377 days - Blog #148, the ordinary of a new year's day

The buildup to New Year’s is that it will be some great new dawn of a day when the turn of a calendar suddenly wipes clean the slate.  I think it could be… but today wasn’t the superlative of great.  Not its opposite, bad or poor.  Maybe good.  Okay, but in the meh not I’m using the word okay to mask a more negative emotion.

And that’s okay.

It was actually accomplished in a couple small ways.  Like I paid the bills.  Yippee.  Actually not, yippee… but it does frame how I can spend money in the month to come.  So yay for responsibility.  

I’ve had a nice fire going all day.  Warm enough that I’m actually sitting in front of it without socks and in short sleeves.  That might not last too long… but on a night when the chill is in the teens or twenties, I’ll take it.  Plus, getting a good strong fire is just one of those things that feels… I don’t know… connected to my forbears.  Like I understand some ancient power of man… or woman, as it really was her task to get the stove going before dawn crept into view.

Whatever.  

I am connecting to my forbears right now by cooking corn bread in my grandmother’s cast iron skillet.  That’s to go with a batch of Hoppin’ John I decided to make today.  I figure I could use some of its good luck… and even if it is just superstition, I’m glad for knowing how to make this dish.  Bones and all.  

Tomorrow is a work day, so not doing too much today/tonight is fine by me.  I actually enjoy this semi pause of life before the shifts begin to rattle the new year.  It’s a good opportunity to ground myself and contemplate those ancestors as well as all that the future brings.

I am, however, going to make good on my list with the rest of my evening and go work on that manuscript.  Or at least read it while I sit in front of this fire with a bowl of Hoppin’ John.