I am typing during the last few minutes of 2025. This is a year I’m glad to see the end of, to be honest. There has been an unending litany of bad news this year – most of which has worn on my soul. I’m deeply unhappy with the current political situation in this country (Am I ‘woke’? Hell, yes, and proud of it!). I’ve struggled with the issues all year long … with varying degrees of success. Sigh. Mostly, right now, I have to donate money for causes as I am not in a life state to pound the streets in protest.

Of course, there have been happy events this year, too. My seasonal affective disorder tends to make this time of year (winter – gray and chilly here in Maryland) difficult even in good times. I lived in Wisconsin (Madison) for a dozen years and never had the SAD problems there that I do here …. one good thing about snow is that it makes things brighter. Grin Of course, I was younger then, too, for what that might be worth.

I rarely make resolutions as I have found that sticking to them is problematic at best. The only things I have managed to do daily this year (besides the obvious breathe, eat, sleep, defecate kind of physical maintenance actions) is read books, play solitaire on my computer and do my Japanese language lessons via Duolingo.

I hope to add a few minutes of embroidery every day this coming year. I love the process of needle and thread moving through fabric to make colorful patterns – the zen of doing. I bought a pre-printed cloth with areas for daily stitching and plan to start on my first area tomorrow. 🙂

Linda