The passing year in review ~ Stuff I did in 2009

Well, folks, it’s almost over…2009.  Last year, I wrote about a few of the goals I had for 2009, and how I hoped to better myself in the coming year. I thought I’d let you know about some of the things that have happened, some of the things I’ve done and some of the things I’m proud of.  Then it’s time to plan for the the next year.

 

 

2009’s goals

I have blogged about most of the things that I’ve been proud of, as far as accomplishments go. I guess this blog has really served to fulfill a couple of the goals I had for last year.  I wanted to write more, to express myself, and to publish my thoughts for others to read. I think this probably also has become an artistic endeavor. I started two series on my blog, Good Eats in Town, and Our New England Life. I hope people have enjoyed reading them.

I worked pretty hard and consistently studying Spanish, too. I took a conversational Spanish class and continued my studies at Spanishpod. Spanishpod has been invaluable, and not only have I learned a language, but I met new people from around the globe and have made some REAL friends, too.

I spent many other hours, last winter, exploring artistic endeavors with water colors and pen & ink. I would fall into my pad, and emerge exhausted, hours later, with a creation, and expression, or just an exploration. During the summer, I expressed myself with a more tangible medium of wood, soil, seed & stone. I shaped and worked the natural world around me and built things in the yard, some just for the fleeting season, some for enjoyment for years to come.

2009’s projects

Every year I write a list of projects that I would like to accomplish. For years, they were the same old projects, put in the Someday category. For some reason, something has changed in the last year or two. Really for both Tracy & I and the family…so many changes.  I’ve gotten rid of, at least in my head, the Someday category. Someday is where you put things you don’t REALLY plan on doing.  I just started DOING, instead. This was also reflected in what we did as a family, taking vacations, doing stuff together, bettering our home.  I’ve blogged about all this stuff already, so I won’t bore you here with all the details. I just wanted to post some of the things we did, things that I built, just to share, and to say “look what I did!” Kind of a pictoral chronology of my favorite accomplishments.

 The hand hewn gate 

Fenced and planted my garden

The Trellis

The fire pit…”Brad”

Visit to Fort Ticonderoga and the Gardens

Acadia National Park Vacation

The Garden gate

The Shed

 

Christmas Dinner 2009

 

All of the good photos are courtesy of Tracy Huntley, My lovely wife and very artistic photographer

So there you have it…a sampling of some of the things I did and am proud of over the past year. Of course, there is so much more…but this is getting long and I have to go….New Year’s Eve preparations are still yet un-prepared.

Thanks to my beautiful wife, my fantastic kids, loving family, old friends who have always been there, old friends I’ve reunited with, and new friends who have come into my life.  

Happy New Year!! See you in 2010!

Christmas Dinner menu - 2009

 

 

Every year we host a Christmas dinner at our house for the family.  The meal has become a tradition, with few variations…this coming year being no exception.  Although subject to change, this is what I am planning on right now.

 

Appetizers

Smoked trout

Cheese board

Parmesan stuffed dates wrapped in bacon

Entre

Coriander crusted Standing Rib Roast

Cedar Plank-Grilled Salmon with Cilantro Pesto

Scalloped potatoes with goat cheese and herb de Provence

Green Beans with Bacon and Shallots

Frijoles Charros

Cranberry Sauce with Crystallized Ginger

Apple Pie, Mincemeat Pie, 2 more pies (undecided)

 

By the guests

Appetizers

Bread

Wine

Soda

More Deserts

 

Winter Solstice Celebration ~ 2009

 Winter solstice officially takes place at 12:47 pm, Monday, December 21st. The solstice signifies different things to different people. It is considered the first day of Winter, the beginning of the winter season. It is also the shortest day and longest night of the year.

We have noted the solstice many ways over the years. As a kid, it was always just the first day of Winter. An exciting time, and quite often, the first day of the Christmas school holiday.

Later on, while exploring different theologies and beliefs, we discovered that Solstice had a spiritual meaning to many folks. We started celebrating the solstices and equinoxes and the natural rhythms of the earth. Not necessarily as a religious experience, but as a recognition of those rhythms. I spent most of my waking life out of doors and felt very attuned to nature’s changes. I meditated daily and followed my own spiritual path. I felt a part of the earth.

