Week 1, December 27, 2015

 HAPPY NEW YEAR

Let’s start with Thoughts and Quotes:  My favorite New Year’s quote.

This is the year that your dreams come true!

This is the year that your ship comes in;

This is the year you find Christ within.

This is the year you are glad to live;

This is the year you have much to give.

This is the year when you know the Truth;

This is the year when you find new youth.

This is the year that brings happiness;

This is the year you will live to bless.

Wonderful, wonderful, fortunate you,

This is the year that your dreams come true!

                                                                Russell A. Kemp

T Goals for the coming week:

Thinning and Trimming:  It’s the New Year, so of course this is on everyone’s list.   I’m so out of shape, I’m only going to do Sit and Be Fit, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.    It’s a low impact exercise program I record from the local PBS station.   I’m sure most people have it. We don’t want to get carried away, right?  We’ll start slowly and pick up steam as we go along.

Taking Care of my Health:  Starting now, I’m going to eat a small apple every day, or half if the apple is large.

Togs:  I’m going to put together a new outfit right from my closets.  I have many, many clothes I never wear (some I’ve never worn) and it’s time to wear it or share it.  Some things will have to wait until we’ve done more Thinning and Trimming, because I just can’t squeeze into them.

Tickety-Boo:  The English say everything is tickety-boo when things are going smoothly, but I heard that the Canadians use it to mean fast-fast-fast.   I ran across a quick way to make a snack from kale.  You KNOW it’s good for you, don’t you?   Now we’ll see if it’s edible as a snack.

Time for Others:  Our local library is having another tea on January 2 to kick off the final season of Downton Abbey.  I’ll be helping Katy and Pam with setting up the tables, making the food, serving, etc.  There will even be a vintage clothing fashion show this time, and hat making.  I should have lots of fun photos to share.

Teas:  I’ll start working on a winter tea for my Everyday Afternoon Teas book.

Tidbits:  Be sure to go to Susan’s blog for November 30, 2015, (you can find it in “archives”) to print out your bookmark for the 2016 full moons.   www.susanbranch.com  It’s about midway in the blog and has a link to click and instructions as well.

One last T:  Traditions.

Tradition 1:  At the New Year, we’re supposed to eat black-eyed peas for luck in the new year, collard greens for money, and rice for health.  I was so busy last year that I skipped the rice.   I’m never sick, but in June I got an infected tooth that cost me weeks of anguish and many, many dollars.  Then November 2, I got a weird terrible cold that lasted all month.  Lesson learned.  Rice this year.  Add ham and cornbread, but that’s just because it goes well and tastes so good.

Tradition 2:  New Year’s Eve in Vienna.  This program is recorded, so we get to watch it on New Year’s Day.  Check your PBS station on the evening of January 1.  It will be listed as Great Performances.  The last few years have been hosted by Julie Andrews.  It takes place in the Vienna Opera House, a real showpiece of architecture, and beautifully decorated with all varieties of fresh flowers.  The orchestra performs mainly Strauss, but part of the time the camera takes us out of the opera house to other locations.  It might be Schonbrunn Palace, a park, a garden, whatever.  Sometimes the dancers will be doing the waltz and sometimes we’re treated to ballet.  Don’t forget to record it.  If you love these performances as much as I do, you’ll have 2016 to watch again next New Year’s Eve as a warm-up to the 2017 performance on New Year’s Day.

So – are you ready to join me?  I’ll bet everyone can put together a new outfit by using things never worn or remixing tops and bottoms, or adding a jacket.  In addition, I know everyone can do the apple thing.  And, yes, applesauce counts.   If you can’t get Sit and Be Fit, maybe you can think of a substitute.  I’ll be back next week to see how we did and list the following week’s goals.

Note: At this time, I think everyone has my email address, so I have some time to work on a glitch.  If you view my complete profile, the contact says "email" and if you click it, it should take you to a new email with my address as the "To".  It's not always working, so I need to explore this problem.

DON’T FORGET TO DRINK YOUR TEA – IT’S GOOD FOR YOU