New Year’s Eve

Used to be this night was filled with promise, excitement, the deep seated idea that I should be doing something absolutely fabulous.  Reality, however, is that it turns out more often than not to be a quiet night at home trying to stay awake to watch the ball fall.  There are several times during the year when I feel the need to reflect.  The night of my birthday is important, reviewing the past year.  The night of the winter solstice to me is the real ‘new year’ when I know that the sun has reached it’s greatest distance.  New Year’s Eve, of course, is another one of those nights, another time for thinking about the year past, for remembering and reflecting.

I could write a litany of what we did this year, a summary of the trips, the travels, the fun times.  I could write about family changes and milestones, another litany, another list.  Instead, as this day comes to a close, I will attempt to think about what moments stand out most as something totally new and surprising, and maybe look back to see just what I learned this year, how I possibly grew a bit.  Who knows, by the time I am done, it may still be just a list of what we did and where we went.  I guess I’ll know more as I attempt to backtrack and see the learning tidbits buried beneath the stories. So for now, as the year comes to a close, I thought I would track down some sunset photos until I get around to actually reflecting.  It’s just a bit easier to do. The surprising thing about that little exercise was that I take a LOT more photos of sunrises than I do of sunsets.  Guess that shows what time of day I like most, I guess.

It was 11 degrees this morning when we woke up, and we waited for it to warm up to a balmy 14 before going outside to haul a couple of loads of wood to the back porch.  We are burning dry juniper this year and I love it.  It smells wonderful, and it burns hot and bright with a brilliant glowing color that feels as good as it looks.  In this area, we don’t have access to much hardwood, except for the laurel over in Medford that runs 200 a cord.  I’ll settle for juniper at 130. 

New followers keep showing up on the blog, and if I missed welcoming any of you, Holler!  It’s delightful to read your stories and I am appreciative of the fact that you read mine.  I have said before that this blog was started just for me and for Mo and our friends and family, but as most bloggers know, the family doesn’t come around all that often.  Magic followers from the ethers of the internet keep me honest, keep me blogging, inspire me to write more thoughtfully, and in the long run, Mo and I will benefit from that when at some time down the road we return to the blog to review our lives.

Kenny and Angela  are counting down until they can become full-timers.

Sam and Donna have fun traveling in their fifth wheel, and have some great nostalgic photos of the two of them back in the 80’s

Dennis and Donna who travel in a fifth wheel as well, decided to return home in the snow a bit sooner than expected, but are happy to be there.

Judy had some really amazing photos of a hawk that she rescued with Emma’s help on Travels with Emma.

Dear Miss Mermaid had some interesting tidbits about goofy Florida laws for RV’s in Orange County.

Roxie and Annie over at the The Goodluck Duck made me laugh out loud.

Thank you to all of you.

Author: kyotesue

Soil scientist/mapper working for 35 years in the wild lands of the West. I am now retired, enjoying my freedom to travel, to hike without a shovel and a pack, to knit and quilt and play, to play with photography and write stories about all of it. View all posts by kyotesue