Happy New Year 🕊🍾

A few nights ago I woke in the dark and wondered why until my ears slowly made out the tumbling notes of "The Shadow of Your Smile". I lay back down and drifted off to sleep. I haven't touched the church of Nog since.

And I better not touch it in 2018 because it's a year of the dog and I'm a dog. My new student Katy who's from Taiwan and is mildly interested in the Chinese Zodiac did a research and translation project for me on that subject. The news was not good, especially in the areas of health and money. DAMN. I'm beginning the year with a bum knee and back and was looking forward to better health and more wealth in 2018. Maybe I'll get a bit of wisdom instead, just enough to realize I've got what I need and that's as good as a feast. Katy was a bit nervous about revealing bad news to her teacher, but we ended up having some laughs. Mandarin is an amazing language to try to translate. I guess because it doesn't have an alphabet but is comprised of symbols it seems to translate into English in a choppy way. In spite of the prospect of misfortune ahead for me, we laughed at her rendering of what "you dogs" must prepare for in the coming year.







Snowshoeing on the shore of Kal Lake this week. The dog days of winter.