The first column of a new year; a new century; a new week. It doesn’t feel any different than all the others have. I wasn’t awfully excited about all the big hoopla and my only preparation for the weekend was to fill a gallon jug with water. I have sterno, so could make coffee, fill the bird water dish and soak the macaroni dish. None of these things were needed!

The nicest part of the holiday weekend was getting phone calls from folks far and near. Scott, the oldest grandson, called a bit before leaving on Saturday for a vacation in Hawaii. I was apprehensive about him having planned the trip on New Year’s Day, but no news was good news and now I can imagine him on a sandy beach, in sunny, warm weather, relaxing.

My friend Caroline Edwards called from Florida, we both admitted to being glad to stay home and let the rest of the world celebrate. Eleanor Lewis, longtime friend, called and we compared the infirmaries that keep us from strenuous activities and got updated on all our families happenings. Joy, the Vermont daughter-in-law, called. We exchange weather reports and she said she had to go to work on Sunday at the bank where she is the branch manager. They were going to run all the things on the computer that would be needed when business opened on Monday morning. Ed (the younger son) had to do the same thing at his place of business in Westport.

Laurie, the Vermont daughter, called and we talked for a long time. When she got home from Connecticut after Christmas, she went to bed with what turned out to be a bad cold or touch of flu. By Friday night she was tired of being house bound. Wendy called and we made plans for Sunday that were cancelled when Megan (her daughter) decided to go to a gymnastics meet with a friend.

Our relative Jan Bartolo called from Cooperstown, N.Y. He works in the postal service and is a representative of the rural carriers group. It takes him all over to meetings and conventions. The weather this season has been a real gift to postal workers, delivery men and anyone needing to travel.

Susan stopped for a few minutes on Friday. We both think my Christmas tree is one of the best ever; it hasn’t dropped a single needle and the branches aren’t stiff or dry. I will hate to take it down.

One of the best things about starting a new year is the need it creates. I love to clean the desk; set up a new budget for the coming year; review the addresses on all the Christmas mail and put changes in the book.

When the Christmas decorations are all carefully put away, the house seems so much larger for awhile! We don’t have any January birthdays, so things will be quiet and in place until early February. Scott’s is the first birthday, followed closely by the flurry of Valentine cards and a get-together.

Books are always high on my gift lists – both sending and receiving. One new one is a great book of quotations — Peter’s Ideas for Our Time, by Dr. Laurence J. Peter, from my friend Ginni. It ranges from wisdom to “outrageous wit” and many of the quotes will find the way to the end of the “Back Fence” columns.

I’ve been reading Dare to Dream by Jim Calhoun, coach of the UConn men’s basketball team. I picked it up one night after Christmas, and idly turned pages, till suddenly I was reading the last page. It was so much like the man himself talking, I kept going — backwards! By midnight I had read about the last third of the book in reverse. Susan & Allan gave me the book and I told her in the morning that in my entire life I had never read a book from back to front!

I got a beautiful new book about birds from Ed, and two others from Laurie which I’ll talk about in another column.

It was Carl Sandburg whose quote closed the column last week.

I like this quote – do you know who said it? “Age is not important unless you are a cheese.”