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Back Again in 2024

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As many of you know, in September my daughter Shannon, her husband Mike, their two dogs—Holly and Somara—and their cat Penny moved in with us. One phase of their life had ended, and they were starting a new phase with different jobs. Staying with us allowed them to take their time to find a place that was exactly right for them as well as for the dogs and cat.

This Shannon and Mike did, with a lovely new apartment overlooking the water. In late December, dogs, kit, and kids left, leaving the three of us—Clif, our daughter Dee, and me. The house is now very quiet. While I miss the hubbub, it feels great to return to my old schedule, which not only includes blogging but also working on my upcoming book, Darcy Dansereau, a slice-of-life fantasy set in Maine in the 1970s.

Along with Christmas, December included a challenge courtesy of Mother Nature—a rain and wind storm with gusts up to 70 miles per hour. This storm whipped through central Maine with the expected results—widespread power outages in the days leading to Christmas. We were without power for four days, and it was even longer for some people in central Maine.

The storm also brought about an unexpected result—flooding for communities by a river. While flooding is common in the spring, it is pretty much unheard of in December. As I am fond of saying, in these times of climate change, weird is the new normal. These floods were as bad as I’ve ever seen them, but as we don’t live near a river, we stayed dry.

Because we have a wood furnace, we were warm and cozy during the power outage. In addition, we have a camp stove, and in town there is a business with an outside spigot where we could get water. So we were all right during our time without power.

During the power outage, we were still taking care of the dogs and cat while Mike and Shannon were getting settled in their new apartment. Here is the expression on Holly’s face as the storm blew and raged outside.

Because the light was low, the focus isn’t the best. Still, I think it captures her mood, which was pretty much the same as ours: none of us liked the storm one bit.

But through it all we did have a light to shine with an old lamp that belonged to Clif’s parents.

The Thursday before Christmas, early in the morning, the lights came on, and we all rejoiced.

The dogs and the cat settled back into their comfortable routines.

My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came over to celebrate Christmas Eve with us, and what a jolly time we had. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken of the event.

I did, however, take pictures of Christmas morning, and our first ever Crustmas feast. The idea for Crustmas came from a delightful podcast called Strong Sense of Place: The Library of Lost Time. The hosts, Dave and Mel, explained how they celebrate the holiday with Crustmas, which revolves around their love of toast. (I, too, love toast, and as soon as I heard their idea, I was all in.) They buy a number of nice loaves of bread and provide a bunch of yummy toppings: Nutella, jam, cream cheese, butter. They also have a charcuterie board, which we did not do this year but might next year. However, the genius idea is to bring the toaster right to the table so that there is no running back and forth to the kitchen to make toast. At the table, out pops the toast, hot and fresh for eager eaters.

Here is the table on Christmas morning all set up for Crustmas.

Crustmas was a smashing success, and we will do this again next Christmas. However, as Dave and Mel reminded listeners, there is no need to confine Crustmas to Christmas. The glories of toast can be celebrated all through the year, and that’s exactly what we plan to do.

A very happy New Year to all my wonderful blogging friends. I will be posting once a week, on Wednesday, unless something special comes up that deserves my attention.

Until next Wednesday.

79 thoughts on “Back Again in 2024”

  1. Welcome back! Sounds like a fabulous family holiday, good sendoff for the kids, and I’m really glad the power came back. Four days without power can seem like an eternity, but you are lucky you had heat. We always have water but no heat. 🙂 Good luck with your writing, and I’ll look forward to next Wednesday.

    1. Thanks, Judy! It so good to be back. Looking forward to hearing about your adventures in South Carolina. Do not hesitate to post pictures of dolphins, should you see any.

  2. Happy New Year, Laurie! I love the idea of Chrustmas and might have to celebrate it very soon. The old lamp, and your image of it, is beautiful. The look on my face during the recent storms is pretty similar to Holly’s. I think we have another one blowing through this weekend.

    1. If you are a toast lover, Crustmas is a simple please that can’t be beat. So good! Yes, I think many of us can identify with Holly. I know I sure can. Snow is forecast for Maine, but right now it doesn’t seems as though the storm is going to be too bad. Fingers crossed!

  3. Good to have you back! Happy New Year! Sounds like you managed well during all the weird weather. And, I am another lover of toast. Good luck with your writing of your next book!.

  4. Dear Laurie, What a delightful post, and welcome back! I’ve missed your news from the hinterlands. If that were my dog, there would be no photo at all because he’d be under the bed! You folks are like pioneers–kerosene lamp, wood stove and water for a spigot in town. Excellent survival skills.

