From Merry Christmas...

Christmas Day, 2015

...to Happy New Year...

New Year's Day, 2016

What a difference a week makes...not only did we change years, it looks like we finally changed seasons as well...winter has arrived.

Snowing lightly this morning, which I have to admit is pretty, if still a little unwelcome.  I suppose if I didn't have to work for a living, I might be more excited about it...but alas, I forgot to be a millionaire so in a few days it will be hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go...and driving in the winter in Michigan is a pain in the hind end.

Driving Mr. T...on New Year's day, 2016...

Ok, I admit I won't be driving Mr. T in the winter - much - but either way, driving in the snow is not fun.

Our New Year's Eve celebration was the usual...Karen prepares lots of good things to eat, her kids come and go throughout the evening, we watch When Harry Met Sally...

...the best New Year's movie ever, then at midnight we pop the champagne, watch the ball drop, share a kiss and toast the new year before collapsing in bed.

Yeah, I know...pretty lame, but as I approach six decades topside of planet earth, it's about as racy as I care to get on that night.

This morning it's mimosas and moderation...

orange juice and champagne...

...later today will be pretty low key as well.  Work is ok...it was month / quarter / year end, but unlike some years in the past, this one went off without a hitch so far...very nice.  We'll also get started on the de-Christmasing of our home...take down the trees, wreaths, decorations, etc, and get the place back to normal.

Looking ahead to 2016, one of my goals is to work hard at writing and try to build a readership.  I started publishing on Amazon for kindle readers in late November, and have had modest success...hoping to get that snowball rolling downhill in the year ahead and have at least four books planned:

Long Count (book 2 in the Frank Johnson series), On Being A Man (In A Metro-Sexual World), When A Cardinal Appears (Volume II of selected short stories), and my first children's book, Bapa's Model T.

All of them will have a paperback version available as well as the e-reader version for Kindle.

Not ready to quit my day job, but hoping to make real progress on this new venture during 2016.  We'll see what the year brings.

In the favorite things department, a couple of recent Ronson lighter acquisitions:

1930's Ronson Cigarette Dispenser

Got this from Bob Adams of Ronson Repair   Bob is the best in the business, and this is a spectacular example of what I love about art deco objets d'art...the incredible combination of form and function, of the pretty and the practical.  It's not just utilitarian, it's a work of art.

the cigarette box

press the lever to get a cigarette

...then use the touch tip wand to light 'er up.

Thank you, Bob!

Here's a more midcentury modern lighter...a beautiful, cobalt blue Ronson varaflame:

Happy New Year, mcm fans...