Happy New Year

Set out on my errands this morning and to my surprise, as I never noticed it before, it is a Federal holiday.   The Bank and the Post Office, on the top of my 'to do' list were closed.

Spent most of the day reviewing my New Year Resolutions, most of which have to do with overcoming my Attention Deficit Disorder.   Like organising myself.   Taking a lesson from the monks and properly scheduling the day.   Starting all sorts of journals - like a gratitude journal, noting the little kindnesses during the day that one is grateful for, because it is not possible to be really unhappy if one is grateful.   I could start with the fact that my friend, Jay, who fed Bubbles and cleaned my house while I was away, stopped by today with some scones she had made.

And I wondered about a "food" journal.   I thought I might eat a more balanced diet if I noted what I was eating.   It might persuade me to cook instead of graze all day.  I'll see, and start with today's meal which is traditional in the southern United States on New Year's Day, of black eyed peas.

The peas were provided by Rosalyn who had cooked a big pot and gave me some.   And to go with them I cooked some rice, and made guacamole from two avocados so I could have a big dollop, which I don't get in Mexican restaurants serving rice and beans.

The following I found on the internet on the subject of eating black eyed peas on New Year's Day, it is good luck.

The practice of eating black-eyed peas for luck is generally believed to date back to the Civil War. At first planted as food for livestock, and later a food staple for slaves in the South, the fields of black-eyed peas were ignored as Sherman's troops destroyed or stole other crops, thereby giving the humble, but nourishing, black-eyed pea an important role as a major food source for surviving Confederates.

Today, the tradition of eating black-eyed peas for the New Year has evolved into a number of variations and embellishments of the luck and prosperity theme including:

Served with greens (collards, mustard or turnip greens, which varies regionally), the peas represent coins and the greens represent paper money. In some areas cabbage is used in place of the greens.

• Cornbread, often served with black-eyed peas and greens, represents gold.

I didn't know about the greens and what-not, that's why I just cooked rice, made guacamole and got the sour cream out of the fridge.

And finally....I forgot to mention yesterday that I left Shawnee for Beaumont just before a dreadful ice storm moved in.  Someone told me the sound of trees coming down was heard all over Shawnee.  The tree between my garden and next door neighbour has been slowly dying for the last two or three years, and the ice storm saw it off.  It fell mostly in the neighbour's garden.   I had a very big branch come down into my garden two or three weeks ago and Mark had to take it away, it was too big to drag over to a corner.