New Year's Eve?

 I'm not doing anything special. The year will change over with or without my participation. Last year I picked a word 'Explore' for the year. I did a pretty good job at that and am hoping to continue Exploring both the natural world around me and the Still Life world of Photography and Toys. 

Sometimes I'll combine both.

I have stuff on my 'to do' list. But I'm not making a solid commitment to the Stuff. 

I will commit to just one day at a time. 

And...wait for it!!!!

My son Eddie and his wife Megan brought Aurora Ivy into this world on Wednesday the 27th. I cannot wait to meet her! They said they will call her Rory. All is well with them and Rory and they are taking time to get to know each other right now. Soon enough they said they would come and visit us so we can meet her.

I think that is such a kind act since Rich can't travel.

I can't think of much that really.

I leave you with the last of December's colors that I found

And...
Charlie, Mr. Intense watching for squirrels, chipmunks, and hawks....

he also wishes a safe and quiet New Year's Eve.

About now...

It seems that everyone is doing this thing where they look back on the past year.

Photographers are flooding FB with their 9 or 10 BEST photos of the year. Flickr asks users to send in their number one photo of the year.

I cannot find a favorite for the life of me.

So, photography aside. My look back on this year?

It was okay and pretty good. We are both still upright each morning. We had no catastrophic incidents and I accomplished some goals as did Rich.

I feel amazing with all the specific workouts I've been doing with Angie, my coach.

All in all?

It was a pleasant year. Rich's daughter visited him three times! Each time it made Rich's world so much brighter for a day.

I don't do New Year's Eve resolutions because I've always broke them in the past. I have goals for the next year. We'll see what happens.

I'm looking forward to short term, day by day goals. 

Maybe doing the KVR Trail Challenge again? No one has ever done it back to back. I think I can accomplish that again especially now that I know all of the trails. 

I'll work on my keeping my bones challenged and keep up my new relationships with the new neighbors. Both of those items bring me a lot of joy and social relaxation.

I do have a few favorite photos. But they are regarding moments. Not stunning 'best' photos of the year.

Moments in time that I can look back on and say that in 2022 I did something important for myself.

Here is to continuing to live day by day and looking forward...

Not

Backward.

Review or not to Review

Basically 2020 will be year that historians will write about. If nothing else, it will be interesting to read about.

And we may hear things in the Future...like "My Grandmom lived through the Great Pandemic of 2020!" or some such thing. 

I have made it to the end of the year. That much is certain. Well, it will be more certain if I get past midnight.

For me, it will be the year that I began to seriously question people's priorities and friendships. The year I 'un' friended so many on FB. The year I kept count of many things. 

The Great Toilet Paper shortage. The year of the mask? Or the year of the anti mask? 
The year when most people started to understand just how fragile our lives can be. Or the year that some people said the Hell with It All. 

The craziest political year in the history of the United States?

So I'm not going to go on and detail 2020, but I may just toss out some photos I did this year.

Nope, I don't think I will write much of a review.

2020 happened. I'm not going to say 2021 will be awesome or great or...a new start and a blank slate.

But I will approach each day with a feeling of hope.

For without hope, we have nothing.

"Someone I once loved gave me a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand that this too,
was a gift." ~~~ Mary Oliver

I think that sums up the year quite perfectly.

Magical....

 

This is what it looked like when I went to the ridge to get the mail. Inches of snow had fallen and more was coming down hard. I stuck my hand into the driveway to measure. The snow went from my fingertips to my palm.

In my best guess-ta-mate, that would have been about 4 inches. According to the NOAA, we should have been done. However. We weren't. It didn't really bother me that much. It was a welcome change to the constant rain/warm/ice/sleet weather we had been having.

At the mailbox I ran into my neighbors. Lauren and family had been out with their cross country skis, so had their dog Basil!

Basil was going back to the house but had enjoyed her first x-country ski adventure.

Lauren said the snow was a bit sticky but it wasn't too bad. I ran home and got my skis and was greeted by Allie and Lauren. The guys had enough and had gone into the house also.

And off the gals went on a snowy New Year's Eve ski adventure.

Allie decided that she would like to lead and take me to *The Tunnel* in the trees.
I was game and told her to go ahead.

She cautioned me that when we got into the trees I would have to crouch down and get low. It was like a secret cool place and she and her brothers had 'discovered' it.
I knew where she was going. I'd been through there before on my own but since it was her discovery, I was not going to ruin it by telling her I knew this trail already.

Besides, the snow had turned the box elders into fairy tale trees and the hush of the falling snow left only the swish swish of our skis to be heard.
And indeed....
It 
was
very
magical...

Hands down, this was one of my most enjoyable ski adventures yet.

Out with the...old year...

I generally don't get too excited about New Year's Eve or the coming of the New Year. I got over that when I was a kid. My folks let me stay up and watch the programming on TV. 
As I got older the appeal of just watching the event on TV got old and I went out to a party.

That was just as much a bummer. I recall calling my father to tell him my date had too much to drink and so had I. We were only blocks away and dad came and took me home. 
I think that was my last Party like that. 

I think I stayed up a few times with my own kids, and probably a few times just to watch the clock to see if I felt different at all.
I didn't.

Now? It doesn't really matter. Each year has brought some sort of new challenge.
I don't remember the past three years for all the incredible things that happened. But for those years labeled as. 2015, the year of cancer. 2016, remodeling [that was a great year], 2017, the year of the stroke.
2018, the year of The Depression, and the year to learn about Pulmonary Emboli. [Oh and MIL's hospitalization and learning about dementia and elder care]

It wasn't all that horrid. But I could do with my son's idea from years ago. The Suck Box.
So I'm going to write what Sucked about 2018. I'm going to put it in the Suck Box and burn it. I'd do it at midnight, but we are under a weather advisory with sleet/ice/snow. Perhaps the Suck Box will burn today instead.

2019.
Will you be kinder to those around me?

I guess we will wait and see.