happy new year and new decade from wmtc

For the second year in a row, I didn't even bother with the wmtc i hate christmas tradition. I didn't see any shopping fervor, didn't hear or see an onslaught of ads. (Hooray for streaming!)

We put up holiday lights, enjoyed two days off (hooray for vestiges of colonialism!), and "the season" passed quietly. I can't bring myself to say Merry Christmas, but if anybody minds my "happy holidays," they don't show it.

New Year's Eve was even quieter. I did the whole look-back thing in late November and early December, as we passed all the one-year marks of our move west and huge lifestyle change. 

One bit of small-town and remote North Island life did bother me during the holiday season: all the restaurants are closed, and there's no prepared food to buy. If you want to spend a few days holed up at home, you have to plan ahead and cook. I did... but I would have liked a break. This is the price we pay for living in Port Hardy. It's a great bargain.

Allan and I began a new chapter of our lives in 2019, so the fact of the new decade feels almost irrelevant. It will be interesting to see how I'll feel about 2020, as things settle into a routine, and the I can't believe we live here possibly wears off.

That's the small, personal picture. I've been trying to write about the larger picture for months. Coming soon.

The only bad part of 2019: saying goodbye to Diego