Thank you for stopping by and bringing your lovely boys, Kboys! It was such fun watching them play with Ned and Daisy :)

:sparkler :sparkler :sparkler :sparkler :sparkler

Somebody broke into the package of sparklers already!

It was so kind of you all to stop by! Happy New Year!!

That was lovely, Seren. A perpetual favorite of mine is "The peace of wild things" by Wendell Berry.

When despair for the world grows in me
And I wake in the night at the least sound
In fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
Waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Happy new year, all. Thanks so much for allowing me to share it with you.
Peace.

maudcat, anvil and seren, thanks for those beautiful readings. maud's was particularly appropriate to the setting, down by the pond w/the floating lights.

I picture those lights as carrying away the hopes and disappointments, the fears and wishes, from 2016, while lighting the way for new dreams and fresh growth in 2017. So lovely to watch them gently drift and bob in the breeze!

Eli! You finally made it, yay!! We had been saving a seat near the pond for you :)

Maudcat, that's beautiful...I'm humbled you shared that with us :hug:

Whew...I dozed off, sorry! Can't make it much past 11 p.m. these days. Luckily, the shuttle drivers knew exactly what they were doing!

I don't know that I expect spectacular things out of 2017, but I have a feeling it will be all about growth and change for me--which can be both difficult and painful but can be exciting and interesting as well.

I hope 2017 means wonderful and positive and peaceful things for all of you!

:grouphug: