New Year's Quotations

This is it. The final page of our 2010 calendar. Some of you reading this have already moved into 2011, and those of us still here in the past year wish you well.

It's once again time for my annual report. On January 1, my list server e-mailed 568 copies of my Musings out to folks. Today I will electronically ship out 532. My hope is that my Facebook account and blog are making up for this drop, but I'm not yet up to speed on my Google Analytics to get those numbers.

You kind readers are located mostly in the U.S., but also in Nigeria, Australia, Iran, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Romania, Ireland, India, Canada, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Belize, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, France, and those are just the countries I know about.

Whew.

I have no plans to make changes to what I do here in 2011, but I must warn you that the triple threat of the economy, my family's employment status, and the whims of Congress may force me to make some. I will keep you apprised, of course, as the situation unfolds.

As I've often said, the calendar - through the grace of God and whatever men or governments created it - gives us several times each year to put the past behind us and look forward with renewed hope to do better in life and vigor to accomplish new goals. January 1 is chief among those days. Your birthday is another. The end of the school year. The start of the school year. The first day of each season. You get the idea. My prayer is you take this opportunity to make a fresh start in whatever part of your life needs it, and may the best of this past year be the worst of your next year.

May God bless you, each and every one.

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NEW YEAR'S QUOTATIONS

"Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go." (Brooks Atkinson)

"Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to." (Bill Vaughan)

"Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average ... which means you've met your New Year's resolution." (Jay Leno)

"My new year's resolution is to tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time." (James Agate)

"New Year's Day is every man's birthday." (Charles Lamb)

"New Year's Day. It is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual." (Mark Twain)

"In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, never in want." (Irish Toast)

[selected, with thanks, from about.com]

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WEBSITE of the WEEK: The U.S. Forest Service is a part of the United States Department of Agriculture, which I did not know (I thought it was part of the Interior Dep't). They have begun an initiative to get ourselves and our kids away from our digital leashes at http://www.discovertheforest.org/. Lots of material for parents and activities for all are listed. I know for many it's winter, and a trek through the forest isn't high on your priorities, but bookmark this site and come back to it in the Spring.

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