*H*A*P*P*Y* ~ *N*E*W* *Y*E*A*R*

Happy New Year!

Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful, happy, healthy, successful year ahead!

love

lizzy and Mo, gone to the beach....

A New Years Walk / Beach

Good evening! As the last days of December slip away, I always feel the need to reconnect with my beach and ocean and sky. To step away from glittery excitement of holiday cheer, I walk out on the deserted beach to reconnect with nature and welcome the quietude of winter.

Today I walked long and far---at least compared to the past year.

I now walk with an old ski pole for a walking stick, the extra support seems to hold the pain at bay.
First up, inspection of the dunes project. From my deck:

Closer: The work has slowed down during the holidays. And whoever is in charge caved and they have again set up the temporary dune protective storm fencing.

A wooden Stonehenge. This is looking east.

This is the work area to the west. After the crossbars were [loudly] constructed, sand was trucked in to fill the area. One high wind night and "Stonehenge  West" has reemerged, in those dunes, in the background of the photo.

This is where the flood plain is anyway. The planners seem to have missed the needed placement.

At the peak of the dune I can see the the winter swale. Under its still surface, tadpole eggs are growing, small animals perhaps can drink the sand filtered, brackish water?

 To me this is beautiful, an etching in nature.

Here are the roses bare now, and thorn encrusted. No animals or birds eat the red shriveled hips.

The boardwalk leads up through the dry brown dunes.

I am pleased the walkway is here, as it the lovely bench. If I plan ahead I will bring a small thermos of hot tea or hot cocoa, and sit here enjoying a quiet day.

The dunes seem empty, silent and uninhabited. The sand tells a different story.

It's filled with animal tracks. This is a busy highway with unseen travelers. Small animal tracks, a rat or vole? And tiny bird footprints, they love the abundantly seeded grasses.

Many prints here, I think there's a break in the dunes grass; a tiny path may lead to the swale below. Cat or possum tracks, rat or squirrel, tiny mouse or vole.

Rabbit tracks.

Raccoon.

Many human beach walkers too. Though not today.

The beach is empty of treasure.
A few smooth pebbles were found. They are black basalt...smooth and cool as silk, eons in their creation. So beautiful and ancient.

Two to three million years old.

I'm not an introspective person. I don't make New Years Resolutions. I can't look back and analyse a bygone year. But as I toss my New Years pennies into the ocean, I think, Yes, 2018 was a pretty good year. May 2019 be the same.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

Fellowship, Feasting ~ a Time of Good Cheer,

“Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home.” W J Tucker *

All that build up, planning, shopping, cooking, excitement---! And then you blink and the holidays are gone. No matter how hard I try to keep things simple, there is to me, a tradition, anticipation, feeling that a great wonderful thing will occur. But as Lori mentioned in the comments, a bit of a letdown afterwards. But not always, this year was wonderful, my small family was together, everyone was happy and presents all seemed to please. Mo did well, patiently wearing all his Santa outfits, allowing himself to be fussed over and cuddled when he rather be chewing a jerky stick.

Our family celebration is on Christmas Eve. I was always told this is a German/ European custom, but I am not sure that's true. I think my parents were avoiding crazy Christmas 5 AMs.

The house is as decorated as it's going to be!

Peeking in from the deck.

My little white china house with its ''lit up in the darkness'' windows.

The table is set simply, this is a family supper.

More elaborate is the big antipasto platter, which we nibble on as we toast the holiday and open our gifts.

I wear my candy cane striped apron from my dad, my tree pin from my mom.

The wine glasses always go on this silver tray which was a wedding gift to me. I remember thinking, How useless is a silver tray! yet it has worked every Christmas, New Years and birthday since the day it was unwrapped. I always choose special paper plates for the antipasto and later for the cookies, tiny paper napkins to go with. Another little trick from my mother: Party plates! are essential, despite owning shelves of small china plates designed for just this purpose. A scented candle, Mistletoe.

Here is our family table: the Wedgwood reindeer plates, a glowing glittery snowball  candle surrounded by fresh greens, thrift store napkins.

I almost always use this handwoven, hand embroidered Swedish tablecloth for Christmas Eve.

I love its crinkled homespun linen texture, its string-like white stitching of reindeer and trees and exotic birds.

My mother found it at Wellfleet Flea Market, in Cape Cod, many years ago.

The menu:

Antipasto: grilled marinated Italian veggies, four or more kinds of cheese [yellow Stilton with dried apricots; wine and garlic infused cheddar; lactose free mozzarella, sharp provolone; marinated goat cheese.] Salamis. Crackers. Nuts and apple slices.

Wine: Pindar Summer Blush, a gift to me from my friend who knows I don't drink red wine.

Main course: Eggplant Parmesan. Sauce made ahead and frozen. Three hours standing in kitchen to fry the eggplant. I make it a day ahead.

Dessert: the infamous gluten free snowballs, and TJ's Peppermint Bark popcorn balls. Mixed nuts and dried fruit.

..................

Christmas Day I was invited to my friends' house for dinner.

My friend did her table simpler too, plainer than her Thanksgiving table, blue hand blocked cotton napkins and her driftwood candelabra.

Menu: charcuterie platter, including exceptional honey infused goat cheese and three kinds of salami.

Main course: Braised beef short ribs w/ jus or horseradish sauce; mashed parsnips, roasted  baby asparagus, with lemon mayonnaise drizzle; roasted tricolor baby potatoes with garlic and rosemary.

The wine, a good red cabernet sauvignon, Etude Winery.

dessert: chocolate chip cookies and chocolate mint brownies. My friend's trademark cooky is her choc-chips and she is such a confident hostess that she put them in to bake while we ate dinner, so the house was filled with fragrant cookies baking scent, and they were warm and gooey and delicious. With choice of iced coffee or rum cask aged Scottish whisky.

Mo was entranced by the good smells.

....

I feel gifts are somewhat personal and private but I'll share a few, since we talked about special gifts...

From my children, a beautifully handcrafted yarn bowl! I have wanted one for years.

And this adorable knitting kit to go with, a darling pompom hat!

The kit comes with a pattern, bulky merino wool yarn in soft grey and dusty pink [pom]; lovely dark bamboo needles, fortuitously in size 10.5, as I am not a fan of the truly giant needles. Yet these and the bulky yarn will rewardingly knit up very fast. Neither of my kids knits so they were just going by observation and they chose so well. And when finished, I will have a warm and super cute hat to wear when I walk Mo.

And from my brother and sister in law, among other gifts, this wonderful grouping of the thimbles I collect! Plus lovely fabrics and the too-pretty-to-write-on diary. I was thrilled and I love picturing them all summer, as they do their usual flea market hunting, finding these treasures for me.

From my friend L, this lovely red amaryllis. Not yet in bloom.

And from me to me, some books from an online used bookstore.

The days ended quietly. Soft early winter sunsets.

I hope your holiday was wonderful and filled with laughter and love and joy, as mine was.

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach...........

Below, the ships that were lit up later that night, click to enlarge

*PS I have no idea who the man who wrote these words is, Google was no help...but I like them.