We begin again in a moment of peace.
A candle sends its flickering light over the dim early morning of a brand new calendar year.
It moves in silence, now and then bending and emitting a little plume of dark smoke.
The house wakes slowly, in shades of gray and black.
Gradually, colors begin to discern themselves, starting with the plants by the window – the unwieldy straps of paperwhite narcissus, the delicate fronds of a squirrel’s foot fern, and bulbous stalks of an oncidium orchid – each carrying a different shade of green.
The difference between two calendar years is but a day.
There is no reason to believe that 2017 will be any less dark than 2016, and in some ways it begins in much dimmer fashion. To counter that, and to bring my own peace of mind and creative contentment about, I will attempt to keep this a place of tranquility and beauty, an oasis of calm in a world of discontent. It won’t be easy, and there will surely be fiery posts and angry diatribes to accent it all, but I’m hopeful this will remain a cozy nook of the internet untouched by fake news and silly trolls.
