Happy New Year 2016!

Happy New Year to all!

Here it is, our first New Year’s Day at Mist Cottage. Attila and I agree, moving to Mist Cottage was a great, and positive, change for us.

2015 saw me living alone for the winter at Mist Cottage, returning to the country house to ready it, and put it up for sale, keeping up appearances through the summer as a seemingly endless stream of people came to look at it, and finally selling it at the end of August, with only two weeks to pack and get moved out. Three truck loads (27 foot trucks) later, Mist Cottage was stuffed to the rafters with boxes and large pieces of furniture. Then came the unpacking, and the purging. We estimate that we have given away about one truckload of items, many of them going to Terra, some to Luna, some to my sister, and most to the local women’s shelter and men’s mission.

2015 saw Attila struggling alone at the country house all winter, keeping the wood fire burning, keeping Mist warm, working long hours. Then in the spring it was time to get the house up to snuff to put it on the market, more hard work. Attila found the constant parade of viewers inconvenient, as it interrupted his lifestyle, which is more relaxed than a lifestyle that supports an immaculately clean, sweet smelling, and tidy home. Then Attila was faced with packing up and moving us to Mist Cottage, over a two week period of time. I did much of the packing, and he did all the loading himself, all three 27 foot truckloads, with one exception, a fellow from work was paid to help him lift the heaviest furniture into the truck, he assisted Attila for two hours. Then came the unloading. At Mist Cottage Lares and Terra helped unload one truckload, Attila unloaded the two other truckloads by himself. Then he was back on the road with Tank, heading back to his job near the country house, where he lived in Tank for two weeks, while he looked for work near Mist Cottage. He found work after two weeks, working for a temp agency, and began that job with less than a day’s notice, working nights. He kept his eyes open and applied for a nearby permanent job, which was offered to him, and he began in the middle of October. And there he is now!

2015 saw our Mist’s health decline rapidly, so that we accompanied her to the vet’s office, where she peacefully passed away. She was over 18 years old and had lived with us since 2001. We miss her very much, and I think of her often.

2015 brought the happy news that Terra is soon to be a mother, something she and Lares have wanted for many years.

2015 saw the Grandbabies spending their summer in Ireland, which they enjoyed very much. Janus gained a significant promotion in the autumn, becoming a Captain in his job as a pilot with a major airline. Luna is living her dream as a stay-at-home Mom, and doing a fine job.

2015 was a good year for Attila’s Mom, as his youngest brother bought a lovely house in Michigan for her to live in. The house is very near Attila’s middle brother’s home, where her 6 year old Grandson, Attila’s nephew, is a constant companion.

2015 brought us good times with my sisters and my Mom, and a brief reunion with my oldest brother. The family is facing a few health challenges, facing them bravely, with every expectation of good outcomes.

Like 2001, 2004, and 2010, 2015 brought many significant changes for Attila and I. 2015 was a busy year, and a challenging year in many ways. There is nothing like a manageable challenge to add spice to life. All things considered, it was a very happy year.

I am looking forward to 2016, whatever it may bring.

Last night Attila and I enjoyed watching “fluffy” movies, Willow, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. These movies are on VHS tapes, and we haven’t watched them for years. They were purchased to be viewed with Terra and Luna, when they were kids and still lived at home. We made a homemade pizza, and both stayed up to bring in the New Year, which we haven’t done in more than a decade! This morning, our first meal was lovely, coffee, grapefruit, sausages for Attila, toasted homemade bread with marmalade for me.

As I write Attila sleeps. Where he works there are numerous plant locations, and apparently employees are frequently moved where they are needed most. So next week Attila begins working at another plant for the same company, in the same town where he has been working. His shifts change back to eight hour night shifts, six nights a week for the foreseeable future. The foreseeable future is short in duration with the company, we are told, so that we are expecting frequent changes. So far all the changes initiated by the company have worked well for us.

Attila is maintaining his night shift sleep schedule through this weekend, as he just came off working three night shifts this past week, between Christmas and New Years. Since he stays up all night, there is some concern that he will keep me awake as he goes about his normal activities. We have solved this by running an air cleaner in the bedroom while I am sleeping. It produces a “white noise”, which allows me to sleep though any of the noises Attila makes during his active waking hours.

We are off to a good start, this first day of 2016.

We planted a lavender plant in the garden last summer, and despite my absence the plant thrived. I picked the blooms in the autumn, and dried them in a bowl in the kitchen. It yielded about two tablespoons of dried blooms. This was enough for an experiment! I stripped the blooms from the stems, lightly crushed them, placed them in a jar, added olive oil to cover, and hope to extract the oil after several weeks, to end up with lavender essential oil. It smells wonderful already, so I am optimistic that the final product will be good.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

-1°C
Date: 10:00 AM EST Friday 1 January 2016
Condition: Light Snow
Pressure: 101.4 kPa
Tendency: steady
Visibility: 19 km
Temperature: -0.5°C
Dewpoint: -5.1°C
Humidity: 71%
Wind: WSW 18 gust 28 km/h
Wind Chill: -6

Quote

“But penance need not be paid in suffering…It can be paid in forward motion. Correcting the mistake is a positive move, a nurturing move.”
Barbara Hall
Northern Exposure