A New Year begins ..............

We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.  ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

...........and so another year begins.   For all the followers and readers of my blog I would wish that 2014 be a year be filled with good fortune,  joy and much happiness.  Let us practice random acts of kindness and help a stranger,  pray for peace,  understand,  say 'thank you' and sing for joy.    An abundance of blessings to you all.

This past year has been full of ups and downs for most of us.  A lot of sad events perhaps balanced a little by the good things that happen our lives.  Looking back at some of my New Year blogs from previous years I am still trying to limit my time on my pc, Pinterest is just too tempting and I do like to catch up with friends on Facebook.   I did manage to achieve my Goodreads challenge this year actually reading 87 books slightly more than my target of 85 books.  Having succumbed to the temptation of a Kindle earlier this year it has proved an asset as a lot of my reading takes place late at night when I finally fall into bed.  The downside is that the books that I like to read are either not readily available or somewhat pricey.  I have re-read a lot of the old classics which are free downloads and keep an eye open for specials.   The low priced books on offer are generally rather dreadful so my local library has not suffered too much by my absence.

There is still a big gap in our lives with the loss of our two little kitties this year but Bella is now six months old and thriving.   She has had great fun climbing the Christmas tree and helping herself to all the pretty sparklies.  Leila our only remaining Cape Town cat is still not very happy with her new baby sister but seems to be slowly adjusting to the loss of Merlin and Mischka.

My creative doldrums seem to be continuing and my output of bears for 2013 was rather low.   Hopefully this year will be better and I can think of something new and exciting to do.  Perhaps I just need a holiday? This is a selection of recent makings,  the bigger gold bear is still waiting to be dressed.   Our next on line show is in early March and we both face a challenge as the preview bear has to be totally 'bare' and brown,  no trim of any sort, no colours or pandas.   As most of our bears are dressed I experimented with some new long pile fabric and made a slightly bigger open mouth bear.   He is not a success and looks rather like  Chewbacca from Star Wars.  So another bear is drawn out using one of my tried and trusted patterns but Megan is also working on a bear so hopefully one or the other will be suitable. 

We have a new baby to look forward to this coming year, a brother or sister for Victoria, which will once again bring a lot of joy to our family.  We did have a very special family Christmas this year as Victoria is now old enough to appreciate all the excitement.  I had a surprise visit from family members I have not seen for many years,  a chance to reminisce and also lay old ghosts to rest.  Definitely a good way to begin the New Year.

Whether we want them or not, the New Year will bring new challenges; whether
we seize them or not, the New Year will bring new opportunities.  ~Michael Josephson