Another Year Down the Drain

We're in the final hour of 2010 (in my time zone, at least), and though technically the decade itself lasts for another year longer, tonight the calendar rolls over into the double digits in the second millenium.

It's been a year of ups and downs, with the ups mostly outweighing the downs.  I didn't manage to get a second job, nor did I sell anything more, but I kept the job I had.  One of our pets isn't doing so hot, but none of them have died this year.  Grandpa's increasingly not there, but when he is there at least he's still Grandpa.  The car I drove into 2009 is no longer the car I'm driving out of it.

This year, I saw salmon return in decent numbers to a stream where I, personally, had never seen a single salmon swimming.  I stood close enough to feel the water spray off their fins as they struggled upstream, and understood a bit of the wonder that the overcrowded, undereducational local salmon festival failed to instill in me after over three decades of attendance.

I stood outside on a clear night under an evergreen tree, and as I looked up through the branches a thousand raindrops transformed moonlight into glimmering stars.

I saw the bright magenta flash of an Anna's hummingbird outside our window, for the first time ever.  This fall, I stood less than a foot from a young Anna's as he scolded us for letting the hummingbird feeder freeze up.

I saw goldfinches return to our feeders.  I saw a hawk in the front yard.  I saw a bobcat.

I rediscovered a local trailhead, much improved since my last visit, even if at least one of its visitors disturbed me as few other humans have disturbed me.  While up there, I saw a flock of tanagers.

I stood in the midst of a dragonfly dance.

Not so bad, as years go.

On the Resolution front, without going through the trouble of reposting, I hit about 3 out of my 7 major goals, in spirit if not precise lettering.  I resolved to create more this year, and create more I did: I filled more paper sketchbooks than I have in any previous year, I made more ambitious projects, and I even maintained an online sketch thread on an art board.  I also participated in - and "won" - a NaNoWriMo.  I even relearned basic web skills and overhauled a good chunk of my web site.  So, three out of seven... that's roughly a 43% success rate.  Again, not so bad.

Once the new year rolls over, I'll be posting my 2010 resolutions.

In fifty minutes... or less...