[First Night procession, Boston; 12/31/10]
Who knew what we were ushering in last New Year's Eve? It was a year of astonishing change in the world, and Time magazine rightly named their Person of the Year "The Protester."
In my own little world, going back over my blog posts for the year, it appears I did my share of prostesting, not bravely and not with the Occupy groups (we did cheer them on as they marched past us one day having lunch outside at a cafe in Boston) and not as yet to any tangible effect. Instead, I see that I complained about my workload within various posts in almost every month of the year. I know I complained some in previous years, but this year the demands reached the breaking point more than once. At the end of June, my back went on strike with muscle spasms that kept me out of work for over a week. And I spent much of this past month slapping together a piece I was embarrassed to turn over to meet the most ridiculous deadline yet. Needing some time off, I've asked to take off two days sometime in mid-January so I can have a long weekend, and management is balking at it.
All of this has lit a fire under me to find a new job. I went to a professional conference in October (where everyone I talked to save freelancers had their conference paid for by their employers, whereas I had to pay for myself and was expected to take it as vacation time). I'm doing lots of networking and hopefully something will eventually come through.
[From a recent walk: forsythia buds in December; 12/28/11]
It has been a strange year weatherwise, beginning with a very snowy January, with a snowstorm every week that piled snow banks into high white walls. They took a long time to melt as spring was chilly and slow in coming. But the summer was lovely. Instead of the extreme heat of the previous summer, this summer's temperate days allowed us to enjoy wandering the city on many weekends.
[Fountain in Columbus Park, Boston waterfront; 6/19/11]
Fall and winter, too, have been unusually warm. Except for one freak snowstorm in October, we've had no snow at all, leaving a palette of perpetual November, predominantly dull brown. But at least we haven't had to dig ourselves out from under snow nor navigate slippery sidewalks. Not yet anyway!
[The meadow at Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary; 12/28/11]
The year also brought many health challenges for me and for D especially. Allergies sapped my energies beginning in February, but I started getting allergy shots and, though it took awhile, they've done the job handsomely. Then came my back spasms and recovery from the end of June until August, and D's problems with diverticulitis that nixed our trip to Quebec the end of July and put him in the hospital twice in August and took into September to recover from. I also had to slog through work with a cold for a couple of weeks in November, and D had his recent dental work and a haul ahead with that. We'll be hoping for better health in 2012!
We had much to be thankful for this year. We not only survived it, but we have each other and our friends and we had plenty of good times. Still, I'll be happy to see the tail lights of 2011 fading into the distance.
[First Night Boston; 12/31/10]
