What an interesting year of long projects. Some even finished, but much of our year was created from our daily habits and committments, and the effects of time have blurred the last few years anyway, as we continue Covid cautiousness.
The biggest thing we did this year, one worthy of its own post, was a cruise to some Northern Isles. We’d been waiting since 2020, and finally pulled the trigger this year. All was going swimmingly, or as best it can on a ship full of people being herded to outings, when my travel companions both caught Covid. Being confined to our cabins for the second half of the trip put even more of a damper on a trip we’d had high expections for.
Liz had been looking forward to gathering landscape images while on the cruise — the sea, the land, the sky… She just didn’t realize much of it would be from the deck of the ship for a 30-minute daily interlude for a week! She finds herself at a crossroads, with some art venues disappearing, and with wanting to think of the environment (once back from the cruise, that is). How much can artists operate online vs. in person? There will be some deep thought on this in the coming months.
Dave enjoyed turning off his work notifications during the cruise, but he’s still not yet thinking of retirement, even though Liz can see it’s coming into view. One of us lives in the present, the other in the future — guess which! He’s been sheperding a big project at work for several years, while planning for, and finally moving his team into, open space offices at work. A busy, talkative guy in a space for a dozen or more intensely concentrating people? What could go wrong?
Well, it’s a bit better than expected. The offices are beautifully designed, and the airflow systems are an improvement in this time of continuing Covid. Small, medium, and big meeting rooms help to isolate group conversations, and there are even speakeasy rooms and places to sit and concentrate as needed, inside or out.
In between work and virtual meetups, we’ve been enjoying trips to Vancouver to see Bruce, and are delighted that he’s been hanging out with a lovely fellow student named Ella. She is from Ireland, and they are there, together, with her family for the holidays, as I type.
On our own for the holiday season, we are looking at this view, from Guemes Island. We are almost set to update our vacation spot here, soon available again to share with friends & family, minus the bats and busted stairs. Thinking ahead, we’ve even added a ramp! It’s taken several years, given county requirements, but we can’t wait to share updates with you next year, and start booking visits.
Liz spent the year on new social media platforms, Blueksy and Mastodon, while still enjoying Instagram, and peeking through her fingers at what was Twitter. She’s off Facebook, and done with many other trial platforms (Vero, Post, so many more). Where did you hang out? I can send invite codes for Bluesky, if you’re interested.
More enduring, in some cases, are the media databases, to track movies and shows we watched, and books that Liz read. It’s all connected by a fascination for what stories people are telling, and which ones we find compelling enough to share. Here are some of our faves:
What did you watch, read, love this year? What helped you digest the news? What are the enduring habits that work for you? We’re always up for a session of trading notes and tips — yes, probably virtually! May you weed out the unworkable, add in the good stuff, and have a wonderful 2024.