Thoughts on the New Year

New Year's resolutions are pretty stupid, nevertheless, I find myself hoping for renewal, pushing for change and looking within each January.

Some goals for 2011:

Crafting

• I'd like to do all homemade Christmas gifts. We didn't do that this year and it was stressful. I've already started some projects.

Reading

• I'd like to spend the year reading Virginia Woolf

Eating

• I'd like to make a more serious commitment to eating locally, working toward making the majority of my intake locally produced by October
• I am quitting commercial soda-pop with the help of my new Penguin.
  

Home

• Continued transitions

Soul

• less computer and tv
• more books
• more yoga (I wish there was a yoga studio on my side of town)
  

Christmas Menu

Roast Goose
Butternut Squash and Gruyere Bread Pudding
Roasted Root Vegetables
Individual Yorkshire Puddings with Rosemary
Bitter Greens with Pomegranate Seeds and Goat Cheese with Balsamic Dressing

Raspberry Pie
Mulled Red Wine

Women Farmers

Some lovely ladies in Preston Co. put on a holiday open house last weekend and we went to participate in the merriment. They are a group of lady farmers who keep sheep and other small stock. They work to put together gorgeous crafts, foods, wools and other fibers, etc, for the open house each year. The best part is that they sell their meat and have delicious samples of soups and other things to make with it, which is a lovely idea. We ended up buying some really nice lamb and also a goose for Christmas. It is all local, organic, and humanely treated, which is basically the only kind of meat we buy now. Also bought wool roving and yarn in delicious colors.
Anyway, I just love the sense of community these ladies have fostered. They all work together to make these lovely things and I am sure they help each other on the farm when needed, too. It is really a great business model and a great way to earn a living doing what they do.
Oh yeah, and they all have at least one or two Great Pyrenees dogs, which are so lovable.

Home

Our week spent in Boston was just wonderful. We saw so many good friends, went to some of our favorite places, and just kind of relished being in a place we can honestly call home. It was very strange: I felt like I might have forgotten some things, but once I was there I realized that some things they do there just feel right, feel comfortable: keeping the left side of the escalator clear for those who’d prefer walking up (is there even an escalator in Morgantown?), stepping to the side to let people off the T, knowing in my bones the quickest way to cut across Harvard Square, knowing how to plant my feet just so to surf the greenline.

We went to Maine on the weekend; I took a trip to central Mass. one morning. Everything is so close. I had the best steak ever at Brasserie Jo’s on Huntington. I highly recommend going there for a steak frites lunch. So not only did I get to go to some of my old favorites, I also got to discover some new ones, too.

View from my hotel room

We stayed downtown at the Westin at Copley Place because Aaron had a conference to go to nearby. It was so much fun to be so close to the T, to jump on and get somewhere fast. The Boston Public Library was right across the street from us and I went there every morning to check my email and do homework. It was lovely. I don’t know why I didn’t do that more often when I was an undergrad. The elderly guard at the door greeted me by saying, "Good morning, darling" each morning. I saw two homeless people come in and sit down. They just sat there and wrote. The great American novel, I’m sure. Lots different than here.

View from my hotel room. The library is the large square building with the courtyard.

a study room in the library

When I left Boston 3 years ago I had gotten so used to it that I didn’t really appreciate it any more and things about it bothered me. Things about it still bother me. However, I have to say that the things that have happened with Aaron’s family in the past year or so have really changed Boston for us. I can’t imagine being too far away from anyone there for much longer.

That feeling was made so apparent by the sinking dread I felt when the plane touched down in Morgantown on our way back. I saw a hotspot from the airplane and I started crying.