I was beginning to think not eating any black-eyed peas on Jan. 1 really had jinxed my chances for good fortune in the new year when we found about an inch of water in our kitchen floor the first two Saturdays of the year.

The first morning, the cat woke me about 6 a.m.wanting her breakfast. I crawled out of bed and dutifully followed her to the kitchen where I discovered the floor was flooded from the sink down to the table, about 2/3 of the way across the room. I reluctantly woke Jim and, with his help, it took about 45 minutes to dry up the lake. He disconnected the water line to the ice maker, thinking that would solve the problem; but the following week the flooding recurred. Thankfully, it didn’t take so long to remove the water that time.

In other ways the year kicked off pleasantly enough. We went out for breakfast the first Saturday and, that afternoon, our quilt class enjoyed our first get-together of 2013 at Cleta Whitman’s lovely home. We took goodies for a potluck meal - I baked a sweet potato pie - and stuffed ourselves on all the tasty offerings.

We engaged in a lively gift exchange where the most popular items could be stolen a couple of times from the first person who opened the package. One of the most sought-after items was a set of Sunbonnet Sue quilt blocks made by one of our members.

Old-fashioned patchwork quilts were often made from pieces of discarded clothing, and family members spent weeks cutting and stitching the blocks from worn-out dresses, shirts, feed and flour sacks. Some of my favorites were quilts containing pieces of material I remembered seeing in Mama’s or Grandma’s dresses.

Steve Wong, a writer from South Carolina peach country, had a similar experience when he found a quilter to fashion quilts for his family like those his late Aunt Matt had made. Before her death, Aunt Matt had given Steve’s family some of her quilts and they were much treasured.

Wong found a quilter, Mrs. Gilbert, in the newspaper classified section and told her his desire to have some quilts like the family heirlooms, to “re-create a memory that I could pass on to my children.”

He took her sacks of old clothing, and in the next three years she crafted five quilts for various family members.

“Almost daily, as I make up beds,” he wrote, “a flash of faded blue will cross my eyes and I will remember when my son used to wear the pants that the cloth came from. Or I’ll notice a pretty pink-and-white striped square and know it came from one of my daughter’s favorite party dresses ... Such are the things from which memories are made!”

It’s my guess that most folks who made New Year’s resolutions have already been caught breaking some or all of them. We have such good intentions when we resolve to make improvements, but old habits are hard to break and human nature seems to draw us back into our old ways of doing things. I haven’t been making any formal resolutions in the last few years, but I have set some goals for myself and hope to make some progress toward achieving them. Mainly, they revolve around becoming more organized, more efficient and reducing the clutter at our house. And, last week, I started a new Bible study. I don’t think one could ever get too much prayer or too much Bible reading.

We’ve had some extremely cold nights already this year, some snow flurries and some sleet, but even this harsh weather has its own beauty. I drove home from Southwest City one day last week, coming through Noel and down to Sulphur Springs where I picked up friends who came to have lunch with me at the senior center. At Noel, I admired the giant icicles on the bluffs by the Elk River. Glistening in the sunlight, they sparkled and shone like diamonds. In other spots, shaded areas still were snow-covered, creating lovely scenes. As we embark on the last week of January, we enjoy the sunny days between the storms. At mid-month, we already had daffodils springing up. Spring will be here someday!

Susan Holland, who works for the Westside Eagle Observer, is a lifelong resident of Benton County.

Opinion, Pages 6 on 01/23/2013