The Edge of a New Year

Most years I enjoy sitting on the edge of a new year. There is anticipation and curiosity about what lies ahead. Maybe 2021 holds even more excitement than previous years because its predecessor was so limited, so isolating, so confining. I have missed people, traditions, and experiences. I am ready for some kind of return to what used to be. 

At the end of a calendar year, I often generate a list of fifty things that I want to do in the new year. These are not resolutions but rather ideas for things that sound interesting or necessary for the new year. I like to post the list on my art room wall and check from time to time to see how I am doing. When I compose the new list, I do it without looking back at last year’s list. Some items seem to come up every year in some way or another but there are new additions to the list that point to my current interests and passions. 

So here is the list for 2021.  Items are in no particular order. They merely fell off my fingers this way. I know there are a lot of travel related items and I know I can’t do them all.  I included them though because all are a possibility.

***OCL = Once COVID leaves

1. Stay curious.
2. Adopt a coffee shop. (OCL)
3. Write more poetry.
4. Read more poetry.
5. Help Meg with their baby.
6. Stay in Yosemite Valley in April.
7. Heal from shoulder surgery in January.
8. Visit artists and studios in Alberta, Canada. (OCL)
9. Appreciate the sunshine-blue sky every time it appears.
10. Do more photography explorations and experiments.
11. Develop skills necessary for taking portraits.
12. Look for Beauty every day.
13. Share Beauty in some way or another as often as possible.
14. Pay attention to the positive in every situation.
15. Go out to dinner at a real restaurant. (OCL)
16. Browse books at Copperfield’s (OCL)
17. Take Rilke’s suggestion and let everything happen - beauty and terror.
18. Return to the complete yoga practice (pre-injury days of 2020).
19. Bicycle to the Gate again on a weekly basis.
20. Camp on the Smith River in the summertime. 
21. Smile at strangers.
22. Continue exploring Buddhism.
23. Write regular blog posts.
24. Resume regular massages. (OCL)
25. Resume art classes (OCL)
26. Paint big (and small) with acrylics.
27. Paint small (and big) with watercolors.
28. Experiment with pastels more.
29. Consider working more with collage.
30. Paint homage to Georgia O’Keeffe.
31. Visit Bell Springs every month. (OCL)
32. Go to Redding several times in 2021.
33. Do the complete Hunter’s Camp hike.
34. Hike the Pomo Canyon to Red Hill trail.
35. Go to Pt Reyes several times.
36. Arrange to see The Nutcracker in SF next December.
37. Re-visit the DeYoung Museum. (OCL).
38. Go to Ft Bragg for a couple of nights. (OCL).
39. Take Meg to the Gypsy Cafe for breakfast. (OCL)
40. Learn to listen - really listen - to the Universe.
41. Go to the big screen movies. (OCL)
42. Make room for emptiness.
43. Have the courage to be passionate about life. 
44. Consider adopting a friend for Ellie.
45. Take a road trip to Myra’s wedding in Boston.
46. Go to NYC in the fall.
47. Slow down.
48. Get much needed help with Wordpress
49. Listen to more live music. (OCL)
50. Be on the lookout for good surprises.
51. Keep wonder and mystery alive.
52. Don’t stop loving.