As usual, I will be enjoying on a quiet New Year's Eve in my cottage. The photo above is a closeup of my kitchen farm table centerpiece. The pine cones are real, the greenery looks real but it isn't and neither are the pomegranates. I have a really large wooden charger and it looks very festive full of these things.
I had to stand in the vestibule to take this night photo and get the chandelier. The countertops are still filled with Christmas cards and the sinks have dishcloths hanging on them. I should have neatened up more but the table is what I was trying to feature.
I haven't chosen a movie to watch tonight yet. I hope you all have a happy and safe New Year's Eve and a wonderful New Year's Day on Monday. xo
Due to Covid-19, 150 individual drones took the place of fireworks this year in Edinburgh Scotland's New Year's Celebration called Hogmanay. I have never heard of this term mentioned on Instagram and I'm glad I decided see what it was all about. I am posting the celebration in 3 videos below:
I took a photo of the one-pound bag of frozen Chopped Collard Greens I use. I have seen them at Walmart too under their private label. I searched Google Images if you want to look for brands in your area. I had a replay of my New Year's Day supper today with the addition of a slow, oven-baked sweet potato and it was delicious. I had a very productive day moving bits around and putting them back where they belong. I am on one of my organizing frenzies and it feels good. Enjoy the rest of your long weekend. xo
This is an original artwork on a card in my collection that I framed and love. This is my sentiment to you for midnight tonight and beyond in the New Year and forever. xo
I can remember making kitchen curtains trimmed with ball fringe long ago. There was a house for sale near me last year that had crisp white ones like these in every window and they were so beautiful inside and especially from the street view. I still think they are charming, don't you? Will you stay up tonight to ring in the New Year? I will try but I'm usually not successful. Photo found here. Here is the link to order ready-made white ball fringe curtains from the Vermont Country Store. Thanks, Pam for mentioning this source in the comments.
I think I made this in 2009. I scanned a page of a decorative alphabet and cropped the individual letters to spell out this greeting. I am having my morning tea with no honey this morning in an effort to cut down on all the sugar I consumed over Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween.
"A new year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other." I hope I can keep mine.
Alaskan state bird Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) blending in with winter landscape. Photo: Anthony Madden. via Isn't this photograph spectacular? Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me!
Have a great New Year's Eve. I am watching BBC World News America and it is already midnight in Japan where they celebrate the new year with oranges. I like that!
I looked through my posts over the past year and came up with this layout for my best nine photos of 2017. The one in the center with my mother is my favorite. The only resolution I made this year is to drink more water and it's one I think I can keep.
I ate blackeyed peas, greens and cornbread for good luck in 2018. Actually, I cheated a little since I didn't have any leafy greens like kale or collards that are traditional so I made Broccoli Cornbread and it was delicious. I used olive oil instead of melted butter and used only 1/2 cup. Next time I will use even less and it needed a little more salt. I cooked it in an iron skillet and since my gas oven is a little off temperature-wise, I set it at 400° and cooked it for 40 minutes and that was perfect. It was more like a quiche than cornbread but it was still good with the peas. I had a big bag of broccoli so I just took out what I thought was a good amount and chopped it when it was almost defrosted and it measured 2 cups.
I got up pretty early even though I stayed up until midnight to ring in the New and started undecorating my house while the coffee brewed. By 8:30 it was all done. The boxes are back in the attic but not in my Christmas closet yet. I will do that tomorrow when I get back from the dentist for my first cleaning of the year. See you after that. xo
Not wishing to bore you, but here's another view of my cottage showing my bedroom wing so you can see my many different roof levels. My bedroom is small, but not as tiny as this wing suggests as the room extends into the next level. I have been recharging my battery with mindless things like watching DVDs and old movies ever since my roofing crew left on Friday afternoon.
The following is a recommendation or a 2-disc set I really enjoyed.
11.22.63 (DVD)
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy was killed, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Based upon the bestselling novel by Stephen King, 11.22.63 is an epic thriller from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Prods. James Franco stars as Jake Epping, a high school English teacher who, encouraged by his ailing friend (Chris Cooper) travels back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Delving into the darkness of the American dream, viewers are transported to the world of 1960s Texas as Jake explores the mystery surrounding the supposed gunman Lee Harvey Oswald, his family and associates. But Jake’s mission faces threats not only from Oswald, but from Sadie Dunhill, a beautiful librarian he falls in love with, and from the Past itself … which doesn’t want to be changed. And if the Past doesn’t want to be changed, it will push back…often violently.
Tonight I am looking forward to watching New Year's Eve Live on CNN with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen starting at 8:00. I love both of them and together they really are a great pair. I hope they survive the coldest year-end ever, since this celebration began at Times Square.
Wishing all of my friends and followers a Happy and Healthy New Year! Your health is your wealth, so may you prosper with healthy days all year long in 2017 and beyond.
This is an interesting history of the song we sing to ring in the New Year. I did not realize it was written in 1788 by Scottish poet Robert Burns. Read the complete article in The Independent with the words of the original poem and the English translation in case you want to sing along tonight at midnight.
