Happy 2021!

 

Last night we stayed up to watch the ball drop, and we had a shot of Rumchata mixed with Fireball Whiskey (courtesy of my boss), but that was at 11 so we switched channels and found a music show based in New Orleans that was counting down for our time zone. At first they had En Vogue, a group I loved from back in the 90's, but then they had some modern people I had never heard of, and I said to Travalon, "I wish they could play someone cool from now, like Doja Cat." Apparently they heard me, because after we watched the Fleur-de-Lis drop for the New Year, I was going to go to bed, but they said, "Next up - Doja Cat!" But I should have been more specific, because the song she performed was "Juicy," which is an okay song, but the one I really love is "Say So."

Since I didn't get to bed till almost one, this morning I slept till just before 9 am Mass started, so of course we didn't go. I was having a dream that I was trying to bake chocolate chip cookies for Travalon using the chocolate chips left over from making the cassata, but I got frustrated because I was doing all the steps in the wrong order. We did go to 11 am, which was PACKED (Rich says 9 am was uncrowded), and then we went to Rich's for lasagna and chocolate mousse. (It's impossible to lose weight this time of year!) At least my OTHER choir director didn't have his dessert-o-rama this year, so that should help. Travalon and I tried to go back to Governor Nelson to see the tundra swans again, but of course with the new year you need a new state park sticker, and they were sold out! Probably because half the world was there cross-country skiing, and the neighbor I walk with says there was an article in the paper about the tundra swans, so the other half of the world might have been there looking at them. We decided not to risk going in without a sticker, but we did stop by the pond that sometimes has a bird party, and there were lots of birds there. Unlike last winter, when the ducks, geese, and cranes mingled freely, this year the different birds were in their own groups. (My neighbor said, "They were in their own pods due to COVID.") Here are some photos of the cranes.

This pond is in a residential neighborhood, and the people across the street had the cutest, most perfect little Christmas tree growing in their yard:

Then we took a hike over at Jackson's Landing, and that was quite a workout because the snow was so deep. When we came home, Travalon watched the Rose Bowl while I was going to pray with a beautiful French hand-carved wooden rosary, but it had SIX decades! Unlike some of these other ones with strange numbers of beads, this looked very much like it was on purpose, so I googled it, and apparently it's a Brigittine Rosary. Due to the Feast of the Theotokos today, I prayed the Joyful Mysteries instead of the Sorrowful ones, and the extra one is at the beginning: the Immaculate Conception. Then, just to get the Sorrowful Mysteries in today, I prayed the Seven Sheddings of Blood Chaplet. It felt good to just sit around praying after that vigorous hike earlier. It also seemed like an appropriate way to start the new year: with an extra decade!

Famous Hat