The end of 2014

The family emergency that mandated a halt to this humble blogging effort at the beginning of the month is not, alas, over, but there has been enough of an improvement that we're no longer spending all our time and energy dealing with a situation that pretty much consumed us. Sorry to be so circumspect, but I have yet to embrace the ethic which mandates that all of one's travails are public property. I know that makes me old-fashioned, but I still believe that one's troubles are best kept private, or, at least, among family and close friends. So, for now, I'm back to being able to return to my daily photo chronicle of the area I call home, and, with any luck, I may be able to fill in some of the December blanks. One thing is certain: as I walked the doomed woods across the street—the woods that will, probably with the return of warmer weather, sprout houses and No Trespassing signs—the sun going down on 2014 was a welcome, welcome sight. All in all, it wasn't a bad year, and there were plenty of high point, but it certainly ended badly. I'm not sorry to see it go.