Greeting a New Year

We are now in the year 2021 by the Gregorian calendar used for much of the world. The celebrations are done, with the scars left by fireworks in our street now fading. We look forward to another year after the the stressful and destructive times of the last twelve months, a year that will loom large in memory for the remainder of our lives.

Point Retreat Lighthouse on the north end of Admiralty Island, Alaska
Point Retreat Lighthouse on the north end of Admiralty Island, Alaska

While the calendar now reads 2021, somehow 2020 seems to drag on. I feel that the remnants of 2020 will not truly be gone until January 20th, and maybe not even then. Perhaps later in the spring when vaccination programs end the viral rampage through our communities.

As we rebuild our lives and try to recover some sense of normality we might look back and try to understand the lessons taught by the year 2020. These lessons are both small and personal or large enough to threaten the foundations of our civilization. We have seen into ourselves and into those around us, the true nature of so much revealed by stress and argument.

Will these lessons be learned? Will things change? While we might be able to change ourselves for the better more easily than we can change our country, both need to be done.

While we plan for the coming year and move forward we rely on experience, something that 2020 was rich in. May you live in interesting times… The old curse that seems so applicable to the moment.

Happy New Year!

A few fireworks from my neighbor’s modest show. At least somewhat modest compared to many in the village. With so many families practicing oriental traditions, the amount of fireworks expended for the new year celebration is rather staggering in a Hawaiian neighborhood. Then there are the resort shows, big professional aerials, I can just see them from the front lanai. They are distant, but the sounds reverberate and they light up the low cloud deck with a colorful glow.

Wishing you a happy new year, may it bring good memories and fun adventures!
Andrew

New Year Fireworks
Neighborhood fireworks signal the arrival of 2015

Welcome to 2014!

Welcome to 2014!

We may be among the last to join in the new year, Hawai’i is always a bit behind, but we do it in style. I have noted that the amount of fireworks going off in the neighborhood is a good economic indicator. The size of some of the local arsenals is fairly impressive this year, in notable contrast to some previous years, there is a lot of crackle, whistle and bang this year.

Fireworks over Palm Trees
A fireworks display over the coconut palms of the Fairmont Orchid resort