Greetings in 2006

Hello friends and readers! Welcome, 2006! The one resolution that I have for this year, and have for many years past, is to not have resolutions. Oh I do have one pledge to myself and my partner: to lead a healthier lifestyle through diet and exercise. When at 43, your joints and feet ache from taking your daily walk, and you groan and sigh when getting up from your seat, or you can't even get down on your knees with ease any longer, and you have high blood pressure - then there's only one thing to do: heed your doctor's advice. Now - I am not a couch slug. But my lifestyle since moving to the States, and since being bogged down by the Big D (depression, not divorce), and the ubuer-medicines to combat that condition - my girth has swelled to previously-unknown dimensions. Not that I have ever been svelte - at 5'1", I have always had a robust build. But I've always been active and healthy. So my goal for this year is to restore my body to its 35-year old state. And maybe by summer's end - I'll be ready for the next goal: to attempt the rock wall at the Downtown REI. (That, by the way, was my goal for my 40th birthday, but I did not reach the weight goal).

Beyond that - I already have a couple of commissions to work on. And I have a series of pieces I started last spring that I hope to finish. I need to start by reorganizing my shop. My partner has promised to add some shelves for me, clean up our stock-pile of scrap wood and get rid of the junk left over from our condo remodel.

I love the New Year: a clean slate for everyone - sort of like a blanket of new fallen snow that no one has mucked up with their footprints or tire tracks yet. Good luck to you all as we launch into yet another year - and may its yield far exceed our expectations!