Happy New Year!

My drawing, after an 18th century terracotta cherub at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

This is a scan of a New Year card (updated via Picasa 3) that I made and sent to close friends and relatives one year. Some telephoned to explain that they hadn't pissed away last year; some got the humor; some telephoned to promise that they wouldn't piss away the New Year. Some just got pissed!

Happy New Year to all!

A Clean Slate

I know very few adults who really like the Holidays because it's a time that is frequently fraught with family and cultural pressures that are not at all cheerful or of our choosing. But it's about to be January, the month when we get to clean our slates and start a fresh new year and it seems, a fresh new life. I love January. I've never made New Years resolutions, I just quietly start January early, cleaning out my nest; dreaming of plans; nothing drastic, as slow and steady does it. Life suddenly seems adventurous again, even mysterious; maybe even magic.

The story behind the Perrier bottle: One year, Tall Husband and I planned an escape from Christmas (I hope none of you has a relative who uses a holiday as an excuse to take over your life.) We fled to Paris. Christmas Eve was spent at Au Pied de Cochon, a wonderful restaurant that was a short stroll from our hotel. Every table that evening had a festive anniversary bottle of Perrier. We have kept our bottle because it reminds us of the most wonderful Christmas Eve we could remember in a while. That bottle gave us the good sense just to say "no" the next year when our relative called with her holiday marching orders.