Looking forward to 2009

So what we if we are in economic tumble and my retirement cookie became a retirement crumble? I still have faith things will, after a few years, get better. That I am wired in such a way that I want to work, need to work (and lucky enough to have people to pay me to work) and words and images just sort of force me to keep writing and drawing too. I have these two fantastic daughters and a dog and a cat and a husband who has perfected the craft of making coffee. I am fighting moths and the inner-but-outer clutter monster and sort of making a dent. Spring will come. The days are getting longer and my afternoon--oh, sigh, it's dark already--gloom is starting later every day. I have friends I love and family I love and like and neighbors who make me smile and a little guy in Queens named Tris who will have the new picture book read to him that I gave his parents last night. The book, of course, is my favorite wordless adventure by David Weisner, Flotsam. It darts between straight forward narrative and surreal imaginative adventures. Everyone I give it to ends up inventing many stories to tell through it's pages. And snow is hugging the tar and crenelations of rooftops as a bluer sky than yesterday is glowing over the brick buildings that look as if they were dipped in honey glaze as the sun sets. I wish all of you a good year, do the things that give you joy, keep writing.