Out with 2016 and in with 2017

This has been an incredibly fast year to me.  We’ve traveled to Arizona, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Maine and back home to Missouri – twice.  I had a birthday party, during a heat wave of all things,  that was attended by family and friends; some I haven’t seen in years.  I went hiking in Arcadia, had really really fresh lobster and Maine blueberries (they really are smaller than the ones I usually get at the grocery store), was slightly terrified driving along the Apache Trail, went up in a pink elephant hot air balloon at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and I got to meet three blogging buddies in real time.  I also discovered that I like green chile sauce – didn’t see that one coming at all.  I’ve also gotten wrapped very tightly around the little sweet finger of the new grandson.

While this year has been wonderful in many ways it has also been stressful and sad in others.  I won’t get into politics because if you know me you know how I feel about things and that is none too chipper.  This year has seen many entertainers that I have enjoyed for so long leave us far too early – Prince, Bowie, Rickman, Reynolds and Princess Leia (yes I know her name is Carrie Fisher but she will always be Leia Organa to this nerdy girl) to name a few.  I have prayed for friends that were very sick and fighting serious illnesses and I cried with a dear friend of mine who lost her husband of 35 years.  It finally reached a point where I couldn’t and wouldn’t turn on the news because I just was tired of seeing all of the vitriol, violence and senseless killing that was going on across the globe and here in the states.  Peace on earth and goodwill towards human kind? It does occasionally happen… occasionally.

There are no immediate plans on the horizon for us for 2017 other than we will be back in Arizona sometime in January.  I do have my eye on photographing my way through parts of the parks in Utah and DH has even suggested we rent an RV for that.  That will be a first but I have friends who can help me get over my hesitation about that.  Other than Utah we still have St. Lucia, Hawaii and Scotland on our wish list and DH’s Aunt and Uncle have invited us to visit them in Devon, England again.

I hope to meet some of you in person this year if at all possible but even if we don’t I hope we continue to “see” one another here in the land of blog in the new year.  May 2017 be a blessed year for all of us.  See you next year 🙂

Happy New Year!

Teri