happy new year!
Chapter 1
In which time is pleasantly passed; matters of import are decided;
a new project is started, and emptiness is felt more keenly
Happy new year! Yes, I know the start of the blog is a bit different from usual, but I always like book chapters that start this way, so I thought it appropriate in a different year to start in a different way. As you may have gathered from today’s headline, there are a number of topics I want to address, so without furher ado, onward.
First things first. My girlfriend came to town this past Friday for a visit, and left this morning. I spent most of my four day Christmas weekend getting ready for her visit, and I must say, I went much better than anticipated. In fact, I will remember our time together this weekend among the best weekends of my life. She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s sexy, she’s beautiful - she’s almost everything I asked for and a few things I didn’t know I wanted but now I do. This was literally as perfect a weekend as I’ve ever had.
Which leads me to my second point - it’s official - I’m off the market, my heart belongs to my girlfriend. I know some of you reading this may say big deal, but it is for me - I’m not a casual dater, and I don’t make that pronouncement lightly. I’m in love with her, and she with me. I’m so looking forward to getting to know her better, to her getting to know me better, and to spending more time with her in the future.
This year also brings with it the beginning of a project I have discussed with a couple people before, but I’m ready to announce it to the world now. Starting with today’s visit, I will be keeping a photographic journal of Riverbanks Gardens. I am doing this because it’s the basis for a new book I’ll be writing this year: “Seasons: A Year at Riverbanks Gardens.” Each weekend throughout the year I’ll be visiting Riverbanks, taking the same base pictures each time, along with some one time opportunity photos. The idea is to show the progression of the garden throughout the year, as the plants grow, bear fruit, and die or are replaced or drop their leaves as the year progresses. Accompanying these photos will be text that I’ve written, a sort of journal or log of observations about the gardens that week. I’ll be capturing some of the special events throughout the year as well, so there may be some really magnificent photos in this collection. Of course, there could be a lot of crap too, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
Alas, with my love’s departure this morning for her home farther south, my house now feels strangely empty, as part of me is now missing. If it were not for the things she brought and left behind for me, to mark her place in this home, these past days would seem but the most pleasant of dreams. The first day or so she was here, I had to keep reminding myself that she was really here, I wasn’t just daydreaming it all.
Yet, while there’s an emptiness here, there’s also a knowing - a knowing that she’ll be back, that it’s only a matter of time before my love returns to me and our home. 2008 is going to be a magnificent year - busy, but absolutely wonderful.