Auld Lang Syne

Auld Lang Syne

Oil on canvas, 20x20, $450

And here is the new year, fresh and untrodden as the new snow -

Until, that is, I couldn't manage to stay awake, and kept falling back to sleep.

Until I spilled the first cup of coffee all over my clean turtleneck.

Until Jojo escaped and we had to race all over the neighborhood, hunting for her.

Until I got paint all over my sleeve, while moving a piece to photograph it, and then smeared my sleeve all over the computer, and the counter and the icebox and the edge of the sink, and even later in the day, my hat...

This morning, the new year, like the new snow, lay fresh and untrammeled and unmarred - until the day began.

And that's really how it should be, I think. Dogs should track up the snow, and roll in it and decorate it. Humans should shovel it and toss it at each other and slip in it and knock it off branches and stomp it in through the house. We should live this life, make it messy, kick it up, spill things in it, get it all over us - and relish it, in the living.

So, happy new year! I wish you all fine mornings, hearty lunches, messy afternoons, and health, prosperity and good luck.

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