True Confessions: Our 2012 Resolutions Revisited

HALLIE EPHRON: We all made resolutions for 2012, and the wonderful thing about a blog archive is that I can go back to this day, a year ago, and see what we promised ourselves. So how'd we do? I had three resolutions:
Finish the damned book.
Lose weight.
Chew more slowly.

I'm two for three... if you count two pounds as "losing weight" (I do!) In April, that book I was afraid I'd never finish comes out. Look for THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN in April.  It's a doozy. And how nice to look back and remember how lost I felt about that book, just like I'm feeling lost now with the next one.

Here you go, ladies, fess up! Did you(I cherry-picked or we'd be here all year...) --

RHYS, did you...
Have adventures.
Be patient with John's "little failings which are too numerous to mention here.
Take up a new sport.

RHYS BOWEN: I guess I can count falling and fracturing my pelvis as an adventure--not one I would have chosen, but certainly one that made me incredibly grateful for all the things I take for granted--being able to walk, drive myself, dance, play with grandkids. John's little failings... uh, I try.

Did I really say take up a new sport? What was I thinking? I guess my new sport had to be learning to use a walker! But I hiked 5 miles yesterday and maybe more today so all is well.

RO, did you...
Pay more attention to the library  in Tanzania.
Spend less time online.

ROSEMARY HARRIS: I did! And...maybe I didn't.We went back to Tanzania in February and we've committed to funding for another year so the library is still very  much in operation. We always need books though, so that's an ongoing challenge.

In the last six months I spent less time online but that had less to do with a conscious decision than just not having enough time. Oooh, Hallie, very sneaky of you to dig these up!

JAN, did you...
Exercise LESS.
Be more productive as a writer.

JAN BROGAN: Actually, the technical resolution - in my head if not in the blog - was to play less tennis. SO YES, I DID play less tennis. The fact that I tore my ulnar nerve was EXTREMELY helpful in that regard. In fact, I even wonder if I kept pushing my elbow into injury for just that reason. As of last July, I haven't played ANY tennis. 

So overall, I have exercised less, even though I have started running again (only a couple of times a week) and I've been way more productive as a journalist. A little more productive as a fiction writer.  The new year's resolution this year is to finish my first draft of my historical novel.

JULIA, did you...
Swim at least three times a week.
Keep better in touch.
Finish the next book.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I can't believe it's been a whole year and I still haven't finished the book! Clearly, for 2013, I need to come up with some concrete ways to a) stop procrastinating, b) better manage my writing time vs. my motherhood/volunteer/other professional obligations c) be accountable for my word production. Any suggestions are welcome.

I've been a tiny bit better at keeping in touch with my family, worse at staying connected to my friends, but a lot better at communicating what's going on with my editor and agent - so overall, I'll put this in the plus column.

Except for this summer (when we do lots of things outdoors) I have been swimming at least semi-regularly, and my knees have continued to thank me for it. So this coming year? More of the same, except with specific goals instead of those open-ended resolutions.

HANK, did you...
Banish fear.
Envision yourself differently.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well, yeah, I kind of did! In a kind of a sometimes-fearless way. (Interesting that those were among my resolutions. Good ones!) I do think I had some realization that we only have one life and if we don't go for it now, when will we? I even had an experiment, I will confess, where I went to a party and just said anything I wanted, without a filter.

And I do envision myself a bit differently, tentatively, carefully--someone told me I had to allow myself to "get big," like cats do when they're angry. Wow. That really works.

SO I'm keeping those resolutions for the next year, too! And being fearless about THE WRONG GIRL,  which I'm very happy with. (And the new book, for which I have NO IDEA. But I am not afraid!)

DEBS, did you...
Do the best you could.
Remind yourself often that you were doing the best you could., and wish all our friends and readers and very happy and productive new year!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Hallie, good on you for reminding us what we resolved last year. And now that my curiosity is piqued, I'll have to go back to that blog post and see what else I SAID I was going to do. I know one resolution was "finish the book," and like you, I did. By the skin of my teeth, but I did. I think I also resolved to have more productive work habits, and to be more organized. Not sure I achieved either. But, hey, I FINISHED THE DAMNED BOOK. (And it's good, too. THE SOUND OF BROKEN GLASS, out February 19th!)

Oh, and I lost ten pounds, although that wasn't a resolution. I'm calling it the "Stress over finishing the damned book diet."

LUCY, you escaped last year by seconding Rhys's list. Sneaky. So how'd you do?

