Happy New Year!

THE BEAT GOES ON

The End of the Year Greetings to All

My holidays have been awesome. Busy, crazy, but now things have settled down and I can concentrate on my goals and aspirations for next year. No resolutions. I tend not to keep them. Goals—a target objective—I can work towards. My aspirations are very different as they involve others. I start my day with “It is in giving that we receive,” which reminds me to be thoughtful and generous in whatever way I can. Being patient, a smile or kind word. Maybe it is taking dinner to my mom, giving extra loving to Maddie and Sophie, a few thank-you sugar cubes to beautiful Galant for being such a generous and patient teacher, and thanks to all the people who make my life amazing. There are so many, some close every day, others only sometimes. In either case I count myself very fortunate for the family and many friends that grace my life.

I had a full house for Christmas Eve—We had so much fun. Present giving has been cut back as all the “kids” are full grown adults. Our gift to each other is to be together. Mom was a trouper. My sister’s Liz and Jo jumped through hoops to get her to the party, and she had a super time. My pups and their 70 lb. Burma-doodle cousin, Cocoa, handled the loud group well. Maddie rarely had her feet on the floor as everyone loved to cuddle her warm little body. Cocoa was in awe of the deer, which are bold and close to the house, but never ran after them.

I had lots of fresh herbs left from both mine and Liz’s cooking, so I made a fresh batch of herb salt earlier today. This stuff is gold. My kitchen smells so incredibly vibrant.

New Year’s Eve will be quiet around here. My friends Phil and Molly Goodman and I celebrate every year with a Zingerman’s Ruben Kit chock full of thinly sliced corned beef, redskin potato salad, pickles, brownies, slaw and thousand island dressing. What a great sandwich!!! YUM!!!

MANY WISHES FOR A NEW YEAR FULL OF HAPPINESS, HEALTH AND MILLION DOLLAR DAYS.
MUCH LOVE, XXOO
Mary,
Sweet Pups, Maddie and Sophie
and Galant, my incredible horse partner!