Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!

We spent a quiet New Year’s Eve at home: JQS and I watched “Back to the Future” for what must be the 500th time and AJM played “Age of Empires”. At 11PM, we opened a bottle of champagne and watched the television coverage of the ball dropping in Times Square. Then we walked downtown to Austin’s own party.

At the dawn of the new millennium, so to speak, we roused ourselves from bed and went down to the Congress Avenue Bridge to watch the sun rise. Just as it was about to breach the horizon, clouds moved in and it started getting darker. When it was daylight, we went home to a fire, more champagne, and fruitcake.

Throughout the holidays the weather was in the 70s and low 80s. I started making a winter garden on the south side of the house; AJM helped tear down the fence there. Tonight it’s going to be in the 20s.

AJM finished the first bookshelf project. We now have a floor-to-ceiling paperback library in the hallway. What a relief! And yet, we still have no extra shelf space.