#133: Happy New Year

Traditions, Books, Music, and More

Happy New Year to All, and a special welcome and thank you to the many new paid subscribers who signed up last month!

I’m looking forward to this new year with you and have so many ideas to share over the months to come. It’s on my walks that everything pops into my head…sometimes so quickly that when I’m back home it’s hard to catch their slippery threads. Does that ever happen to you?

Yesterday was jammed packed with unexpected last minute errands and somehow, in between them all, I found time to sweep down the cobwebs from the corners, dust the sills, wash the floors, and do the laundry. A clean house is something I love having before I get ready to put up a new calendar. Here’s the one that will be on my wall this year.

Then, just before midnight, I open the back door, say thank you to the old year and sweep it ouside. At the strike of midnight, I open the front door to welcome the new year inside. We also have a traditional First Footing¹ when Duncan, carrying a basket of oatcakes, salt, coins, wood, and whiskey, knocks on the door just past midnight. I love traditions and New Years ones are some of my favorites.

Clockwise from bottom left: Oatcakes, salt, wood, whiskey, coins.

Not that I watch it, but I just learned that the Rose Bowl, which is always held on New Years Day, will be held on January 2nd this year. So if you missed a First Footing on New Years, go ahead and celebrate it tonight or whenever you wish!

“Time is relative; its only worth depends upon what we do as it is passing.”
― Albert Einstein

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WHAT I’M READING

As Bright As Heaven by Susan Meissner

As some of you know, I was so caught up in the book I was reading on Friday, I was late to the subscriber only chat. I had made my tea and had settled in to read a wee bit, and the next thing I knew…well, I was not only late, I was nearly an hour late which is very unlike me. As Bright as Heaven is that good!

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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SONG FOR TODAY

Auld Lang Syne
Here’s a beautiful and heartfelt arrangement of the old faithful tune with beautiful visuals, too.

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WHAT I’M COOKING

I was going to make Anne Byrn’s Hoppin’ John for New Year’s Day but I didn’t have any black eyed peas.

Cooking up a New Year Begins with Black-eyed Peas

So, I decided to be thrifty and use lentils, which I most always have on hand, and make Dominica Marchetti’s Lucky Lentils and Sausages. I told a friend with Italian heritage what I was making and they shared they remembered their grandmother always making lentils on New Years. This may become a new tradition for us here at Pie Cottage. Now I’m heading back to the kitchen to check on the simmering pot.

See you Friday, when I’ll be sharing how to make oatcakes for paid subscribers.

Happy New Year!
Kate

And don’t forget to click on the little ❤️ below so I know you were here, too.

1. This is known as Hogmanay in Scotland.