I can’t say I completed all my goals for last year, I mostly never do – but I always make progress. New shiny things, or sometimes difficult or challenging things, divert my course – well, that’s life…and luckily I have the freedom to respond in the moment, change my mind in the moment, and be hopeful that good things will happen. I am only a small cog in the wheel of the world, so what I do doesn’t matter much outside of my home, but I try to live a meaningful life to me – always curious and learning.
Knitting – I finished 18 projects last year, including a few gift socks and hats; more hats and a cowl for donation to a women’s shelter; and a couple of scarves, a cowl, a blanket, and vest for me. I love knitting because it keeps my hands busy when I am feeling anxiety or boredom, and I create clothing. There are so many ways to intertwine yarn into infinite shapes, pattern, colors, and textures – I am always learning new techniques. The uninitiated who write off knitting as an ‘old lady’ occupation are completely ignorant of the science and creativity of the art. And I am getting to know a lot of ‘old ladies’. Knitters or not, we are some of the smartest people I know!
Quilting – I added another quilt top to my collection of unfinished quilts. I have the means, but travels and home improvement prevented me from setting up the space and time as required to finish them – so that will be a goal for next year. I did piece some potholders, and have a simmering list of new projects that I have been working on mentally. We shall see.
Reading – Lots of listening, and reading physical books and ebooks – more than 100 last year! a new record for me.
103 books in 2024
The library Libby App keeps me in words wherever I am in the world. I find myself less motivated to pack a few extra books when traveling, ‘just in case’, as I do with knitting yarn. I love my physical books, though – and am loathe to part with the ones I love. I will even seek out a used copy of a recently read library book at Powells so I can own a copy to reread. I did weed out a lot of books from our shelves this year during some home renovation work. But I do treasure my ‘physical copies’…
Jane Austen shelf
Hiking – Given my wonky bursitis hip, I am pleased to have completed 84 hikes/adventures this year, walking over 600 miles, and 32000 feet elevation gained. Hopefully, the PT I have been doing will keep me going into the future. My goals are less lofty now – I know my limitations, and push them sometimes. I really can’t keep up with my husband anymore, but he has friends who will accompany him on the longer endeavors and goals, or he will go with a group, as he did on the Mont Blanc tour last summer. Meanwhile, he will drive any day of the week that we have decent weather to do a shorter hike with me. In 2024, we spent three glorious days hiking at Mt. Rainier in the fall, and took many day hikes in the Cascade Mountains, Columbia River Gorge, and ocean beaches that are easily reached from our home.
Travels – Our travel highlight for the year was a three week drive around the Ring Road in Iceland, in June and July, where we hiked and walked in volcanic and glacial landscapes, seeing every sort of waterfall one can imagine, and plenty of puffins, wildflowers and rainbows.
We also went to the east coast in March, to North Carolina, Baltimore, and Pennsylvania.
We had two California road trips – to my husband’s 40th Medical School reunion in San Francisco in April, with a visit to Carmel/Point Lobos before, and then north through the Redwoods on the way home. We drove back to the Bay Area in November for Thanksgiving.
In 2025, we plan to visit family on the east coast again in the spring, and then visit the Alps and Paris in the fall.
Etc…Welcome 2025?
Wearing rose colored glasses didn’t help at all last year. Despite my inherent belief in the kindness and goodness and fairness in people’s souls, the bad thing happened anyway. I in my blue bubble neighborhood have been allowed to continue on without much confrontation.
I stay informed, but am not obsessive about following all the daily dramas – thus I have read a lot of books this year, knitted a lot of yarn, and hiked a lot of trails.
The underlying tension is palpable – will the players consume each other, as did the Calico Cat and the Gingham Dog? and what wreckage will they leave in their wake?…
From the poem ‘The Duel” by Eugene Field, 1892.
My last book of the year was the BBC Radio 4 audio dramatization of a children’s adventure fantasy novel called The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. It is the story of a boy who finds he has an inborn destiny to help other magical beings in driving the Dark back as it rises to consume the world. He gains success for the moment; the concluding line:
“And now when the Dark is rising, who will turn it back?”
is a good question as we look toward 2025 …
With optimism, we will be able to resist some of the chaos, and stitch the rest back together in the future. I hope.
Margaret Quilts 