The whole world is watching....

I hope your 2008 has begun as warmly and gently as mine. The one thing I noticed, immediately, is that if you blog your New Year's resolutions it feels as though the entire universe is aware of how well or poorly you're keeping them .... I asked for that, didn't I?

The truth is, I jumped right into it. The poinsettia above is the first of the 300 sketches I promised myself this year. I used watercolor pencils on 75# drawing paper. I LOVE watercolor pencils. I like the way you don't even have to use watercolor paper, just don't mix with too much water.

What else? Well, when I was looking for my many anthologies of short stories, the first one I came across was actually for children. "The Minotaur, " in Nathaniel Hawthorne's TANGLEWOOD TALES, is filled with plum words that today's children wouldn't understand. I hope that's true given that I had to consult a dictionary myself.

Steve and I walked Brix and Beulie for an hour. My resolution is to walk 3-1/2 hours a week, however I add it up. It looked as though much of the community had made the same commitment, there were dogs everywhere. Ours don't bark and nobody forged, good doggies, those.

We ended this wonderful day with a family game of gin rummy. I won two out of three, yes, the year is starting well!