photo of ancient wooden door, large metal hinges, surrounded by a stone frame supported by a capstone by Annie Spratt of the United Kingdom, on Unsplash
January is named after Janus, who is portrayed with two faces.
In Roman mythology, Janus was a god of:
doorways and gates,
of looking forward and looking back,
of beginnings and endings.
It’s that time of year again.
To reflect back, to see where we have been. To envision forward to pursue dreams.
The important pieces of looking ahead for me are relationship time, adventure time (travel, writing, ministry), and being a steward of my home and yard, a thoughtful steward of the land and the communities of which I am a part, both nearby and far-flung.
“
Hope doesn’t ask us to forget.
As we press on, recall the journey.
We have known loss—
(Steady your body. Say their names.)
And we have known healing—
(Honor your becoming.)
Memory will ground our dreaming.
”
To PEER Ahead into 2024
This past week, I brunched with my bestie at her bright home on the Mississippi River. During my drive, the sun had come out from the fog. When I parked and got out of my car, I heard the bald eagles calling.
During our time together, we planned potential adventures for 2024, our first one set for April!
TRAVEL & RELATIONSHIP ADVENTURES for 2024
Franciscan Hermitages: Surprise, surprise! We’re both clergywomen and spending a couple days in the hills of southwestern Wisconsin sounds ideal—small spaces of our own, the quiet of nature around us, and focused time to be creative, whether in the arts or in ministry planning for our church settings.
Effigy Mounds National Monument: We will also do a jaunt to northeast Iowa to walk the bluffs above the Mississippi River. I was last there in 2009 with my sister and her daughter, so time for a revisit.
Scotland: My son and I had planned to do another journey, but now we’ll wait and see as 2024 has some changes happening.
Illinois: Mom, my sister, and I will probably do our annual 9-hour car journey. Mom has 1 sister-in-law left of her generation, but we have lots of cousins to visit and catch up with as they’re all married and have children and grandchildren, about 60 of ‘em total!
Friends Time: with “nearby” friends scattered around in Minnesota and Wisconsin, visits don’t just happen. I want to be more intentional about planning visits in 2024.
WRITING INTENTIONS for 2024
An unexpected door opened in 2023!
Writer Unboxed’s UnConference, which occurs every other year in November, features fiction writing workshops. With a theme of All In and how to persist in writing while dealing with chaos, which were led by authors, an acclaimed literary agent, and a variety of talented editors? I applied for a scholarship, submitting 5 pages of my story and my essay responses to their three questions.
I was one of three people who received a partial scholarship! An open door!
How priceless to spend a week among a community of story writers in Salem, Massachusetts, taking notes and sharing meals. Unpublished authors and published authors—Big Five Press authors, Small Press authors, and self-published authors. Authors on contracts, some not. Authors who write science fiction and fantasy or historical, mysteries or memoirs, romances or screenplays. Authors from all over the U.S. and I believe one from Australia.
My intention in 2024? Finish this story! I’m on the last leg of it.
I’ll take part in the online writer group being set up this January through two of UnConference’s authors. Once it’s completed, send my story off to agents and/or publishers.
Then start brainstorming my next story.
HOUSE PROJECTS for 2024
In the living room, a sticky dust emanates from the vents onto our walls and capped ceiling. We’ve lived here 9 years so we will freshen with new paint.
SINCE we’re moving furniture away from the walls, we’ll tear out the old brown carpet with its big wrinkle that is growing. That means wooden floor work. We found gouges when we took up the same carpeting from the bedrooms.
We’ll be shopping for rugs (not carpet) and rug pads to lay down without harming the floors. We’ll want two rugs to delineate living room area from the well-traveled front door to kitchen pathway.
Our windows need caulking and painting. I don’t have the physical strength to unscrew the old storm windows from the frame, plus…2nd story on a ladder? Yikes. I’ll be looking for someone to help with this project.
Looking Back
PAST ADVENTURES of 2023
Scotland: I haven’t been there in 9 years. My son and I visited with friends over creamed tea or a lovely meal. We walked every day, rain or sun. We checked out a couple castles, Duart and Dunollie and enjoyed a toastie of cheddar with onion chutney and flapjack.
We explored Iona’s white sand beaches and its craggy hills among the sheep, ate leek and tattie soup, al fresco wood fired pizza, and fine Moroccan food (lamb tagine). We walked Oban’s waterfront and the village itself, experienced the Haar (cold wet fog) coming inland from the Atlantic Ocean. We ate Norie’s fish-n-chips, fresh west bay scallops, Turkish kebab takeaway, and an Indian tandoori curried chicken.
The public transport system to the Isle of Iona—train from Glasgow to Oban, the big ferry to Mull, the bus on Mull’s one-track road, the little ferry—was a wonderful homecoming!
Salem, Massachusetts: This was the surprise of the year! Wow! I did not expect to be part of the Writer Unboxed’s UnConference, which only happens roughly every 2 years. More about this above under Writing Intentions and in future blogs!
FAVORITE STORIES in 2023
Favorite books that made me laugh:
Role Playing a RomCom by Cathy Yardley
I Was Told it Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman about a fraught and humorous mother and daughter on a bus for a mapped college tour.
Favorite book in learning about the 1970s culture of Kabul, Afghanistan from an Afghan woman’s perspective: Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi.
Favorite book about family by my favorite author: Watch us Shine by Marisa de los Santos.
Other Favorite Authors: I’ve been enjoying Australian author Kate Morton’s stories, especially Homecoming and author Julia Kelly, whose stories have a WWII thread set in the United Kingdom.
FAVORITE TIMES with LOVED ONES in 2023
With my children—walking around my town, to the cemetery, or around my son’s city, creating bird and butterfly friendly garden and lawn, sharing meals both take in and home-cooked, helping my son fluff out his new Christmas tree.
With my sister and her family and mom—staying at an Air B&B on stilts beside the Illinois River, celebrating Thanksgiving and making Christmas goodies at my sister’s home.
With cousins—making horseradish, and sharing food and laughter (and yes, tears!)
With friends—walks along the St. Croix beach and pier or the Chippewa River parks, picnicking at the Wabasha Beach along the Mississippi, celebrating friends’ wedding anniversary at Scharr’s Bluff.
2023 HOUSE PROJECTS
Completed as per plans:
Floating Shelves
were added above our breakfast bar. .
The leaky toilet was replaced and…drumroll please…the water bill is down by $30 a quarter.
soffits and fascia, gutters and guards
No longer a 1970s brown but a modern white
Accomplished but NOT planned!
A New Bathroom Floor!
My daughter installed this over the old stained linoleum while I was in Scotland and…
A New Counter!
…she created this new look for our old counter and painted our walls a new color.
It’s a gorgeous bathroom now!
We replaced the (20?-30? year old) hot water heater. Hot water for showers was getting inconsistent and then it sprung a slow leak! At least that awful linoleum flooring, glued!, was easy to remove. Now to just finish removing the rest of the linoleum backing.
Not Accomplished:
We finished mudding and sanding the new ceiling around the repaired Fireplace and were able to match the color so we didn’t have to paint the whole ceiling! Yay.
Only to discover after a particularly windy and heavy rain…that it still leaks. Argh.
Will keep our eyes on it.
The retaining wall next to driveway and the tilted sidewalk that leads to the house? Not done. With the city’s water & sewer project on our street in 2024, this will wait until 2025.
What are your favorites from 2023?