Looking back over 2017 and forward to 2018

This time last year I did a 2016 review post (complete with post archive) and set some intentions for 2017. Bhahaha. Yes, well, best laid plans and all that. Let’s say we had a few ups and downs.

Just to set the scene, for those of you who are new followers. I started here on Steemit in August 2016, and mainly post about food and recipes (especially for people with allergies, or following special diets), nutrition and healthy lifestyle. But I’m also fond of posts about music, other types of entertainment and general thoughts about life (especially life in New Zealand).

January 2017

The first thing of note this year was that we had no summer. Basically, it rained from winter 2016, all through spring and summer of 16/17 and through winter 2017. (Luckily, we have been having some summer this year.)

We also had to make some changes in how we ran our online business, which meant less time for Steemit, darn it. But I still found time for a variety of Paleo themed posts, including one about cashews, more in my “60 years of favourite music” series and started a series on seated exercises for seniors or the disabled. I got to be a judge in a Culinary Challenge contest, and naturally chose the theme of Paleo.

February & March

We got a day or two of summer, my community choir took to the streets of Wellington in the Cuba Dupa festival and I tried my hand at writing some short story fiction. I also made a presentation to a Parliamentary select committee against water fluoridation.

April

This month included my birthday and Easter. I made myself a birthday cake, and @woman-onthe-wing made me one as well. Birthday outings included a trip to the Weta workshop and a show called Voices from the Front, about Gallipoli. I posted two recipes for Easter buns for my gluten free or Paleo followers ~ Paleo Easter Buns (coconut-almond flours, gluten and starch free, lowish carb) and Even yummier Paleo Easter Buns, and celebrated New Zealand music in honour of Anzac Day.

Although I didn’t post about it at the time, some long dead shares suddenly got resurrected, giving @sift666 and I a few $k to put into Bitcoin and other cryptos. At this point, 8 months later, we’re very happy we did so!

May & June

May went past in a blur of tax returns and fatigue…

But in June, we searched out some of our fellow kiwis on Steemit, and made some new friends. A chance conversation led to a couple of posts on how to feed babies with allergies - Real food for babies – Part 1 and Real food for babies – Part 2. I posted some new grain free recipes, including Cashew Porridge, Grain Free Apple Cashew Walnut Muffins and Carrot Cashew Blender Bread.

July

Winter set in, the fatigue continued and I got a sore throat. I went to a local Blockchain meet up (this post also has the latest list of kiwis on Steemit), and posted a variety of winter recipes, including No potato fries / NZ sweet potatoes and “Use up those vegetables that you bought and never used” winter soup.

August & September

The year got tough. My dad, who had been living in his own wee flat in a retirement village was hospitalised. This involved a lot of travel throughout the month, for various members of the family, as well as the worry about his health, and what we could do to support him.

this picture was taken by @sift666 at his 70th, back in 2003

On the up side, I celebrated my one year anniversary on Steemit.

Then at the start of September, on the evening before Fathers Day, Dad slipped away. Eight days later, @sift666’s dad, who had been in dementia care for two years, also slipped away. Two funerals in less than a week.

When you have your own business, and people rely on your products, you can’t just shut up shop for a week or two. So we carried on, one foot in front of the other, just in survival mode for some weeks.

October & November

We carried on, as ya do. On Steemit, I was conspicuous by my absence – not posting or commenting and barely reading. But I did check in each morning to get a smile from @meesterboom and read stories by @dreemit and @michelle.gent.

One highlight in October was my annual trip to the Wearable Arts award show with some girlfriends. And at the end of November, @sift666 and I celebrated 29 years together.

December

We made it to the end of the year. The sun came out for more than a day, for the first time in 18 months. I went away down to the Marlborough Sounds with some of my family for some time together. I meant to post about it, and maybe I’ll do a look back at it in the new year, as it really was a special time for us all.

