The Weekly Digest

Happy New Year!

We had to trim the top of the tree to take it out of the house, and now it sits by the curb awaiting its trip to the city compost. Always feels a little sad to see it out there—this item that we decorated so lovingly for a month. How do you feel about cleaning up after the holidays? My feelings upon seeing the tree probably tie-in to my relief to seeing the house cleared of all the decorations. Even without actually doing any New Year purging or organizing, one gets the illusion of a clean slate simply from putting away all of the ornaments and such.

We had a lovely if bittersweet holiday. Aron’s father John—my wonderful father-in-law—passed away shortly before Christmas and his presence was and will be missed greatly. I was recalling him singing along with the holiday classics as we decorated cookies on a visit to Germany many years ago and especially missed his voice this year. And yet his memory and spirit was everywhere in the happy family traditions we continued to enjoy. I shared some photos and a few more thoughts in this post and here is a link to his obituary. He had a remarkable life and I feel so lucky for all of the years I have been welcomed into his and Aron’s family’s home.

Aron’s sister and her family visited from Germany for a while and Hudson and Skyler were as enamored as ever with their older (and very, very tall) cousins. They worked on sewing crafts and got plenty of tips on Minecraft. Speaking of sewing, I got my first sewing machine for Christmas and am looking forward to working on some projects, too! I took a “getting started” class this week and hope to keep getting more comfortable. If anyone has any online project tutorials they’ve enjoyed (good for beginners), let me know!

Enjoy your weekend. Here are some links I’ve collected. Wishing everyone good health and plenty of patience in 2022…

Jimmy Carter on the state of our democracy, one year after the storming of the Capitol.

100 ways to slightly improve your life without really trying

Such  a great list! 30+ Day trips from Sacramento

Beautiful book covers

American Giant’s crewneck looks both cozy and trim. I’m also interested in their kick flare pants. Anyone tried them? Seems like they’d be great for travels (or armchair travels).

This McSweeney’s post has been making the rounds here. Good for a laugh. (Slash-cry?)

The many (many) gorgeous faces of foxes.

Seinfeld episode, if it were now.

On my to-make list: this crunchy tofu to add to a big kale salad.

On my to-read list this weekend: “The wild, wonderful world of estate sales.

Reviews are mixed, but I’m looking forward to watching The Lost Daughter.

My hobby is finding ‘lost’ apple varieties.

We just finished Narcos and Succession, are wrapping up The Great, are following along with And Just Like That… and are looking for a new show to watch. Any suggestions? Hacks is on my list, what else should be?

[Cake source: Bon Appetit]

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