Happy New Year!

For the past few years I’ve been more intentional about beginning [the new year] as I mean to go on, so with that in mind, I slept in yesterday, went for a walk, had a leftover lobster tail for lunch, cleaned out the fridge, started a new donation bag, cleaned up my knitting area a bit, and worked on my Temperature Blanket!

This photo is from a walk on New Year’s Eve… same place as the New Year’s Day walk, though, and same as the one on Christmas Day, too! This is Heckrodt Wetland Reserve, a place we’ve known of forever but only first visited during the pandemic.

We’ve had a very gray winter so far — snow on Halloween and then nothing until New Year’s Eve. It was barely an inch, but a little sticky.

You notice different things when there’s snow.

We almost always see wildlife at Heckrodt, like this young red-tailed hawk spotted on two of the last three visits. On Sunday there was a pileated woodpecker and a little downy — pretty close to the path and fascinating to watch. We’ve seen owls, deer, and many other birds.

We learn stuff, too.

With my new work schedule (that starts THIS WEEK), I’m going to get out walking/hiking more and looking forward to “discovering” some more “new” places.