2018 Farewell

If you don't count Donald Trump, the worldwide refugee crisis, continued global warming, Brexit, the rise of the extreme right, the low Canadian dollar, the increasing chance of a worldwide bacterial outbreak, the death of Ursala LeGuin, the death of Anita Groundwater, and the fact that it was the cloudiest year for astronomy since I got my 12" telescope, it was a great year!

I managed to memorize and perform a piano program, and then learn and memorize a new one.  Deb managed to create several new short films, get many new screenings, and win several major awards.  We even managed to get through December without a major snowfall.  In fact, this month we are finally feeling the effects of El Nino, which is supposed to give us a relatively mild, damp winter.  And damp it has been.  Once again it is pouring rain, this time on New Year's Eve.  Meanwhile in Sudbury, they are getting yet another major snowstorm!  They can have it!  I'll take rain anytime.  We had a green Solstice, a green Christmas, and now a green New Year.  Not unusual for this part of Canada, and not everyone welcomes it with open arms like we do.

Once of the best things about Dec. 31st is that we are already ten days closer to Spring Equinox!  Our love for January and the first part of February is sorely lacking again this year.  The sooner the light comes back, the better.

2018 saw us visit more travel destinations than ever before.  April brought us to London.  June brought us to Columbus.  In July came Sudbury for me.  August was Lindsay for Deb, then Cincinnati for both of us.  New Mexico was on our hit list for two weeks in September, and lastly but not leastly came Vienna and Bruegel, a trip that is still resonating very loudly in my mind.  Speaking of Vienna, both parts of that blog are now on-line (see the London and Europe link, far left). 

Travel plans for 2019 are minimal at present.  There could be a visit to San Diego in August, to attend the Mythcon conference there, as well as to visit their art gallery.  There could be a trip to New Mexico in October, with our telescopes.  That's been on the bucket list for some time now.  

My Avon/Equinox reading project continues with great success, with about 150 books read and reviewed last year.  I only have two authors remaining in the series, and then it's just a matter of reading all the novels of those authors not already completed.  Recently added is J.G. Ballard, and still to come is Barry Maltzberg and James Blish, both quite prolific. 

The listening program continued.  We are studying Haydn's 104 symphonies, the complete works of Brahms, the complete works of Britten, the piano concerti of Mozart, and the organ works of Buxtehude.  More on this project soon.

Nothing big is planned for early 2019.  Our Detroit concerts resume in March, so we will be homebodies much of the winter.  I hope to get back into learning to draw with pencil (I want to be as good as Bruegel!).  I also hope to get back into recorder playing.  And I will continue to practice piano a few hours each day.  Since suspending my Iaido studies, I have had no issues with my elbows or shoulders.  This is good.

It was warm and raining tonight, so we did not have a New Year's Eve wood fire.  We listened to some Beethoven piano variations, some Buxtehude organ works, and then watched most of "Fists of Fury."  On the menu was home made pizza, and some damn fine craft ales.  We will be in bed before midnight, passing on the tooting of horns and flinging of confetti.

So goodnight, and Happy New Year to my thousands of loyal readers!
Mapman