This blog languished on the vine for most of 2017. But my interest in maintaining a blog remains bright. The wonderful thing about participating in NaNoWriMo, as I did once again this November, was jettisoning concerns about writing well, concerns having anything to say, and concerns about communicating clearly.
Last year, worries about having something interesting to say, kept me away from my blog. I am starting the first day of 2018 with nothing interesting to say, and it doesn’t worry me. The world is filled with interesting things to read, and my dear friends and relations can go and read those instead of this blog. When it comes to reading, there is no getting around the fact that my reading habits were far better when I was in high school, then they are now. I read serious literature then; now its primarily escapism. Science fiction, fantasy, and mysteries dominate my reading list, although it is salted with a few non-fiction books on arcane topics. These days, there is very little science fiction or fantasy on my list. I find so much of it repetitious. It’s pretty much the same old stories, so I look for quality of writing as expressed in the freshness of expression or the skilled use of language.
Abruptly changing the subject. I had a wonderful time with Christmas decorating. My family always decorated for Christmas, but this season was over the top. There were six inflatables in the front yard accompanied with seven light filled year decorations.
A Christmas village with fifteen buildings populated with at least seventy villagers filled three six-foot tables. I’ve always loved the wooden nutcrackers; there were at least thirty large nutcrackers and twenty miniatures on display.
In the living room, there were decorations every where you looked: trains, a creche, gingerbread houses, and a carousel with horses that moved up and down to music. It took about ten days to set up, and it will take another ten days to disassemble and store, but it was worth every hour spent.
Sybal's Front Door 