I started experimenting with new recipes again, and posted my first recipe in a long time (low carb cream cheese cookies), along with a recap of some festive treats for special diets.

We found a NZ bullion exchange that takes cryptos, and bought our first bit of physical gold. Merry Xmas to us!

Our first Xmas with no dads has been and gone. An aunt and uncle also left us this year. At dad’s funeral, two of my older male cousins and I were reflecting on the new truth that we are now the senior generation in the family, with only a handful of the previous generation left. Time comes for us all.

But that said, a new phase of life is still life. To be lived to its fullest, with the special joys, gifts and challenges of its time. So, me, I’m looking forward to 2018. New lessons, new challenges, new teachings to share.

Last year, I set some intentions that never quite worked out. So this year, all I intend is to remember this – much as crypto investments and gold are fun things, our true wealth is our health, our families, our friendships, our zest for life.

To those of you, my dear friends, who have had sorrow in 2017, be glad of heart as we journey onwards together. For those of you who have had joy, yay, let’s have even more of it next year. xx

Happy New Year!

For my own convenience, as well as yours, below is a full archive of my previous posts.

Photos by myself, @sift666 or from Pixabay, unless otherwise stated.

Follow me for more health, nutrition, food, lifestyle and recipe posts.

ARCHIVE OF MY 2016 & 2017 posts:

RECIPES AND KITCHEN TIPS:
• BREAKFASTS: Choc Blackcurrant Smoothie ~ Feijoa Pear Smoothie ~ Cashew Porridge ~ Other Breakfast ideas
• BREADS & BAKING: Grain free, dairy free Pumpkin & Cashew Bread ~ Grain Free Banana Cashew muffins ~ Carrot Almond bread ~ Vegetable muffins ~ Grain free cheese muffins ~ Happy birthday to me! with birthday cake recipe… ~ Grain Free Apple Cashew Walnut Muffins ~ Carrot Cashew Blender Bread ~ Stove top grain free bread ~ Apple Walnut Coconut Flour muffins ~ Low carb CREAM CHEESE COOKIES
• SOUPS & DINNERS: Warming winter soup ~ Paleo Cottage Pie ~ I judged the Steemit Culinary Challenge: Paleo ~ No potato fries / NZ sweet potatoes ~ “Use up those vegetables that you bought and never used” winter soup
• SNACKS & FINGER FOODS: Healthy Chocolate & Fudge ~ Jerky with vegetables ~ Choco-mallow protein bars ~ Grain free Fruit & Nut bar ~ Finger food for a gathering ~ Real food ideas for snacks and road trips
• FESTIVE: Festive smoothies for Xmas morning ~ Orange Cranberry Xmas Breakfast Muffins ~ Crisp & crunchy Xmas cheese stars ~ Best ever (and easiest) Christmas cake ~ Xmas menu ideas ~ Planning your holiday eating to be a bit more balanced ~ Paleo Easter Buns (coconut-almond flours, gluten and starch free, lowish carb) ~ Even yummier Paleo Easter Buns ~ Christmas treats for GAPS, Paleo and other whole food or therapeutic diets
• KITCHEN TIPS & MENUS: Tip for storing ginger & tumeric ~ Equipment for the real food kitchen ~ Hang out in my kitchen this weekend - help me cook and listen to some music!

For MORE RECIPES and my 15 step Whole Food cooking course, see my recipe website.

NUTRITION:
• The wide variety of healthy diets out and what they have in common
• The travels of Weston A Price and his discoveries about healthy diets
• Good fats vs bad fats
• DNA testing for better Health & Fitness
• DNA testing part 2: How Well Do I Digest Carbs?
• DNA testing Part 3: I can’t eat Carbs & How to Manage that
• About the Gut & Psychology syndrome (GAPS) diet Part 1 – Can it help autism?
• GAPS diet Part 2: Foods we can’t have
• GAPS diet Part 3: Foods we CAN have
• GAPS diet Part 4: What if I can’t eat some animal foods
• Salicylate intolerances
• Introduction to the Paleo diet
• How to get started on a Real Food diet Part 1
• Why use Real Food diets for healing
• How to get started on a Real Food diet Part 2
• We did a three day water fast
• Comparison of different diets – which is for you?
• Should you eat Dairy? Part 1: Pasteurisation
• Cashews and the Paleo diet
• Should you eat Dairy? Part 2: Quality
• Is salt good or bad for you?
• Should you eat Dairy? Part 3: Is it food for humans?
• Real food for babies – Part 1
• Real food for babies – Part 2

