That Was the Month that Was

The theme of January: Snow and cold

Finally, after what seems like a year and half, the longest month in just about forever, has ended. A big cheer and I toast all of you with a cup of hot cocoa and as many marshmallows as you'd like for your cocoa. But blessedly, January 2026 is in the rear view window and the days are getting longer. Sadly, they're not getting warmer in New York City, but I don't have a lot scheduled for the weekend and I'm going to watch many hours of the winter Olympics coverage and yes, drink hot cocoa. 

I had three projects for last month and I've done okay with all three. The first was keeping my spirits up. It wasn't easy and there were hours/days when I did not do well, but somehow managed to make it through. I was helped by a special event I attended. It was a concert at Lincoln Center, with the fabulous actor/singer, Kelli O'Hara. I'd seen her in South Pacific, Pajama Game and Brigadoon and was so excited to see her in concert. I love concerts but don't go to very many these days. I'm overwhelmed by stadium venues and I'm overwhelmed by the price of tickets. But this concert was both relatively affordable and in a small theater venue. It did not disappoint. Kelli O'Hara was so engaging and so talented, and the memory of the evening warms me up just thinking about it. 

My second project was my walking. It was a tough month to get in steps and a push to get myself out and walking. But I set a goal of 75 miles and finished the month with 77+ miles, which I'm calling a win. There were a couple of days with barely a mile, and a few days with 4+ miles. One of them was my visit to the Travel and Adventure Show, which gave me some great travel ideas. Some are far away and some a lot closer and more possible. Nothing planned yet, but I'm enjoying thinking about possibilities. 

  Our new friend, Willie the Penguin

My third project was the annual No Spending January. I am proud to report that my only purchase was Willie the Penguin, who I rescued on the last day of the holiday decor sale at Paper Source. I had seen him in December and figured if he was still in the store in January, he was meant to come home with me. He wasn't at the store nearest to me, but the staff located him at another branch in the neighborhood. Willie is a little worse for wear, but with this cheery scarf and the company of the Buttercupland Crew he has settled in nicely. Willie cost $12.57, but in truth he is priceless. 

I'm thinking of doing a No Spending February. I have bought Valentines, which I consider a necessity, but no other "things." I found myself intrigued by cute pajamas in a store window this morning and had to restrain myself from going into the store. I take that as a sign that I could buy things I don't need very easily. I also had a recurrence of the dishwasher disaster and I'm contemplating replacing my dishwasher. But in the No Spending spirit, I am going to hold off and think about whether I truly need a new dishwasher and if I think that I do, I'm going to be on the lookout for a sale. Did anyone else do a No Spending month, and if so, did it work for you? 

My projects for February are watching the Olympics, No Spending February, 75+ miles of walking and a trip to South Carolina at the end of the month. I know it won't be beach weather, but it may be sixty degrees and I'll take it. That sounds like bliss to me. 

As ever, thanks for visiting and keep cozy, friends. 

Now We Are Seventeen

 Happy birthday to Buttercupland

On January 12, 2009 -- light years ago -- I started a blog. I'm not exactly sure what I expected, but I didn't expect that seventeen years and two million views later I would still be blogging.  

In those seventeen years I've visited all seven continents, had major surgery three times and  walked thousand of miles. I've written 2,818 posts and those of you who have stopped by have left 28,583 comments. 

But for me blogging has never been about the numbers. I've enjoyed having a forum to share what I'm thinking and I've especially enjoyed "meeting" people and making friends. Some of you I will only meet in Blogland, but I've had the good fortune to visit with blog buddies all over the world, including Australia and England. 

These days Substack seems to be the rage and I do subscribe to a number of them. But while there's still a Blogland, here I'll stay. I'll be writing posts with Blogger, posting pictures and commenting on friends' posts. Most of all I'll be keeping in touch with the friends that I've made over the last seventeen years.  

As I have for many years, I'm going to do a blogaversary giveaway, and this year it's a surprise. The rules are very simple. Please leave a comment with your favorite book genre. Let me know if it's fiction or non-fiction and, please feel free to be more specific. If you enjoy mystery novels or romance, for example. I'll post the winner next Monday, February 9. We all can use a book surprise this long, long winter. 

