Easing Into 2024…

The first day of 2024 was a rather pretty, sunny day here in Silicon Valley. My three large witch hazel bushes (now looming at 15 feet!) are starting to blossom and I have a potted camellia given to me by a dear friend ready to burst into bloom.

But New Year’s Day was just a regular day. Nothing special. My husband and I bumbled about at home. I packaged up a few Etsy orders (one to Italy), washed dishes, soaked an antique baby’s gown trying to remove some of the yellow staining, puttered in the yard (pruned back the plumbago and one of the rose bushes). It wasn’t a bad day just, well, run of the mill.

A zillion years ago when I was a kid we’d spend New Year’s day at my aunt and uncle’s house—it was the closing event of the holiday season. Dinner was served at 1:00 p.m. starting off with cold shrimp cocktails in stemmed glasses—the height of sophistication. And there would be roast beef, rolls, potatoes, salad, relish trays, and inevitably a lime jello salad with pineapple, walnuts and a layer of cream cheese. Pie came later.

After dark had fallen, the women (gram, aunt and mother) and my brothers and I would be well into board and card games. The menfolk would be downstairs in the basement famiIy room (complete with a bar) watching football. I can still hear the groans from the basement when the game went awry and my aunt’s dramatic wail when she get sent back to the Sorry start.

The day did not carry the excitement of Christmas, but I have fond memories of it.

Though life is back to normal, our beautiful Christmas tree is still up. Typically I take it down a few days after New Year’s day, but it’s only just starting to dry out and giving off the loveliest fragrance so maybe I’ll keep it up for a while longer. But there comes that time when you’re ready to pack up the baubles and lights for another year and I feel it nearing!

On Tuesday I met my daughters at a local cafe for breakfast (what fun!) and afterwards I nipped into my neighborhood thrift store. With no immediate need to buy more inventory I’m going slow with sourcing and being very picky. In fact I think “Be Picky” needs to be my shopping mantra for 2024.

Here’s my first purchase of 2024 and I’m thrilled with it–a stunning Eleanor Murphey stoneware vase. Murphey has been a full-time professional potter for 40 years and her pieces, mostly created using a wax resist method, are fabulous.

From that huge private pick last fall I still have 30 or so unlisted items and am working through the remainder. Just added this vintage/antique panoramic Chinese silk panel of the “interior of the Summer Palace” woven by the Qiwen Silk Factory in Hangzhou, China. (Thank you Google Translate.) These panels were made in the first half of the 20th century for tourists and give an exotic look to a room.