Start As You Mean to Go On

If you are reading this post, then congratulations! You, too, made it through another year! I personally have mixed feelings as we start 2017: elation, because we survived one of the most stress-filled 12 months ever; thankfulness, because we are both healthy (as is Missy M); and trepidation, because we are beginning a truly harrowing period, IMHO. I have avoided posting political comments (because you probably already know we both identify as progressive Democrats...and because whatever my thoughts are, they aren't going to change your mind), but I must go on the record as one of the loyal opposition: I have zero respect for or faith in the president-elect, so let's just say I have concerns. Overpowering concerns.

Breathe in, breathe out. Move on.

I do believe in that very British saying quoted in the title: "start as you mean to go on." As an example, since I mean to do more blogging this year rather than less, I am starting off the year with a blog post.

You know, most people seem to focus on the "start..." part, but I'm thinking mainly about the "...you mean to on" part. I  believe in making progress which means I believe in putting one foot in front of the other...and moving on. And in that vein, we have followed Southern training and tradition in starting off the New Year.

As is our custom, we welcomed in the New Year with Mimosas (champagne and orange juice, served this year in two glasses that survived both the Estate Sale and the subsequent purge of the leftovers. We had spent New Year's Eve in typical fashion: at home, watching TV, reading, and knitting. We never have been party animals and prefer to be off the roads rather than on. We binged-watched all 6 episodes of "The Durrells in Corfu," a Masterpiece program we'd somehow missed this past season. We FaceTimed Missy M, who was toasting in the New Year in Georgia, trying to keep her pups from freaking out over fireworks by keeping her quilting machine humming as well as a loud movie going on TV. (We had relatively few fireworks here, thank goodness!)

You know by now that we eat black-eyed peas, cooked with ham, on New Year's Day for good luck (peas) and prosperity (pork)...and we held to that tradition, serving oven-braised Brown Sugar ham and black-eyed peas in the form of Hoppin' John. To ensure wealth, you're supposed to eat greens (always turnip greens and collards in a true house of the South), so they were on the menu.  Representing gold on our menu were candied sweet potatoes and cornbread wedges. (A few years ago, we started including a dish from our garden to ensure good luck with next year's harvest...hence the sweet potatoes...;-) Over the years, we've added good luck foods from other cultures to the menu, like rice (in the Hoppin' John) and grapes. And, because Mr. T won't touch greens with a ten-foot pole, we had cole slaw (because cabbage is the "green" of choice for many cultures)...he will eat that. We make sure to serve pork for all meals (had sausage and biscuits for breakfast), and never, ever chicken or turkey. [Poultry scratches around for everything; pigs move forward and make progress...or, so it is said.] I'm not really superstitious. Really, I'm not...:-)

Remembering the superstition that "what you do on New Year's Day, you will do all year long," we have tried to spend a relatively stress-free day. Mr. T and I took our coffee out to the garden and wound up working there a little bit this morning. He added a couple bags of mushroom compost to the asparagus bed, while I picked the remaining cotton bolls that had been missed on earlier rounds. I know, I know..."but you have your house on the market, why are you working in your garden?" What can I say? Because we enjoy it.

However...

We had a house showing in the afternoon, so we wound up doing housework, even though I typically try to avoid that...and doing laundry...on New Year's. Needs must, right?

Anyway...

I do hope that you and yours have had a great start to a better year for us all!