New Year

A new year. Wow. A gift of 365 fresh days (if we're lucky).

Even if I no longer write down resolves for the new year, I still think about the whole concept of change and improvement. If you're a senior, or getting close to being one, then you have fewer opportunities for turnarounds, or renewals. And so when the new year comes, I spend not a small amount of time thinking about what needs a prod or a a change. I'm more likely to want  to tweak the current status quo and adjust it a little, rather than do an overhaul and an about face. 

Tweak and adjust what, you ask? Well, I've always liked the idea that we can simply do better, whatever it is that we are doing. Our interactions can be kinder, gentler, less whiny and more intentionally joyous. And eat with care. And move more. Reach out to those who would benefit from your efforts. Be patient with those who, for whatever reason, do not measure up. 

Is any of that even doable? Realistic? 

For me, the determination to aim for such improvements is important. And yes, any day is reason enough to get back on track to where it is that you want to be, but why not do it now, at the start of this fiction we call a new year, when everyone else (or a large number of us) is also doing the same thing? There is strength in numbers. We're all imperfect human beings, but isn't it cool that so many of us want to come out better this year than we did the year before?

Ed is fidgety this morning. Possibly the smoke alarm going off in the middle of the night (for no reason!!) jumpstarted him into some hyper mode of activity because I could vaguely feel and hear him getting in and out of bed like maybe half a dozen times. By sunrise I was done with trying to fein sleepiness.  

Hello animals! 

Oh, I see one of the hens caught herself in the predator trap. Learn to steer clear of it next time, girl! (Do chickens ever learn?) And Peach is really stiffening up with old age. Once again I pick her up from some spot in the barn and carry her to the feeding station.

There is a dusting of snow, but I know it will melt quickly. We'll be bouncing around the freezing point for several days. That means dreams of a snowy January are just that -- dreams. 

Breakfast. It is my usual habit to want to extend a trip so that it lasts a little into the return. I suppose that's why a granola muffin and a croissant from Skip Stone in Sister Bay tasted so good this morning. I shared them with Ed.

Next: well, there's the annual accounting that I always do either on December 31st or January 1st. A person like me, who lives on a state retirement income, has to keep track of all expenditures if she wants to travel as much as I do. Looking over past year's finances and laying out the next year's budget is super important and frankly, I sort of enjoy doing it because it creates an opportunity to do that tweak: adjusting spending habits is I'm sure a worthy goal for most of us, unless you're an Ed who has never in his life been tempted by a commercial or an email advertising fantastic things at beautiful shopping venues. Doing a budget reminds me that I can an must resist the Lure of the Unnecessary Purchase. 

Finally, we go for a walk. Since I do not have the kids here for the next two days, he suggests a hike that takes a little more time. The Brooklyn Wildlife Ice Age trail segment is our favorite option and we go there this afternoon. The upside: it's a forest and a prairie, with a view, it's not too cold, it's peaceful, the sun is out in wisps, and we feel that energy from being outside. The downside: it is muddy! I mean, that's predictable. We're just above freezing. The snow is just about gone. What remains is... mud.  But, we both agree, it's well worth it!

And in the evening, we eat leftovers. This is a positive! Fighting food waste from day one of the New Year! 

Now all I need to accomplish is 364 days of doing even better! Whose idea were these New Year's resolutions anyway?

With hope and love for the new year...

New Year's Eve day

It's definitely the last hurrah, trumpeting the end of a glorious two weeks of birthdays, holidays, getaways. New Year's Eve: morning with one young family, in Sister Bay, evening with the other, at the farmhouse and with Ed. New Year's Eve -- Snowdrop claims it's her favorite holiday. Why, I would ask. She likes staying up that much? Possibly triumphantly lasting the evening even as her brothers doze off, and maybe even her parents doze off. And this morning, I hear Primrose cajoling her mom and dad -- can't we stay up and watch the cherry drop? Please? Being just four years old, I don't think there is much hope that she'll get her parents to go along.

Why do kids love to stay up past their bedtime?? 

Breakfast: I pick up coffees for us older guys at the reliably open, even on this early winter morning, Skip Stone --

... and bring them to the little apartment where the young family is staying. (They'll be here an extra night. I'm cutting out because, well, there's Ed...) Cherry and blueberry scones are baking in the oven. We have quite the fine morning meal together.

(is it time for breakfast?)

(with cherry yogurt...)

 

(yogurt? yum!)

A quick game of Guess Who with Primrose, a short play moment with Juniper...

... and I am off. See you next year, my sweet ones!

I take the longer road, past the villages of Door County that are so well populated in the summer, but so full of serenity right now.

Ephriam, looking out over the bay...

Fish Creek, looking in from the docks...

And the somewhat different Egg Harbor. It's my least favorite because the shore line is dotted with private homes. You have to drive along a narrow road quite a ways before you can look out at Green Bay.

I pass through cedar forests and cherry groves...

And then I'm over the bridge that separates the pinkie from the rest of the state...

... with my nose pointed to home. And I have to admit it -- I listen to my Christmas playlist the whole 3.5 hour long drive. It just brings up in my mind the last two weeks and the images are so sweet, so darn precious, that I don't notice the time at all. It feels like I'm home in a flash.

