We’re already three weeks into 2010. So are you sticking to your New Year’s resolutions?

Of the people I talked with, fewer were making them this year. My primary physician, Dr. Lawrence Perry, says he plans to exercise more this year. We all would benefit from that.

Losing weight usually tops my list, but to my surprise, only one person is planning to shed some pounds this year.

The beginning of the year is a good time to, as most businesses do, take of stock of our lives so we will be able to see where we need to make improvements.

One woman said she wants to have a closer walk with the Lord this year. Others plan to establish priorities and organize their entire lives so they will be able to adopt better habits that will improve their overall health. I plan to try to study the complete Holy Bible this year and get and keep my house clean.

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Did you know that there are a lot of New Year’s Day superstitions, or Old Wives Tales? I can remember my mother saying that when she was growing up it was bad luck for a woman to go to someone’s house. It had something to do with causing the chickens not to lay many eggs that year. She said later a woman could visit as long as a man had been to the house first.

n You had to be careful what you did the first day of the year because you would be doing it all year through.

n Every time you went outside that day you had to bring something back in with you. That meant you were bringing in good luck.

n It is bad luck to leave your Christmas decorations up until the New Year comes in.

n I can’t leave off the traditional New Year’s Day meal. If you want good luck and good health during the year, you must eat collard greens, black-eyed peas and hog jowls. I love collard greens and I can eat peas but I have to pass on the hog jowls.

n For the last several years a gentleman has come to our house on New Year’s Day morning. He goes to several home in his community before coming to Ramseur. We always look forward to his visits. After he leaves, we always see a stack of pennies. I called him to see if there was any significance to the number of pennies he left. He said there isn’t.

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I have heard the expression “once in a blue moon” several times and never gave much thought about it. I thought it meant something that rarely or never would happen. Someone said something to me a few days after this year came in that got my curiosity revved up. It was about kissing under a blue moon. I inquired about it to my sister so she found some information for me.

It seems there was a blue moon this New Year’s Eve. I didn’t fully understand why it’s called a blue moon but it’s rare for them to happen. The last time was in 1990.

Now back to the kissing part. It has been said that “anyone who you meet and kiss on a blue moon, that person you are destined to marry.” One needs to be careful who they kiss. The person who told me about the New Year’s Blue Moon said that’s what he and his wife did. That is supposed to secure, bless and safeguard the marriage for another 19 years.

This was not only a blue moon but a partial lunar eclipse to boot. The next lunar eclipse and blue moon on New Year’s Eve will not occur until 2028.

And there were two songs about blue moons: Remember Blue Moon I Saw You Standing Alone and Blue Moon Over Kentucky?

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Until next time, remember: Each new year we live to see is a gift from God. Let’s remember to thank Him.



Pattye Harris of Ramseur shares news of interest from N.C. 49, the Empire Charge area and beyond. She can be reached at (336) 824-8198 and invites readers to call her with information they would like to share.