3rd House Journal: Year in Review: 2014

[Starlit tree in my dining room; 12/30/14]

After a very eventful 2013, 2014 was much more stable, albeit rather quiet on the blog front. At least that made it rather quick to review my year of posts! I was just too busy to blog regularly, although I did manage to post something at least a couple of times each month. Looking back, I see that I finally began settling into the new job some seven or eight months in. The effort took a lot of my concentration and drained me of words by the end of the day. I replenished my body if not my mind by joining a gym in late March, going roughly twice a week after work, a lifesaver (possibly literally). The other weekday nights were spent on grocery shopping, meal making, laundry and rest. Weekends were mostly spent at D's in the city, doing "city-things" - walking, eating, movie-going, etc.

Posts this year mainly featured the weather, ever the New Englander's favorite topic. The winter was cold, as winters here are, but much colder than normal without letup. D and I did get an injection of much-needed color and warmth for a couple of hours in January when we went to the New England Aquarium, delighting in the swimming sealife in the Giant Ocean Tank.

[Coral, New England Aquarium; 1/25/14]

February saw winter maintaining its icy grip on us. Alas, the cold and snow didn't let up into March, so we found another way to escape by entering the tropical respite of the Wellesley College greenhouses. With April, winter finally began to relent, affording us a lovely Marathon weekend and magnolicious blooms along Commonwealth Ave. But it was May that brought us the weather we'd been waiting for all winter, filled with blooming daffodils and tulips and dappled light on the green lawns of the Public Garden.

[Public Garden in May; 5/11/14]

June saw a couple of daytrips to the New Hampshire seacoast. July had some lovely summer in the city weekends as the weather was just right for walking and enjoying Boston's summer sights and sounds. In August, we crossed the bay to Boston's eastern enclave to explore the shipyard art, savor the local fare, and take in the spectacular views of the cityscape across the water. At the end of the month, we spent a long weekend on Cape Cod at our favorite shoreside accommodations that we'd found the previous year, and we took the ferry over to Martha's Vineyard for a fun daytrip.

Looking over at my Flickr photo site, I realize we did many other things that I never even got around to blogging about, including an afternoon in the North End enjoying the annual Feast of St Anthony, an always enjoyable city-thing.

[Feast of St Anthony, North End of Boston; 8/30/14]

September saw the turning of leaves and the harvesting of my spent sunflowers by the neighborhood goldfinches. October was nearly over before I got a chance to post again, busy as I was with work, but we did get out to view the Head of the Charles Regatta on the river and to see the Halloween pet promenade on the Esplanade. Then the lovely weather we had from late spring through early fall suddenly turned in November, with snow early albeit lingering fall colors well into the month. Finally came December, a busy month that included a trip to see my dad, much work, and at last a few days off to rest and relax before the start of the New Year.

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I managed to read a handful of books this year, usually on vacation or on the couple of trips I made out to see my dad. Favorites include the most recently read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, which I absolutely loved; The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt, which I mostly read last Christmas and finished January 2, and also really enjoyed; and The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert. I just started Anthony Doerr's short story collect, The Memory Wall. He wrote so beautifully in his new novel that I could have read it all over again, but I thought the short stories would be a good alternative. Having read the first selection in the book, it was a good choice.

Happy New Year, everyone!