Setting the Stage for 2021

I know of two pieces of folk wisdom that concern New Year's Day.  One involves what to eat to bring good luck in the new year--I was raised in the U.S. South, by a southern mom, and on New Year's Day, we always ate greens and black eyed peas, even though no one in the family liked them.  As a grown up, some years I do this and some years not.  I like greens of all sorts, but black eyed peas are a tougher sale with me.

I have also heard that what we do on New Year's Day sets the stage for the coming year, and as such, we should focus on the activities not the food.  While I didn't set out with that intention for Jan. 1, 2021, I'd be happy if the new year delivers me these activities in abundance:

--I had a lovely jog with beautiful water views and a lovely sunrise.

--I ate good Christmas bread and drank good coffee.

--I got some writing done.

--I made pizza dough with my ever-forgiving sourdough starter.  We ate homemade pizza later.

--I spent much of the day reading a book--a whole book, from start to finish.  Sue Miller's Monogamy is fabulous, even though it sounds like a sad slog through widowhood.

--As New Year's Day became New Year's Night, we sat on our perfect porch and greeted the neighborhood walkers with a cheery "Happy New Year."  Everyone seemed friendly and relaxed.

--As we sat on our perfect porch in the perfect weather, we lit all the remaining candles on our two Advent wreaths.  One man walking by was so struck that he asked us if he could take a picture.  The porch was particularly lovely in all that candle light, framed by pots of jubilant petunias.

--In candle light, you don't see all the repairs that need to be made, the fact that the whole house needs to be repainted and the awnings have seen better days (they're stained but not ripped).   Maybe 2021 should be the year of softer lighting.

The rest of the week-end has been lovely too:

--I had a Saturday Zoom meeting with my quilting group.  We talked about the vaccine and who would be in what order to take it.  One of our friends had left a message with the health department, but she wasn't sure they would ever get to it.  During our actual Zoom meeting, her phone rang, and she held it up so that we could see it was the health department calling.  She made the appointment for Wednesday as we watched.  It was extraordinarily moving.

--My parents will get the first dose of the vaccine on Tuesday.  I am so profoundly grateful.

--On Saturday night we saw the couple who has been our pandemic podmate group through the year.  It was good to catch up.

--We ended the week-end by playing Christmas carols on the porch last night.  My spouse played violin, and I plucked my way through on mandolin.  We chose all the ones written in F major so that we didn't have sharps and flats to keep track of beyond the B flat.  I was surprised by how many were written in F major.  I was surprised by how well I could keep up on the mandolin--I've come a long way from a year or two ago.

--As he drove away, one of our neighbors rolled down his car window to say, "Sounds great."  As he drove away, he called out, "Love you neighbors."  And yes, it did make me wonder if maybe he shouldn't be driving--he's a verbally reclusive sort.

--But in the end, I decided to give credit to the power of Christmas music being made imperfectly by stringed instruments on a perfect porch.

Here's hoping we have set the stage for 2021--may we have many more moments like these all year long!