    1. Thanks so much! I, too, know that feeling of wanting to be under a bed during a bad storm. Yup, at times we really have to rough it, but luckily we are prepared. Nature is a great teacher. 😉

  5. Thanks for letting us invade and for taking such good care of our girls for the past month while we got settled in. 💕💕

  6. Happy New Year, Laurie, and welcome back! I, too, took a brief respite (which lingered, thanks to the “galloping crud” my son brought home for the holidays). Glad you’ve got your power back (poor Holly looks like Monk does during storms!)

  7. Happy New Year to you and yours. Cheers to the homestead returning to the normal sense of reality – yet Cheers to you for taking in your daughter and accessories. Thumbs up to the great pic of the old lamp! in terms of the power outage and the storm, you’ve taught me that Mainers are hearty bunch. 🙂 I’ll have to look into Crustmas!

    1. Many thanks, Frank! Crustmas was mighty fine. We are a hearty bunch. We have to cope with cold and heat and storms that knock out our power. But onward we go.

  8. Welcome back Laurie and Happy New Year! Good to read all your news, and glad you survived the storms and weird weather, I liked the old lamp belonging to Clif’s parents ……oh the tales it could tell!

  9. Welcome back Laurie and so glad to hear the power came back on in time for Christmas! Wishing you, Clif and all the family a blessed 2024 too 💖

  11. Good to have you back. Your storm sounds very dramatic so I am glad to hear that you were well prepared for it. I am happy to raise a glass and toast toast.

    1. Never a dull moment is right. And, yes, that was one heck of storm. Snow is coming our way, but so far it doesn’t seem like a storm to worry about it. Famous last words. 😉

  13. So good to have you back, Laurie. You’ve had a busy December! We had the same bad wind storm. We were among the lucky ones who didn’t lose power, although we lost our TV, landline, and Internet for 2 days. But one of our close friends came to stay with us for 3 days because his power was out and he’s reliant on his walker to get around. Not ideal in the dark. Here’s to a happy, healthy, and productive 2024.

  14. Welcome back and Happy 2024! Climate related dramas continue, darnit. Glad you survived this one in relative comfort thanks to your wood furnace. Winter here has been a non-event thus far. Still have three big pots of violas blooming their heads off. Snow? What’s that? Looking forward to seeing you in my inbox on Wednesdays.

  18. Welcome back Laurie! What a lovely breakfast idea. So glad you survived the storm and that you had power for Christmas.

    Wishing you and your family all the best for 2024.

  19. It is good to see you back, Laurie! I like the idea of Crustmas, every day! I am glad you got your power back on before Christmas, You are right, weird weather is the new normal.

  20. Welcome back, Laurie, after what sounds like a mostly good-busy time, excepting the storm and power outage. But you made the best of it and enjoyed all the good times with your loved ones.
    I hope 2024 will be a wonderful year for you and your family. Good luck with your next book.
    Tanja

  21. It is good to catch up with you again and I am impressed that you have a new book worked out and ready to work on already! After the chaos of the storm, I wish you all plain sailing ahead.

  22. Welcome back, Laurie, I’ve missed you. Sounds like you’ve had an eventful time while you’ve been away. Poor Holly, that’s pretty much how I feel too when there’s a storm raging outside! Best wishes to you for the New Year.

    1. Thanks so much! Good to be back. Yes, very eventful. I think when it comes to bad storms, many of can identify with Holly. I thought her expression was priceless.

  23. As you know, Laurie, we are having a similar fuller household; and similar weather, without loss of power. Hopefully we will all have a good year ahead. Love to you and Clif from each of us.

    1. I do know, and you have the added busyness of life with a baby. But we are happy to help whenever we can as I know you and Jackie are. As for the weather…holy cats! Weird, weird, weird.

  24. Wonderful to have you back and Happy New Year!!🙂 I’ve added the podcast to my library and loved your Crustmas celebration. When I saw the news about your storm I knew you probably lost your power again and am glad you were not near the flooding. Sounds like it was a wonderful holiday and break and am looking forward to reading more about your upcoming book. Hope your daughter is still close enough for visits and love the photos of her dogs and cat.🙂

    1. Many thanks! So good to be back. Our Crustmas celebration was utterly delicious. Yes, our daughter is close enough for visits, which is very nice. Much better than when she lived in North Carolina.

  25. Welcome back! I was thinking of you during the storm in December and am happy to hear that it was manageable for you. But goodness! Not the kind of storm we hope for in the WINTER!

    1. Thanks, Katie. Yes, we know how to manage without power. We’ve had plenty of experience. But we’d rather not. ; ) And you are so right, not the kind of storm we hope for in the winter.

  26. Unfortunately, I don’t have a source of heat when the power goes out, but I have a nice collection of oil lamps, so light never is a problem. In your situation, four days is endurable, but I’m glad it didn’t go on longer than that.

