Zwischen den Jahren - Between the Years

 

Looking for the new year...

In German we call the time between Christmas and New Year "zwischen den Jahren" - between the years. It's one of my favorite weeks in the year.

This time we spent that week extremely slow and lazy. The weather - rainy, chilly and even stormy - supported our lazyness and was a great excuse to stay home. We used the car only once, because I needed to get to my PT appointment.

We did a lot of reading, puttering around the house and even some cleaning. I baked my "seastar" bread, a hearty whole-wheat bread that has a hint of sage, and I cooked tasty dinners, like this teriyaki chicken with broccoli, green onion and rice (cooked in the wok).

On two afternoons I worked on classroom Valentines for my Etsy shop. When Kaefer went to kindergarten and the first two or three years of elementary school I used to create the little Valentines that each kid could bring for the classroom Valentine's party because I never fancied the cheap and quite dreadful Valentines you could buy. From this the idea was born that I could actually offer different sets of classroom Valentines in the store and it has become a great seller. I'm down to three different styles and I also think this might be the last year of classroom Valentines in my store. 

In the middle of the week a storm approached the West Coast and the ocean reacted with some very huge waves that were pounding the shore. We didn't go there because as someone who lives close to the coast we know how dangerous the Pacific Ocean can get in those conditions. I admit that I would have loved to see such big waves, but the reasonable side in me that every now and then takes the upper hand kept me at home. A good decision as we later found out, because there were so many people at the coast and the stupidity of some (mainly tourists) didn't know any limits.

Up to almost the last day of the week I didn't get any orders and finally was able to knit my poncho-style sweater again. I had started knitting it last spring, but then the "knitting year" became so busy that I had to put it aside. The yarn is bulky weight, 100% Peruvian Highland wool - "Wool of the Andes" from Knit Picks. The color is a warm terracotta that my camera unfortunately can't represent accurately.

The Geek and I "celebrated" New Year's Eve with a good dinner and a glass (or two) of bubbly. We didn't make it to midnight - he was already fast asleep while I was still reading my book (I love reading in bed and do that every evening; it's my way of getting ready for sleep). The bubbly is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday and with it I wish all of you joy, laughter and good health for 2024.