Donna Louise here working on my year-end letter which will appear in two parts. Today the Kwanzaa principle is Kuumba (Creativity)—to always do what we can to leave our community in a much better place. My review of the year satisfies that principle.
2011-In-Review
Dear Friends,
2011 SUCKED and not in a good way. When I reviewed the Christmas/Holiday letters, spoke with friends, and surveyed a random group of strangers, the word most frequently used to describe 2011 was “SUCKED!!!”
JANUARY
Arab “Spring” began inTunisia (in the dead of winter) and spread across the Arab world. 2011 became “Arab Rebellion Year” with more trouble coming in 2012.
FEBRUARY
Jane Russell died. Remember her 1970’s “’Cross-Your-Heart Bra’ for us full-figured girls” commercial? Still one of Playtex bras’ best remembered ads. Or, how about her role opposite Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?
MARCH
A 9.1 magnitude earthquake hit northeastern Japan and damaged four nuclear reactors, a “once in a lifetime occurrence” but it only takes once to kill thousands of people and irradiate the globe. Pat Robertson, who sees his god’s spiteful hand behind every natural disaster, chose to leave the Japanese alone, but tout the benefits of nuclear power. Glenn Beck filled the ignorance vacuum by saying the earthquake was God’s message to the world. They both suck, but that must be obvious.
That same month Elizabeth Taylor and Geraldine Ferraro (first woman vice-presidential candidate) died, two women who changed the world. That sucked.
On March 21, Arab Spring really became Arab Spring.
APRIL
Prince William and Cate married in a ceremony viewed by two billion people who were not invited to the reception. That sucked. I’d picked out an outfit and a hat, purchased my gift (a ceramic cow creamer) and bought my airline ticket. No invitation arrived.
MAY
President Obama announced that special forces had killed Osama bin Laden and dumped the body at sea to prevent something awful from happening. Quite what, I never understood. That sucked for the Republicans who had wanted to catch and kill him themselves. They recovered quickly and blamed the President for playing politics.
May 21, Harold Camping’s prediction of the Rapture came and went without anyone being sucked up into Heaven. All that proved was that no one was good enough to go.
JUNE
Arab Spring officially becomes Arab Summer on June 21. Actor Peter Falk died.
Whew! That’s just the first six months of 2011. From the look of things, “SUCK” may be too kind a word to describe the year.
Tomorrow: July through December.
Donna Louise 
Donna Louise, I can’t wait to leave this year behind in the dust, but I’ve been noticing that’s a recurring theme for me each year. Is it because I crave the start of something new or do the holidays just wear me out every year that I’m happy to see them go? Perhaps I’m in need of an Attitude Adjustment. Know anyone having a sale?
Dearest Monica, pay attention to recurring themes in your life. What aren’t you giving yourself that you need to flourish where you are? Time for yourself? Respect for yourself? Love for yourself? A new outfit? A new pair of shoes? A diamond necklace? What?
Don’t know of any Attitude Adjustment sales around, but I’ll keep my eyes open for you. I think all the sales are on crap that may have led to the need for an attitude adjustment.
Happy New Year.
DL — my beloved friend, Gwen, died in June.
Totally sucked.
Flannista, the death of a beloved friend always sucks and it takes time to grieve over the death. Be kind to yourself.
I’m just getting to this. We can always find news that sucks, but I’ll read Part 2 before commenting further.
Sharyn, welcome back. You’ve been gone a lot. I’m impressed that you stopped by this morning to catch-up considering all the kitchen activity you had and will have. The tangerine curd sounds tasty although I don’t know what it is.
Hope you are doing well.
I chose to focus on “suck” because that was the word most people used to describe 2011. It didn’t suck for you?
2012 sucked for a lot of people. It was rather good to me: I sold my first painting, then another and another and another. I started my blog. I went to New York for the first time (and saw the Alexander McQueen show there, thanks to you). Okay, they wouldn’t let me go home — that part sucked. I assisted Natalie Goldberg at Kripalu and got points for being “self-entertaining.” And I didn’t have a cold or flu the entire year. Mom and Bryan and I are healthy. The cats are fine. Oh, and I got to go to music camp unexpectedly. Plus two people who had stopped speaking to me became my friends again. That’s a pretty good haul for 2011. Maybe 2012 will be even better. P.S. tangerine curd is like lemon curd, which is another name for that stuff that makes up the lemon layer in lemon meringue pie. You can make curd out of any citrus fruit or any berry and some people make it out of stone fruits as well. I’ve made blackberry, raspberry, blood orange, lemon and tangerine.
Sharyn, so glad that 2012 was a good year for you. It was a good year for me too. I met lots of nice people during the year and several entertaining ones. I went to Paris and met Jeffrey. I stopped some crime. I went to Puerto Vallarta and marched in a couple of religious processions. Got sprinkled with holy water. Came home to Xmas with “ice” from Jeffrey. So, all in all, my year was a good one too, but most of the people I talked with or interviewed used the word, “SUCKED” to describe 2011. I wanted to validate their feelings. People say I see the world through peony-colored glasses (or is it violet-colored glasses…it has something to do with a flower, but right now I’m so tired I’m going to bed).
Hope your 2012 is even more grand and glorious. In fact, I hope everyone’s is.
OMG, blood orange curd and tangerine curd sound FABulous for meringue pies. Have you ever made any meringue pies like that. I need to tell the Baking Beauties about these two ideas for meringue pies. Intense. You’re a culinary genius.
I made blood orange meringues once, but not meringue pie — the acid in the curd made the meringues weep. Meringue pie would work better because the meringue sits on top of the curd.
Sharyn, I love a good meringue. There’s a pie shop here in town that makes the loveliest meringues I’ve ever seen. I really will talk with them about blood orange and tengerine meringue pies and see what they have to say. The expense of making the pies might prevent them from making them, but it’s worth a conversation.