I have never felt such utter dread at the coming of a new year. It’s not only the election of Trump but his heinously unqualified cabinet choices. A parade of zealots, extremists & fanatics eager to pad their own pockets by gutting environmental regulations, worker safety rules & they even speak of banning vaccines. Another target is immigrants -Trump plans to round them up and deport them by the millions. They are looking at ending birthright citizenship. Women’s bodily autonomy is gone in large swaths of the country, and rights for LGBTQ folk are in peril. I also fear for Ukraine as Putins puppet withdraws American support. Dark days lie ahead.

I’m going to have to tune out news & politics for a while. I am SO disappointed in people right now. I need to find my way out of this melancholy, this dark hopeless pit of despair.

I was happy at the beach, just relaxing with Chris & da boyz! I need to do more of the us time fun stuff & less doom scrolling! I have shells to craft with, watercolor paints to try out, my harp, and Irish to learn!

2024 by the numbers:

• Total Eclipses of the Sun – 1
• Black Bear Encounters at Home – 2
• Lighthouses – 5 (48 total!)
• Camping Trips – 10

I don’t think I’ve mentioned how much I love when I wake before dawn with da boys creating a floofy wall between my beloved Christopher & I. T-Rex snoring softly while sprawled on his back with belly exposed and his brother Triceratops’ little feet prancing in his sleep! Then getting up and leaning against the tulivivi fireplace still toasty warm from the previous nights fire. There are still some precious delights in the world!

Speaking of delights – last week the James River Association planted over 290 trees and shrubs in our lower meadow and forest glen along the tiver. Creating what will be a vibrant riparian buffer they have added more dogwood, redbud, red maple, sycamore, spice bush, tulip poplar, & oak trees to our property! PLUS introduced a bunch of new species to our five acres: American Plums, persimmon, black willow, button bush, hazel nut, hackberry, red mulberry, willow oak, elderberry, & witch hazel! It will be exquisitely lovely in a few years!

Nature Journal Numbers

• Mushrooms: 7
• Ferns & Vines: 11
• Shrubs: 14
• Mammals: 16
• Reptiles & Amphibians: 16
• Trees: 39
• Birds: 59
• Insects: 68
• Wildflowers: 70

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. He is rich who owns the day… Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in. Forget them as soon as you can; tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely…

Ralph Waldo Emerson