"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right." - Oprah Winfrey
JANUARY 2025: This month’s images highlight the lovely blue hues that I always associate with January — a cold clear sky reflected off a blanket of crisp white snow or an ice-covered lake; sparking Champagne bubbles and frozen soap bubbles; tiny birds and tiny tracks in a dusting of snow; dry, faded hydrangeas in my garden and fresh, baby blue hydrangeas that remind me of warmer days in Cape Cod; the fragrant, blooming hyacinth bulb on the kitchen table; new notebooks and favorite places that never get old; and of course, a 10-year-old beagle who looks and acts more like a puppy everyday.
Here’s a review of what I read, watched, listened to and enjoyed in January:
BOOKS:
Peanuts Jubilee: My Life and Art With Charlie Brown and Others by Charles M. Schulz — “The noted cartoonist's comments on the development of and influences on his career and his world-famous cartoon strip accompany reproductions of one hundred and thirty-four feature pages of Peanuts” (Goodreads). I have always loved Peanuts, especially Snoopy, and was excited to buy this book for $2 at the Door County Library book sale last fall.
I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger — “Set in a not-too-distant America, I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of Rainy, an aspiring musician setting sail on Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. An endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, he seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs, and remote islands of the inland sea. After encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, he eventually lands to find an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, a crumbled infrastructure, and a lawless society. As his guileless nature begins to make an inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy’s private quest for the love of his life grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in his wake” (Goodreads). This book was a gift from a friend who knew that I would either love or hate it. It was certainly different from anything I’ve read before.
Autumn in Venice: Ernest Hemingway and His Last Muse by Andrea di Robilant — “n the autumn of 1948, Ernest Hemingway and his wife travelled to Venice for the first time. At a duck shoot in the lagoon he met and fell in love with Adriana Ivancich, a striking Venetian girl just out of finishing school. Adriana was the model for Renata in Hemingway's Across the River and into the Trees, and he continued to visit Venice to see her. When the Hemingway travelled to Cuba, Adriana was there with him as he wrote The Old Man and the Sea” (Goodreads). This was another Door County Library book sale find.
Delicious! by Ruth Reichl — “In her bestselling memoirs Ruth Reichl has long illuminated the theme of how food defines us, and never more so than in her dazzling fiction debut about sisters, family ties, and a young woman who must finally let go of guilt and grief to embrace her own true gifts. Delicious! carries the reader to the colorful world of downtown New York restaurateurs and artisanal purveyors, and from the lively food shop in Little Italy where Billie works on weekends to a hidden room in the magazine's library where she discovers the letters of Lulu Swan, a plucky twelve-year-old, who wrote to the legendary chef James Beard during World War II. Lulu's letters lead Billie to a deeper understanding of history (and the history of food), but most important, Lulu's courage in the face of loss inspires Billie to come to terms with her own issues-the panic attacks that occur every time she even thinks about cooking, the truth about the big sister she adored, and her ability to open her heart to love” (Goodreads).
Come Fly The World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am by Julia Cooke — “Required to have a college degree, speak two languages, and possess the political savvy of a Foreign Service officer, a jet-age stewardess serving on iconic Pan Am between 1966 and 1975 also had to be between 5′3" and 5′9", between 105 and 140 pounds, and under 26 years of age at the time of hire. Julia Cooke’s intimate storytelling weaves together the real-life stories of a memorable cast of characters, from Lynne Totten, a science major who decided life in a lab was not for her, to Hazel Bowie, one of the relatively few black stewardesses of the era, as they embraced the liberation of their new jet-set life. Cooke brings to life the story of Pan Am stewardesses’ role in the Vietnam War, as the airline added runs from Saigon to Hong Kong for planeloads of weary young soldiers straight from the battlefields, who were off for five days of R&R, and then flown back to war. Finally, with Operation Babylift—the dramatic evacuation of 2,000 children during the fall of Saigon—the book’s special cast of stewardesses unites to play an extraordinary role on the world stage” (Goodreads).
LINKS:
VIDEOS:
How to Renovate a Château (Youtube) — Philip and Anna left Paris with their two young daughters to follow a dream of a new life in the French countryside. “We fell in love with a charming château on the beautiful Normandy coast and since then we've thrown all our life savings into restoring this 18th century hem and creating La Fleur, a perfect family home and welcoming place for our friends. We are devoted to make the chateau as stunning and personal as possible, strive to learn new skills, and - as a designer and a film maker, love to share this adventure with you.” France, home renovations and decorating, shopping, and even sailing — what’s not to love?
MOVIES:
Barbie (Netflix) — “Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence” (IMDb) — so serious, so fun. A guilty pleasure for sure, but with a great message for women.
The Sounds of Music (for the ?th time!) — It was a nice way to connect with memories of my mom and to revisit Salzburg. Eric and I were there last March and we’d love to go back to our favorite city in Austria.
MUSIC:
My ABBA and Jimmy Buffet playlists are always the perfect palate cleanser after a month of Christmas music.
January 2025 Instapuzzle Mini-Playlist: Happy New Year (ABBA), Hazy Shade of Winter (The Bangles), My Girl (The Temptations), The Typewriter (Leroy Anderson), Frosty Morning (1.51.5), Coffee in Winter (Kimano), Milwaukee (John Hall), La La La - Daydreaming (Norman in the Morning, Little Things (Adrián Berenguer)
FAVORITE MOMENTS AND MEMORIES:
New Year’s Eve at home: Rather than drive to Milwaukee and dine out on one of the busiest nights of the year, we decided to stay home. We watched the Marquette game, made lobster rolls and had a Champagne toast at 5:00 — not because “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere” but because it’s “midnight in Paris” and we definitely didn’t think we’d make it until midnight in Delafield.
Some special birthdays :
Alec turned 21 on January 7th. He celebrated at the Marquette game. That’s my godson!
Piper turned 10 on January 9th. How is my baby 10 already?! Time is a thief.
My mom’s birthday was January 19th. We celebrated her memory with an apple pie (I think she’d be proud of how I’ve mastered her legendary pie crust) and a viewing of The Sound of Music (her favorite movie and mine).
The unusual January weather: We began the month — and the year — with softly falling snow. As I write this on the penultimate day in January, it is 50 °. Last week, we had sub-zero temps and dangerous wind chills that necessitated a “Cold Day” on Tuesday the 21st. Of course, it wasn’t exactly a day-off. Even though it was just the first day of second semester, students and staff in Pewaukee had a virtual day. February begins on Saturday and I’m still hoping for some lovely snow. Fingers-crossed…
Our clean, uncluttered home: After the Christmas tree and decorations are down, I enjoy our clean, Scandi minimalism. Yet as much as l revel in the winter sunlight reflecting off the brilliant white snow and love how it brightens the January blues, the light also illuminates a year’s worth of dinginess and dings that require some attention. It’s time to clean out cabinets and closets and rid ourselves of things we no longer want or need. I always feel better in a clean, uncluttered space.