    I smiled at your photo of the cat curled up in the chair. I have a pair of almost identical chairs that were my mother’s, and Dixie Rose used to love curling up in one of them. Good memories.

    Toast rocks, and I love the idea of Crustmas. We couldn’t have done that at my grandmother’s house; there, we had to make do with oven toast. I’m not sure she ever had a toaster!

    1. We have a friend who doesn’t have a source of heat, and she was just about ready to come over and spend the night with us when her power came back on.

  27. It is lovely to have you back Laurie – I missed you. But what an interesting and busy time you have been having! Being prepared for things like power outages is so worthwhile. I think Crustmas sounds great. I hope 2024 is exciting for you but in better ways than 2023.

  28. Four days without power is a long time but I’m glad all was restored before Christmas. Imagine Crustmas without a toaster! You would have had to get a fire/barbecue going out side and then send Clif out with a toasting fork! Oh poor Clif – I didn’t mean it!
    Congratulations to Shannon and Mike on finding a new apartment and new jobs – not such an easy thing to do these days.
    Sadly, flooding and power outages, drought and wildfires seem to be the norm everywhere these days.
    A Happy New Year to you and your lovely family, Laurie!

    1. It seemed like a very long time, but we managed. But you are right. So good it was restored before Christmas. Otherwise, no Crustmas. (I have a feeling that Clif would not have been too keen to go outside with a grilling fork.) Thanks for the good wishes for Shannon and Mike. Yes wonderful that they were able to find new jobs and a lovely new apartment. So true about flooding and power outages, drought and wildfires being the norm nowadays. Sigh.

  29. Welcome back Laurie! So glad to read that all went well even with power problem.
    We do have oil lamps in India and used them in old days but we never needed them here but I may look for one such lamp now. Good wishes for 2024.

  30. Welcome back! Your house is as cozy inside as out Have you heard hygge/ It is the Scandinavian way of decorall aout cozy. I love it and employ the concepts. Glad all is well and as always, best wishes! Michele

  31. With regard to your out-of-character weather … I’ve been thinking lately that the disconnect between our healthy economy and people’s belief that it’s a terrible economy might have to do with weather. If you lose your crawfish harvest because of draught, you don’t feel like you are in a booming economy; you want government help such as farmers get. You feel like you’re struggling. What do you think?

    1. Yes, I think that has something to do with it. Also, the cost of living is so high—housing, food, health care, higher education. People feel insecure. My nephew, a teacher in southern Maine, is just scraping by with a modest apartment. On his salary, there is no way he can afford a house, and he has a part time job in addition to teaching.

  32. So happy to see you back, Laurie! I have missed your presence in this space! Merry Crustmas & a delicious new year ahead!

    It sounds like you’ve gone through so many life changes in these past months. Full house, quiet house … I am glad Shannon, Mike and their furfamily have settled in a new home for the next phase of their adventure.

  34. What an eventful time you and Clif and your daughter have had! Wow.
    Glad the flood didn’t affect you.
    It’s great when we can accommodate our grown children and families, isn’t it? And it sounds like they found a well-situated place indeed.
    Happy new year, Laurie, to you, Clif and family.

  35. Love this post! Your house looks so cozy in all of the pictures. Nothing like a bookcase filled with books. So excited to hear more about Darcy D.

    Best of luck to Shannon and Mike in their new home. The look on Holly’s face is priceless, poor baby.

    Hoping this next storm treats you better than that last one.
    xo

  36. Hi Laurie, It’s so nice to find this post. I’m having a moment of de ja vu, thinking that I already commented here. Sometimes I think about what I want to say, but never say it. Ha!

    I’m so glad you could host your daughter and family through the holidays, allowing them to take their time to find a new place. The apartment sounds lovely.

    My younger son was home for ten days with his dog, so we had a full house as well. The cats are not impressed with his visits, but we think Juneau is adorable. I understand both the joys of family, and the freedom to return to a quiet routine. I’m an introvert, so I need that time and space.

    I’m really sorry to hear about the powerful storms and subsequent power outages. I hope your home is well insulated, though I imagine it would be living in a cold state like Maine. Kit reminds me of Tessa from behind. I bet she’s equally soft.

    Laurie, I really enjoy the idea of Crustmas! Who doesn’t love carbs, and toast, and jam. Yummy.

    I hope the rest of the winter months will be calmer than what you’ve had so far.

    1. So lovely to hear from you! I, too, am an introvert who needs a lot of quiet. Still. I was glad to help and grateful that we had enough space to accommodate everyone. Must have been a treat to have your son home for ten days. Crustmas was delicious! We will be doing it again.

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