The New Year

December 31st

We heard there was a free concert in Civic Square for New Years Eve. While I had no intention of staying up late enough to greet the new year, we decided to wander down the waterfront and check it out. The band was pretty good, though I never caught the name. It was ten o'clock before it got dark, and still fairly warm at that. That's when I realized how much sense it makes to have New Years in the Summer. Staying up past midnight sounds like a far better idea when the days are long and the nights are warm.

January 1st

We took a bus to Lyall Bay, just a short 10 minutes away. We bought ice creams and walked along the beach. Not much surf today, mostly just kids on boogie boards looking hopeful. Down where the beach ends was a rocky area with some pretty good tide pools. We found sea anemones, limpets, chitins, mussels, sea snails, hermit crabs, and one beautiful turquoise star fish. It was an absolutely beautiful day, sunny and warm. And the beach was full (make that half-full by California standards) of folks enjoying yet another statutory holiday. It occurred to me there's at least one more reason it makes sense to have New Years in Summer: New Years Day actually feels like the beginning of a bright, shiny new day, full of hope and promise.