New Year's Day

I haven't been very good at keeping up with my blog now that I'm home. Working takes a lot of time out of one's schedule. Time and energy really. There are many things I keep wanting to do that just don't end up getting done because of time and energy. For example, at the end of November I went to the Flatiron's Christmas Shop because they sell some decorations from the Erzgebirge. The owner was telling me about how, after 28 years, they were having to move shop because the city was tearing down that stretch of old historic warehouse buildings. It upset me. I got all fired up and had every intention of going home and writing protest letters to city councillors etc. But it hasn't happened. Unfortunately that's also a stereotypical way for Canadians to deal with things. And for example, I wanted to write mail to my people around the world, send them pictures of our time together and Christmas greetings. I started out well enough with the goal of writing one an evening. It lasted nicely for a week and then I got backlogged and that was the end of that idea. I hope I can pick that up again soon. I have all sorts of little projects and ideas that I'd like to get done and share etc. etc. And well, keeping up my blog hasn't worked the way I thought it might. Yet.

Today is New Year's Day. I've had a very leisurely morning. I'm still in pyjamas on the couch. I had moved from the bed to the couch and continued my sleep here. It is very lovely here with the sunshine coming in through the window. I'm visiting my friend Larry. We went to a party last night. His friends organized a party at a local Portuguese restaurant. (Pedro wasn't there. :-)) It was a nice party. There was a band playing, sort of. The drummer had had too much to drink before they even really started and had enough trouble setting up. I didn't know very many people and the few I had met before I didn't know very well. It was a little awkward for me to engage in conversation with loud music going on at the same time. But I'm glad I went. It was a new kind of experience. My favourite part of the evening was walking to and from the restaurant. It was about a 20 minute walk to downtown Kitchener and the streets were quiet and the snow crunched under our feet. Much different from Dresden last year where everyone is out in the streets setting fireworks off in random places. At midnight at this party they handed out plastic hats and tiaras and party blowers. For about 2 minutes everyone blew their own horns, wore their plastic hats and then it was done. I couldn't help wondering about the waste of it and wondered what they do in Uganda for New Year's.

And there's my New Year's message. Happy New Year!