Stops and Starts

New Year's Eve, 2011

The close of a year is always a time of reflection, looking back at the accomplishments (and sometimes failures) of the year past.  Having written this journal for two years now, I have the added advantage of being able flip through the pages to refresh those memories, to see photos of faces and events that I've either forgotten or embellished.  I'd forgotten that there was a snowfall last January first, but I certainly remember the downed oaks.  For every tragedy, there's been a triumph.  I still count noses and beaks, and miss Lady Lucinda, Nineteen and Twenty-Two and Frederick the Great and the unnamed hens.  I relish the time spent with my dear family and friends old and new.  I appreciate all of my animals, domestic and wild.  Bessie Anne, Frank and Pearl...my constant companions.  The goats, sheep and chickens give me a reason to get up and out every day.  They are hard work, at times inconvenient, and sometimes a real pain in the patoot.  They are also my joy, my amusement, and provide a sense of fulfillment like no other.  Catching sight of deer in the orchard, standing with hummingbirds zooming around my head, walking near vultures sunning on fenceposts, listening to hawks screech high above, hearing the night song of the Beastie Boys...it still takes my breath away.

Every day is different.  Every day is the same.

It was a good year.