Day One Hundred and Nine

I have many wonderful memories of childhood visits to my Grandma and Grandpa Cox's various homes, a series of parsonages spread out over western and central Washington State. The houses themselves varied greatly - a two-story brown house in a Seattle suburb with a "hecticopter tree" out front (Grandma's nickname for the maples that dropped their whirling seedpods all over the walk), a little ranch house near Tacoma, a large farmhouse, a lakeside cottage, an airy little house with a lilac bush by the front porch where I sat and learned to snap beans. In all the homes, though, there were many constants, even if they might be in different rooms or on different shelves in the newest place they lived. My grandparents had frequent pint-sized visitors, and kept a handful of books, cartoon collections and games on hand with children in mind, and one of my favorites that traveled from house to house with them was called "The Hodgepodge Book."

It is exactly what it sounds like - a delightfully random collection of old wives' tales, American folk songs and fables, trivia about the calendar, the weather, American history, instructions for cats'-cradle games, all manner of child-friendly nonsense that kept many of their grandchildren entertained for hours on rainy afternoons. Of all the bits of information that sifted into my memory from this book, the one that took root was the suggestion for New Year's Day. The book said that some people had a tradition of thinking of the things they wanted to do during the coming year, and doing a little bit of each thing on that day. Someone who wanted to read a great deal might start a book, an aspiring musician might sing a song, or an artist might sketch a picture. Nothing huge, no pressure to finish a project in one day, just a little nudge in the right direction.

I was enthralled by the idea, and have done at least some version of this every year since my grade-school days. I have always played the piano a little and read a little, if nothing else, and this year I did both. This year's January 1st was made more entertaining by thinking through my 101 Things list, and getting rather excited about all the fun things I hope to do this year as a result of this project.

Here are the ones that I did at least a tiny bit of on New Year's Day:

* Looked through my new copy of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in happy contemplation of Item #8 (new recipes).

* worked on my current knitting project (a green hat) for Item #33 (clothes for the homeless)

* wrote in my journal about some of my hopes for the new year, which counts for Item #42 (writing non-emails on 777 days)

* wrote a fan letter to Terry Pratchett for Item #45 - now I have to find out where to mail it!

* went on a hike, not quite sure how long it was - not long enough for Item 49, but I think it was pretty close, and I may increase that minimum number! It took a few hours, which counts for Item #63 (spend 15 minutes a day outside)

* did a handful of sit-ups (Item #60) with my 6-month-old nephew held in front of me - he thought this was hilarious.

* did one push-up (Item #61). Yay me!

* chose the Grieg set I want to memorize for Item #10 and played "Arietta", the first one in the set (Op. 12)


A good start, I think. I am looking forward to crossing off several more items this year!