HEALTH & LIFESTYLE:
• Sleep like a kitten Part 1 – 3 tips
• Sleep Well Part 2 – What’s your sleeping style?
• Sleep Well Part 3 – Resetting your body clock
• Thoughts about Breast Health
• I’ve got a cold & how to handle it
• Overcoming my fears
• Positivity Challenge 4 – Emotional Freedom Technique Part 1
• EFT Part 2 – Getting started
• Six days training in a new natural therapy
• Quick & Easy calming tip
• EFT Tapping videos for Xmas stress
• Seated exercise – legs
• Seated exercise – head & shoulders
• Ways to boost my winter immunity
• How to beat the stress of Xmas (or the stress of playing the crypto currency game)

MUSIC:
• Benefits of joining a community choir ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1957 to 1966 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1967 to 1971 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1972 to 1976 ~
• Singing carols with the NZ Symphony Orchestra PLUS my best loved Christmas music ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1976 to 1983 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1983 to 1988 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1988 to 1994 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1994 to 2001 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 2001 to 2007 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 2008 to 2014 ~
• Remembering those who passed away in 2016 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – some randoms ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – more randoms ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – Kiwi classics ~
• My choir singing on the streets of Wellington ~
• Some New Zealand music ~
• 60 years of music - Musicals I’ve been in ~
• Hang out in my kitchen this weekend - help me cook and listen to some music!
• What Steemit friends are for
• Rest in Peace Dad, and some music to remember you by

OTHER ENTERTAINMENT:
• Wearable Arts Award Show ~
• If crying in movies was an Olympic sport ~
• My fiction-trail competition 1 entry – Time to buy a Purple Hat ~
• My fiction-trail competition 2 entry – The Broken Man ~
• Voices from the Front – a story of Gallipoli ~
• RIP Kiwi comedian John Clarke aka Fred Dagg ~
• Pumpkin pie story contest entry ~
• Book review, with a musical bonus – Alex Bledsoe’s Tufa novels ~
• The Wearable Arts Award Show - always a WOW on my yearly calendar!

OTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT LIFE:
• My Intro
• Are there kiwis in the house?
• My grandmother’s legacy
• Steemit in downtown Wellington
• Observations from a bus
• The brandy snap maker
• 2 months on Steemit and now curating health, nutrition and recipes
• Positivity Challenge 3 – Acts of kindness
• Positivity Challenge 4 with a twist
• News on the NZ earthquake
• More news on the NZ quake
• Earthquake aftermath
• The NZ Prime Minister just resigned!
• Happy Steemit New Year – 2017 intentions and 2016 review
• First day of the Wellington summer
• Presenting to a Parliamentary Committee about proposed new legislation
• Voices from the Front – a story of Gallipoli
• RIP Kiwi comedian John Clarke aka Fred Dagg
• Wellington Blockchain meetup + Updated Steemit Kiwis list + NZ meetup
• New Zealand winter has arrived with a vengeance! Big storm affecting the whole country.
• Happy anniversary to me - Reflections on my first year on Steemit
• PS to my Steemiversary post
• Rest in Peace Dad, and some music to remember you by
• No, not me (phew) - but @sift666 has been hacked! (Turned out to be blocked)
• Happy 29th anniversary to @kiwideb and @sift666 – how we met
• Our new gold bullion, bought with Bitcoin! Yes, all in one easy transaction