Don't be fooled. Inside this thin coating of sweetness is a fiery core of total insanity.

Monday, January 1, 2018

Happy New Year

It's 2018!

ABBA sings Happy New Year


No more champagne
And the fireworks are through
Here we are, me and you
Feeling lost and feeling blue
It's the end of the party
And the morning seems so grey
So unlike yesterday
Now's the time for us to say

Happy New Year
Happy New Year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbor is a friend
Happy New Year
Happy New Year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I

Sometimes I see
How the brave new world arrives
And I see how it thrives
In the ashes of our lives
Oh yes, man is a fool
And he thinks he'll be okay
Dragging on, feet of clay
Never knowing he's astray
Keeps on going anyway

Happy New Year
Happy New Year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbor is a friend
Happy New Year
Happy New Year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I

Seems to me now
That the dreams we had before
Are all dead, nothing more
Than confetti on the floor
It's the end of a decade
In another ten years time
Who can say what we'll find
What lies waiting down the line
In the end of eighty-nine

Happy New Year
Happy New Year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbor is a friend
Happy New Year
Happy New Year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I

With my recent birthday, and the turn of this crazy year, I've been remembering what it was like to be young in the 70s, with hopes for, as it says in the ABBA song, "a world where every neighbor is a friend." I'm not sure I'd say my neighbors are friends, but even though I'm a natural misanthropic introvert, I do know their names, and I know them well enough to wave and say hello to them. And thanks to the Internet, I have virtual neighbors and friends out there in all of you, readers and fellow bloggers. Thank you for reading.

Hey Look! It's me, in 1973, in my shag haircut

Here's to the promise of a new year. To that end, I thought I'd share a recent photo from a trip to McMenamin's Anderson School in Bothell, WA. Although it's not the best time of year to be visiting a garden, there was still plenty to see there, including this fabulous, bud-laden Edgeworthia chrysantha.

I'm trying to imagine this in full flower. I'll just have to go back.

I hope your 2018 is as full of as many good things as this shrub is full of buds

In case you're interested in ancient history, you can read about the 70s Swedish pop group ABBA here. Two hits of theirs that you may be more familiar with are "Dancing Queen" and "Waterloo."