2011

We are not big party people; until we started coming to the desert for the holidays the past two years (our HH makes that comfortable), our New Years Eve tradition was to head out on our boat, watch the fireworks on South Padre Island, then anchor in a quiet cove for the night, and start the year off with a sail in the Gulf. Just the three of us (yes, the cat... Smoke, Molly, and Izzy all got to ring in the New Year with us that way).

We continued our "not big party" tradition last night with games, food, and conversation with our daughter and son-in-law last night... until the wee hours of the early evening. They did have a party to go to, so before 7:00 pm, we wished them a Happy New Year and headed for home. It was no problem to stay up to watch the ball drop in Times Square... no problem because we are in Arizona, so we only had to stay up 'till 10:00 pm to see midnight in New York. Surprisingly, I was awake enough at midnight local time to hear the fireworks going off nearby (not too nearby). Not quite the same as rocking at anchor, but we were snug in our HH even though it was cold in the desert (got into the 20s during the night). On the bright side: no one in our HH is hungover this morning.

One of my first mates liked to say, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift." Make the most of the gift of 2011.