It's a bipolar time of year, and the month, of course, is named after the two-faced god, Janus, looking in two directions, backwards and forwards. So, as I look back and forth, I am bipolar, depressed and lethargic, as I have been for several weeks now, and also (I hope) energetic and optimistic, if not quite happy. Not yet. Jonathan Swift said that happiness was a state of being well-deceived. That makes me think of Candide looking at everything with his rose-coloured glasses (is that what they were?) and saying "Lovely, lovely". With or without deceptive glasses, you look with different eyes at different objects and arrange your feelings and judgements accordingly. I can't recommend unwavering optimism, but I don't believe you should dwell on disaster. Good days and bad days. I'm still trying to work it out and hang in there. So a new month/year is a challenge. Which way are you going to call it? Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life. Remember that? Remember that!

Happy whatever.

New Year's Eve separates people. There are those who want to sing and shout and frolic with crowds and there are those who become even more introspective than usual and hunker down to brood in silence. i'm obviously in the latter camp and so are you if you are reading this. When my husband was alive I used to say that my iideal NYE required 3 things: drink champagne and make love by the fire. Since then two out of three hasn't been bad, and there were a couple of years when I didn't have a fireplace.. So now I go to a spa/retreat, to drink champagne by the fire, and think. I have a lot of thinking to do this year. I'll try to be productive about it. I have slipped into a slough of despond and that is never creative. So I have a lot of work to do. I hope there's enough firewood. I wish you a good fire to heat your brain and warm your heart.