LUCY BURDETTE: Geez, that was kind of lame, wasn't it? And you guys let me get away with that? And meanwhile poor Hank was supposed to banish fear? Yikes!So I did have some adventures--a week on a bare-bones sailboat in the British Virgin Islands, when I am a weenie about the open sea and scary sea creatures, and get easily seasick (and did!) Snorkeling I think should count as my new sport...

Let's see, what else? Two books in one year was a big adventure:).

As for being patient with my John, I think I'll add that back onto this year's list because being kind to your life partner is always a win-win, don't you think? And I'm going to take one from Hallie for this year--chew more slowly--and one from Debs--remind myself that I'm doing the best I can. If I am. (And I'll try...) Happy new year everyone!

HALLIE: So how about the rest of you? Did you do what you promised yourself, or are you pushing those resolutions into 2013... or just accepting whatever tomorrow brings?

Hot soup for a cold day

 


JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING:  It's Sunday, we have almost two feet of snow on the ground (and falling) and that means soup at my house. I am the Queen of Quick Soups, many recipes of which I have from my mother, the Empress of Quick Soups. This start-with-one, end-with-two recipe is my own, however, devised by streamlining a couple more complicated soups into one easy process.

BAKED POTATO SOUP and CORN CHOWDER

Start with two large soup pots. For both soups, you will need:

1/2 pound bacon, diced and divided
2 onions, chopped
diced potatoes - enough to fill each pot 3/4 full
chicken stock - enough to just cover the potatoes
4 bay leaves, divided


Saute half  the bacon with one onion in each pot. Fill with the diced potatoes, bay leaves, and cover with chicken stock. Boil gently until the potatoes are fork-tender. 

For the Baked Potato Soup:
 
1/4 to 1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded chedder cheese or to taste
Milk

Add the sour cream and the cheese. Stir until melted, then add milk until the soup looks nice and chowder-y. 

For the Corn Chowder:

1 can corn
1 can creamed corn
Milk

Add the corn, creamed corn, and the milk until it, too is nice and chowder-like.

We go very low-sodium in my house, but you can add salt to taste. I always like to crack a goodly bit of pepper into the pot as well. If you are cooking vegetarian, substitute finely diced celery and butter for the bacon, and use vegetable broth instead of chicken. You can add faux bacon bits at the end, if you like. Serve with warm bread or rolls and a nice wine.

Speaking of recipe here on Jungle Reds, we served Deb Crombie's Christmas Cocktails at our Christmas Day dinner for 24 and they were a huge hit. Spencer, who was tending bar, added extra juice and sparkling water, so they were light and refreshing. I highly commend them for all your holiday parties!

Best! Worst! The Reds Review 2012

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING:  Just a two more days to go until we can see 2012 out the door with a sigh of relief. Hurricanes, droughts, horrific murders and the longest presidential campaign in human history made this one for the record books - and not a minute too soon.

Still all of us here at Jungle Reds had our high and low points. For me, a big best-of moment was earlier this month, when my son Spencer received a congressional nomination to the service academies. We're still waiting to see if he gets an appointment, but it was a great way to cap off the year-long application process. A worst moment? Its a toss-up between blowing through yet another book deadline and my colonoscopy.
Best book? CLAWBACK by Mike Cooper, which took two subjects that usually make my eyes cross with incomprehension - high-end financial instruments cutting-edge computer manipulation - and turned them into a page-turning, deeply enjoyable mystery. Worst book? Any thriller that treats women like plot points with breasts. Guys, watch Bridesmaids a couple times, then go back for a second draft.
ROSEMARY HARRIS: Colonoscopy...was that one of the high points? Oh..just reread. ;-)

This may sound obnoxious but my regular life is so good that just sitting by the fire reading is a high point. We're still here. Nothing hurts. The house didn't blow away in the storm. my husband survived a terrifying fall off a balcony. It's all good!
If pressed...finishing my first non-mystery. Obama getting re-elected.They were high points. Favorite book, hard to say and I'm sure I'm forgetting something from early in the year, but I really liked The Informationist. Least favorite - 50 SHADES. Give me a break. I had better sex than that when I was sixteen.

JULIA: I'm laughing out loud right now, Ro. 

