Happy New Year

This is the time when we assess what is behind us and look and plan for what is before us. I had intended to post this on the yesterday… but my thoughts were to disjointed and confusing to even try to make sense of. But I am doing better today. I think the reflecting part makes me think that while there were certainly some silver linings to be found but for others, it was a very painful and horrible year to live through.

Suffice it to say, behind us has been a struggle and that is putting it gently. Juggling life, work, and contradicting information was just plain hard! Nuff said!

What did we do with all that time?

Out here in the country, we coped by filling the time with projects around the place. We raised some chickens for their eggs, (they’ve been freeloading for the last 2 months, but egg production resumed this week!), some meat (pigs), and we are still working on the cow. We tested the garden area, it still needs improvement, some foods grew too well and others fizzled. Built a new chicken coop and pen and we are improving the barn, and trying to beat back the invasive honeysuckle. We are also in the process of some landscaping and generally enjoying the country life.

Traditions

2021 started pretty late… for us. We don’t stay up, so our celebration started the way it does every year. With breakfast. This our celebration and tradition. It lasts as long as the bag of bagels does, and then we put it away for another year.

Looking Forward

Now that 2020 is in the past, we have so much to look forward to. Spring is coming, which will bring better weather and flowers as well as the greening of the grass and trees. We will also have longer days and more sunshine and that always makes for a better mental balance!

I don’t know about a focus word for the coming year. I don’t think I did one last year… and if I did it probably went out the window about mid-March! This year there is so much expectation for a better everything and so much to do to bring it about. Maybe EXPECTATION is a good word… I think I will adopt it for 2021.

On the Horizon

Long-range planning with goals or milestones is not what I am capable of doing. It is not something I can comprehend, how do you make plans and be flexible? That may be because I have never really lived anyplace long enough to set a goal and achieve it. I generally live by the season… and my plans were things I’d like to fit into the ebb and flow as time permits. This year is still up in the air, but I do have 3 long-range projects currently in the works.

#1 Catalog all my digital photographs, (many 1000’s and categorize them in PS Organizer, there are only about 6000 for 2020). I know this because I already did this for 2020, and was playing in the program and promptly deleted the whole catalog. Maybe my word should be ‘Backup’!

#2 I am also cataloging the quilts I have made. Amazing how much I have forgotten about some of them. It has been fun revisiting them. Remember the word ‘Backup’, yep I had completed several narratives, and managed to delete 2/3s of the catalog, including the pictures. I will have to find them all again as well as rewrite the information.

#3 Finish the main floor. The contractor finished up his work in early spring, but that was when the outside work got started. There are a couple of small walls that still need to be primed and painted, possibly painting the kitchen ceiling, some touch-up painting, the new coat closet needs the shelves and a hanging rail, and walls that need pictures or quilts or both. There is also a wall in the basement that needs to be painted. I have put most of this off because I hate painting.

Visiting

Doing things with others in 2021, will depend on the vaccine and distribution timelines. While we wait we will finish the cow, plant a garden, and welcome 2 new pigs and we are hoping to have family and guests come to visit too. One young one that received a sewing machine for Christmas has already requested a springtime visit! A book is winging its way to her this week. She visited in October and her plans were to spent the day in the sewing room. So I set up a machine and we practiced pinning and sewing. The results of a morning at the sewing machine. A quilt for the Elizabethtown Hosparus (Hospice) for a veteran in care. Miss A did all the sewing. It has been quilted and is waiting for the opportunity to go to town.

Hope and Reflection

The best news is that we now have hope. Hope is a powerful force. With hope, we can conquer anything. We can beat the monsters back, build up the foundations, and lend a hand. I have an idea for several quilts, but I need to finish things in the basement and some business loose ends (like Inventory) and then back to the fun.

If you’ve made it this far thank you for your time and attention. Have you reflected back on 2020 and how would you sum it up? Any positives? What are you most looking forward to in 2021? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Happy New Year again, and more later, including another finish! Beth