Thursday, January 1, 2015

2015 Day One

The New Year's Eve moon
rising above trees in my back yard.

Quiet. Reflective. Uneventful. Solitudinous.
That sums up my New Year's Eve.

My Spell Check just informed me that there's no such word as solitudinous. I beg to disagree.

It is difficult for me to believe that I've actually left West Texas behind. I still occasionally hear the screaming winds and taste the thick dust and feel the parched, arid air, and look in my boots for scorpions before putting them on.

Then - just to reassure myself - I look out any one of my windows and see mountain views. Tall trees. Wilderness. I hear the incredible silence. I inhale fresh, pure air. And I know I'm in a different place.

This was the most quiet New Year's Eve I ever remember. Absolutely no one around, but me and the trio of cats. When I ventured outside after dark I could hear only the sounds of distant animals echoing through the canyons. Coyotes and wild dogs, neighboring cows and horses. An owl now and then. It was crystal clear and very cold-- 17 degrees.

New Year's Eve was thoroughly enjoyable - despite the fact that I'm still living in an empty house. For now, the laptop is my only source of entertainment - and my cell phone is my unwanted but vital connection to civilization.
I'm uncharacteristically content.

I've lived a wild, exciting, and turbulent life. I've done more things than I'd ever care to remember. Or reveal. Yet I love this newly found isolation.

You're getting old, Jon, that's what it is. Admit it.

Bullshit.

I snapped a few New Year's Eve photos with my cell phone camera. The picture resolution is poor. I have an El Cheapo Tracfone  LG305C which doesn't transfer photos to a computer. I have to email them to myself and then upload them to a photo file. I'm a quill pen, scroll, and candlelight kind of guy. Modern technology  simultaneously baffles and annoys me.

Anyway, here are token souviners of my Mountain New Year's Eve.

The last sunset of 2014
 
 
 

My tiny, impromptu Christmas tree
on New Year's Eve
 
 
The tree from my kitchen window
 
 
 
The setting moon
from my living room window
(it looked much more impressive in real)
 
But Jon - - don't you have any curtains on your windows?
 
Hey, I'm in the middle of nowhere. Who's gonna see me? Big Foot?
I eventually plan on putting up wooden blinds (the same kind I had in Texas). Curtains annoy me.
 
 
I truly hope all of my blog friends and anonymous readers have an incredible 2015 - - filled with contentment, joyous discoveries, good health, warm memories, love, and peace from within.      Jon



Here's an excellent New Year's Day blog post from my Blogger friend Tony in Los Angeles. His insight is always worth reading.

http://leavingcaliblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/happy-new-year-faggot.html





8 comments:

  1. HNY, jon! you are in a better place with no scorpions!

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  2. Oh it is so good to have you back blogging on a regular basis Jon. What a wonderful way for you to start the new year, in your beautiful, solitudinous, mountain paradise. What a vast difference from dry, hot, parched, baked Texas. While you may no longer have to fear scorporians, watch out for snakes, especially copperheads. They abound in those green mountains.
    My very best wishes for you in this year year Jon.
    Ron

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  3. There's a softness and sleepy indistinctness to cell-phone photos that I kind of like, Jon, especially when I'm feeling solitudinous.

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    Replies
    1. A "sleepy indistinctiveness" perfectly describes myself - - especially when I'm in a solitudinous mood.

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  4. I love your sweet tree lighting up the window. I wish you well in this New Year. May you have good health and an abundance of happiness. And no more scorpions, ever again.

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  5. Thank you for sharing my blog post, Jon. Hopefully nobody else had my experience 15 seconds into the new year. Wishing you a transformative 2015.

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  6. Dang, but I've missed chuckling (and alternately shaking my head) over your posts -- my bad for not staying in the loop over the holidays. BTW, I think your wee tree is infinitely more appealing than most.
    ... and ya, please stay INSIDE after dark. Your recounting the 'yellow-eyed' something-or-another is downright creepy.

    Wishing you scads of 'happy' in the New Year!

    ReplyDelete

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