Take Your Pick.

Which one of these speaks best to you? 

1. Wishing you a year filled with new hopes, joys, and beginnings. Happy New Year!
2. May the coming year bring you peace, happiness, and prosperity. Cheers to a wonderful New Year!
3. Here’s to 365 new chances! May this year be your best one yet. Happy New Year!
4. As we welcome the New Year, may your life be filled with love, laughter, and unforgettable moments.
5. May the New Year bless you with health, wealth, and happiness. Cheers to new adventures!
6. Out with the old, in with the new! Wishing you a fabulous New Year ahead.
7. May each day of the coming year be vibrant and full of joy. Happy New Year!
8. Here’s to a year of making memories, achieving dreams, and embracing new opportunities. Happy New Year!
9. Wishing you a year that’s as wonderful as you are! Happy New Year!
10. May your New Year be filled with magic, joy, and laughter. Let’s make it a year to remember!

I'm not too exciting about what's coming in this new year for our nation. That last sentence in #10 may come back to haunt us all.

For me I'm looking forward to celebrating the birthdays of the four granddaughters in February (2), July, and September, spending time with them and hearing them laugh, visiting my youngest sister and her husband and enjoying the warmth of Florida in February, celebrating the wedding of a nephew in PA, planning for and exploring new places in locations yet to be determined, and sitting down to meals and games with the entire family as we vacation in the Adirondacks for a week in August.

Happy New Year 2025!

GONE!

 The snow we had on Thanksgiving that was added to over the weeks by a couple of inches at a time …

View from window on Dec 24th.

is now gone.  Rain and warming temperatures have melted just about every bit except the piles.  They will likely go if the forecasted 50 degrees is attained.

Backyard today.

We are thankful we are not on a dirt road.  It's mud season there already which makes driving treacherous.

Hope

This is what hope looks like. 

This is my pot of amaryllis.  It bloomed two winters ago.  Last year it was just leaves so when spring temperatures warmed I stuck it outside under the side porch and left it there until just before our first frost.  I brought it in and placed it in the basement and let all the leaves die down.  Just before Thanksgiving I retrieved it and placed it on the kitchen window sill.

It did nothing until this week when the first bit of green showed.  Something is happening and it may be there will be flowers or just more green leaves.

I can hope for flowers, can't I?

 

Two Gifts

 

This is the second winter for our soapstone wood stove.  It has made a big difference for the primary living area in our house since this wing of the house is the farthest from the furnace.

Dan brings in the wood and I make the fires.  Sometimes more air is required so I'd crouch down and blow in the side door to get the coals to ignite the kindling or wood.  

For Christmas Emily and Matt gave me this bellow.

It works great.

They also gave Dan this oscillating fan.  It sits on the soapstone and the heat generates electricity to power the fan.

Here's a video.  The sounds you hear are the stove.  I had just closed it down which means it's burning more of the gasses through a catalytic converter of sorts.  Don't ask me how that works but it does.

[The video seems to slow down the blades.  When I look at the fan it's a blur.]

What surprises did you get for Christmas this year?