Scenes from New Year's Day

 

Started off New Year's Day with a festive pomegranate fruit salad, which I think will also bring luck in the new year.

I did some tarot readings with Mom, and this was my forecast for 2025.

David made pink-eyed peas that came all the way from Hillsville, and I made the roasted cabbage pictured here.

I'm hoping to do a lot more of this in 2025.

Ominous New Year

 There is a lot to be discouraged about in 2025, so on New Year's Eve I wanted to try for all the luck we could. I made this lemon pig to bring in good luck and wealth.

And I poured myself a glittering cocktail of sparkling tea, edible gold glitter, candied lemon peel, and pomegranate seeds.

Cocktail Club got together for New Year's Eve drinks, which has been our tradition for a few years now.

Then I lit the bayberry candle that Mom had given me. It's supposed to burn from one year to the next, all the way down to the socket, and if it successfully burns down you will have good fortune in the new year.

Malinda and I settled down to watch a New Year's movie (Bachelor Mother, with Ginger Rogers and David Niven). The bayberry candle, which you can see here behind Malinda's head, burned down very nicely for two hours, and then it seemed to explode. Wax guttered everywhere, spilling down the TV stand, and the candle died. But we were in for two pieces of luck already: one, that the wax was easy to clean up; and two, that I had another bayberry candle from Mom to light before midnight.

I went to bed with the second bayberry candle burning away in the bathroom sink.

In the morning, I found it like this: completely burned down, with a little liquid wax in the bottom of the candle holder. It burned straight down; that wax on the side is from the first candle. I took it out of the sink and went about my morning.

But when I stepped back into the bathroom, I saw a weird light. It was the candle. It had relit itself and come to life again! How is that even possible?!! This time the candle burned down to nothing, not even a drop of wax left in the candlestick. I'm going to assume this is a good omen. Or maybe it just means that we can't possibly predict what's about to happen in 2025.

2024 in review, part 3

In July I got the apartment ready for a visit from Ursi and Andrea.

We had such a fun weekend!

And I ate one of my favorite things ever, a mango snow ice with tons of fresh fruit.

August arrived with an abundance of fruit at the farmer’s market.

David and I went to LA to see this comic reading of one of the Star Wars scripts. It was hilarious, and we ended up going back to see the next one in September.

At the end of the month I got on a train again.

And I was back in Bloomington! Cam was just moving into an IU dorm, so I got to see Katy and Sean too.

It was wonderful to be with the family! Frequent family visits were one of the best parts of 2024.

Here Katy and I are canoeing with a heron.

This was the year that Katy started playing the ukulele and we got to play so much music together!

The plants in my parents’ yard were enormous. 

And their native plants garden was beautiful!

Cam had a welcome ceremony to start off the college year.

And then I got on a train (not this one) and headed back to Irvine.

David and I started September with some back-to-school shopping at this giant mall that has a full carousel in it.

The rose hips were out in the marsh (these are from native California roses).

We made chickpea burgers with some of the fantastic tomatoes from the farmer’s market.

I had fall drinks with the Cocktail Club.

I finally moved back into my office at work after a year of working remotely! My department was under construction for a year, and I had to manage a lot of it, because I’m now Head of Technical Services at the UC Irvine Libraries.

David had his first day of classes; he is teaching in the Classics Department at UC Irvine now. It’s hard to believe that we are finally working at the same place again!

And then, guess what happened? That’s right: another train trip. I loved the long-haul train rides this year. This time, I got to see the stunning architecture of Chicago Union Station.

I was in Bloomington in October for Mom’s birthday (she got a wok).

I gathered persimmons from around Lake Griffy, and also some from Mom and Dad’s garden.

Jennifer and I went to Lotus Fest. I want to do this again in 2025!

Cam won a lot of board games.

And then it was back to Irvine again.

I went to a conference in Pasadena and was on a panel answering questions about burnout. This wasn’t my slide, but I loved this session and its quirky cartoons.

The fall light in our apartment was so beautiful.

David and I hosted our first game night in this apartment.

Then I hosted an open house to show the library all the work that had been done on my department’s floor, and it was a great success.

I went as Ina Garten for Halloween. I got clip-in bangs, and it was the best my hair has ever looked.

In November the toyon berries turned red.

This tree was full of cedar waxwings every morning. They had arrived to eat the toyon berries just across the street from us.

We started to put up our Christmas trees. This year we increased the number of trees to four, which I think is very reasonable and not at all excessive. David painstakingly removed the lights that had come with two of our trees and replaced them. I bought a tree on Facebook Marketplace, decided I didn’t like it, sold it, and bought another one.

Malinda basically ignored the trees.

We had our traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Mushroom quiche, roasted potatoes, skillet green beans with almonds, fried apples, cranberry sauce, fennel-orange salad, and gluten-free rolls.

After Thanksgiving we went to our favorite place in Joshua Tree, possibly for the last time, as it’s being sold.

I love this neighborhood next to a wildlife preserve, though, and we will try to find a new place to stay here.

But I’ll miss the garden at this house so much. We’ve seen so many cool birds here!

We usually don’t even go to the park, because you can see more wildlife just walking around this neighborhood.

On December 1st, we got advent calendars. Mine had a puzzle a day, and David’s had dinosaur figures.

We saw this perfect Joshua tree on our way home.

We went to see the lights at Sherman Gardens for the second year in a row, and they were so lovely.

The library had its winter party, and then the work year was over.

David finished decorating all four trees.

They were spectacular this year!

And then we flew to Bloomington to spend an early Christmas with my family.

It snowed! This is a close-up of the snow on the hedge outside the dining room window.

Will and Verlaine and Rae arrived, and we had a wonderful Christmas together. I would love to do this every year!

Bonnie had a good Christmas too.

David and I rented a car and drove to Hillsville for yet another Christmas.

We got to see Emme and Kitty!

Kitty found her present (a squeaky frog) before we even had a chance to wrap it.

The tree looked so beautiful this year.

It was so good to see everyone, and a perfect way to end 2024! Although technically there is still a bit more of the year to go. We’ll see whether I feel like blogging about that too.