Happy Hogmanay

May your troubles be less,

your blessings be more,

and nothing but happiness

come through your door!

It's Hogmanay...and the biggest New Year's Eve party on the planet is happening in Edinburgh right this minute.  If I were home, the sounds of fireworks and singing and wildness would be wafting in the air.  No, not wafting...buzzing and sizzling in the air.  Half a million people at one party is pretty intense.  And unforgettable.

Hogmanay means "the coming of midnight" and as far back as 4000 BC, was celebrated on the night of the Winter Solstice which used to be the end of the Celtic year.  The parties sometimes went on for weeks...though nowadays if you make it to sunrise on January 1st--still conscious--that's a real feat.  Alan and I did it four times...and I paid dearly for the experience.  You think you can party?  Ha.  Go to Scotland for Hogmanay.

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So, 2013 is nearly over.  Walking the boys this morning, on a very sunny Winter's day, I was reflecting on the year and what I've accomplished over the past twelve months...

  *  Finished my GoodReads Book Challenge, though reading is never a hardship; books are more like the air I need to breathe.  Still, I set a goal and did it.  And my reward was escaping into some of the best stories I've read in years.

  *  Started a serial, thinking it would be quick and fairly easy.  And learned it was neither.  I loved the experience--once it was over.  I'm not going to lock myself into another writing project like it anytime soon however.

  *  Against all odds--location, risks and fears--I managed to do 52 new things, one per week, in 2013.  Sitting here today, the weeks behind me, I can hardly remember the woman who struggled with what to do on Week One, wondering if such a monumental quest could even be achieved.  Smiling now, I say, hell yes.  It not only can, but it was.

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I find the start of a new year slightly daunting.  Yeah, it's exciting, but it's also scary, at least to me.  There's a certain comfort in knowing what's happened already--done deal and all that--but sitting on the cusp of tomorrow, the nebulous unknown ahead?  Yikes.

Still.  Time inexorably moves us along and all we can really do is fasten our seatbelts and do the best we can.

I have a few things in mind for the next year.  I'm going to start my 1000 Cranes project this week.  I've worked out that if I do around 20 per week,  I can be done by next December.  That's if I just do the 20.  I like the mindfulness of origami and think I will use the cranes for meditation, so I might make more than 20 in a week.  We'll see how it goes.

I've also decided to write a short story each month.  There won't be the pressure like I felt with the serial and I can let my mind flow wherever it wants, rather than be locked into one continuing saga.

Though this past year was rewarding and exciting, and I learned much, I'm looking forward to more freedom, of thought and deed.  It was hard some weeks to muster a shred of enthusiasm for the 52s, and really difficult to stick with the serial on those occasions when I'd painted myself into the Corner of Doom.  But all in all?  I'm really happy I kept going, even when I was discouraged.

The other thing I'm going to do in the new year is take a bloody holiday.  I don't know where or when, but I need to get out of Dodge, stretch my mind, broaden my scope, take a deep breath of adventure...

So, dear readers...thanks for stopping by, for hanging with me, for your comments and smiles.  I wish you all a most excellent 2014.

Namaste...