Ink In My CoffeeFri. Dec. 19, 2025: Approaching Winter Solstice
image courtesy of Jan Zatloukal via pixabay.comFriday, December 19, 2025
New Moon
Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde
Rainy and warm
Here we are, at the end of another week, and the final new moon of the year. Can I just say how ready I am to boot this year out the back door?
That is a tradition I’d heard of for years, but only got a chance to practice when I had my own front and back doors. On New Year’s Eve, a few minutes/seconds before midnight, you open the back door to let the old year out (I will be putting my boot firmly on its backside this year). Right after midnight, you open the front door and invite the New Year in. Remember: Year of the Snake/Year of the Horse is part of Chinese tradition. That does not shift on December 31/January 1, no matter what the internet says. Lunar New Year is on February 17, 2026. So we are still in snake, even past the stroke of midnight.
Some idiot was out there yesterday with a leaf blower. Boo, everything is iced down except the sand to keep people from falling. You’re going to cause an accident when you blow the sand away.
Of course, because it was a little warmer, the Sidewalk Chewing Demons were also back. They are the mayor’s pet construction company, so they know they’ll keep getting hired even when they are jerks. So they continue to be jerks.
At least they’re being jerks a couple of blocks away, even though they’re still causing problems on our street with noise and heavy machinery driving the wrong way down the street several times a day.
Wrote and turned in the book review. Requested my next assignment.
I revised the next 3 chapters of VICIOUS CRITIC, about 7.5K words. Decent progress. Lots of detail work and fact-checking at this point, but all good. Did my marketing for the day, per content calendar (I’ve actually stuck to it pretty well this month).
#FreelanceFriends chat was fun, although hashtags weren’t working on Bluesky for whatever reason.
Got the revision notes on the ghostwriting project (not the one I just turned in, the other one). I will get started on those notes today, although I doubt I can get them done before the end of the year. They had me invoice for the last project, which I turned around earlier this week, and for this section of this one. And the money was in my account this morning, which definitely makes for less holiday stress!
After dinner, I put on Real People clothes and some makeup. It wasn’t that cold, so I didn’t need to bundle up in 17 layers like a toddler in a Hallmark Christmas movie. I could just wear a coat.
I walked down to Downstreet, the hotel a few blocks away that’s opened up gallery space to local artists. Two of my Future Labs colleagues had a show opening. It was a good turnout, the space is lovely, and Door Prize NAMA donated the food for the event, which was lovely of them (and delicious). The pieces are interesting, and the comparison/contrast of showing together in such a space was also interesting. I had some good conversations with people, getting to know them better. We are all very excited for January’s show, the workshops, the potluck, etc. It’s a good group of people, who are creative and smart and funny and kind.
When I came back, we put on the tree, and Tessa was so happy! She sat in front of it, enthralled, until we unplugged it at bedtime.
It was 50 degrees when I woke up this morning, which is just wrong for this time of year in New England.
On today’s agenda: library, grocery store, liquor store, writing (work on Nina Bell, the historical mystery, the ghostwriting).
This weekend, we finish decorating the tree on the porch and the front hall. I will finish the textile piece and work on the text portion. At the show last night, I mentioned I was deliberately printing it out in Calibri, and the artist doing all the labels said she’ll do the same. [If you know, you know, that’s been yet another layer of political ridiculousness here].
Sunday is the Solstice, so it will be about rituals and food and celebration. I am making something for dinner I’ve never made before (I’ll tell you about it next week), and I think I will do a Bishop’s Cake for dessert (from THE SILVER PALATE COOKBOOK).
Have a good weekend, and we’ll catch up next week!
#art #cats #community #decorating #freelance #freelanceFriends #FreelanceFriends #futureLabs #NinaBellMysteries #writing
PSDI