I do a quick clean up (Ed, alone, for three days = clean up needed), make myself a strong cup of coffee, slice off a piece of the delicious maple cinnamon raisin sourdough I bought yesterday at the Waseda  farm...

... and then I turn my attention toward cooking a New Year's Eve meal for the young family here. This is when I do a seafood pasta with a white wine sauce. The seafoods are special (shrimp, scallops, a few small lobster tails), the presentation, too, is important.

They come with hats and horns!

And now we are almost back to our routines, except that this is the one day of the year where I do pop a champagne cork (at other times I stick with Prosecco). 

(We get a call from the owners of the wandering black cat. Ed locates them on a map. Snowdrop helps.)

Dinner:

("take another one of me!")

Dessert.

And then they leave to finish New Year's Eve at home, possibly with a sleeping everyone except for Snowdrop. Here, at the farmhouse, Ed and I do what we do every day -- watch a movie, nibble on popcorn, eat a chocolate or two. Do we stay up til midnight? That's an unknown! I'll post this before the clock strikes the hour. Wishing you lots of upbeat moments and happy days with those closest to you in the New Year!

And so much love...

a Door day

We have a date: meet up at Al Johnson's at 7:55!

If you know Door County, you'll have heard of Al Johnson's. The restaurant with the (summertime) goats on the roof and the menu with lots of Swedish choices. In the morning, for example, you can have your Swedish pancakes with lingonberries or Swedish meatballs. 

Al Johnson's has expanded since I've been coming to Door County. Beyond the restaurant, it now houses two large gift shops with all things Scandinavian. But the draw is still the breakfast (served until late afternoon). The place gets crowded even now, when ostensibly there are no crowds in Door County. So we strategically come five minutes before an early hour...

And a table is ours! 

(Yep, Swedish pancakes and lingonberries...)

(... and Swedish meatballs!)

And yes, we detour later to the gift shop and yes, Primrose looks great in a Santa Lucia head wreath, 25% off after the season! 

Here we are then, after the season, in Door County. The younger family and me.

At this point, they know Door County better than I do. Oh, I can find my way around here alright. County Q, County F, Highway 42 and Highway 57 -- all so familiar to me! But still, there's much that I haven't seen or tasted here. 2008 (my last visit here) is a long time ago. So I let them take the lead.

Our first destination is a place I actually do not remember ever visiting: Cave Point County Park, on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula. I'm thinking -- is that coastline at all dramatic? Pausing along the way, it seems rather gentle...

But go a little further and it isn't gentle at all. Limestone cliff formations create caves and ledges and at this time of the year, icy surfaces are both dramatic to witness and dangerous to walk on. 

But, we are a cautious bunch. Juniper is strapped onto my daughter and Primrose holds on to her dad's hand tightly.

As the water crashes in successive waves, I have to marvel at how the lake changes faces so quickly here. From mellow to bold and thunderous. 

We follow a trail through the cedar forest, taking in the scent of the trees that are so common here.

A very special park within a park (Cave Point County Park is within the Whitefish Dunes State Park). 

All that waterfront drama and the cold air make us hungry. We drive over to Waseda Farms, where Juniper is thrilled to look at the goats (as they look at her) and the rest of us pick and choose items from the store that the farmers maintain there.

One more stop! -- at Sip Coffee Shop to pick up some coffee and take-out soups for lunch.

And now we are home.

Did I say home? Well no, not really home, but a place you return to often is like a second home. This is the pleasure of repeat visits: you feel your roots boring down into the local soil, or in the case of Door County -- into the bedrock. Nearly half of the county has a soil depth of less than three feet. After that you're hitting Dolomite rock.

In any case, we return to the apartment rental, where Juniper right away sets herself the task of loading up a cookie tray and balancing it in her hand as she takes her still tentative steps.

Primrose returns to playing "coffee shop." 

Hey, coffee and cakes go well together, no??

Naps, books --- all that is fitted into a brief afternoon.

(trying on Santa Lucia's crown...)

And soon it is dinnertime. Pizza, from the local place. Delicious! And no, it's not just the fresh air effect!

We still have a bit of time before the kids need to get to bed, so we take a walk -- to see the cherry, suspended until tomorrow night when rumor has it it will drop down at the stroke of midnight!

And to admire the lights in the lakeshore park.

Home again: is it time to play some more??

No, sweet Juniper. You'll have to save up all that energy for tomorrow, the last day of 2022. It's bedtime for you, for your sister, and frankly -- for the grownups too. Door County walks do that to you -- you return with heavy eyelids. Me -- also a somewhat heavy heart as I'll be leaving tomorrow morning. I want to get back for New Year's Eve to the farmhouse, to Ed, to all that I left there in order to be here.

Oh, but it's been a grand getaway with the young guys! Maybe short, but so intensely wonderful to go through the vacation routines with all of them.

But really, no more reflecting on the great luck that brought me to this point. I need to get some sleep if I am to hope for a late night at home tomorrow.

Goodnight little ones, here, and back home. 

With so much love...