Besides the cold, all is well in my little corner of the universe. Alas, I wish I could say this for the rest of the universe. But I've got heat and light and a crockpot of beans cooking in the kitchen. I've been treating myself to hot cocoa most nights and it's been a wonderful way to keep my spirits up. What are your treats for this winter?

As ever, thanks for visiting for the last seventeen years and keep cozy. 

Let's Talk Storm Snacks

Definitely there are storm snack shoppers in this line outside of 

Trader Joe's in my neighborhood this morning

Storm snacks weren't a thing when I was growing up in Connecticut and we had a lot of winter storms. It started to snow around Thanksgiving and I'm not sure that we saw grass in the yard until around Easter. There were basically three seasons: shoveling snow, mowing grass and raking leaves. 

We may not have had snacks but we did have food. My mother always had milk and bread in the freezer, along with meat and cans of orange juice concentrate. We also had a pantry that was well stocked, so there was rarely a last minute rush to the grocery.  The only specific storm snack that I remember was a batch of chocolate chip cookies that my mother made as we waited out Hurricane Donna in 1960.

But for the storm that's approaching -- not sure if it has a name yet -- storm snacks are part of the storm experience. I've seen at least a dozen posts on social media about what friends are buying for storm snacks. I did my grocery shopping on Wednesday and didn't think to stock up on snacks knowing that the snacks  bought on Wednesday would probably not be there for the snow fall on Sunday. I did get a bag of popcorn kernels and some baking supplies. I definitely plan to bake on Sunday and look forward to the warm kitchen, a cup of coffee and the aroma of home baked cookies or sweet bread. Home made banana bread might be my storm snack. 

Is anyone else buying snacks specifically for the next few days? Are you planning to cook or bake as part of your storm activities?

I have a storm snack memory from Super Storm Sandy in 2012, though I didn't use the term storm snack at the time. I was part of a group of colleagues that sheltered at a hotel in our work neighborhood.  As it was extremely difficult/impossible to commute to work we stayed at the hotel and went to the nearby office during the day. I spent the afternoon before reporting to work buying snacks to have in the evenings. The hurricane was approaching and I was glad to buy whatever was available. I wasn't sure how many nights we would be staying at the hotel and wanted to have snacks to last for at least several days. On our first night I put out cookies and chips and in less than an hour one of my colleagues had eaten all of the cookies. Not a cookie was left. A valuable  lesson was learned that evening, don't put out all the storm snacks at once.  

Stay safe and stay warm, friends. A big thanks to all who work so the rest of us can be home and have electricity and storm snacks. 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care. 

In Memory Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Five years ago,  at my local subway stop

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."

Wesleyan University

Baccalaureate Sermon, 1964

Sidewalks of New York: Madison Avenue

 

It might as well be spring (in this photograph), but alas, today it's a very snowy January 

Last week the weather was a very unseasonable and (almost) springlike fifty degrees and today it's a regular snowy January day. I made the most of the great weather with lots of walking and getting as many errands done as possible. 

Last Monday I took one of my favorite walks on Madison Avenue. Fabulous window shopping -- it's still No Spending January -- and fun photograph opportunities. Let's visit a few of my favorite stops. 

I'm not a Labubu collector, but I couldn't resist a photo of this 

cute group in the window of a manicure salon.  

No wedding plans for me, friends, but love to window shop this bridal store 

I passed by a place I've been wanting to try for awhile. I passed by before Christmas and there was a line around the corner, so I didn't even try to take pictures. The winter specialty at Glace is hot chocolate, a very fancy hot chocolate. The summer  specialty  is soft serve ice cream, which is one of my favorites. It's pricy -- two scoops for ten dollars -- and the usual line and the price have stopped me from indulging. But this time there was not much of a  line and I indulged myself by going inside and taking pictures. 

Glace outside 

Glace inside

Everything looks so good. One day when the stars align -- no line and warm weather -- I'm treating myself to soft serve with the  hardshell. I'm leaning to the Brown Butter Vanilla, but there are also ice cream flavors (as seen on the website) which include mint chip and creme brulee. Is anyone else an ice cream or soft serve fan? Which flavor(s) would you go with?

As I mentioned the warm weather has passed and it's snow time. This was the look in Riverside Park yesterday. It was very quiet and I shared the park with people walking their dogs.   

