hindsight is twenty-"ten"

LOOKING BACK as one is wont to do at the beginning of the first decade of the second millennium, it's always the practice to resolve to not make mistakes of the past. As for the future though, superstitious beliefs abound. In the American South, eating collard greens for prosperity and black-eyed peas or Hoppin' John for luck is part of the New Year's ritual. I had some of each, although on New Year's Eve at an early dinner at the Collonade. Maybe by doing that, it only helped me through the last few hours of 2009. It has not been an especially easy year for anyone (that I know, at least). Our vision is not always perfectly clear in looking back. We have to "be in the now" to really find that elusive moment of clarity. That is a resolution for anyone—to be aware of and in the moment when conducting daily life.

IT WAS THE SECOND year that I've adopted the Spanish tradition of consuming “las doce uvas de la suerte” (or the 12 grapes of luck) at the turn of the clock at midnight, along with a glass of bubbly (or wine, as we did this year). Each grape represents a month in the new year—some sour, some sweet—as I'm sure they will be. We're ushering in a new decade and have that chance again to make this the decade known for something. I'm not sure what label we'll stick on the decade that began with a two and three zeros. With the word "Twitter" being the top word of 2009 (in the English language at least), I wonder if anyone can sum up the decade in 140 characters? It has been quite a time of upheaval and limbo in many ways. 

IT'S NOT ALWAYS what we say but what we do. The following quote from one of the most notorious people in the last decade really sums up what unsettling and contemptuous rhetoric the decade has brought:

"As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know they're some things we do not know. But there're also unknown unknowns; the ones we don't know we don't know."

Did you get that? That quote was from U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on February 12, 2002. No matter whether it effectively explained why the U.S. government had no idea what it was doing by invaded Iraq—in taking it out of context it points not so succinctly to many unsure missteps we have made collectively. 

ALL I CAN SAY is that I still believe in and wish for peace in the world. As time continues to tick away, the planet is getting smaller every day technologically and the people of the world are understaning and reasoning with each other in more civilized and succinct ways.

HATS OFF | Toasting 2010, Jon and I had a glass of wine with a skewer of 12 grapes, representing each month of the year—a Spanish tradition (above, right). The 2009 top hat ornament is from Martha Stewart Everyday Modern Celebration line at Kmart. The 2010 headband is from Target. 

TIME FOR PEACE | A delicate hourglass from Target (above, left) sits next to a past season's top-hatted Dee Foust licensed snowman figure produced by Bethany Lowe Designs that resembles an iconic New Year's image. It all overlooks a mercury glass globe ornament from my personal collection atop a glass-glittered peace sign ornament from Pottery Barn.

©2010 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

collecting, photography and styling by Darryl Moland

REAR VIEW | This surrealist image (above) of an uprooted fir tree as car air freshener was found on a Catalonian blogger's site that commented on my blog this past August from French photographer Cédric Delsaux. I'm sharing the smile of irony it gave me. Hindsight is not unlike a rear-view mirror.