How Will You Ring in the New Year (2020)?

[clean]

I am visiting my parents and I fly home on 1/1.  It is a very rural area,so on New Year's eve, at least in the past, the evening will sound like a shooting gallery .  The use of fireworks is pretty much illegal, so they will shoot their guns  in the air instead. 

I plan to stay inside.  Im not sure that we will eat anything special.  Part of the diet here includes black eyed peas and collard (or mustard or turnip) greens, so nothing special about that!  What will you eat special to bring health and fortune in the new year?

Oh, and Happy New Year!!

[mahagonny]

Working, but not teaching! My other work is my vacation from teaching. Much needed and deserved, if I say so.

[Parasaurolophus]

In a cabin in the wilds of New Mexico, with friends from (relatively) nearby.

[fishbrains]

Start drinking at 8:00. Get sleepy around 9:30. Wake up on couch at 10:30. Shuffle off to bed at 11:00, hopefully remembering to NOT set my clocks back an hour. Again.

Don't get all jelly on me here.

[mamselle]

Walking around Fontainebleau at 9 PM. Eating with my friend sometime before that. Going to sleep sometime soon after that.

Tomorrow after church will be spent downloading pictures of manuscripts, backing up my files, having lunch with my friend and her neighbor, and sleeping. Maybe I'll get to do the second installation of a friend-blog I started a couple weeks ago.

Right now I'm very glad that I got from the library to the train station 45 min. early...and decided to board shortly after getting there rather than getting a tea in the Gare de Lyons.

The 《greve》is still on, and this is the only return train for 4 hours. If I hadn't walked down to the very last car and put all my stuff up in the racks, I'd be standing in the aisles with the 30 or so folks in our car without seats, or left looking at the train as it pulled out with all those folks who just happened to do what I usually do when early.

It's a bit hot in here, and the windows won't open, but I'm glad I'm on the way back to F'bleau, so ca ira.

M.

[ab_grp]

Spouse and I have had some rare time off together, a solid 6 days, and we have been using it to watch lots of movies (DVDs).  That is what we will be doing again today.  I'm not sure what we'll watch yet, because we have gone through several each day, so most of our favorites are taken care of.  After we got back from actually going to the movies yesterday, we started making our planned meal and decided to set it aside and just watch another movie.  So, we have to finish that meal (lamb couscous and stuffed tomatoes), and we have fish pies planned for this evening, possibly with some bang bang shrimp using the new air fryer lid.  In the meantime, I'm going to try to finish the crossword puzzle I'm constructing.  So, nothing too exciting, and I know I should be using some of this time to clean up for the new year, but I am really enjoying doing just about nothing productive.  As for our neighborhood and local area, I'm sure there will be both fireworks and gun shots tonight.  We will have pork and sauerkraut tomorrow with mashed potatoes and probably some brussels sprouts.   I wish you all a very happy new year!     

[backatit]

Walking around Fontainebleau at 9 PM. Eating with my friend sometime before that. Going to sleep sometime soon after that.

Tomorrow after church will be spent downloading pictures of manuscripts, backing up my files, having lunch with my friend and her neighbor, and sleeping. Maybe I'll get to do the second installation of a friend-blog I started a couple weeks ago.

Right now I'm very glad that I got from the library to the train station 45 min. early...and decided to board shortly after getting there rather than getting a tea in the Gare de Lyons.

The 《greve》is still on, and this is the only return train for 4 hours. If I hadn't walked down to the very last car and put all my stuff up in the racks, I'd be standing in the aisles with the 30 or so folks in our car without seats, or left looking at the train as it pulled out with all those folks who just happened to do what I usually do when early.

It's a bit hot in here, and the windows won't open, but I'm glad I'm on the way back to F'bleau, so ca ira.

M.

Sorry the train situation is still so dire!

We will be lighting a bonfire in the backyard, and seeing in the new year with roasted marshmallows (or at least with some broiled sausages in my case).

[Economizer]

Quite a while ago I was too young to go out New Years Eve and, now, I'm old enough to know better than to venture out on this occasion.  I will sing Danny Boy and Old Lang Syne, and perhaps 15 or 20 Elvis songs, to non revelers in my apartment building though.  Perhaps they will enjoy it?  Or perhaps the Boom Boom Box-Veroom vehicles will come by and scare me quiet!

[Parasaurolophus]

Flight cancelled due to weather in the wee hours, rescheduled for tomorrow morning--in the middle of an airport strike. We'll see.

[hmaria1609]

The library closed early today so it was light traffic going homebound. (Lots of folks are still away for vacation) I took my car through the automatic car wash at the local gas station so I've got a clean car to start 2020! Enjoyed a bit of whisky that I bought in Edinburgh.

Like mamselle, I'll go to Mass tomorrow morning.

Happy New Year everyone!

[Anselm]

I will end my vacation early to go home and get a root canal.

[mamselle]

Oooowcchhh!

Very sorry to hear that.

Hope it feels better as soon as possible after the surgery.

Some people have all the fun....

M.

[backatit]

Oh no, the bane of my existence! I feel very bad for you, but glad you are able to get your tooth taken care of quickly.

We were up till all hours with our neighbors shooting off what I can only suppose is a cannon. It certainly wasn't fireworks - another neighbor says she believes they got one from somewhere and were firing it at a sand berm, fortunately, but it was LOUD. The dogs were cowering and it went on at irregular intervals (it must have taken some time to set up between shots) until about 2:30 am (in between they contented themselves with a barrage of "regular" fireworks). I considered calling the police but we're in such a rural area that I'm not sure they could have found the culprits. I will see if I can figure out who was doing it (other neighbor has a clue this morning but we're not really sure) and we'll have a chat with them about the dogs and see if we can head off a disaster for Valentine's day - the last day they shot off fireworks was Halloween, so they obviously believe in marking every holiday with a bang.

[larryc]

Uncharacteristically, Renee and I went out last night. A new restaurant we wanted to support was offering a fancy eight course NYE dinner. Would we like to do the cocktail pairings as well? Sure.

I'm still hungover. We stopped off at our favorite cocktail place first for a drink. Mistake.

The dinner was amazing--in that tiny portion way. Which I am generally in favor of. But damn these were *tiny.* A lettuce leaf and shavings of veggies. Two bites of beef and a shadow of broccoli. Scent of soup.

But each course came with a fucking magnificent cocktail. The first few were low ABV, stuff like an Italian amaro with soda and lime. But they quickly got serious.

So on nearly empty stomachs we soldiered forward. The gin drink with fennel and house made specialty bitters. Brandy with lime, ginger beer and saffron. Rum with allspice and I'm not sure what. The bourbon drink is a blur but goddamn it was good. Oh and they kept bringing champagne. And tiny tiny mouthfuls of food.

The table got blurry. We asked for extra bread and they brought a tiny purple bread stick and a rumour of butter. WE SOLDIERED ON.

Thank God for Uber, amirite? At home we pulled out some leftover holiday cheese and crackers and fell on them like famished wolves on an elk calf. We hit the bed like the Titanic finding the bottom of the North Atlantic.

At the last minute I thought to swallow two ibuprofens and that is the only reason I am half alive to tell the tale.

[mamselle]

So, "pleasantly buzzed," as one might say?

(I'll close the phone quietly so the "snap" won't hurt your ears....)

M.