Some years we invited friends over for a big bonfire, snacks, drinks…a big party outside.  Other years, we hosted a Solstice dinner with the family. In fact, the solstice dinner evolved into the Christmas dinner that we host now. Two dinners in one week was just a little too much.

The last few years, probably more like eight, we haven’t really celebrated solstice, as in the past. I’ve spent too much time inside at a desk. We lost sight of the things that really made us happy and that made us feel at One with all. In fact, at least one year, we forgot all about it. Other years, we noted, the night before or day after, “Hey, did you know solstice…”

I think that in these past two years, we have had a great awakening. I’ve begun to re-discover the things that I love to do, and to pursue those things again. Over the past year, I blogged about much of the things that I enjoy and those re-discoveries, such as my garden, landscaping, building things with hand  tools, writing, art and learning new things.

Solstice is a re-birth. The sun and its light have been waning every day since September. Once Halloween rolled around, there has been, and always will be, more darkness than light to each day. We go to work or school in the dark, drive home in the dark, and our outside activities are limited by the amount of daylight left each day. Finally, the solstice arrives. The first day of Winter. Old man winter has barely cast his icy breath over our world. There are many weeks yet to come of ice and snow and deep winter is still ahead. And Yet…The sun is already on its return path. Each day from now on, the day grows a little longer, a little brighter. Before the solstice, we were heading into both the dark and the Winter.  Solstice reminds us that although the winter still has yet to come upon us, the sun and warmth are on their way back.

This year, we are going to recognize and celebrate, in our own small way, the end of the darkness and return of the sun. Tonight is the last night that the sun is still waning.  Tonight, I’ll let the fire in the woodstove die out, and prepare a special log for the morning. We will light a special candle at our advent table, a light to carry us through the final darkness until the light returns tomorrow. In the morning, to symbolize the re-birth of the sun and the new year, we’ll re-light the fire in the woodstove with the flame from our Solstice/advent candle. In reality, the darkness will carry through until the calendar new year for us. We’ll spend the Christmas season, warm and safe in our den, sharing food and gifts with family and friends. And when 2010, the new year, arrives, we will come through on the other side.

Happy Solstice to all of you, my readers, my old friends, my new friends, my family.  Tomorrow, the sun, still pale and weak, and undoubtedly cold, returns.

The first snowfall

 

  

Photos by Tracy Huntley          

Another great weekend. I love the cold weather and snow. I does play havoc with my business, but I always feel sooo good after spending a day outside in the snow.

Yesterday it started snowing around noon. Grace & I were stacking wood. We passed the whole afternoon. back and forth from the driveway to the shed.  Just as it was getting dark, we came inside, cleaned up quick and then went to Keene for Graces Spiral Walk at Waldorf. Its a cool ceremony we do every year at this time. Afterwards we went to Amiccis for the usual…a large pepperoni pizzas, buffalo tenders with blue cheese and 4 drinks.  We came home, put the kids to bed and dubbed around until SNL at 11:30.

Today, Grace & I spent the morning stacking the rest of our wood for winter in the shed. Later on the kids started sliding and I hung up Christmas lights on the fence and arbor/gate. Tracy took all kinds of pictures; she is working on a new art project that is pretty exciting. I think it goes on display/tour sometime in April.

I made one of my favorite crock pot soups, Caldo Verde, this morning. So here we are, it’s cold outside, Winter has set in, at least for the night. The fall chores are either completed or given up for the year, most of the Christmas shopping is done, or at least planned and there isn’t much left to do but enjoy the season. There’s a warm fire in the stove, the Christmas tree lights are lending a wonderful ambiance to the living room and everyone is relaxed and enjoying a few minutes of play before dinner.

Desayuna

Huevos revueltos con chorizo y queso,  frijoles charros, uvas verdes y cafe.

La desayuna se veïa mejor en casa y por supuesto era muy muy sabrosa. Me gusta ésta desayuna, es uno mis favoritas