HALLIE EPHRON: This year our daughter announced she was pregnant - it doesn't GET better than that. We also had an absolutely fabulous trip to Trinidad. We stayed in at the Asa Wright nature center and within the first twenty minutes, standing on their beautiful veranda overlooking the valley, identified 40 birds, species we'd never seen before (they have counted 460 species of bird). Took a hike into the wood and heard what sounded like an hammer hitting an anvil --  we knew it was the elusive bell bird, and that it was high in the canopy ahead of us. We stalked it, got it in our spotting scope, and just stood there marveling at one of the weirdest looking birds ever making its decidedly un-birdlike sounds.
Best book, hands down, EDGE OF DARK WATER by Joe R. Lansdale. Best movie? An oldie that somehow I'd missed: DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS.

On my worst list was dealing with a chimney that needed to be rebuilt. They had to break through the wall in the basement. What a mess. Soot coating everything... still.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, good stuff...lots of it. Book things mostly, which you know about.  Still constantly in delight about this mid-life career addition of being able to make things up.  I still look at Jonathan sometimes and forget that his heart is fixed--and I am so happy when I remember he's fine! The dot they took off my face was nothing. And I agree, a lot of little stuff. We inherited part of my mother and step-father's wine collection, so we are having fun with that!  And I saw geese flying in a V the other day and burst into applause.
Best book, ah, Trust Your Eyes, by Linwood Barclay. Terrific. And a new one by Becky Masterman called Rage Against the Dying.  Best movie? Besides Love, Actually? (which I watched AGAIN)--maybe ARGO, which was absolutely riveting.

My worst list? Interestingly, when a bad thing happens, I say to myself: someday I will forget this, so I'm going to start forgetting it now. The guest bedroom ceiling fell in last week because of a water leak-AT MIDNIGHT--but no one was hurt. And I'm forgetting about that now.
JAN BROGAN - On the best list was my daughter getting into UPENN Medical School and the lovely white coat ceremony in Philly. On the worst list is the investment banking firm my husband worked for in New York; the founding partners will someday find themselves in one of my mysteries as either the villains or the corpse.   Favorite book?  Either The Steve Jobs biography, Rules of Civility or Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (recommended to my by Debs).  Worst book:  It's hard to get any worse than Fifty Shades of Grey, which I'm convinced actually subtracts knowledge from you. Best movie: Argo.  Guilty Pleasure: the movie TED. Worst movie? I've forgotten it already. How about worst entertainment?  The Red Sox's last season.  I am still in mourning.
HANK: Jan, I am howling with laughter. It SUBTRACTS knowledge. Like celery and calories. Perfect. 

LUCY BURDETTE: Worst thing--so busy can't remember sh*t. Best thing--so busy can't remember sh*t:). Good news--two book out in 2012 and first-ever Publisher's Weekly review! Not good--lost my dad in January. He struggled at the end, but still he was my dad and I miss him dearly.

Read lots of good books this year, including Barbara O'Neal's THE GARDEN OF HAPPY ENDINGS and Vanessa Diffenbaugh's THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. More good stuff: Lots of great friends and loving and lovable family and wonderful food and endlessly entertaining pets. And bad stuff--what is wrong with people in our world with all this shooting and fighting and negative energy? Let's hope and pray for better in 2013!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Best things--NO MARK UPON HER making the New York Times Bestseller list. A life-long dream. And finishing the next book.
Worst things--finishing the next book. You'd think I'd know by now that writing is really, really hard work. But there's always the NEXT book, which I'm sure I'll get written in a timely and organized manner...
Losing our dear fourteen-year-old dog, Hallie. We still miss her terribly.

But, best thing again, a new puppy to brighten our days--and wear us out. Viva Dax!

Movies? I think I'll go with a Best TV series. I LOVED Call the Midwife on PBS. I'd read one of Jennifer Worth's books when I was researching a book set in the East End, and they did a fabulous job of bringing the stories to life. (Take note, producers of Jack Reacher, etc. Worst movie? It would probably be Twilight something but I spared myself.

Best Book? So many! But I'm going to make it books and go with a find from Jungle Red; James R. Benn's Billy Boyle series. I still have two books to go to catch up, and am anticipating them. Worst book? Again, I spared myself from Fifty Shades:-)

And best of all, all my family is safe and well.
JULIA: Clearly, ladies, in 2013 we need to go ahead with the book we outlined (with the help of several bottles of wine) at Hank and Jonathan's house: FIFTY SHADES OF SILVER, an erotic novel for the over-fifty set. (Sequels will be FIFTY SHADES OF READING GLASSES and FIFTY SHADES AARP.)

How about you, dear readers? Let us in on your own highs and lows, best and worsts of 2012!

Hallie's Bell Bird - strange, indeed. Maybe we should make it the official mascot of the Reds in 2013?