I have never been one to celebrate the New Year. It always seemed like an artificial construct. I celebrated my own new year, the start of the school year, which coincided with introduction of the new models of cars when I was a kid, and later Winter Solstice, the real new year, when the sun hit its nadir and then started coming back. By January 1 we had gained a whole 10 minutes in 10 days over the solstice.
But my family did celebrate the new year, and as a kid, so did I, if only as an excuse to stay up late. I’ve pulled enough all nighters, both as a student and doing radio, that staying up late no longer holds any fascination for me. This year I was in bed for more than an hour when the midnight pot banging and fireworks (along with the terrified cries of frightened dogs) woke me up. I hummed “Happy Days are Here Again” rolled over and went back to sleep.
This year there were no new year day visits to friends, although we did have ham for dinner, following an old family tradition. But I did get out for a walk on what turned out to be a beautiful way to start the year, from sunrise, at the crack of 9 AM to Sunset a little after 3 PM. Enough sun to make it bright, enough clouds to make in interesting, and the sun low enough in the sky to give us color for much of the
“early” morning and “late” afternoon.
A year ago, we were in Ft. Lauderdale, making a run to the CVS to get enough over the counter vitamins and supplements to last a 128-day world cruise. We ended up leaving about half of it on the ship in March as we packed light to make it home before the world shut down travel because of the pandemic. Our bags, and supplements made it back to us in November, but that’s for another blog post.
We face the new year full of hope. We got our first COCID vaccinations on Tuesday and my arm only ached a little. Frankly, it itched more than hurt. We wish you all a Happy New Year. We’re off to a good start.
Thank you for the tour, almost as good as being there.
Thank you for your post with all the stunning pictures as always. Wishing you and Suzi a very healthy and happy 2021!
Thanks for the update and all the beautiful pictures. I really enjoy your blogs. What on earth are we going to do this winter without all the world blogs to read. It has been a great pastime over the past few winters. I was planning on taking a cruise last winter or spring and that certainly didn’t happen and it’s not going to happen again this year. We will certainly all need one by 2022.
Happy New Year and may prosperity and health see you through 2021.
I love your beautiful photos! Wishing you and your family a wonderful New Year!
Happy New Year! Your photos are gorgeous! On our one and only visit to Sitka the weather was very overcast and fog hid all of the beautiful mountains. Someday I hope to return and see your city under blue skies.
Phyllis, I am thinking of rereading the blogs from last year’s cruise. Several bloggers documented it well. Mary, that is the problem with Sitka, your chances are better seeing it in rain or overcast. Living here we can catch the good weather. Also, often the clouds break up at sunset giving us great day ends. Happy New Year everyone.