Happy New Year

This dignified old tree lives in the field overlooking my house. Isn't it splendid?

Happy New Year

This time of year is a time for reflection. I tend to chew over all the plans I made last year and never quite got around to fulfilling. But does that really matter? The most important things are the hopes I did fulfill. This is a time to rejoice with the friends and family and lament the passing of friendship I no longer connect with. And of course, this is a time to be grateful for the health and happiness of my loved ones.

I feel I have achieved loads this year. I completed my novel and even though I haven't managed to drum up any interest in it yet, I am proud of the accomplishment. I have embarked on new pastimes; guitar and pilates. I have made new friends and joined new writing groups.

I continue to marvel at what life has to offer me and what I can give in return.

2008 is going to be a bumper year for me. I was born in 1958, so this will be my fiftieth year.


The First Fifty

Because I want to make this year special I plan to dig up all the dreams and desires of the first fifty years and try some of them out before the beginning of 2009. I don't intend to get hung up on achieving a full list of fifty tasks, like the suggestions in those horrible list books "5 million things to do before you die and feel guilty if you don't do anything" etc.

My list is going to be achievable and desirable (to me anyway). Things like; read 'War and Peace', play a game of Bingo at a proper Bingo hall, bake a souffle, watch Stirling Albion play at home, and plant a tree. Easy-peasy stuff but worth making the effort to turn my celebration year into one I'll cherish for ever.