Happy New Year!

The last month has been one of those that seems to drag while also rushing past. And somehow, while writing my 13,000 words, the year expired and a new one began. I suppose that there's a bit of catching up to do, eh? Mostly I've been reading and writing, and revising my writing (thanks for being so helpful, Mom and Dad!), spending endless hours in libraries or at my desk, putting off correspondence and meeting up with friends, until I could finally breath a sigh of relief and submit my bloody essays. And submission is finally done! Hooray!

I hope that you all had good Christmas', Hanukkahs, Solstices, and so on. Solstice here was a fantastic milestone to reach. At the height of darkness the sun rose late in the morning and it was dark again by 3:30. Even now, though still dark for long hours, it is not quite so bad and the returning sun is abundantly welcome. It's fascinating to observe the shifting of the planet from such a northerly latitude and I don't think it will ever fail to be so for me. For Christmas I decided to take a brief break from my work to visit my dear friend Emily over in Northern Ireland. I had been going without any sort of real break for far too long, and so, I decided to jump a train and ferry to Belfast. While I definitely missed home and all of you there, my trip to Belfast was good and a marvellous way to spend my Christmas. And I had a grand time with Emily, her Tom, and her brother James. It was a holiday full of good food and good people and I couldn't have asked for more.

After Christmas, we all piled into the car and Tom drove us up the coast to the Giants Causeway, which was beautiful, ancient and fun.

The rest of the visit was wonderful and Belfast was very interesting. Though, mostly it was nice to just take a couple of days off in good company, before jumping headlong into the end of my essay writing.

I now have about a week until my second semester commences, during which time I intend to stock up on Edinburgh experiences, knitting, photo taking escapades with my new/old King Penguin Kershaw eight-20, and possibly even a quick survey of the highlands. And then it will be back to the books and classrooms and libraries for the next leg of the journey. Before then though, I'll be sure to get another blog post in. Be well!