A New Year, A New Diary
and
A Patchwork Quilt
of
December Photos
Happy New Year!
2012
Is it just me and my fanciful mind, but does anyone else wake up on New Year’s day and think that things should feel different? New maybe, hopeful or even fresh? I woke up yesterday morning after a late night ~ we wanted to bring in two New Years, one in France and one in the UK, so we watched the fireworks at Midnight in Paris and London, on the TV of course; but when I tumble out of bed on the first day of the New Year, I am always vaguely disappointed that it never feels “different”. The same chores are waiting, and the same bills are there waiting to be paid, as well as the same weather ~ damp but mild. I know it’s silly, but even at my age, I still expect life to be different, like turning over a new page on an old book…….I expect a newness to pervade my life…….
However, there is one action, a New Year action, that makes me feel hopeful and invigorated, a little job that I always look forward to with that eternal feeling of newness and excitement ~ it’s simply taking down the old calendars and hanging up the new calendars; then, it’s writing that first entry into a brand new diary ~ always in ink for me, I am still a fountain pen user…..the dark black impression on the first page stamps an air or continuity somehow, almost like the first word in a new novel…..it leads me to explore the rest of the dairy, adding new addresses and copying birthday and anniversary dates ~ it’s a record of what’s to come, important dates that never change ~ it’s stability recorded and stamped out for the New Year, a cyclical record that makes me feel hopeful. A new diary and calendar marks the New Year for me, much more than fireworks and champagne. I wanted to share some of my December photos in this post, in the form of a Patchwork Quilt of images, not a list of recipes or a “round up” of the year, but a simple step back for just one month……..I am looking forward to many more posts in 2012 and I would just like to thank all my followers for making my first six months of blogging so rewarding and enjoyable.
See you later with a new recipe, or two!
Karen
2012
(All the images used on my Patchwork Quilts were taken by me and were posted throughout December 2011.)
Dear Karen, What a wonderful job you did in December – you really bought the spirit of Christmas alive on your blog! I totally get how you feel – the same old same old, perhaps that's why I feel "bar humbug" on New Year's Eve!
Lots of love and all the best for 2012
Mary oxoxo
Karen
What a great post, birthdays have the same effect on me and as for the Millenium, I really thought things would change then!
Happy New Year to you, Jude x
Happy New Year Karen! All the best to you and Malcom in 2012. Here's to a lot more deliciousness shared between us! xxoo
Ah yes, the ritual of the New Diary! Guess who just read your post and realised she hasn't seen her 2011 diary since she bought it! So you know what I'll be doing once I've logged off … trying to find it!
Happy New Year Karen ! May 2012 bring peace, health and prosperity to you and all who you hold dear x
Happy New year…I read your title and thought you had gone into the Dairy product business. I imagined you up to your neck in Goats! Glad it's just a nice new diary 🙂 xxx Goats would be great fun though…
Happy new year! Great post. I too get so excited about a new diary. I felt a bit like you yesterday but today's sunny crisp morning has given me that proper new year feeling!
Happy New Year. Yes, started my new diary in anticipation. I agree New Years Day never feels different. Here is to a wonderful 2012.
Your blog is so charming Karen. It oozes such warmth that it makes me want to stick around even after I have finished reading your post.
Happy new Year!!
xx
Anita
P.S. I totally adore the fact that you still use a fountain pen to jot down your diary entries.
Such beautiful photographs you have Karen. I do so know what you mean about expectations over the turn of a new year. This year we decided to spend the entire day having a big clear out and it really did make it feel as though something was different and a change had occurred – mostly because we could see the floor I think 😉
Wishing you a very Happy and Successful New Year.
I woke up yesterday with EXACTLY the same feeling, although I had had a dream that Kate from What Kate Bakes had invented a 3D way of blogging… it's been so lovely having you in my life Karen… so glad you started blogging x
Beautiful quilt, I'm sure it will keep you warm 😉 I used to keep a diary like that, I have boxes of them somewhere. Now I just blog!
Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to your 2012 posts!
Love the fresh clean pages of a new diary and a new calendar. Know what you mean about the start of a new year and expecting an immediate change. A feast for the eyes in those photos Karen. Thank you.
Happy New Year Karen! I too wake up each New Year expecting the world to look different- all new and shiny! Beautiful photo collage Karen!
Oh yes, I know all about the new diary syndrome. I bought mine in October and set to work filling it in – with my schaeffer fountain pen I hasten to add – and what a treat to be able to use it for real in this new year. All neatly done, sadly it won't take long until the crossings out occur.
Happy New Year Karen, I shall look forward to popping in for some inspiration.
Kate x
Happy New Year Karen! Beautiful post with gorgeous photos as always. I always feel that way about birthdays and new year – I wake up expecting to feel different and am somewhat disappointed to feel the same! Wishing you all the very best for 2012. Look forward to reading more of your wonderful blog.
I really dislike New Year, probably for all the reason's you have mentioned lol. Love how you have some traditions to try and ocmbat it though and what a great round up of photo's too.
Hi Karen
Loving your blog and check in everyday. Looking forward to more of your posts this year.
I managed to get the new year feeling this year and ran around rearranging and decluttering my flat. Gave me the new year feeling but left me a bit knackered!