we made bacon and eggs for breakfast and had leftover ginger butter cookies, san's mini fruit cakes and pfeffernüsse cookies for dessert.

it was a beautiful day. we've had more sunny skies this holiday time than in past years.

(i realize now that we forgot to bang the pot lids!)

we dropped my mom back at her assisted living apartment where chanda and morgana posed with the fish tank (we discovered that all the fish in the tank have personal names which are written on laminated cards that hang next to the tank along with their latin name and their geographic location.)

the fish ran away whenever i came too close to the glass with my camera.