New Year's Day

Good morning! Did you notice? We're in a new year!

(So why does everything seem the same?)






New year? So -- new year's resolutions! I have mine: I will be a better person at all fronts! (Experts in this stuff would say that's too grandiose and therefore unattainable, to which I say -- pshaw!)

I fail within an hour of being up. As I sit down to do my budget for the year behind and the year ahead, I get grumpy. (Things just do not add up.) The mood lasts for about 15 minutes, but still, I should take heed: resolutions are only good if you believe in their viability. I guess I did not fully believe that I could forge ahead unruffled by life's events, even for one day. Resolution number two: I shall proceed cautiously, aware of my limitations.


In the afternoon Ed and I go to Indian Lake county park. We save this for the special times, as it is a 27 minute drive from the farmhouse -- a distance that we both think is too long for the everyday.







It's one icy hike! That we don't end up with casts over broken bones is nothing short of a miracle.






It's also supremely beautiful.






Commemorative, for the new year:






At the top of an incline, we see two sleds resting by a warming hut. Ed asks the owners (warming up inside) if we could borrow them. Sure!






I'm a bit cautious. It's one slick trail of ice! Still....






Hey, why am I going backwards???

Ed of course does not spin out of control, which could be because he has a better sled, or because he is heavier and so the sled does not spin, or because he is a genius at sled control. Personally, I think it's the first. It will not surprise you to learn that he thinks it's the third.





Oh, Ed!


The drive home (near sunset) is lovely. In my view -- the clouds do not take away from the fact that it is completely beautiful.






Dinner. The young family comes over. Snowdrop is intent on showing her exuberance and she jumps high, so very high...






We eat chicken xinxim -- a Brazilian dish with chicken and shrimp and coconut and ginger and you name it...











Such a warm beginning to the year ahead!

As I climb up on a chair to reach for one of those items you wish you'd stored a tad closer, I suddenly notice a little one up there next to me.






Snowdrop is no longer the infant turned toddler that she was a year ago. She's crossing over to the little girl stage, that's for sure.





So what will 2017 bring? Well, whatever it is,  I'll move forward cautiously, aware of my limitations. I'll take the time to sit back and take stock. And smile. Because really, there are always plenty of reasons to smile.