In doing research for this post I looked up Janus, and what do you know, January was not named after that two faced dude. Go figure!
He was the god of beginnings, endings, transitions, change, doors, gates, war, peace, you name it. His name was invoked all the time - every time anything started or ended - bam, there he was.
As I have mentioned, I have been reflecting on 2018, which is now in the record books, and planning for 2019. Sometimes I get unsure of which direction to go, but as of right now I am going to sign up for my ASL class which starts next Monday. I have plenty of excuses and reasons not to, but I need to keep learning, and ASL is certainly a challenge.
I have also been trying to clean up around here - that's kind of important and somewhat traditional at the beginning of the year. It is way too easy to allow stuff to accumulate without noticing how bad it is getting. Understand, I moved just a few years ago, so I went through all of my stuff and tried to make good decisions about what to keep and what to toss. But I keep making stuff so my house is once again full. In order to get a handle on the situation I thought about Marie Kondo's work - The Magic of Tidying Up, but the thought of buying another book that would just clutter my book shelves was off-putting, so I watched her stupid Netflix series. What a crock that show is. Wait, did I just review it? Huh. Anyway, she does have some good ideas about dealing with hoarding - the spark joy thing is interesting. But praying to a house or waking up books - not so much. I did like the concept of keeping items you want to take into the future with you - that's a good one. Reviewing the past to see what is important to you is good, too. We are, to some degree, our histories, so paying attention to what got us here has value. Focusing on what we want to go forward with works for me, too. People deal with a lot of stuff, every kind of stuff, in life, and sorting it out is good.
Around here Hoppin' John is traditionally served to welcome the new year. I don't eat beans, rice or bacon, so that is right out. I did fix up a big ol' mess of sweet taters for lunch, so when the traditions of others fail you, make your own:
I do miss corn bread, but you know what they say, ain't nobody makes corn bread as good as momma used to make. So no cornbread for me.
7 comments:
It sounds like you are off to a good start, Sixty G! Happy New Year to you and those who companion you and grace your abode! May health, goodness, happiness and purpose be yours!
And now: Read my lips as I don't even want to say this out loud. Regardless of where you stand on praying to houses or waking up books, it is not a good idea to mention any kind of financial windfall or surplus in front of major appliances or vehicles. While they don't appear to be so good at visually seeing extra cash about the house, they and the walls have ears.
You make me laugh, MamaM. I take the opposite tack - I tell my appliances that I have seen some nice shiny new ones at the store and if they don't watch out they will be over at the recycler's yard before they know it. That keeps them in line.
You'll be glad to hear that the Anglo-Saxons called January "After Yule" while December was called "Before Yule." Sometimes they were called 1st and 2nd Yule.
You'll probably wonder what Yule was -- you having interest in Yule logs. Yuletide lasted for 2 months. The early Christians established the 12 days of Christmas, but as a rule, December and January were the Yule.
February was called "mud month" for obvious reasons in England. Then came Hrēðmonath.
I do miss corn bread, but you know what they say, ain't nobody makes corn bread as good as momma used to make. So no cornbread for me.
You prolly have reasons why you don’t try. I enjoy making my mother’s recipes during Christmas. This year I made her dill dip for veggies and it disappeared. Her Chex mix is the perrenial hit, but I’ve since discovered that a lot of moms were making the same stuff, probably thanks to General Mills.
My own homemade mayo was great as well. I served it with Trader Joe’s Potato Spuds which are sort of like deluxe potato stix. No, they are like IN-N-OUT fries. My Dutch in-laws were immediately reminded of home because they eat fries with mayo instead of ketchup.
Tough love, SixtyG! I am ready for January and a new approach. I'm thinking you have the advantage of big saw talk to brace up your tack.
Addressing envelopes to send out W-2s today. A time to reflect on the past year. The wonderful people who made my business successful. Also, to appreciate them even more when I see the losers who dragged us down. I forget all of the New Years traditions of what to eat. I think it's something like collard greens and black eye peas for wealth. Maybe carrots, too. Seems like that's the most popular result people are looking for. I forget what they eat for good health. I'm pretty sure it isn't pork rinds.
Mayo on fries. I've heard parents tell their kids that mayo is "white ketchup" to get them to eat it.
Back when I could consume mustard I was real partial to mustard on French fries. But that's just me.
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