Last post of 2019

This will be my last post for 2019. We've already got our plans for New Years Eve set up. We'll walk to the market this morning to get some groceries for the rest of the week. After dinner, we'll walk to the stadium and watch the early fireworks. Then we'll wander down the river to the city dance party in the park, where we'll be ready for the midnight fireworks. And then we'll walk home in the first hours of 2020.

When we were looking at lots of houses all over the suburbs, we kept comparing them to where we already lived, and the fabulous walkability of our lives. How could we give up a location that has such great access to markets and parks and events and New Years Eve? Especially New Years Eve, which has become my favourite holiday.

I logged into Instagram this morning and saw lots of pictures of holidays of far away family. There is nothing like scrolling through dozens and dozens of photos of snow on mountains to make me feel like I'm living in a parallel universe. My photos are of green parks in the early morning.

A very warm trip to the zoo.

Grilling outdoors. 

Outdoor market. 

Lots of walks in the trees. 

And a trip to the beach (blue bar, green bar, gray bar).

We live in a universe, where the weather is gorgeous and my shoulders are sunburned and we keep the windows open at night to let in the cool breeze. The cherries have been perfectly in season, as well as the apricots and nectarines. I hear the sprinklers running outside as I write. It sounds and smells and tastes like mid-summer.

So anyway, this is my last post for 2019. It seems I should offer some reflection on the year, or at least a top ten list. But instead my mind is stuck on the contrast between my photos and the photos of the people I love, so far far far away, living in an abstract parallel universe, where we celebrate the same days, but in such different ways. I'll take my celebrations every time!