Snowy New York, January 2026

That's the news in Buttercupland. On my agenda for this week is book club, Pilates, a trip (or two) to the gym and there's carrot soup to be made. Any cold weather cooking projects on your schedule?

As ever, thanks for visiting and keep cozy.

Eight Hundred and Seventy Six Miles

On a clear day you can see the Empire State Building -- looking north

For the last nine years my walking goal has been 1,000 miles, but we're shaking it up a little this year. My goal is 903 miles. I know that sounds like an odd goal, but it's part of my next major walking goal, to walk 10,000 miles in ten year. As of this morning I have eight hundred and seventy six miles to go. 

If, ten years ago, someone had suggested that I would walk 10,000 miles -- or even 5,000 miles -- I would have completely rejected the idea.  I like to walk and I was grateful that I was able to walk, but that was just too big a goal. Maybe, 5,000 miles would work. But at the end of 2016, my dear Weight Watchers leader suggested we choose a goal for 2017, a goal that was possible, but a stretch. I, somewhat impulsively, chose walking 1,000 miles in 2017. I walked my 1,000 miles in 2017 and then just kept going. 

One World Trade Center -- looking south

It's been step by step, with some steps easy and some steps much less easy. Some days it's little more than a mile and on other days three or four miles. Most of it is not intentional. Some days I go out to just to walk, though usually there's an errand or two included in the walk. But most days it's a combination of steps at home, steps to the bus stop or subway station and then to errands and events. I'm happy to include them all in my mileage count, though I do like to take longer walks and get my heart rate up.  

The two pictures above are from yesterday, where I walked not quite three miles. I met a friend and we visited Anne Frank: The Exhibition. This is an extraordinary exhibit that includes a full-scale recreation of the Annex, where Anne Frank, her family and four other Jewish inhabitants spent two years in hiding. There were a number of items on loan from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. I had the opportunity to visit the house in Amsterdam with my mother many years ago, and I feel very fortunate to see this exhibition. I especially found the section on how Anne's diary, one of the most translated books in the world, came to be published. Photography was not permitted in the exhibition, but there are photos in the link. 

Anne Frank The Exhibition 

Our spell of warmer weather continues and I was happy to note that it was light out at 4:30. I finished one of my yearly medical appointments this afternoon and then enjoyed a nice walk on Madison Avenue. I took pictures of some of my favorite places along the way and hope to share them in the next post. 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care. 

It's Time for Joy (eux Cafe)

 

Welcome to Cafe Joyeux

When I started blogging almost seventeen years ago I made the decision that Buttercupland was not going to discuss politics. There were more than enough places in BlogLand and the internet to get one's fill of all things political. It wasn't that I didn't care about what was happening in the world, but that this would be one place to take a breather from all that was going on beyond the borders of my little corner of the internet. 

There have been some massive ups and downs in the last seventeen years, but this week seems to have something massive just about every day. It's been tough, but I've tried to keep up with things that needed to get done, including my every six-month visit with my internist. I generally get breakfast after my appointment at a place I like around the corner. But this time I walked out of a different subway exit and walked down a different street. Call it fate or perhaps I was led by an angel, but I came upon Cafe Joyeux. 

The appointment ran an hour late and I'd been fasting for a long time, but Cafe Joyeux was worth the wait. The staff -- individuals who are neurodivergent and those with developmental disabilities -- couldn't have been friendlier and my egg sandwich and iced coffee were terrific. I loved that the sandwich came with salad and it was such a nicely put together plate. 

A very tasty sandwich and a great coffee

The first Cafe Joyeux opened in Rennes France in 2017. There are now 27, and this one in New York is the first in the United States. The cafes' profits go for training and support for the employees. 

I love croissants, especially almond croissants. I don't eat them often -- a zillion calories and so much sugar -- but they are a favorite treat. I'm due back at the same medical building later this month for a bone density scan and this yummy croissant is definitely on my do-do list. 

Are you a croissant fan, too?

The first full week of January is over and I feel like I'm back in a good post-holiday routine. The weather in New York has been a gift, fifty and mostly sunny. I've done lots of walking, especially yesterday and today and made two trips to the gym for strength training. I hope to get back to Yoga next week and keep up with walking, the gym and of course, blogging.  

What are your January activities? Travel? Reading? 2026 goals?

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care.