A Bittersweet Start To The New Year

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About the only thing that is showing any beauty or color in the garden are the ornamental kale and cabbage I planted last Fall.  They are putting on quite a show!

At the end of October 2014

Mid December 2014

Early January 2015 

Meantime, back at the house....a pipe burst during the freeze we had the last couple of days and it happened to be in Mother's new apartment.  A piece of the wall in the guest bedroom had to be removed together with all the molding around the floor.  Additionally,  the padding for the rug and some of the hardwood floor in the rest of the apartment have to be replaced.  We have six large and noisy fans drying the floors and MM is back upstairs.  After seven months of problems and delays, we got to enjoy the place for less than two months.  Now we are back to square eight and another big expense.

The nostalgia that engulfed me at the beginning of the year has now turned into a full fledged depression.  Madame Mere and I both agree that someone down there doesn't want us moving into their old space.  The time has come for some drastic measures and a serious cleansing!

My new cleaning crew

Back in a bit.

About Last Night...

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While taking down some of the Christmas decorations today, my eyes lingered on this photo of my parents at a New Year's Eve party in Havana in the 1950's.  She must have been in her late twenties and my father in his early 30's.  It is one of many favorites of the two of them. The expression on my father's face is so typical and just the way I remember him.  And Madame Mere, so stylish in her black dress and pearls.   No wonder she has aged so well, just look at that skin.

I wish we still dressed up like that when it comes to New Year's Eve.  It was so civilized.  Somehow jeans and a sweater don't do it for me when it comes to opening a bottle of Champagne...or sitting down to caviar, Duck A l'Orange and a Grand Marnier souffle.  That's what we had last night, for MM had her heart set on a special dinner and I concurred! Today she's on chicken soup and soda crackers, but she insists it was not "the rich food".

It is interesting the time we spend decorating our houses for the holidays and yet we shun doing the same for ourselves.  It can't be about cost, since what you pay for some of the "casual clothes" I see advertised today can definitely buy you a cocktail dress or two. I think a bit of rebellion or a quest for individuality has a lot to do with this because "dressing up" doesn't take more time than "dressing down" and you'd be surprised how different people act in the former from the way they behave in the latter.  In my book, as far as New Year's Eve is concerned, clothes do make the man (or woman). It would be wonderful to see a little glamour back in our lives.

If you notice a tinge of nostalgia in this post, you are quite right.  Maybe the news and events of the past years have me yearning for the time of my childhood, or maybe I am just tired of the way people dress today,  I'm always a little down on the first day of the new year but I always bounce back,  I'll be chirpier in a couple of days and back in the saddle!

Have A Happy New Year!

But...I was all dressed up!